Looking back at Costa Rica
Sometimes people ask us what the point of this trip is and what we do with our time. They’re fair questions. And the first is not so easy to answer. Yes, there are the basic objectives – learning Spanish, practicing surfing, eating our way through the Americas, but the real essence is harder to define. It takes its shape over time and forms a picture, in hindsight. It’s about learning – about the countries we’re travelling through, about their natural beauty, the people and how they live. It’s also about putting the world into perspective, learning generic truths through isolated incidences.
In that way, Costa Rica seemed to be a microcosm of the world. A world of contrasts. A world at battle with itself. On the one hand, CR is well known for its biodiversity (thanks in part to a fair amount of self-promotion as an eco-friendly, eco-conscious country). And this is true, mostly. It still has its problems, like deforestation (mostly for livestock farming, but there’s some illegal logging too) and pollution (rivers of trash, though these are mostly hidden from the public eye). But most obviously, the “problem” created by the good work of conserving is the boom in tourism, or should I just say it – too many tourists. Yes, yes, I know I’m one of them, and I know I’ve worked in places that have set the bar extremely high. But besides the fact that prices get driven up, there’s more than a little lost when exploring a National Park or other wild area, when there are 500 other people also doing it all around you. It defeats the object, don’t you think? Or at least it does a bit for me. It was constantly surprising how seemingly out-of-the-way places with poor access, were humming with tourists. Then again, coming from Nicaragua (and El Salvador…) to the North, the attraction of Costa Rica’s wildlife and natural environment was obvious. A guy in southern Nicaragua tried telling us we wouldn’t notice any difference, but as soon as we crossed the border the contrast was stark. Sloths hanging out in trees, even outside of protected areas, phenomenal birdlife, and streets not littered with trash.
Maybe it’s no coincidence that the roads (the poor state of them and the lack of freeways) are the worst we encountered anywhere in central America. Show me a country where “development,” especially that of a good road network, hasn’t resulted in, or at least enabled, the demise of the environment. Maybe that’s part of the Tico strategy – keep the roads in bad condition (or non-existent) and it will help to protect the environment that remains.
Our experience of Costa Rica (as of most places) was also defined, by a large degree, by our interactions with its people. Two very different camps of people. The bureaucrats who were unhelpful at best, with regards to leaving our car there while we visited Roo, and then charged us an exorbitant sum to give it back, tainted the picture, so to speak. I guess it’s a universal human trait to want to exercise power over others, no matter how small.
Fortunately, we met a handful of people who redeemed their countrymen, if not humanity. Our friend, Rene August, put us in touch with a couple she’d met here a year ago, and who invited us (actually, it was more like we invited ourselves) to spend a couple of nights camping out on a beautiful wooden platform by the river that runs through their garden. It was on our second day there that we received the news about Roo, so we left Babo with them and caused them a lot more admin than any of us ever knew. The long story cut short, is that Migo and Mar y Sol saved our butts, and personified patience and hospitality that was nothing short of extraordinary. Migo’s mom also took Hailey in for two weeks so she could practise her Spanish (Doña Marie speaks no English) while she was taking courses nearby, in Heredia. And we also met another lovely family that lives down their road, who ended up inviting us to stay in their house surrounded by gorgeous, lush forest on the edge of a coffee plantation. Their generosity knew no bounds. And thus, we left Costa Rica with an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
These are the lessons we’re learning. Learning to be grateful. Dealing with challenges. Trying to think creatively when dealing with the world’s environmental and social issues. Learning to be patient. We still have a long way to go.
