Travel to Costa Rica: Fainting Plants and Tree-Climbing Crabs, part ii

Altogether my favorite part of our journey was the trek through Manuel Antonio park.  We went with a guide and while I begrudged handing over the money for it initially, it was truly worth it. Our guide, Edgar, was a funny and extremely intelligent guy who became quite chatty when he realized Stephen and I spoke Spanish. He had an incredibly keen eye for spotting camouflaged lizards, hidden crocodiles and tiny colorful insects.

“What a cute little anole!” I pointed out on a leaf, to which he gave me a side eye and asked if I was a herpetologist. As surprised as he was that I knew what an anole was, I was kind of surprised he actually knew how to say herpetologist in English. “Nope, just a nature-loving hippie.”

 

Which is quite true. I was enthralled with learning about Costa Rica’s wildlife and had studied up on the local animals and plants by getting any material I could get my hands on. One of my favorite plants on our trip was the touch-me-nots that were abundant throughout Manuel Antonio.

“Touch it!” Edgar told me, pointing to the fern-like plant. I shook my head, saying absolutely not. General knowledge of things in the rainforest dictated that most things had evolved to maim, kill or cause a person discomfort. I was not interested in any of the three.

After some coaxing, he did get me to poke the plant. And suddenly the plant “wilted” looking as though it had died altogether. I learned that this plant had evolved to droop when touched but would reopen minutes later. Poking them became Stephen’s favorite thing to do whenever he saw one. I can’t blame him though, it seriously never got old!

Altogether we had an amazing time in Costa Rica and I would gladly go back someday. Costa Ricans are truly making strides to preserve their country’s gorgeous ecosystem and are ahead of many countries when it comes to environmentalist efforts. My one piece of advice to fellow travellers is to know ahead of time that eating in Costa Rica can be quite expensive due to the taxes (we are talking about 23% here).

Manuel Antonio offered some great hostels with really cheap and yummy food. Costa Linda was our favorite and will probably be our first choice for place to stay next time. Travelling with my love was so much fun but my hope is that we can do it again as a family. Rosie would really get a kick out of the monkeys and probably join them in a tree haha. 

To read part one of this adventure, check it out here!

& for more pictures of our time in Costa Rica be sure to check out the #travellingmermaid hashtag on Instagram!

Travel to Costa Rica: Pura Vida, Man!

Well, I’m back from our travels in Costa Rica!  In short, the trip totally exceeded my expectations (which okay, were set pretty high anyways). It was beautiful, soul-nourishing and immersed in a magic that is hard to describe. We met so many wonderful people and enjoyed some extremely delicious food. For those that are curious, I would like to share my experiences with this Central American gem.

 

Flying into any new location can be exhilarating but landing in San Jose at midnight was a particular adventure. For one thing, the city was barely distinguishable at night. In comparison to the sprawling cityscape of Mexico City, Alajuela was just a collection of scattered lights stitched into an inky black backdrop. It wasn’t until the next day I got to truly see Costa Rica and the sight was bewildering. By day, we were engulfed in a towering canopy of exotic trees and foggy mountains. Had they been there all along?  

It was a three hour drive to Manuel Antonio, where we stayed for the duration of our trip. With the exception of a few ventures to the nearby Quepos we spent most of our time roaming the one-car roads of this town that was hugged by the beach and rainforest in all directions. Along the way I saw graffiti on bridges, signs and scrawled across buildings: No Tan Rico. It translates to mean, not too rich and was a play on the country’s name: the Rich Coast in English. It wasn’t long before I saw evidence of the truth behind the graffiti, tin-roofed shantytowns dotting the roadside and people hustling their goods to any passing tourist with the desperation that kind of broke my heart.

However, one thing that quickly became evident was that most Costa Ricans were not only friendly but kind as well. Costa Rica’s charm isn’t just it’s people though but the spectacular explosion of flor y fauna that in habits this small country. On our daily hikes off our mountain-top hotel we would greet our friend, a peculiar three-toed sloth that hung cheerfully in the same spot for the entire time we were there.  

 But probably the most memorable of our companions were the cheeky mono titi (squirrel monkeys) that joined us every morning at breakfast. Without fail one of them would come up to my table, and chirp sweetly before trying to make a dash for my plate. It would have been annoying if they weren’t so sickeningly cute. 

Same goes for the Capuchin monkeys that ran across the rooftops. For awhile, I thought it was an upstairs neighbor or maybe someone was doing construction work until our cable went out and I went out on the patio to see this guy tugging at our television cable.

 The blue ropes are meant to help critters like monkeys and sloths safely cross the road. So cool!

Living in the rainforest for a week was a lot like going to the zoo. Only difference is that in Costa Rica it isn’t rare to be woken up at 400AM by the ear-piercing sound of a howler monkey outside your window. I can only describe it as a cross between a dying seal and a melt down alarm. Youtube it and share a wince with me.


Stay tuned for part II of my travels to Costa Rica and if you want to see more pictures of the trip be sure to check out my #travellingmermaid hashtag on instagram!