Costa Rica

So in my last post I mentioned bidding farewell to the real Central America when departing Nicaragua. This is largely because the parts of Costa Rica we visited were so developed it was hard to believe we were only a few hours away from the dirt tracks and loose chickens that had hosted us the day before. Still we were only in the country for a week so it would be unfair of me to make too harsher a judgement on the place, but lets just say that tourism contributes to a hefty chunk of the economy there, and it shows. I imagine that if the rest of Central America had been blessed with the same political stability they too would be home to an alarming amount of high rises and tour agencies. Costa Rica's early political history, after independence from Spain in 1821, follows a similar pattern to many other Central American countries a system based on dictatorship and violence. However after the civil war in the late 1940s a coffee grower and utopian democrat called Jose Figueres Ferrer became head of a temporary junta government. The 1949 constitution granted full citizenship and voting rights to women, blacks, indigenous groups and Chinese minorities. His copious decrees taxed the wealthy, nationalized banks and built a modern welfare state. He also, quite amazingly, abolished the military, saying it was a threat to democracy. These actions formed the basis of what Costa Rica is today.

Our first stop in Costa Rica was Monte Verde. I'm not sure this has ever been a real town or weather it was born purely out of a need to feed the thousands of nature hungry tourists that descend upon its lush green landscape ever year. Needless to say we didn't visit Monte Verde with our culture vulture hats on. Of course this is all very hypocritical, because just like the grotesquely overweight sandal/sock wearing middle aged American man, stood next to me eyeing up the dolphin shaped Costa Rican key rings in the gift shop, I too visited a variety of tourist attractions, and enjoyed them. The most notable was the Butterfly farm which Abi wondered around quite entranced, the butterflies teasing us all the while, providing us with a flirtatious flash of their wings which was never quite long enough. We also got our quick adventure fix when we decided to experiment with a zip cable which takes you soaring through cloud forest a good 70 meters off the ground at times The longest of which was over a kilometre. The course ended with a high ropes jump where you basically free fall for a few seconds, leave your stomach at the top, and then swing like a pendulum from canopy to canopy which was most fun!



The remainder of the week was spent visiting an old school friend, Gab, who left the UK when he was 13 but has changed little in the last 12 years, and therefore was very easy company. Given that it was the week of Semana Santa we followed suit and did as the Costa Ricans do... we headed straight for the beach. This invite was generously given by Gabs parents, Sandra and Daniel, and was extended to include Gab's girlfriend Ximena, and his flat mate Brendan. We were totally spoilt by Gabs parents who had chosen a beautiful beach side pad to kick back in, fed us copious amounts of good food and wine and introduced us to their superb music collection. The beach itself was a surfers Paradise, and filled to the brim with beautiful people. Naturally Abi and I fitted in effortlessly. The path to our house was lined with hibiscus flowers and hermit crabs greeted me on my way to my morning play in the waves, needless to say this was a pretty awesome way to end this leg of the journey. On our final night at the beach we partied hard till 6am at a full moon party, which encompassed a humongous bon fire and a slightly surreal show in which a heavily tattooed woman pierced her skin with large hooks and then proceeded to hang from them. Gabs parents being the true coolios that they are, even joined us for a large portion of the night, busting out grooves like there was no tomorrow.


So after a few days of sun worship on the Pacific coast, the second leg of our journey was rather abruptly up, and it was time for me to say good-bye to Central America, and more importantly to Abigail. After spending almost 24 7 in Miss Kenyon’s company for almost 7 months you might say this farewell was a little like waving off my right leg, and needless to say life without my partner in crime has been a little strange ever since! As Abi and Gab waved me off at the airport I felt both nervous and excited, its one thing letting two little blond hobos loose on their own in the big wide world... its quite another when you reduce that number to one!