We're in the US uh.. Opps look again, its Costa Rica!
COSTA RICA | Sunday, 5 April 2009 | Views [730]
Arriving into San Jose airport, we are greeted by our extended family member; Esteban. Esteban is Alicia's brother's girlfriend's cousin and has somehow landed the unenviable task of picking us up from the airport and welcoming us to Costa Rica. Despite what is surely a major inconvenience to him, Esteban is fantastic and sets us up in his aunt's nearby house which we've been offered as a base for the next couple of weeks. Wow - it really pays to have a girlfriend, with a brother, with a girlfriend, whose family live in Costa Rica!
Perhaps some of the first things to strike you about Costa Rica, are the similarities to the States. There is a huge US ex-pat population here and they seem to have brought with them the fast food chains and SUV's. As you drive along the highway you find yourself pointing out; "Hey look, they've got a (Denny's/Hooters/Office Depot....)". Alicia soon gets tired of me doing this, and her responses evolve pretty quickly from "Oh yeah" to "uhuh" to "Ok, just shut up".
With Alicia's words of wisdom ringing in my ears, I finally get over the US connection and we can now decide what we'll be doing for the next couple of weeks. Lonely Planet time. One look at the prices tells us this is not the most backpacker-friendly country - especially for us non-authentic backpackers who'll always lean to the "no way are we staying in that dorm, we'll take the private ensuite room" option.
Still, there are activities and sights in abundance, and we're only here for two weeks so we'll just have to suck it up. There's a nearby active volcano we can climb, two coastlines (Pacific & Caribbean) and a nature area called Monteverde, which has a more active volcano nearby and some stuff to do in the woods.
What are we waiting for then? Let's hire a car and get exploring.
banana field
