So today was supposed to be our hanging bridges and aerial tram day. I have noticed since I've arrived home, and from Internet research, discovered that they've been substituting the aerial trams with the wildlife refuge for about a month. I do wish they had been a little more clear on the new itinerary but it all worked out in the end.
The whole story is that the aerial tram has been having some safety issues. You're suspended way above the ground in a little 6 person tram with a guide. I suppose when they've had to rappel people off in 2 different incidents you really need to give it thought. Especially after seeing my tour group. Many of these older people struggled to get on the tram, let alone getting off of it suspended in the air, only to get down to the rainforest floor and then what. The first time they had an electrical short and the whole system froze. Couldn't get it operating again fast enough to get it moving again. Had to evacuate people off. Second time they had a tree fall on the line and it was broken, had to evacuate everyone off. So the company made the executive decision to stop. Probably a good idea!
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| Monkey at refuge |
Instead they shifted the bridges a few days ahead, and substituted the wildlife refuge. Which I really enjoyed. They showed us a little video about all they do, all I can say is that unfortunately cruelty is everywhere. But they have a lovely set up and an unfortunate supply of animals. Although, I think that some of the animals are rogue animals that have infiltrated the area because there are a lot of random animals around. My personal favorite were the caged squirrels versus the rogue squirrels. I can't imagine why some would be loose and some caged other than the loose ones made their way in.
Saw another sleeping sloth, was able to find it way above me in the trees. Looked just like the other one from the side of the road. They had many, many monkeys that had the run of the place, but mostly stayed in one corner. They did however move around enough to send things falling. A few people came close to getting smacked with unripe mangoes on their heads.
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| Giant tortoise at refuge |
They had a crazy amount of birds, macaws, toucans, and a whole lot of other small ones. Also, several owls. The best was the emus. There was an emu right at the fence with his head hanging over staring at all the people. He had some sort of string in his mouth. He was close enough to touch. Lesson here, don't touch the emu. Don't. One lady got too close and he pecked her bracelet off and ate it. Drew a little blood while doing it. Then his friend came and they both stood there waiting for someone to get close again to steal something.
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Emu, do you have a bracelet for
him to eat? |
Before all of that animal excitement we did a quick drive through San Jose and the red zone. There isn't really a lot to do in Costa Rica's cities. People definitely come for the nature and the beaches. I was going to try to do a tour downtown but didn't have enough time. And based on the quick tour we did, I don't think I missed too much. They have a bunch of museums, and while I'm sure they were lovely, I didn't want to spend my afternoon looking at jade and gold in an underground museum. There were a few buildings to look at but you couldn't really get in and tour. I think my relaxing at the pool was a better plan. We did get to see the new soccer stadium. It was built for them by China. It seems that Costa Rica makes a lot of deals with other countries for their survival. And China is one of the newest partners, and they built them the new soccer stadium as a gift. Before they received a bridge from Taiwan. Pretty nice deal. We also drove through the bad area of San Jose, the red zone. All the books will tell you to avoid this area. It's a poorer area right off the downtown area. But I found it hard to really tell the difference. Virtually every house in San Jose is fully protected. It's all covered with sometimes decorative bars, sometimes not. And some have razor wire above the gates too. But it didn't really matter which area you were in. They all had it. They are trying to gentrify the area, encouraging people to build more hotels and attractions to bring people in and make it safer. Also, they've turned an old prison that looked like a castle into a children's museum. As much as they are trying, I'd still rather see the nature of Costa Rica, rather than the cities. But a hotel closer to the downtown would make it convenient to wander around for a little bit if there was time.
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| Typical housing and stores in Costa Rica cities |
Paul was also telling us about the social set up of Costa Rica. About half are considered middle class, making 1500-2000 USD a month. He did talk about how expensive things are in the grocery stores and how most Costa Ricans will do their shopping at more local places. And while I see his point, the prices were similar to what we have for American goods shipped in at home. It's always more expensive to buy things here than in the States, I'm sure our dual language packaging adds to that. A few Americans thought this was strange for Canada and figured that we would have our own factories to make Corn Flakes and the like. The people of Costa Rica also really enjoy new cars. There were so many car dealerships and not a whole lot of older cars on the roads.
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| Ox cart water wheel to make power |
After all this excitement we continued heading north for La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano. Along the way we stopped for lunch at an Ox Cart Factory in Sarchi. A lot of farmers still use the traditional ox cart and it is apparently an important symbol for Costa Rica as they used the ox carts before the trains came through. This factory still uses water power and only electricity for the lights. And everything is hand painted, quite intricately. The artists they had there were quite impressive. We also stopped at a church in Zarcero. It was quite fancy with all the topiaries surrounding the park. And they may have had a really good ice cream shop across the street to enjoy while walking around the park. They have a huge line of double arches and the idea is that if you walk through them as a couple you will stay together forever.
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| Church in Zarcero |
A few random notes. There are apparently 68 volcanoes in Costa Rica. That's a lot for such a small country! As well, I've noticed that many locals wave at the tour bus as it goes through areas. Maybe this is a novelty because we hit a multitude of detours during our journey with road works. Even Paul commented on it. But they wave to be friendly, rather than waving to be funny. I suppose that when your number one industry is tourism it pays to be friendly to the tourists coming through!
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| Me enjoying ice cream in the park |
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| Grounds of church |
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