Am I really in Central America?
So, Costa Rica, what a culture shock. The kids go to school, heathcare is free, you can walk around the capital without fearing for your life, you can even drink the tap water.
Such a laid back country that unlike the rest of Central America, they only once got a bit carried away and fought with themselves in the 1940s. It was over within a year. The Costa Rican president in the 80s even got a nobel peace prize for helping Nicaragua sort themselves out during the war torn Sandinista era.
My first stop was Playa Tamarindo on the pacific coast. A beautiful long stretch of white sand big enough to get away from the tourists. The town (one dusty main road) is awash with overpriced souveniers, pizza places and realty agents. Many Americans have brought holiday property here but the businesses are run by Argentinians and Italians. According to the lovely Argentinian landlady of my hostel, it would take 5 Costa Ricans to do 1 persons job because they´re so lazy!
I was really on my own here, not sure why, maybe because I find it hard to relate to surfers. So I chilled on the beach, ate pizza, did some errands and left for the capital after a couple of days. San Jose is actually a pretty decent capital with some great museums and galleries. My hostel, for $9 per night, even comes with its own swimming pool!
With a real sense of killing time before doing the Galapagos next week, I decided to leave my big pack in the hostel for a couple of days and try out the caribbean coast.
Random observation: in Mexico and Guatemala cemeteries are extremely colourful and so packed with elaborate tomb stones that you practically have to clamber over them to get through. In Costa Rica, the tombs are white tiled affairs making them look like fields full of 1920s bath tubs. Either way, none of them are like the horror film set things we have back at home.
Tags: Costa Rica
