Wit and Catharsis: Day 8: Costa Rica

Costa Rica is awesome. It’s a place I hope to come back and explore someday. So nostalgic for Guatemala.

This leaf was easily 5-6 feet long

We took a long bus ride through banana plantations, cattle fincas, pineapple plantations, and past neighborhoods, volcanoes, and little towns. Fascinating. Along the way, the bus pulled over because a sloth was hanging out by the side of the road.

Aunt Susan and I took the aerial tram through the canopy of the rainforest, which was pretty great. Nature is just amazing. My pictures didn’t come out well and even if they had, they could in no way capture what we saw. The highlights were spotting several sloths, an anteater, and several big, iridescent blue butterflies. We also learned about something they call the kerosene plant. The bud is faintly orange on the outside and hot pink on the inside and, just as sure as the nose on your face, smells like kerosene.

Dripping moss

We also saw an enormous leaf-cutter ant colony. These little guys are amazing. I assumed the plants they carry into their colony were for them to eat. But instead, they build their colonies around mushrooms, feed the plants to the mushrooms and then themselves feed off mushroom byproducts. We also saw bullet ants, which are about an inch long and will bite the fire out of you and make you swell up like a balloon.

Costa Rica itself has a really interesting history and is unique among Central America. They have no army and instead invest their money on education and healthcare. The population is pretty heterogeneous and integrated and people are very much into being peaceful and easy-going. Their saying is “pura vida,” meaning very good/great, and it peppers their conversations. Also awesome: the government has been careful to preserve their natural resources. Costa Rica has about 5% of the world’s biodiversity in an area only the size of West Virginia.

Costa Rica = Pura Vida!