Tuesday, January 18, 2005
There was a delay in this post because I had a roll of 35mm film that I wanted to get developed before I posted my pictures.
Costa Rica is amazing. It's a beautiful country with friendly people, a great culture, good values, lots of cool animals, and bland food. Costa Rica is much more modern than I expected. The people are very smart, most use computers, most speak English, most are educated tour guides :)
They have a very large middle class, and most of the upper class consists of retirees from the US. The country isn't rich, but the people say they are very happy with what they have. There is no army, 25% of the country is national parks, there is mandatory and free lower education, and there is universal health care.
So what did my mom and I do in Costa Rica? We saw active volcanos (Arenal and Poas) and swam in natural hot springs. We saw a coffee plantation and a banana plantation. We saw La Paz waterfalls.
I abuse my Pentax. I dropped it in Vegas so it's all dented up, but it works fine. It got wet in Brazil but made it out ok. At La Paz waterfalls it was completely soaked. It actually stopped working for an hour. But after drying it's as good as new.
We saw a butterfly and Humingbird garden, and took an aerial tour over a rain forest and then a hiking tour through it. We took a city tour in San Jose and saw how little it had to offer. We went to Tortuguero National Park, where the large green turtles come to lay and bury their eggs every year (like you see on the discovery channel). We saw lots of sloths, monkeys, and beautiful butterflies and birds.
Jurassic Park was filmed in Costa Rica and you can see why. It's a small country but has more unique plants and animals than any other place on earth. Walking through the rain forests felt *exactly* like Jurassic Park.
I love Costa Rica. The next time you are thinking about going to Hawaii, go to Costa Rica instead. It's cheaper and less done up for the tourists. The people have big hearts. Pura Vida.
Click here for all the pictures
Costa Rica is amazing. It's a beautiful country with friendly people, a great culture, good values, lots of cool animals, and bland food. Costa Rica is much more modern than I expected. The people are very smart, most use computers, most speak English, most are educated tour guides :)
They have a very large middle class, and most of the upper class consists of retirees from the US. The country isn't rich, but the people say they are very happy with what they have. There is no army, 25% of the country is national parks, there is mandatory and free lower education, and there is universal health care.
So what did my mom and I do in Costa Rica? We saw active volcanos (Arenal and Poas) and swam in natural hot springs. We saw a coffee plantation and a banana plantation. We saw La Paz waterfalls.
I abuse my Pentax. I dropped it in Vegas so it's all dented up, but it works fine. It got wet in Brazil but made it out ok. At La Paz waterfalls it was completely soaked. It actually stopped working for an hour. But after drying it's as good as new.
We saw a butterfly and Humingbird garden, and took an aerial tour over a rain forest and then a hiking tour through it. We took a city tour in San Jose and saw how little it had to offer. We went to Tortuguero National Park, where the large green turtles come to lay and bury their eggs every year (like you see on the discovery channel). We saw lots of sloths, monkeys, and beautiful butterflies and birds.
Jurassic Park was filmed in Costa Rica and you can see why. It's a small country but has more unique plants and animals than any other place on earth. Walking through the rain forests felt *exactly* like Jurassic Park.
I love Costa Rica. The next time you are thinking about going to Hawaii, go to Costa Rica instead. It's cheaper and less done up for the tourists. The people have big hearts. Pura Vida.
Click here for all the pictures