Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Pura Vida a Costa Rica!!
The days are counting down! Last night, the medical team gave an awesome final "medical preport," bringing closure to the whole Pepto girl theme, and then recapped the whole semester with a song to the tune of "12 Days of Christmas…." “…and a case of dysenter-y.” OK, well, you just had to be there.
This morning we arrived in Puerto Calderas, Costa Rica - a port change, as there were some huge ocean liners that pre-empted us from tying up in Puntarenas. Costa Rica
is sort of the gem of Central America. It is a democratic republic, with a Nobel Peace Prize-winning President, Oscar Arias Sanchez. Eco-tourism is Costa Rica’s main industry, with micro-chip production being #2. It is beautiful here. Costa Rica has one of the world’s most diverse ecological systems…It has over 9,000 different kinds of flowering plants alone! This little country (landwise, the size of West Virginia, and population of 4 million) has 20 national parks, 8 wildlife refuges, 1 national archaeological monument, 26 protected forest areas, 9 forest reserves, 7 wildlife sanctuaries, and a national forest. It is divided by a series of volcanic mountain chains that run the length of the country from Nicaragua to Panama. The division creates different coastal climates which allow for the vast variety of plants and animals here.
The term Pura Vida is used for everything… as a greeting, as a word of farewell, to express satisfaction, and more. Literally translated it means “Pure Life.” Interestingly, Costa Rica has no military, even lying as it does between Panama and Nicaragua. Because it is a tranquil country with a stable democracy and no army, the government focuses on health, education, and ecology, making for the highest standard of living in the region. Costa Rica has long emphasized the development of democracy and respect for human rights. Thanks to its recent leadership, the country has comparative prosperity, flexible class lines, educational opportunities that have created a stable middle class, and high social indicators. However, I heard from a shopkeeper today that immigrants from Nicaragua and Colombia are seen as the cause of recent increases in crime. Anyway, back to the story.. We had to anchor, and use the tender system here, as we did in Malaysia. This adds a layer of complication to everything, as we have to wait for the tender arrival at the ship and the pier.
I went on a zipline adventure in the tree canopy, about 1/2 hour from the ship. It was a blast! Via a harness and double cable, we could zip along 50+ feet in the air through the rain forest. After it was over, it was only 1:00 and I was wondering how to spend the rest of my only-full-day-in Costa-Rica-without-being-on-call. So I was chatting with our tour guide, and he said he could set up this great river tour. A bunch of us were all game to go, so we hooked up with "Christian" and left directly after the zipline adventure. He got a van to take us to the Rio Tarcoles, we got on a flatboat (there were only about a dozen of us, total) and headed down the river. Christian was really hyper, but he was an amazing tour guide - spotted all kinds of stuff and really knew the area. We saw some basilisks (the lizards that walk on water – they’re nicknamed "Jesus Christ lizards"), a c
oatamundi, iguanas, many snowy egrets, kingfishers, gorgeous scarlet macaws, and other birds too numerous to name. Then...we saw crocodiles! We got up close to a huge one, and the boat driver jumped onto the shore with a chicken leg and coaxed him up on land...teased him a bit, and tossed him the chicken! Wow. I think he was a Steve Irwin wannabe. Then Christian took us to a local place to eat. I had mahi mahi cooked in lime and garlic and it was fantastic. A full entree plate with a beer, and my portion of a pizza (they had a hearth fire oven going, so we had to try one) and tip/taxes was $11.
Today I was trip leader for a horseback riding trip. There were 18 of us, and we drove about ½ hour to a ranch. First we were treated to a plate of fresh pineapple and melon. Then we mounted up and took off with 2 cowboys who spoke no English and our guide who did. Unlike tourist trail ride horses in the States, some of these horses were spirited. As we headed up the first hill, my horse wanted to run. I heard one of the cowboys yell, “Let him run,” so I did. In a minute, there was an impromptu race between the horses being ridden by me, Christian Fares (who is 10), and a student. Christian fell off, and there were a few moments of chaos. While he was really upset at first – but not hurt-, we convinced him that he picked the best place to fall off since it was grassy, and his horse won the race anyway. The ride took us through fields, underbrush, and rain forest. We saw lots of butterflies, flowers, and a howler monkey. After the ride, I walked around town a bit with some others. This is it...the last hours of the last port on our around-the-world adventure! I'll write once more from the US.
This morning we arrived in Puerto Calderas, Costa Rica - a port change, as there were some huge ocean liners that pre-empted us from tying up in Puntarenas. Costa Rica
is sort of the gem of Central America. It is a democratic republic, with a Nobel Peace Prize-winning President, Oscar Arias Sanchez. Eco-tourism is Costa Rica’s main industry, with micro-chip production being #2. It is beautiful here. Costa Rica has one of the world’s most diverse ecological systems…It has over 9,000 different kinds of flowering plants alone! This little country (landwise, the size of West Virginia, and population of 4 million) has 20 national parks, 8 wildlife refuges, 1 national archaeological monument, 26 protected forest areas, 9 forest reserves, 7 wildlife sanctuaries, and a national forest. It is divided by a series of volcanic mountain chains that run the length of the country from Nicaragua to Panama. The division creates different coastal climates which allow for the vast variety of plants and animals here.The term Pura Vida is used for everything… as a greeting, as a word of farewell, to express satisfaction, and more. Literally translated it means “Pure Life.” Interestingly, Costa Rica has no military, even lying as it does between Panama and Nicaragua. Because it is a tranquil country with a stable democracy and no army, the government focuses on health, education, and ecology, making for the highest standard of living in the region. Costa Rica has long emphasized the development of democracy and respect for human rights. Thanks to its recent leadership, the country has comparative prosperity, flexible class lines, educational opportunities that have created a stable middle class, and high social indicators. However, I heard from a shopkeeper today that immigrants from Nicaragua and Colombia are seen as the cause of recent increases in crime. Anyway, back to the story.. We had to anchor, and use the tender system here, as we did in Malaysia. This adds a layer of complication to everything, as we have to wait for the tender arrival at the ship and the pier.
I went on a zipline adventure in the tree canopy, about 1/2 hour from the ship. It was a blast! Via a harness and double cable, we could zip along 50+ feet in the air through the rain forest. After it was over, it was only 1:00 and I was wondering how to spend the rest of my only-full-day-in Costa-Rica-without-being-on-call. So I was chatting with our tour guide, and he said he could set up this great river tour. A bunch of us were all game to go, so we hooked up with "Christian" and left directly after the zipline adventure. He got a van to take us to the Rio Tarcoles, we got on a flatboat (there were only about a dozen of us, total) and headed down the river. Christian was really hyper, but he was an amazing tour guide - spotted all kinds of stuff and really knew the area. We saw some basilisks (the lizards that walk on water – they’re nicknamed "Jesus Christ lizards"), a c
oatamundi, iguanas, many snowy egrets, kingfishers, gorgeous scarlet macaws, and other birds too numerous to name. Then...we saw crocodiles! We got up close to a huge one, and the boat driver jumped onto the shore with a chicken leg and coaxed him up on land...teased him a bit, and tossed him the chicken! Wow. I think he was a Steve Irwin wannabe. Then Christian took us to a local place to eat. I had mahi mahi cooked in lime and garlic and it was fantastic. A full entree plate with a beer, and my portion of a pizza (they had a hearth fire oven going, so we had to try one) and tip/taxes was $11. 
Today I was trip leader for a horseback riding trip. There were 18 of us, and we drove about ½ hour to a ranch. First we were treated to a plate of fresh pineapple and melon. Then we mounted up and took off with 2 cowboys who spoke no English and our guide who did. Unlike tourist trail ride horses in the States, some of these horses were spirited. As we headed up the first hill, my horse wanted to run. I heard one of the cowboys yell, “Let him run,” so I did. In a minute, there was an impromptu race between the horses being ridden by me, Christian Fares (who is 10), and a student. Christian fell off, and there were a few moments of chaos. While he was really upset at first – but not hurt-, we convinced him that he picked the best place to fall off since it was grassy, and his horse won the race anyway. The ride took us through fields, underbrush, and rain forest. We saw lots of butterflies, flowers, and a howler monkey. After the ride, I walked around town a bit with some others. This is it...the last hours of the last port on our around-the-world adventure! I'll write once more from the US. 
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