Costa Rica (3)

Take a minibus from Monteverde, take a boat, and then take a minibus to La Fortuna. I took a stroll in the city center at noon, asked several tour groups to compare prices, and recorded the lowest price on a note. The boss I asked at the end caught up with me after I left and asked me to show him the note on which I recorded the price, saying that because he is the boss, he can make a decision and give me a cheaper price, so I told him Signed up for two groups. After I went to the supermarket to buy fruit, it started to rain again, so I stayed in the hotel from afternoon to night.

I was supposed to go to the group at 7:30 this morning, but the car failed to pick me up on time, so after several twists and turns, I changed to the white water rafting group that I planned to go tomorrow, and it didn't start until 10 o'clock. The cars are all from the United States, mostly from California. On the way there, the tour guide and team leader taught me the essentials of rafting, safety precautions and other knowledge. It sounds like I am still a little worried about safety issues. I was put on a kayak with my family of four from Austin, Texas. Not long after rowing out, another kayak hit a rock, and two people on board fell into the water. The current was quite turbulent at the time. The captain of our boat hurriedly asked us to throw the rope over for them to catch and take them It was quite thrilling to be dragged onto our boat.

On the way, we parked our kayaks on the shore to have a rest. The captains turned over a kayak and used it as a chopping board, and cut up the fruit for us to eat. None of the Americans in the car had ever seen rambutan. , the first time to eat. The captains said that all the fruits must be eaten, otherwise they would not be able to leave, because there would be fewer kayaks. Opposite to the group dinner in the afternoon is a natural swimming pool, many people lined up and dragged the rope to swing into the river to cool off.

The next morning, I went to Tenorio Volcano National Park with Rio Celeste's group. After walking for about three hours, because the weather was good, the sun came out and I saw the sky blue river. The reason why you can see this color of water is due to the chemical reaction between the volcanic minerals silicon, aluminum and oxygen in the water after the confluence of two rivers at a certain point in the park, combined with the sunlight. A combination of suspension and reflection. So if you use a transparent bottle to fill the water in the lake, it will actually have no color. In order to protect the ecological environment, swimming is prohibited in this park, but after leaving the park, the tour guide took us to a nearby place where we can swim. The water is very cold, but it can wash off the sweat after hiking. Cool.

The group met a young girl from Mexico City. She is a college student studying hotel management. She came to a chain hotel in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, as an intern for event planning. She has been here for a month and will do it for two more months. Graduated in a few months. Her internship here includes food and housing, but no salary. She travels elsewhere on weekends. The hotel she works in is also available in many other cities and countries, so she can also stay for free, and her hotel also cooperates with many local travel agencies. If the tourist group is not satisfied, she can go with the group for free, and only pay for tickets and meals. Their hotel was founded by two Israelis when they were traveling and living in Panama. The concept is very interesting.

In the evening, I met Sister Shushu and stayed in the same hotel together. On the third morning, I went to the free natural hot spring recommended by the locals with my companion. We bought some bananas and rambutan at the fruit and vegetable store next to the hotel. The boss also let us taste a fruit that looked like a big capers, and the inside was sweet like mangosteen. We called an uber, waited for a long time to see that the car didn't move, and sent a message saying that the price of uber was too low, which meant that we should give him some more money. We decided to cancel the order, but we didn't expect that if we cancel now There is also a fee deduction. I asked the driver to cancel, but he did not cancel or move the place. At this time, Sister Shushu asked the owner of the vegetable and fruit shop whether the uber here will attract customers? Not canceling the trip will waste our time. The boss said that her cousin could charge us the same amount and drive us there. At this moment, I saw that the previous uber driver couldn’t afford it and drove elsewhere. If I tried to cancel, the fee would not be deducted. So the cousin of the greengrocer drove us to the natural hot spring. Before getting off the car, I left his phone number and asked him to come and pick us up later.

This natural hot spring, El Choyin, is just down the road. There are some locals and some tourists. The river is always steaming and the water temperature is very comfortable. In some places, the water flow is very fast, which can play a role in massage.

After leaving La Fortuna, I went to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Like many big cities, there is nothing special here. There are shopping streets everywhere in the city center, and the streets are lined with small shops selling small commodities and small vendors setting up stalls. I also saw a small commodity wholesale market called "Yuan Dong" similar to Yiwu. It is estimated that all the small commodities sold are made in China and imported. There is also a Chinatown in the city center (just a street), and only a few Chinese restaurants and milk tea shops were seen.

The best thing about San Jose is the local market here, I come here to eat and hang out every day these days. Inside, I found a very popular small restaurant full of regular customers from locals. I have been here every day for the past few days, and the waiters know me. The kitchen of this small shop is on the upper floor, and there is a simple elevator against the wall to transport food up and down. After the customer ordered, the waiter would stand under the elevator and shout upwards, and the food would be brought down from above after a while. Then they put the plates and utensils left over from the customers on the small elevator, and then transport them up to wash the dishes.

Because the place is small, the tables and benches are lined up, so it is easy to chat with the locals. When I went there for the first time, I saw that people around me were drinking a yellow-green drink. I was curious and asked the girl next to me what it was. She said it was cas, a local fruit juice. Then she immediately asked me if I wanted to try it. She originally asked the waiter for a cup and wanted to give me some, but the waiter might have misheard and gave me a large drink. It doesn't matter, then I'll drink it, it's sweet and sour, not bad. Later, the waiter told me that this cas fruit was similar to guava, and asked another waiter to bring a fruit to show me. After a while, an old lady sat down at the next table and ordered a flatbread. I asked her what it was, and she said it was called chorreada, which was corn cake. She pushed it over and let me try it without saying a word. When I finally went to check out, the little girl didn't even confiscate my drink money, saying that I didn't order it, so she let me try it.

The food in Costa Rica is a little bit better than that in Panama, but it's also more monotonous. The most common local cheap restaurant has a special name called soda. The most common food here is casado, which is a large plate of mixed food with rice, beans, fried plantains, fried mixed vegetables (green papaya, chayote, potatoes, etc.), salad and a large piece of meat (chicken, pork, beef, etc.) ) or fish, basically with a glass of freshly squeezed juice. In addition to casado, the second most common dish is gallo pinto, which is usually served as breakfast, fried with black beans or red beans and rice with bell peppers and other condiments, and usually served with small corn tortillas, cheese, eggs, meat, etc. There are usually a variety of rice dishes on the menu, such as seafood rice, chicken rice, etc. Olla de carne is a large bowl of slow-cooked beef soup, which usually contains cassava, potatoes, corn, plantains, carrots, etc., and a small plate of rice, which can be added to the soup and eaten together. A chifrijo is a large bowl of rice and black beans on the bottom layer, topped with chicharrón fried pork, pico de gallo crushed tomatoes, and topped with fried corn chips, pantacones, and sliced avocado. Vigorón fried pork salad is a typical street food in the small town of Puntarenas. It contains fried pork, fried pork skin, shredded cabbage, boiled cassava, boiled green plantains and lemon juice. Churchill fruit shaved ice cream is also a unique dessert here, which contains shaved ice, fruit, condensed milk, milk powder, ice cream and syrup. Torta chilena is a caramel mille-feuille cake.

It must be mentioned that Costa Ricans often use a unique expression ¡ Pura Vida!, literally means "pure life", is an attitude towards life. But it's actually really hard to translate because they say ¡anywhere and everywhere. Pura Vida! can be used to say hello, thank you, say you are welcome and say goodbye.