Costa Rica – ¡Pura Vida!

Costa Rica – ¡Pura Vida!

Costa Rica has a “Pura Vida” (pure life) philosophy and abolished its army in 1949 to allow the country to invest more in social programs like education and healthcare. It is a very popular country to visit, but an expensive one!

From the border with Panama we made our way to the beautiful, but swelteringly hot, Osa Peninsula and stayed on the beach at Puerto Jiménez. Around the camp we saw monkeys, snakes and many interesting birds. We hired a kayak and spent a lovely morning paddling around the mangroves.

We then crossed the peninsula to Drake Bay, camped on the beach and organised a trip to the Corcovado National Park. The only way into the park is by boat and we were picked up from the beach close to Big Bertha. After an hours boat ride we were dropped off at the Sirena ranger station for the start of our morning walking tour. We saw some interesting animals, including: a resting tapir, a Tamandua ant eater, Crested Guan and Peccaries. After our walk, we were given a good lunch and spotted a baby croc on our way back. We were then taken back to our campsite by boat.

Having spent a week or so at sea-level, it was time to seek refuge from the heat and the salt. We ventured inland and climbed the highest road in Costa Rica to an altitude of over 3000m. Talk about contrasts – it was 6⁰c the next morning. We put our coats on and went for a short hike in the mist.

We then descended and diverted into the Rio Savegre valley, which we had heard was both beautiful and a very good place to view the elusive Quetzal bird. The valley was very very scenic (secondary rain forest) and we managed a couple of sightings.

From the valley we headed over to an area where we had been told we could see sloths – an animal we really wanted to see. And we were so lucky to have camped with José at his place, just outside of Guapiles. We went on two tours with José on his property – a day time tour to see sloths and an evening tour to see frogs. And we were super lucky when a mother and baby sloth descended to head height in a tree next to Big Bertha. In fact, our group was chatting away and walked underneath them, oblivious to the fact that they were right above us!

We then meandered over to the coast in the hope of seeing turtles hatching, but we were unlucky. Leaving the coast we headed for the border and our next Central American country – Nicaragua.