I traveled for 37 days in Costa Rica. It's definitely not enough time to give an intensive opinion of the country and its people as a whole. However, I thought that this week I'd share the lows and highs of my personal experience traveling through Costa Rica. LowsTraditionally, I like to start with lows because things can only get better from there. ;) I only have two complaints about my time in Costa Rica: 1. Bugs - I have always been a magnet for mosquitos. However, Costa Rica provided the generous opportunity to have my body eaten alive by lots of other insects that I didn't even know existed! Google: Chiggers. And then just know that it feels like there's ants in your pants. Fire ants. For two weeks. #tmi If you decide to go to Costa Rica, stock up on your insect repellent and remedies. 2. Prices - Compared to other places I've backpacked, I found Costa Rica to be on the more expensive side (in terms of accommodation prices and activities). I'd prefer to come back to Costa Rica on another family vacation or other cheap vacation, book a house, and have a larger budget for all the adventure activities and national parks. I think it is possible to do Costa Rica on a budget, but the activities and places that I wanted to see were pricey. The Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula costs at least $100 which includes a guide (mandatory). Unfortunately on this trip, $100 is my budget for at least a week. HighsCosta Rica offered some incredible traveling highs that I expected, and some that were welcomed surprises! 1. Natural Paradise: Costa Rica has some of the best sandy beaches I've seen along my travels. If you're lucky enough, a local will take you to a remote beach and you'll feel like you've reached paradise. 2. Wildlife: Below is a photo of an adorable sloth from the Jaguar Rescue Center* in Puerto Viejo. While I would obviously see a lot of wildlife at an animal rescue center, I saw plenty of sloths and monkeys and toucans just flying about during my bicycle rides through the towns and villages where I stayed. One time I was crossing a bridge and saw two kayakers in the river pulled over to the side. I stopped to see why they had stalled and saw that they had found a sloth that had climbed down the tree and was reaching down to the river for a drink! I don't regret not grabbing a photo because I fully enjoyed that moment. *After watching Blackfish a few years ago, I've really tried to limit my visits to zoos or any other place where animals are forced to be there for our enjoyment. Going to the rescue center seemed like a compromise since these animals were hurt and are being rehabilitated and my entrance fee goes to support those efforts. I also try to discourage other travelers from paying to ride or pet animals. Here's Why You Shouldn't Ride Elephants in Thailand (or any where else for that matter). Now back to Costa Rica... 3. Costa Ricans' appreciation for nature: I don't know how to adequately describe it, but I got this feeling that for a country that's still not on the same scale as more developed nations, there was still a respect and cleanliness to different natural areas than more developing countries. I also met people like those working at Osa Interactive Gardens on the Osa Peninsula. Projects like theirs are working hard to preserve the plants, animals, insects, and, in this case, butterflies, after destruction from local and international deforestation works. 4. Tropical Fruits: Below was my favorite type of passion fruit, the grenadine. You break the skin and then slurp out the juicy, sweet insides. It's heavenly on a hot, Costa Rican day. Besides 100 different types of passion fruits, I had tons of mangos and papayas and other fruits that I had never seen or heard of before. And since avocados are technically a fruit, you can be darn sure I also had plenty of those! What happened next?After Costa Rica, I headed to a week of transiting through Panama with pit stops in Bocas del Toro and Panama City. Bocas is definitely feeling the effects of tourism (in some not so positive ways), but different tours will take you out to the secluded islands. Panama City always gets positive and negative reviews from other travelers that I meet, but I will say the Canal is one of the coolest things I've seen. It's just so HUGE! At the end of May I landed in Medellin, Colombia. I dreamed of Medellin and spending a few months there since fall 2015, after watching a certain Netflix series that featured the panoramic views of the landscape surrounding the City of Eternal Spring. During my first week I studied Spanish in Medellin before heading to a town called Buga to do another work exchange at a hostel/brewery. More on that soon!
I've never been that outdoorsy. Within the course of one work exchange in Colombia, this changed completely. While most of the work included cooking and cleaning for the guests at this semi-mountain lodge, the other part of the experience was hiking. A lot. I should have guessed that hiking would be the norm considering that it took almost an hour to trek uphill to the lodge from the "main" dirt road. Later on during my stay I would splurge on the $3 horse ride to the lodge and even the HORSE acted like he didn't want to take the chance on that last stretch of hill to the lodge. I did quite a few treks through the mountains outside of Ibague, Colombia. However, this is the story of one of the more intense hikes I did at the lodge. The warning signs of a tough hike...The night before the first intense hike, our supervisor, Truman, asked us if we wanted to accompany them on a hike. The catch being we would have to leave by 6 AM. We were told that we were scoping out the location for a local TV travel special that would highlight the stunning natural landscape of the area. Not being a morning person, I was slightly delirious and still quite sleepy as we prepared our bags and got ready the next morning. However, I remember becoming apprehensive as the following conversations unfolded... Situation #1 Truman: Make sure you have boots. Me: Okay, will it be really wet? Truman: Maybe, but we are going through the jungle. Making the path. **as he packs away his machete.** Situation #2 Truman: Bring an extra set of clothes in a plastic bag. Me: Why? Truman: Because maybe you will get wet and bloody, I mean, MUDDY. Me: *nervously laughing* Situation #3 Me to Truman's wife, Annie: So are you coming on the hike? Annie: **smirks** No. Definitely not. Once we were all packed, we started the two kilometer hike to the main road to meet the rest of our hiking team. We're Going To That Waterfall -->
Taking the Back RoadAfter some debate of whether to walk or take motorbikes/jeeps up to the furthest point, we ended up all piling into a local's jeep that we bartered for a price. The journey basically was like a real life Indiana Jones ride complete with pot holes, skinny road ways, splashing through running streams, and gaining enough momentum to scale rocky hills. It looked at lot like this: Some other photos of the drive up - Fernando, the Farmer, to the Rescue!
Finally Arriving at the Waterfall
At the end of the dayAfter eight unexpected hours of hiking, we finally made the trip back to the lodge. We never got bloody, but definitely muddy and utterly exhausted.
However, after going through my photos for this post I was reminded of how rare of an experience we had for most travelers and of the absolutely breathtaking greenery of Colombia. I'm so ready to go back! |