December 20-22, 2011
Crossing into Costa Rica was more difficult then I had imagined. Everyone seemed to think it was the easy border, but we took close to 6 hours to leave one country and check into another. It is one entire process to check yourself out, then your vehicle out and then you go about 100 feet and you check yourself in to a new county and then your vehicle. Costa Rica was difficult in particular because it had NO signs. None whatsoever. It had rained and was muddy and slippery to boot. The truckers were at least 1 mile deep waiting to leave Nicaragua. Making matters worse is that we lost the NH Registration long ago at one of the border copy machines and are now working from a copy which throws them all for a loop.
However, once you arrive in most countries about 5-10 miles in your greeted by armed Police and or Military. Every country is the same. They check your papers once again. But, in Costa Rica, you get to the Police and they are literally lying back on their elbow relaxing while the second cop waves to you like you’ve just arrived home. Happy to see you and most welcome!
It is a totally different feeling from other Central American countries. There is no military here.
Costa Rica is HUMID! Other countries are hot, but the geography changed dramatically today. We’ve gone from arid desert in Mexico to rain-forest muggy here. CR is about the size of West Virginia and the roads are expellant, and the country is much cleaner then others. There are lots of gringos here and they are glad to take American currency but not so fast to give you your change in American USD.
We had a bit of a hard time finding the coastal route but once we did we found a great beach with very few people and some interesting drift-wood which the birds loved to play in. We walked for about 1 hour or so exploring the area. The vultures were feasting on a dead sea turtle and I saw my first macaws in the wild which are spectacular! Such a treat!
Egg and Chorizo wraps are our choice of the week. It’s about all we can keep fresh down here. Do you know they don’t refrigerate their eggs down here? And milk spoils pretty instantly. We try to only eat out one meal a day if need be. Again Costa Rica is a far richer country then others so the cost of food just went up pretty dramatically. A bag of Frito Scoops were about $5.00 so we passed but only because we had enjoyed a piece of Macadamia pie earlier in the day. It’s kind of like pecan pie but made with Macadamia nuts instead. Delicious!
We woke this morning to a hot sun and it was just 8am. We were on the road early and went to the Neofauna Butterfly Farm which took about 2-3 hours. It had all sorts of snakes which were gross and poisonous and some wicked cool frogs. The butterflies were interesting but hardly very many. They were sleeping I guess - they like to come out in the hot sun and it was over-cast. The farm was folky and we learned some pretty significant things about local reptiles etc. which I probably could have lived without, but it was our splurge of the day at $15.00 each.
There are an amazing amount of eco-tourism spots, but they tend to be pricey coming in at $40 to $90 per head but we’ll pick one soon as our Christmas present to ourselves, as if this trip wasn’t enough. It’s been such a huge learning curve for both of us~as well as a prenominal life memory.
We heard a few Christmas carols today. There is very little outward expressions of Christmas here which really makes you question the American Christmas traditions which are so over-blown. Traveling in a third world country really makes you focus on how little we need to survive and then to thrive.
We found another fabulous beach, better then yesterday and we parked for the night. We had the entire beach to ourselves as far as we could seen in either direction....and the sunset put on a magical show for us. It’s been a good day.
December 22, 2011 - We drove a few hours today as the roads have been crappy again. We’re staying in a Port town which is more small town then tourist town although there is a few cabanas here. We are staying in an exceptionally modest room tonite with ac, cold shower, tv in Spanish and Internet. Not bad for $30.
Tomorrow (12/23) head to Panama to spend the holiday. The water color has finally started to turn today, not so much dark sand constantly being dredged up - Looking forward to the Caribbean side.
Darlene is started getting things up on the website. She's been working on a selection of costume jewelry and Christmas Tree pins for starters. Check out her work....dragonfliesantiques.com
If you love the pictures you can follow us in more detail at zigzagexpress.com or ask to be a friend on facebook under Cathy Sykes
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