As soon as I stepped off the plane into the corridor leading to the air terminal in San Jose, Costa Rica, it was evident that I was in the jungle. The air in that corridor, and engulfing the rest of the country, was choryphyll-flavoured and clothed everyone and everything in a layer of warm moisture. It was a feeling I had only experienced in greenhouses in Canada and I was amazed that a whole region of the world could feel like that.
I spent most of my time in Costa Rica with my friend Lyndsie. We did our best to tour as much of the country as we could during our 10 days together there. The public transportation system was incredibly efficient and cheap, and I recommend using it if you ever go there, as long as you don't mind maniac drivers who have little or no regard for their own lives and the lives of their passengers on the roads of a country that has the second highest motor vehicle accident record in the world. My rule was: sit at the back of the bus, be prepared to brace yourself, and don't ever look out the window to see what's happening on the road. There were several times when I did look at the road to find the bus driver was navigating a narrow one-lane dirt road pitted with deep holes on top of a mountain with two very steep drops to valleys below on both sides of the bus during a rain storm. I recommend bringing an absorbing book to keep busy with when travelling through mountain passes.
Most people who go to Costa Rica visit Monteverde and La Fortuna, and Lyndsie and I are no exceptions. I enjoyed both places immensely. Especially the Butterfly Garden, Serpentarium, Frog Farm, Insect World, and other such attractions. Who wouldn't love learning about all the frogs, snakes, and insects that may kill you on your trip? Honestly, I loved the Serpentarium, but it was difficult to sleep in our cabin after learning about Chagis bugs. (These lovely little creatures climb up onto your face while you sleep and bite your lip. Eventually the poisons that they emit into your lip kill you. The Lonely Planet mentions something about your heart imploding or exploding or something. Anyways, the tour guide at Insect World said that these little buggers are responsible for an astounding number of deaths in Latin America each year.)
My favorite place in Costa Rica was undoubtedly Tortuguero, an island on the Carribean coast which is cutoff from the mainland by a river. We took a boat-bus down the river to reach the island, which was an adventure in itself. Monkeys and Crocodiles and Parrots, Oh My. The feeling that I had when I stepped off the airplane at San Jose was revived when I stepped off the boat-bus onto the island of Tortuguero, except this time, instead of stepping into a different climate, I was stepping into a different time- specifically, island time. Reggae was pumping, the people were lounging around with their friends and family, several casual soccer games were being played, and the smell of the ocean wafted through the air. There are no streets on the island of Tortuguero, just foot paths. It's a ten minute walk from the river that we came from, across the island to the ocean beach. It's something like how I imagine Heaven.
