queenconch

Handcrafted and modified one-of-a-kind goodies for people who love the beach, live by the beach or just dream of the beach. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or wish to purchase an item at jayneinpr@yahoo.com

Saturday, March 31, 2007

COSTA RICA



What an adventure I have had! I landed at the top of Costa Rica in a place called Liberia and had to spend the night there before I caught a little plane down to San Jose and then another one down to Puerto Jimenez. The little planes fly quite low so I got to see a lot of the country side, the whole top half of Costa Rica has suffered from a drought these past two years, the only green spots where the resorts along the coast! I then had to take a passenger ferry(more like a dug-out canoe, the more people that got on the lower the boat sank! until I could just put my hand over the edge and it was in ocean!) from Puerto Jimenez to Golfito which took about 45 minutes. Bron met me there and we wandered around until our bus at 3:00. BUS! Ok it's an old school bus that they have somehow kept running despite the fact that you can see the ground through the bottom of the bus and it seems like it's going to rattle apart! It's a 3 hour journey from Golfito to Pavones on roads that are not really roads,( if the scenery hadn't been so beautiful my hair would be white with fright!) and you are sharing the bus with everyone and their mothers and chickens! It was almost dark when we arrived at her house (sun sets at 6pm and rises at 5am) so I didn't get to the beach right away. I was up at 5 every morning walking the beach with my camera and collecting shells. We spent most days lazing around, walking the beach, swimming in the river(at least 5 times a day), watching the surfers, lizards, macaws, taking photos of all and the plant life. We did swim in the ocean one day but the under tow is so strong that you can swim with all your might and still go backwards! I took a yoga class that I will never forget as you looked out at the waves crashing onto the beach while you did yoga, it was really quite a beautiful experience! Had to do the same journey back up to Liberia but stayed in Puerto Jimenez overnight before catching the little planes up the coast. It was a most relaxing and wonderful time. If I was to go to Costa Rica again I would want to go for at least a month to see more of the sights! The one thing I couldn't get over was the amount of garbage I saw. They seem to have no infer structure for that sort of thing and people seem to burn all(plastics included!) their garbage in their yards in the smaller communities! There is no recycling what so ever! I was really shocked by this! They need to do something about it and fast!! But I found Bron and her friend Carly and Carly's brother Charlie in fine form and just loving it there. I'm so glad I took the opportunity to have this great adventure!