Have you ever cut fresh pipa (green, watery, coconut) at 6am for breakfast? That is what I did today, just outside our house, pick them up from the palm tree and chop it open. This is one of the things Costa Rica has to offer that we cannot find back home. Soon after breakfast we explored the surrounding of the Villas Riviera and went down to the river side, to have a pick. The sound of the water passing by, the waving trees, and the jungle sounds; perfect setting for some introspection and ideas organizing.
Costa Rica, bordered by Nicaragua in the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east, was the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish its army. Costa Rica has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in the Human Development Index, ranking 50th in 2006. The country is ranked 5th in the world, and 1st among the Americas, in terms of the 2008 Environmental Performance Index. In 2007 the Costa Rican government announced plans for Costa Rica to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021. According to the New Economics Foundation, Costa Rica ranks first in the Happy Planet Index (HPI) and is the greenest country in the world (the HPI measures how much of the Earth resources nations use and how long and happy a life their citizens enjoy as a result).
The Green Revolution (from the lonely planet guide- Costa Rica)
In the 1970’s, world coffee prices rapidly dropped due to oversupply, which plunged Costa Rica into an economic crisis, [since coffee had became the number 1 product in Costa Rica economy]. However, the unpredictable nature of the global commodity markets created a rather unusual alliance between economic developers and environmental conservationists. If wealth could not be sustained through exports, then what about imports – of tourists?
Drawing on the success of the Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco, the country’s first federally protected conservation area, Costa Rica embarked on a green revolution. In 1975, the Reserva Biológica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde recorded only 500 tourists, though it wasn’t long before the rain forest was essentially paying for itself. By 1985, tourism was annually contributing US$100 million to the Costa Rica economy.
The ecotourism boom was on. By 1995, there were more than 125 government-protected sites, including national parks, forest preserves and wildlife reserves. The very same year, annual tourist revenues exceeded US$750 million and surpassed coffee and bananas as the main source of foreign currency exchange.
Success also encouraged private landholders to build reserves and today almost one-third of the entire country is under some form of environmental protection. Since 1999, Costa Rica has attracted more than one million tourists each year and continues to serve as a testament to the fact that development and conservation need not be competing interests.
This greenness, besides the waves was what attracted us to Costa Rica instead let’s say the Maldives. Here we have much to do in case there are no waves, and today that was precisely the case. We still checked Pavones in the early morning, only to feel horror-stricken at the wave size; we still drove to Punta Banco, but nothing! So decision was made to get to Piedras Blancas National Park.
As we were coming down to Pavones we adopted new Spanish-like names. Tourita is now Ramón even though we call him princepezca, because he is always fussy about things and with many “not here, not there, won’t do that, I want this etc.”, PP after some heavily heated discussions is now the Mighty el Pelado and myself have the normal standard apodo (nickname) for Francisco, that is, Pancho!
We took the Pandereta (our 4×4 vehicle) and got to Golfito, on the way we had to stop and wait for the ferry, and so we started chatting to the girl on the small tent, selling beverages and other things. One of those things was Ceviche, it can be described as a cocktail of shrimps and spices, on a water mixed with lime, onion and some sauces. Pretty good if you ask me! From Golfito we got to La Gamba and from there to The Esquinas Biological Station, which serves as a scientific base to the National Park, where volunteering, internships and researchers conduct biological studies on the Park. The station was founded in 1993 as a scientific institution owned by the Austrian Association “Verein zur Förderung der Tropenstation La Gamba”. Its main objectives are science, environmental protection and socio-economic projects. The station is scientifically run by the University of Vienna and supported by several other private institutions.
Formely known as Parque Nacional Esquinas, this national park was established in 1992 as an extension of Corcovado (the big national park around here). Currently Piedras Blancas or “White Rocks” covers an area of 12,000 hectares of undisturbed tropical primary rainforest, as well as 2000 hectares of secondary forests, pasture land and coastal cliffs and beaches.
As one last remaining stretches of lowland rainforest on the Pacific, Piedras Blancas is also home to a vast array of flora and fauna. According to a study conducted at the biological station at Gamba, the biodiversity of trees in Piedras Blancas is the densest in all of Costa Rica, even surpassing Corcovado.
Because Piedras Blancas is so remote and so little visited, it is the site for several ongoing animal projects, including the re-introduction of scarlet macaws with the hopes of establishing a self-sustaining population, as well as re-integration of wild cats like ocelot and margay, which were confiscated from private homes. This was a good option since it was possible to watch all wildlife as in Corcovado: All five species of big cats and all four species of monkeys, herds of collared and white-lipped peccary, crocodiles, and various species of poison-dart frogs (including the endemic Golfo Dulce dart frog) and more than 330 species of birds.
At the station a local guard offered us shelter for the car and a map for the itineraries we could take around there. The only thing is that after the walk we had to return the map to the station, fair enough! We took the Trail (as is was called) trail, it was fairly challenging one since none of us was particularly fit for that kind of steep, up and down-mountain trekking. However we were feeling in deep jungle and only the sound of the forest enclosing us. Beautiful scenario and after the Trail we took a divert into the Tocha trail and then into the Waterfall trail, that followed the river until we reached the Esquinas Jungle Lodge, where we had some food before heading to the car under some rain. Left the map in the station and proceeded with the car back to Pavones.
Tourita was the one taking the car and he was speeding so much I was getting nervous and angry. Still I said nothing, after passing the river, the road gets worst and more dangerous, and still he was “cruising” at 80km/h on dirt roads thinking he was the only one using it. Upon going up a hill the approached the bend quite rapidly and as he was turning a car appear in the middle of the road coming toward us. He loses control trying to get out of the way on the other car and crashes into the side. Man I was pissed! Told him to take the car from that place as he just turned it off and even though he car had nothing major when we started to drive again a strange noise was coming out of the wheel and is was not looking good. Below there was some bent metal and screws.
Because we were supposed to have called the Rent-a-Car anyway since the brakes were making loads of noise and it sounded metal against metal, the brake disks were showing signs of being worn down, I called them up and a new car was sent to us and had a time of arrival the next day at 1200.
I also called Thomas Lange for the first time since we arrived (actually tried one time in San Jose but his mobile was switched off). Very friendly and caring we asked how everything was and so on. I told him that when we got the car in San Jose we were told that the service they were providing was for a total of 23 days for Costa Rica only. On the 8th of September we have to get to Nicaragua he said that he would look at it and sort all out in the next day or so. Thomas Lange is the owner and manager of Fatum Travel.
Forecast for tomorrow doesn’t look good, only Friday it appears to have more consistent and quality waves, we will see.
Going now to read a little before sleep.
PURA VIDA, everyone!