Heading South to Costa Rica

It is our first trip to this central American country. The fact that they disbanded their military and created a network of parks is part of the appeal...along with their rich biological diversity. Costa Rica alone has 75% of the Central American Biodiversity. In 1970 the Costa Rican people wanted their beautiful country to be protected so future generations could share its natural flora and fauna. That year Costa Rica founded the Costa Rica national parks system that is admired around the world. Costa Rica has maintained a higher proportion of its land mass for national parks. Much more than any other country in the world- with 10.27 % protected as national parks by Costa Rican law. An additional 17 % set aside for reserves, wildlife refuges and protected zones. Almost one third of their country is protected. The Costa Rican government also protects areas of historic and archaeological interest. Pre-Columbian settlement areas and early battlefields are protected with the same fervor as the rainforests and wildlife preserves. Protecting the natural resources of Costa Rica has far-reaching implications because of its amazing biodiversity. https://www.costarica.org/national-parks/

So come along on this trip where we'll have three main stops over about a three week period. We'll visit the highlands (San Vito), the jungle (Osa Peninsula), and the beach (Playa Zancundo) all within an area less than 100 miles. We'll see what we can learn and experience....

All our time will be spent in the SW corner of the country, starting with the highlands in San Vito.

San Vito is home to the Wilson Botanical Garden, the most famous botanical garden in Central America. It is located in The Las Cruces Biological Station. The garden features beautifully diverse plantings of tropical and subtropical ornamentals, representatives of unusual plant families, and rare and endangered plants from Costa Rica and elsewhere.

They have second largest collection of tropical plants found in Costa Rica in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP9vJM1xOos (1 min)

a 2 min walk through https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AduA4w3G1rQ

Birds and animals at Wilson Botanical Gardens, Las Cruces, Costa Rica seen 4-6 January 2011. (6 min)

We'll also visit the international park and UNESCO site, La Amistad.

With its area split between the countries of Costa Rica and Panama, La Amistad International Park is one of the first attempts to manage a protected area between two different nations. Travelers who want to experience ecotourism during their Costa Rica vacation should definitely make an effort to visit the park, as it encompasses nearly 500,000 acres of the country.

Natural World Heritage Site- Including the territory shared with Panama, the park totals more than 990,000 acres and was declared a Natural World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1983. The highest point located inside the park is Cerro Kamuk, which sits at an elevation of 11,644 feet.

The protected environments that can be found within La Amistad International Park include cloud forests, tropical lowland rainforests, glacial lakes, alpine grasslands and an oak forest. With this impressive variety of ecosystems, the national park boasts a remarkable diversity of flora and fauna that showcases Costa Rica's natural beauty.

Abundance of Wildlife - Overall, it is estimated that two thirds of all the wildlife in Costa Rica can be found at La Amistad International Park including a significant number of representatives of the country's treasured monkey species, the jaguar and the puma.

Bird watchers visiting the park will be delighted to know that 500 species of bird reside within the various ecosystems, including the famed resplendent quetzal and nine of the 11 endangered species living throughout the country.

I saw a caged quetzal in Guatemala, but this trip I hope to see one or more in the wild.

The international park is huge. We will only see the small portion in Puntarenas (see map above) We won't even get to the largest portion of the park in SE Costa Rica...

We're looking forward to experiencing the natural beauty, biological richness, and Tico culture typified by their phrase, Pura Vida. Here's a couple of takes on the meaning of the phrase...

If you have been to Costa Rica, or even if you have read about it, you most likely have heard the term pura vida (pronounced poo-da vee-da). Directly translated it means “pure life” in Spanish. However, in Costa Rican Spanish, it means so much more.

During one of my first holidays in the country in the 1990’s I remember our guide saying “pura vida” again and again, nearly to the point of annoyance. As time went on throughout our week together, I came to understand its versatility and vibe.

It is a warm, comfortable greeting, “Hola, pura vida” (think “aloha”). It is a toast, “Salúd, pura vida.” It is a friendly goodbye “Ciao, pura vida”. It is also a way to shrug off frustration. For example, your day at the immigration office took many hours and then you were turned away for missing a certain document, forcing you to make another appointment to try it again (hey, it happens!) “Ahhh, it is the pura vida bureaucracy.”

...

If there were only one Spanish phrase to learn before coming to Costa Rica, it would be pura vida, because you can use it in almost any situation. It is used as a greeting and as a farewell; you can use it for “I’m doing well” or “Everything’s cool”; you can use it for “Oh well!” or “That’s life!” It also can be used for “You’re welcome” or “No worries”–or just about any exclamation like “That’s great!”

Pura vida does translate literally as “pure life.” But like most literal translations, that isn’t actually the best or most accurate English explanation, as you can see from the above examples. Growing up in the South there was a similar use of the word “pure.” It was common to hear your grandmother say something like: “That’s just but pure bull!” The idea was that it was “nothing but” bull.

I think the most accurate, equivalent translation of pura vida is: Nothing But Life.

Here's a video of Costa Rica viewed almost 60 million times ... only 5 min

Still want more? Here's a 29 min documentary featuring locations we won't visit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckA8CIsuWqg (29 min)

So Pura Vida my friends. Stay tuned for more Costa Rica explorations!

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PS I tried to send you some of the great bird shots I've gotten so far, but either it is my very old laptop or a bad connection. I'll just have to wait to share them with you till I'm home. In the mean time let me tell you a story I learned. There's an investigative reporter from Toronto staying at our B&B. There was a Costa Rican that died there saving a child from a fire. He was the last of over 100 people who had migrated north from this area to have survived. It seems that once the USSR collapsed, there was no longer the need to manipulate coffee prices in order to prevent the spread of socialism, and the price dropped to the point where the farmers couldn't survive. They had no choice but to migrate. The sole survivor made it to Canada only to finally perish there. What happened to the others was a mystery. In the Arizona desert thousands of bodies have been found. Over one thousand have not been identified. Thanks to the work of this investigative reporter interviewing families here in San Vito and collecting some DNA it appears many of the unknown people who died in the desert are these farmers who were only trying to find a means of survival after their livelihood was taken from them by Maxwell House and the like. Even on holiday it is difficult to escape the ravages of capitalism.

Hope you're all doing well, and you have escaped the tragedy of the profit motive. Will try to touch base today if possible. If not, y'all have a great week and I'll see you next Sunday if not before.

Wait I manage to get some photos to upload. Check out these Tanagers!
the golden crowned..

the blue-gray

Cherrie's 2 males and female in the back

The palm (hard to see..yeah you blend)

Birds you might associate with the tropics...
yellow throated toucan

the mot-mot

and one last one as loading slows...
the blue headed parrot

So there's taste of more to come.