Weird & Wonderful: Costa Rica

A religious leader with two Pingus!

Dildo Growing Palm Tree

Random Shotgun Guard

Ant carrying a leaf. There were hundreds.

Double Rainbow!

I was jetlagged and should've used her selfie stick!

Fat lady

From behind... and at night

Danger zone...

Costa Rica In My Mouth

First buffet plate during the Orosi Valley tour.

A plethora of traditional dishes. All very fresh and tasty!

Round Three at the buffet!

Plantain fritters! These are called patacones.

Guacamole, salsa, & red beans! Yum

Main Course: Seabass with sauce containing mussels, shrimps, and octopus.
Very tasty topped with some crispy noodles.

Dessert. Mixed fruit shake.
Big fan of the shakes!

Mexican quesadillas fast food. All this for £5.

Typical dish I got at lunch while working in San Jose.

Costa Rican Lemon Beer

Breakfast with salsa sausage.

Prawns and mussels in a garlic and lime sauce. The fresh seafood was the best part of Costa Rican cuisine.

Ceviche. Prawns, octopus, mussels, etc "sort of" cooked
in the acidic lemon juices. Very tangy!

Grilled Octopus Salad. A lovely healthy dinner!

Gallo Pinto with scrambled egg. Typical Costa Rican breakfast.
Dave sized portion

Costa Rican Beer: Nice enough but
nothing to blog home about.

Not as nice as Pilsen but still drinkable

Scallop served on polenta. The foam was delicious. Excellent and pricey starter from Grano de Oro.

Red Skate: Cooked brilliantly.

Almondy meringue. Delightful.

Cafe Britt: Coffee flavoured liquor

My final meal was a chicken burger and sweet potato fries.
There was limited choice in the airport!

But I did get an Oreo Haagen Daaz Shake

One Day in San Jose

The capital of Costa Rica is a city with around two million inhabitants/habitants known as San Jose (pronounced Hoe-say). Costa Rica is a fairly popular holiday destination but your average holiday makers aren’t too interested in the capital and are generally much more intrigued by the incredible nature and surroundings away from the city.

Unfortunately my business trip was not located on one of the lush beaches or hidden away in a forest; it was in the capital. This meant I got to spend some time in a city known to be the safest in Central America. I wasn't sure how to interpret that stat as don't have a Central American safety scale to refer to. Does safer mean I can wear a watch out at night? Take out $100 from the cash point? Personally I believe every city in the world can be dangerous and I generally just keep my head low and don’t carry anything of worth (besides my camera) with me. When there are citizens who have next to nothing and see a rich tourist, you can easily see how things can turn nasty.

I walked around one night and I wouldn’t say I felt particularly uneasy. I mean, no more uneasy than I feel walking around parts of London on my own. I always scan my surroundings like Jason Bourne and I walked with a purpose, attempting to disguise myself as Costa Rican, i.e. I wore a fake moustache and browned up. I have since been told that it is quite dangerous and I should not be walking alone. So I guess "safest in Central America" doesn't mean safe, and I was naive and a bit lucky.

One thing I did notice on my racist night walk was the abundance of working girls. It’s very sad to see these young ladies in a country with little opportunity, where their best way of making a living is selling their fertile flesh to overweight westerners. I enjoy sex as much as the next pervert but the idea of this being the best job young women can get is upsetting. The ladies whistled and smiled as I walked by and I realised how lucky I was to be born in a place with all the opportunities of a developed economy.

On the day I arrived, I spent the afternoon wandering the downtown in a zombie-like jetlagged state. Brazil and Costa Rica have a 4 hour time difference and I flew at night. I only had the one afternoon in the city though so I wanted to make best use of it despite being knackered. This involved a trip to the National Theatre. It’s a shiny little thing that tops the TripAdvisor sights in San Jose and was well worth the $10 entry fee.

Gorgeous paintings littered the walls and ceilings

Very intricate gold carvings

I also stumbled upon another market. This was more of a market aimed at tourists and was open until later. It was full of cool ornaments and the tat looked different from the usual suspects in Asia.

There is a market in the centre of the city that sells street food and traditional dishes, as well as trinkets and all things for the Costa Rican people. It was cool but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to eat there on my one afternoon in San Jose, as it closes at 6pm - I don't even have a decent photo. The food looked great and I would recommend it though.

I noticed something quite unusual as well. There were a lot of scaffold towers with police officers stationed on them, looking over the main parts of the city. I guess this is what they mean by safest city in Central America.

There is not a lot to see in San Jose, at least not what I found. But walking about I got a feel for the country. A lot of happy smiling people who are full of pride about their country (their flags are everywhere) with its sustainable existence and peaceful history.

Cloudy with a Chance of Volcanoes

I had one day for super fun times in Costa Rica before starting the business part of my business trip, so I went on a day trip to see a nearby volcano called Irazu that looks beautiful in the photo below (courtesy of wikipedia). It last erupted in 1963.

I don’t normally use photos not taken by myself but the visit to the volcano was not the most successful trip I have ever taken. The top was covered in cloud and mist and I saw very little from the peak. It was a real shame to be honest and if you are planning on doing the trip, I would check the weather to ensure you leave on a day that isn't overcast. And while we are talking about weather, I just want to say that it was nippy up the volcano. I brought a jacket but my legs got cold and only recovered after I had a coffee. Take long trousers and a coat for sure.

Okay, so she's a Coyote (not a dog)

My unprepared legs were exposed.

Nearly seeing the crater

Central American White Nosed Coati

Very cool!

The journey to the volcano was interesting and I got to see the surrounding villages and landscape. Costa Rica is a very green and beautiful country with many hills. The area and the journey were really very beautiful.

Next up on the trip was the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels – the most famous Christian site in Costa Rica. It is located in the old capital, Santiago, and was really quite different to the other thousands of churches I have visited over the many years. The interior had a lot of pillars. There were more pointless columns than a tabloid newspaper.

Also visitors were doing this bizarre act of kneeling before entering the church, then knee shuffling down the aisle to the front. It was really odd behaviour being carried out by a large group of people. It was a sign of respect of where they were but it must have been pretty painful on the old kneecaps.

The Orosi valley was beautiful and we stopped at a viewpoint called, “Mirador Ujarras“. From here I got some great views of the valley and the lake where we would be eating lunch.

The tour stopped by this church on 
its way down to the restaurant

The restaurant was surrounded by beauty. I won’t go into the details of the food yet, as another post is coming, but it was very nice. The Sunday tour had a special buffet lunch and is apparently a lot nicer than the normal weekday / Saturday lunch.

After lunch the tour went to the Lankester gardens. Built by a Brit (get in!) and now owned by the University of Costa Rica, it had a stunning array of orchids and various other plants. I also learnt about epiphytes. These are non-parasitic growths on trees (pictured below).

I had to cross this bridge to get to the gardens.

Epiphytes

Tiny orchids on one plant

Recognise this?

A Japanese Garden, not too dissimilar from the ones we saw in Kyoto.

Cactusessses

It really was a lovely tour and besides the bad weather, it couldn't have been better (unless Katie had been there of course). Donald the tour guide was very knowledgeable and I now know more about orchids than is healthy for a 26 year old man. He also had an unbelievable skill of being able to switch languages instantly to inform the group in English and Spanish. I don't know how that's possible...

Donald showing us an orchid
that only lived for one day

How to go on the tour?

Booked through Viatour (part of the TripAdvisor family) for $99 (£65). It included a hotel pickup / drop off and that incredible lunch so didn't Costa lot. I love that companies call themselves a family to try and personalise and make them sound friendlier and less profit driven. They obviously don’t know my family :)

Until next time, when I will chat about San Jose and the sights to see in Costa Rica's capital.