Costa Rica generates mixed reviews from travellers: jungle, wildlife, beaches… but two words crop-up with some regularity: ‘touristy’ and ‘expensive’. Not the most enticing adjectives. But even if it were possible to avoid the country on our way through Central America, which it isn’t, we still wouldn’t want to miss checking it out for ourselves. So here we are… just checking it out…

No problema

Getting into Costa Rica was far easier and quicker than we had been led to believe. Oh, the horror-stories told by overlanders of Central American border crossings. ¡Muchos problemas! Long/multiple queues, corrupt officials, confusing procedures, copious amounts of photocopying, dubious ‘fixer-chaps’ pestering for a fast-buck. We cannot tell a lie here, the tales had created a little apprehension as we approached the border. Was this going to be a deeply frustrating ordeal?

Turns out… it was the proverbial ‘storm in a tea-cup’. At the Canoas crossing, 09:00 hrs on a weekday morning, we found no queues, no ‘fixer-chaps’, friendly/helpful officials and a transparent procedure. The whole thing took just over an hour, straight through. Pah!!! Nothing to these Central American borders 😊. Maybe we just got lucky… let’s see… maybe the next crossing into Nicaragua will be worse. Who knows?

If this is Costa Rica… jungle, wildlife, beaches

Just over the border from Panama, turn left and you’re in one of Costa Rica’s premier wildlife regions: the Osa Peninsula. Cheeky capuchin monkeys, brightly coloured macaws, large scuttling iguanas and much more. The wildlife here is fab-u-lous, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to tourist crowds. The peninsula is sufficiently far from the ‘core’ tourist zone of central Costa Rica, that the visitors here are relatively few.

We took the coastal dirt-track skirting the southern peninsula between crashing waves, palm-fringed beaches and dense jungle. It took us through a few shallow river-crossings and on to the most remote beaches at the end of the road. Ahhh… bliss… relaxing on a beach and seeing literally only three or four people in the few days we were there. If this is Costa Rica, we think we’re going to like it 😊. But it wasn’t all lolling and lounging around… No Sir’ee. We put on our wellies and set out to make some millions with a bit of gold-panning too. There is, quite literally, gold in them-there hills… click here for the story.

After the Osa Peninsula we wound our way north towards San Jose. Nice though the beaches are, it’s pretty hot and humid down at sea-level, so we headed to some higher ground. There are many things one might expect to find in Costa Rica, but a chilly climate is not one of them. It’s jungle here, it’s meant to be all hot and humid isn’t it? Well not in the highland Quetzal National Park. There in the cloud forest it drops to a nippy 5C at night! First time we’ve used our central heating in ages, but it did make for a pleasantly cool hiking during the day searching for the elusive Quetzal.

Quetzal Quest

We’re really not bird spotters by any stretch of the imagination, but we are keen where possible to see the unique wildlife that each region we visit has to offer. In the Amazon jungle, we were thrilled to finally see in Ecuador the highly elusive, bright orange ‘Cock of the Rock’ that we had been looking for all the way since French Guiana. Here in Central America, the equivalent iconic bird is the Quetzal. It’s a brightly coloured, beautiful creature once considered divine by the early indigenous cultures of the region and we want to see one.

Our hunt to spot a Quetzal began, unsuccessfully, back on the disingenuously named ‘Quetzal Trail’ in Panama. In theory, we should have more luck here in Costa Rica. First, the population is said to be greater here, and secondly it is now just coming into the peak season to spot them.

 

We began our Costa Rica search optimistically in the appropriately named Quetzal National Park. “Oh yes…” said the campsite lady “… you’re sure to see them by Trogon Lodge around 05:00 hrs” Eeek!! Did she say 05:00hrs??? Do we really want to see a Quetzal so badly that we’re prepared to wake up at 04:30 hrs and drive down the road to stand out in the cold, misty cloud forest at dawn? It seems the answer to that question is “Yes… we do”. So we did.

We stood around in the cold, together with several small groups of much more keen-looking ornithology-type American tourists and their local guides. We had found the right spot, but no luck. Later in the day it warms up nicely, so we took several short hikes around the trails keeping our eyes and ears open, but we saw nothing, nada, rien, zilch. Hmpppfff. Quetzal bleedin’ National Park???!! Me thinks whoever came up with that name has their pants on fire! It seems that Costa Rica’s ‘Quetzal Park’ is just as duplicitously named as Panama’s ‘Quetzal Trail’ ☹. Oh well… there’ll be more chances.

Short drives, big prices

One thing we’re just starting to get used to here in Central America is the comparatively tiny distances between places. This seems strange after so long in South America where drives can take days between attractions. Now we find that everything is just an hour or two apart and we can fit several things into a day. Everything seems to be scaled-down, like teeny-town 😊.

As we tootled up the road to San Jose we found lots of little things to stop and see: an excellent reptile rescue centre just inland from Dominical, plus an artisan cheese-maker and a chocolatier (with all the relevant tastings of course) at Canaan. But the thing is, it’s not just the short distances that we have to get used to here, it’s the high prices too. Panama seemed expensive after very affordable Colombia, but here in Costa Rica the prices for everything are another notch up again.

Take Irazú Volcano for example, a tourist attraction near the capital, San Jose. US$15pp to get into the park. In the park is a view-point from which the crater-lake can be seen. It’s a spectacular view, but nevertheless it’s just one view. There are no hikes, no activities, no jungle trails or waterfalls here. US$15 seemed to us, to be a lot for this but the longer we stay here, the more we get used to it. It’s pointless comparing costs between countries. Each place has its own economy and it is what it is. You have to either suck-it-up or move along.

Remember that Parcel?

If you followed us back in Panama, you might recall that we left the country having been unable to receive a DHL parcel that had been sent to us from UK with some parts for the truck. Due to customs problems in Panama, DHL offered to send the parcel on to Costa Rica for us to receive here instead (good service, eh?). The parcel duly arrived in San Jose, but two weeks later, it was still stuck in Costa Rican customs. Kind of predictable maybe… but anyway… we found a great spot in a nice part of San Jose where we could park-up and wait… and wait. Finally… ta dah!! The parcel was released.

Some of the items in the parcel were parts for completing the fit-out of our new lithium battery system into the truck. We bought the batteries here in San Jose and now Marcus has completed the installation (see here). Hurrah!!! We’re free to move on. San Jose… you’ve been a pretty cool waiting room, but it’s time to explore a bit more of Costa Rica 😊