Costa Rica (1)

When I entered Costa Rica from Panama, I got a stamp on exit, and another stamp on entry. Basically, I didn’t ask any questions, and I didn’t look at the bank account certificates, departure tickets, and vaccination certificates I prepared. I feel that if you don't queue up and walk across the street next to it, it's okay. Of course, this is considered illegal entry, and it should be troublesome when you leave the country. While waiting for the long-distance bus, an older lady next to me enthusiastically told me how to transfer to my destination in a while, and asked me to set my watch back for an hour. Only then did I realize that there was an hour's time difference between here and Panama. On the long-distance bus journey, I found that the concept of epidemic prevention here is quite different from that in Panama. Even in a small village in Panama, everyone who walks outdoors wears a mask, but here is similar to the United States, and almost no one in indoor cars wears a mask.

After crossing the border, I took a four-hour drive to the coastal town of Uvita. After four consecutive days of heavy rain from afternoon to night, I had to stay in the hotel. It finally stopped raining this afternoon, so I went out for a stroll around the town and saw some small animals. Marino Ballena National Park is just off the coast. When the tide ebbs, a path connecting the coast and the island will appear. Looking down, you will see the shape of the whale's tail, which is amazing. You can walk over when the tide is low, but you must walk back before the high tide, otherwise you may have to swim back. The tide was already high when I arrived in the afternoon, so I had to steal a picture online.

The night before I came, I booked a hotel online, and when I arrived, I found out that it was a family hotel with no name on the outside. The boss is an uncle, I have nothing to chat with him, and I learned that unlike other Latin American countries, the water from the taps in most parts of Costa Rica can be drunk directly, because the water here is of high quality. Uncle was born in Costa Rica, but moved to Panama when he was one year old. He didn’t come back until he was 22 and has been living in the capital, San Jose. His two daughters, both in their mid-30s, live in the capital, San Jose. He previously worked at Intel for eight years before driving Uber taxis. I bought this land and this house eight years ago, and I drive to the seaside for vacations from time to time. He decided to move here two years ago because he felt the capital was too expensive, too noisy, with too many cars and too much stress. He now drives a taxi for two or three hours a day. He started to renovate the house last year, and now there is only one room for rent, but he said that the whole house will be renovated, and then there will be five rooms that can be rented out, and a small orchard will be built next to it, and some fruit trees will be planted. The uncle also said that he would like to travel to China and Japan in the future to see those historic sites.

The next morning, I planned to take a bus to Sierpe, another small town, to join a Mangrove mangrove tour. After waiting for a long time, the bus did not come. Later, I asked passers-by and they all said that they would have to wait for an hour or two before the bus came. Because the group started at 8:30, it must be too late to wait for the bus. So I went back to the hotel and asked the uncle if he could pay him to drive me there, he filled up the gas and drove me there. On the way there, I asked him why the public transportation system here is so poor compared to Panama and other Latin American countries. Waiting for the bus usually takes an hour or two. He said that because most people living on this highway do not need to commute to and from other cities and towns, most people drive and do not rely on public transportation. This is too similar to non-big cities in the United States. You have to wait a long time to take public transportation, and everyone has to drive everywhere. I asked the uncle how much it costs to rent a car here, and he said that it costs 80-100 dollars a day, which is expensive enough.

I arrived at Sierpe on time to join the group. Among the other three people in the group, a couple is a German from Toronto, and the other is their friend in Germany. Mangrove is a tropical tree that grows near water, with three interlaced roots exposed to the ground. Mangroves act as a natural coastal defense wall, protecting land and coastal communities from the threats of storms, tsunamis, sea level rise and erosion. We took a small boat and explored various wild animals and plants in the mangroves with the guide. After one of them boarded the boat, he set up a tripod and a camera with a large telephoto lens on the bow to take pictures. Along the way, I saw grasshoppers with gorgeous wings like butterflies, crocodiles, turtles, various birds I had never seen before, small bats, monitor lizards lying on big leaves basking in the sun, and a tropical fruit whose name I forgot.

In the mangrove group, I saw a Macaw macaw that I had never seen before. It is a large and colorful American parrot. The wild ones can live for 30 to 40 years, but most of the wild macaws are on the verge of extinction. Cell phone cameras simply cannot bring out the colors of their extremely vibrant plumage that the naked eye can see. We also saw three different monkeys: the white-faced capuchin, the small squirrel monkey and the howler monkey, which can make a huge roar. Some monkeys are chasing and playing, some hang leisurely on the branches, and some jump around and almost fall, which is very entertaining for the public.

Daily life of white-faced capuchin monkeys chasing and fighting

Howler monkeys who wanted to jump over to eat banana leaves together, unfortunately almost fell, but luckily their tails curled up on the branches. If one road does not work, change to another, and take a detour.

After the half-day tour, the three Germans took me to the station in a small town seven or eight kilometers away from where I lived, and I waited for another hour. While waiting for the bus, it began to rain heavily again. When I arrived at the hotel, I planned to take my luggage and go to the next town, but the rain was so heavy that I couldn’t go out at all. I stayed here for another night before leaving tomorrow morning. The most exaggerated thing is that the umbrella is estimated to be used too frequently, and it can't stop the power of the downpour. A folded wire actually broke.

I really didn't want to wait for the bus endlessly, so I decided to ask my uncle to drive me to Manual Antonio National Park at 6 am the night before, so that I could enter the park to avoid the crowds after the park opened at 7 am. All the money for the past two days was spent on Uncle’s taxi, but it’s much better than waiting endlessly for the bus. When I arrived at the small town near the park, I put the big backpack at the front desk of the hotel, and then went to the park. Because there are many wild animals in the park, feeding is not allowed, so check the backpack before entering the park, and take out the food and put it in the locker next to it, which is very strict.

Saw some new species in the park: raccoon-like animals, creepy little frogs with snake-like eyes, giant spiders and giant blue morpho butterflies. This is really a paradise for monkeys. When you look up in an area, you can see monkeys playing in trees.

Get closer to the white-faced vervet monkey here, and this monkey is a bit short. A mother monkey can jump such a long distance with a baby monkey on her back. The calls heard are those of howler monkeys up above trying to take over territory to scare away other monkey groups.

The wings of the Morpho butterfly have a bright sapphire-like color, but they stand upright and completely overlap as soon as they settle down. It is a brown-gray protective color, which is difficult to find.

Because I entered the park early, I walked all the routes out of the park at noon, decided not to stay here at night, and continued on the road. I temporarily searched for a rest in Puntarenas, a place I hadn't planned to go to. My personality exploded. I didn't spend much time waiting for the three local and long-distance buses. The bus came as soon as I arrived at the station. If I missed the last one, I would have to wait for an hour and a half. And after sitting in the car for more than three hours, I got out of the car and walked for 15 minutes before entering the hotel, and it started to rain heavily again.

Once a small fishing village, Puntarenas is now a weekend beach getaway for city dwellers. When I arrived on Sunday, the coast was full of people on vacation. On Monday morning, there were almost no people on the street, and it was very quiet. On the map, this town is a slender strip deep into the bay, and the coast is full of small restaurants and hawkers pushing carts selling snacks, pork salad, vigorones, and fruit shaved ice cream churchill. It is said that a carnival is held here every summer in February, and many people come here to participate in large beach parties. It is also a transit point for people to take the ferry to the town on the other side of the bay. When I checked out at noon the next day, the boss saw that I was carrying a big backpack and it was a hot day, so he offered to drive me to the station. Before leaving, try their two special local snacks. Taking the bus on the expressway because of the traffic accident ahead, I was completely motionless for half an hour. When he was able to move slowly, the driver had an idea and turned his head around and took a detour to avoid the congested area of the traffic accident. In the end, he arrived more than an hour later than the expected time.