April 20, 2001
Subject:  Pura Vida en Quepos/Manuel Antonio


Hola todos, ?Como estan?

Greetings all from Quepos on the Pacific side of Costa
Rica.

From where we left off...

Monday afternoon, after our last walk on the beach in
Tamarindo, Jen and I drove off to Monteverde Cloud
forest.  The road up there was great, until we reached
about 15km away, where the road turned not only to an
unpaved road, but actual rocks and boulders sticking
out of the road.  It was bumpy and steep as anything.
We spent most of the time in first or second gear.  It
was lots of fun driving through it though.

We got into Santa Elena at 9:00pm that night and
grabbed a bite to eat and went to the Hotel Tucan.
The next morning we went to the Monteverde Cloud Forest
reserve.  It was beautiful.  Absolutely stunning.
This is what a rainforest was all about.  We took a 3
hour hike at the beginning with a guide who taught us
all about the birds of Costa Rica.  We even saw a few
of the rare Quetzals.  The rest of the day, Jen and I
spent wandering the trails of the rainforest.  The
weather was great, not too hot, some clouds, some sun,
etc.

On the hike we crossed the Continental Divide which
stretches from Northern Canada to the tip of Agentina.
On one side, the water flows towards the Pacific, and
on the other, towards the Atlantic.  It was amazing.
Stepping over to the Atlantic side, the wind was
howling and it was cool.  Two steps to the right on
the Pacific side, it was hot and there was no wind
at all.  It was so odd, but really cool.  On the
Pacific side we could see all the way to the ocean
and the Peninsula De Nigoya, whereas on the Atlantic
side, it was quite cloudy, but you could see the
clouds moving really fast, hitting the side of the
mountain.  Unbelievable.

The next day, we went to the Santa Elena Mountain
Reserve which is in the same area as Monteverde.  We
took a half day hike that morning.  It rained most
of the time and the trail was muddy, but everything
again was stunning.  The smell of a rainforest is
incredible.  Such a rich variety of life.  There are
tons of trees called epiphytes which are trees that
live and grow out of other trees.  Some are huge
stretching a hundred feet (or more) in the air.  There
are many flowers and so much to see. This time we had
our raincoats, so the rain didn't matter to us.

That afternoon, we drove back to San Jose, returned
the car and took the bus to Quepos, on the Pacific Coast
half way down the country, arriving at 9pm.  We
checked into a pension and went for dinner.

Today, we got up early (due to the loud birds they
keep downstairs) and took the bus to Manuel Antonio
National Park.  We saw tons of monkeys and 3-toed
sloths.  Lots of wildlife and beautiful trees, etc.
We spent some time on the beach where some monkeys
were trying to get into our backpacks we left on the
beach while we went for a walk.  They're so cute, but
pesky since most of the tourists feed them and now
they expect food.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the park at the
beach enjoying ourselves and relaxing.  We're currently
figuring out what to do for the next couple days, but
I'm sure you'll find out shortly.

A couple things about Costa Rica.  We eat mostly
Casado, their national dish, which consists of rice
and beans, with your choice of meat.  We've been
drinking the water here without any problems, but we
usually put a few drops of our chlorine solution in
15 minutes beforehand.

Costa Rica has one of the highest literacy rates in the
world at 95%.  It can do this because it doesn't have
an army and can alot so much of it's revenue towards
education and health care.  Costa Rica also has one
of the lowest infant mortality rates and one of the
highest life expentancy rates.  Amazing for such a
small country.

As you can guess, Spanish is the main language and it's
difficult to get by without a bit (unless you're on
a specific tour or in a resort).  Luckily Jen lived in
Peru for a few months and can get by quite easily
here.  She's pretty much carrying me in that respect.

Anyways, gotta go.

Hasta Luego amigos,

Rob