Why You Should Visit Costa Rica (1/2)
February 28, 2008 – 11:49 pmIn terms of natural landscapes, friendly people, and a relaxing atmosphere, Costa Rica is one of the best countries in the world to be. That is not an opinion.
Of course, to be fair, there are reasons not to visit Costa Rica. If you’re used to the nightlife of New York, London, and Tokyo, then Costa Rica will be a big change for you. If you think Lombard Street in San Francisco is a rough ride, then you won’t want to be on the bumpy road leading up to Monteverde, home of the spellbinding cloud forests in the northwest of Costa Rica. If you only speak English…well, don’t worry about that. Most employees at most resorts speak pretty good English.
However, if you’re interested in nature in any of its forms (animals, bugs, mountains, beaches, bodies of water, forests, plants, and so on), then Costa Rica’s the place for you. If you’re an environmentalist or just someone who’s concerned about preserving our natural resources, then you might even want to stay for a while. Costa Rica probably has more eco-lodges than anywhere else in the world. If you’re tired of emptying your wallet for a tiny hotel room in Paris, then you’ll love the spacious resorts next to the Caribbean.
Can you see the turtle? It’s a species unique to Costa Rica that’s on the endangered list.
I was fortunate enough to spend a month in Costa Rica as part of a group called International Student Volunteers (ISV) a few years back, two weeks volunteering with local villagers and two weeks touring the country, so I got both the locals’ version and the tourists’ version, which are, naturally, quite different.
Being so close to the equator, Costa Rica has perhaps the greatest biodiversity in the world, meaning there are more species of animals and plants packed into this tiny country of barely four million inhabitants (that’s not even half of Los Angeles County) than anywhere else in the world. It is also the safest and most economically stable country in all of Latinamerica, free of all the political wars, economic crises, and pollution (the tap water is more than safe to drink) that wrack a number of Latinamerican countries, so if you’ve never been to Latinamerica and are the type to visit every country in Western Europe before you even consider touching Eastern Europe or Asia, then Costa Rica is a good place to start.
Now that we have the summary of a Wikipedia article out of the way, let me tell the real story:
I stayed in a village called Pejivalle in the Cartago province, working on a wildlife refuge called La Marta. It was, to be trite, one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It was actually pretty awesome staying in a house without electricity, having dinner by candlelight every night, waking up looking at the mountains every morning. The house itself was much less rustic than I had expected. Some hot water would’ve been nice, but at least there was a Western-style toilet and it had plumbing (if you’ve been to some parts of Asia, you’ll appreciate this). I enjoyed taking baths in rivers and under waterfalls, but let’s not get too romantic here. I usually went back to the house to really shower.
It was my first time living in a village, and honestly most things I had read in books or seen in movies were true. It was such a small community that everybody knew everybody. Of course, that also meant gossip spread like wildfire. Oddly, I find this might attract certain people.
When it was time to go, lots of people cried. Of course, I didn’t cry. (No, really, I didn’t.) Many of my fellow volunteers went back after our two-week tour to visit the village again. It just so happened that the end of our tour coincided with the annual festivities of Pejivalle.
When you go on tour in Costa Rica, there’s something for everyone: whitewater rafting and the likes for adventurers, numerous hiking trails for nature lovers, natural hot springs for those who are a little tired of the standard fare in America, and beautiful resorts for those on their honeymoon. If you miss the city nightlife that badly, you can try out the clubs in San Jose, the capital. They’re the best the country has to offer.
