Varities of Costa Rica

Experiencing Costa Rica avec un backpack is quite an experience. I guess visiting anywhere with about a 40 lb. sack is interesting (and mine´s on the lighter side, Jack´s is about 70 lbs.). After our four and a half hour plane ride, $18 taxi ride through San Jose at lightning speed, and our 5 or so hour bus to the quaint seaside town of Manzanillo, we found ourselves stranded with our packs. With nothing to do but walk, we ventured to the nearest hostel/ hotel possible. It is at the Cabinas Manzanillo that we have enjoyed the bare essentials. Indeed, for $25 a night we have a bed, two sheets and running water (some even heated, when its not half electricuting Jack, that is). I also discoved that my feet had swollen to about twice their size. Since we arrived they have gone down, so I´m attributing it to the stress of travel and not to any sort of insect bite or other sort of misfortune.


I have to say, thus far we are both lucky. As we learned from an Englishman and his Japanese wife who recently came from Nicaragua, the experience here is much more delightful. He had to endure a sickness while in Nicaragua during a major drought where no running water was available from 10 am until 3 pm. Imagine having the stomach flu and not being able to wash your hands or flush the toilet. I had no idea how good I had it!

The experience in Manzanillo is much like a drawn out Victorian novel: we sit, we wait, and we do a lot of scheming. Scheming on how to spend less, move less (its extremely hot) and scuba dive more. Scuba lessons have proven difficult to come by, not because they do not exist, but because we did such poor planning. We have however secured a place to learn on Sunday, in hopes of continuing the lessons for open water dives later in our travels. In the morning tomorrow we´ll go kayaking in a lagoon to see the monkeys and sloths before we go zip-lining in the evening. One site in Costa Rica I do not want to miss is the canopy. As we traveled by bus, we got an amazing view of men working on treacherous hillsides and mist filled valleys of lush forests. So I am particularly excited about the canopy.

We will then leave the eastern coast and head to the cloud forest. I look forward to sharing more with you. As we get to a better internet connection, I will try to post photos and write better entries. For now, we´re safe and enjoying our time.