Messing About On The Rivers of Costa Rica (2014)

If Costa Rica was a person, I would describe them as being  “Comfortable in their own skin”.  This is a country which displays artefacts from 1200 years of cultural history in its National Museum in San José, accessed by walking through a flurry of free-flying butterflies of every imaginable colour.  Not far away, in one of the town’s squares, there is a sculpture on a plinth celebrating the patriots who successfully defended the country in 1857 from annexation by the Texans, who were constantly trying to extend their borders.  Today Costa Rica is the most stable country in Central America, with one of the lowest poverty rates in Latin America, a long history of democracy, and with no standing army.  I learned this from our Tour Manager,  who was also a lecturer in ecology, when I managed to engage him in a conversation about politics while the other travelers were off shopping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another thing about Costa Rica is their commitment to the environment.  We had plenty of information about this from the Tour Manager, of course, and we learned to tell the difference between a natural forest and a managed forest, where trees had been replanted following eruptions from any of the country’s still-active volcanoes (there are 5 of them).

Costa Rica is certainly one of the most beautiful countries I have visited. It offers the traveler jungles, forest canopies, rivers, and two amazing coasts, the Caribbean and the Pacific, as well as the volcanoes, of course. Its wildlife, which is usually my reason for visiting a country, is magnificent. It is home to over 900 species of birds, including the scarlet macaw, which is actually blue and yellow as well as red and which will screech at intruders (like us) who swing up high into their home in the forest canopy.  More welcoming were the tiny birds of many colours who joined us every day at breakfast to feast on pieces of fruit put out for them by the staff.  There are four species of monkey, of which I saw spider monkeys, capuchins and howler monkeys, who reminded me of angry neighbours shouting at each other in the street. We came across one group trying to defend its territory and a huge battle of the voices had begun.  I would have given them all an asbo.  And then there were the monitor lizards and crocodiles!  It was the first time I have ever come across monitor lizards while wandering around the grounds of a hotel and it was the first time that I have stayed close to a river, just a few hundred yards from my room, which was home to crocodiles, who occasionally came out to bask – and eye us up as a tasty treat, perhaps! In fact, it seemed that you couldn’t drive alongside, cross over or sail on any river that wasn’t bursting with  crocodiles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I always do at the start of a holiday is to sign up for all the available trips.  What is the point of visiting a country if you don’t visit the country?  This holiday was certainly action-packed, with walks through the jungle in Manuel Antonio National Park and across walkways suspended in the canopy, ascents up through the canopy in trains and gondolas and, for some brave souls (not me), a zip-wire descent afterwards, then boat trips on some of the country’s rivers. 

The first one, on the Rio Grande de Tarcoles, was a fairly sedate outing.  We sailed up the river in a sizeable boat, eventually visiting a large mangrove forest.  We saw a lot of different species of birds, and I was pleased to have my binoculars with me and to make them work for me.  I’m not the best with bins’ and other people have often moved on to look at something else before I have managed to focus on the first bird.  On this trip, I became aware that there were some very serious birders among us.  We had all been given sheets to keep a record of all the mammals, birds, insects and reptiles we had seen.  The birders, however, were also recording not just species but sub-species in their  serious looking journals. I enjoyed seeing the birds, of course, but was rather disappointed not to see any animals – other than the ubiquitous crocodiles.

When we had moved on to the second part of the holiday, in the centre of the country and close to the Arenal Volcano, two trips were particularly notable for very different reasons.  About ten minutes from our resort was the San Carlos River and, on a day when I had already been on a crocodile hunt and then, by contrast, had an amazing reflexology treatment, we arrived at the river bank by coach in the afternoon.  There were several large dinghies waiting for us and we were issued with lifejackets.  We swept down the river through a series of small rapids and sometimes we got stuck in shallow areas.  There was much banter among the oarsmen when this happened and a jolly atmosphere everywhere.  I was happy to see both birds and howler monkeys, while enjoying the scenery on the riverbank and the eye-catching sculpture of old tree trunks where they had been caught as they washed down the river.  I thought that the birders were missing something as they seemed to spend their time ticking off bird sightings and some began to complain that they were not seeing all the species they had expected to see.

We were heading for an eco-farm established over 60 years ago by two brothers.  Sadly, the last brother had died only two weeks before at the age of 101.  However, his family had asked that we still visit.  The dinghies arrived one by one at a small pier and everyone climbed out. Mine was the last dinghy to arrive and, as I took my turn, my legs suddenly went from under me, the dinghy shot backwards across the water and I fell in the river up to my chest, taking with me the two men who were trying to help me!  My camera went in too.  We eventually made it out of the river, luckily there were no crocodiles in our vicinity and, dripping with water I climbed the steps to Don Pedro’s house, where there was a welcome cup of coffee and some tasty treats waiting for us.  The family seemed to be touched by our condolences and spoke to us about the work of their farm, most of which I must say went over my head as by now I was very aware that everyone knew what had happened to me and I was concerned about the opacity, or otherwise, of my wet clothing.  It was a relief to get back in the dinghy and climb out safely to get on the coach, where I had to sit on a carrier bag in order to protect the seat. Arriving back at my room, I threw my dirty clothes on the floor and headed for the shower.  To cheer myself up and try to regain some dignity, I dressed in my best outfit, and I had a couple of large pina coladas at the bar.  Some of my fellow travelers told me about saving my camera by burying it in grains of rice and I managed to beg a small amount from the kitchen. And it worked! Not for a couple of days but it was a great relief when it eventually turned on, and I was snapping away again before the end of the holiday.

After that, it might seem rather foolhardy to opt for another river trip but I am nothing if not adventurous when on holiday and so it was that, a couple of days later, I set foot in a rather larger boat to head up a tributary of the San Juan river.  We saw the usual bird, primate and reptilian suspects, although the monsters were, on this occasion, not crocodiles but cayman.  We came to a rather abrupt halt and were told that we had crossed the invisible and rather porous border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.  We pulled into the river bank and landed, back on Costa Rican soil, where we were directed to a small gap in the border fence and told that we could slip through and photograph ourselves standing quite safely, if illegally, in
Nicaragua.  As I filmed myself stepping back through the gap, I was greeted by our smiling Tour Manager who said, “Welcome to Costa Rica Madam.  You have just entered the country illegally, and I must ask you to accompany me to the police station”. 

Would I ever go back to Costa Rica?  Well, I survived my first viewing of “Frozen” and a hectic three-hour transfer through Miami airport on the way there.  I survived a trek through the heat and humidity of the Manuel Antonio National Park. I survived my river dunking and I survived the inevitable embarrassment when someone decided after all to tell me that, yes, my clothes were almost transparent after my dip. I survived being arrested by our tour manager after my moment of anarchy. These were only a handful of the adventures we had.  More than anything, I survived a holiday soon after finishing 3 weeks of daily radiotherapy, so I felt invincible! Altogether, I saw some amazing sights and some beautiful animals and birds, I learned something about Central America and I laughed a lot. Unlike some of my earlier holidays, I never had to eat alone and I made two special and lasting friendships.  And so, yes, I would go back again, in a heartbeat!