Costa Rica
I’d been curious about the tropics for some time. I grew up knowing four seasons, and never had a winter without snow. I explored the mountains of the Rockies, the forests of pines and maples, and the expansive prairies. But I’d never seen a jungle, or the tropical rainforests that supposedly hid a rainbow of birds, frogs, insects, and other animals.
Central America was a trip I had been planning and putting off for years, and early last year, I finally had the chance to go. Not knowing the language, and uncertain what to expect, I decided to go with a group tour: the G Adventures Costa Rica Adventure tour. The tour was 16 days, starting and ending in San Jose, and went coast to coast across the country.
The beautiful mountain ranges of Costa Rica.
The last time I had gone on a multi-day group tour, I had been in middle school. But, I have to admit, it was nice not worrying about transportation, or figuring out where I would be staying for the night and making sure I got there in time for check-in, or having to stop and stumble through directions. On the other hand, we spent two whole days in La Fortuna, which was my least favourite stop of the entire tour, mostly for how commercial the place felt. If I had been on my own, I might have moved on early.
Even from the flight over, watching out the windows of the plane, it was obvious this was a different world than the one I was used to. Instead of the galaxy of twinkling lights below, spread out across the land, there were dense focal regions, linked by bright rivers and separated by nearly complete darkness. It made sense, since I would find that most of the electicity was in cities or along roads, separated by swaths of rainforest and a few plantations. The only open trails through the rainforest were maintained, and most charged admission.
This trip left me with many cherished memories. We strolled along the beach and swam in the ocean, hiked up volcanos and chased monkeys through the forest. We paddled through mangroves, and climbed across hanging bridges, with guides pointing out iguanas and teaching us about the local plants. At night, we went back with flashlights, finding frogs, lizards, snakes, ants, millpedes, and kinkajous. Some of my favourite moments were spent exploring rock pools, or sitting in the rainforest watching the bats come out. I think I could have stayed there, listening to the birds and howler monkeys, for days.
Ruiping, with a tree as a backdrop!
The people are really important to the experience too. Our guide was incredible, stopping several times along the route to point out known locations for crocodiles, or trees full of sloths. Many of the locals were also friendly, although there were a few that were rather rude, or a little too focused on trying to sell something. I also have to mention the group I was with. We had a full group, but everyone was welcoming, and we often joined together for meals and added excursions. Some even toasted me on my birthday, which passed during the trip. I was the only Canadian; most of them were visiting from Europe, so unlike me, they had to contend with a time difference of several hours. I only had to deal with the temperature difference: it was -25 degrees Celsius when I left Calgary, and nearly 20 degrees when I arrived in San Jose.
I was tired and ready to be home by the time I got back to Calgary (which had warmed to about -5 by then), but I also felt there wasn’t enough time to see everything I wanted to during the short time I had. I’ll just have to find an excuse to go back!
DD - I just want to thank Ruiping for sharing her photos and memories of this trip with all of us. It looks like it was amazing!
