15: Across the Border

Costa Rica is known for its extensive system of national parks, lush cloud forests and beautiful beaches where sea turtles hall themselves out onto the sand to lay their eggs. I had wanted to witness this natural beauty for years. However, even when I lived right nextdoor in Nicaragua something always got in the way of my plans to hop over the border into Costa Rica. Nicaragua was just too interesting! This time, though, with more time for traveling Patty and I were determined to dedicate at least a couple weeks to exploring Costa Rica.

The difference between Nicaragua and Costa Rica was obvious the moment we crossed over the border between the two countries. Gone were the street vendors filling the air with animated announcements for delicious food, exotic drinks and obscure services. Gone were the children playing soccer in the streets and offering to shine your shoes for a few córdabas each. The rattling retired school buses that serve as the main transportation system in Nicaragua were replaced with luxury lines with reclining seats and family cars that zoomed down the Costa Rican highways. On the other side, all the houses suddenly sported shining glass windows and forests extended into the horizon on either side of the road. We didn't need any background information to figure out that Costa Rica is a country with a stronger economy and a lot more money than Nicaragua.

Almost ever family I know in Pueblo Nuevo has at least one person working in Costa Rica. With very limited opportunities to make enough money to support their families in Pueblo Nuevo, these people are attracted to Costa Rica by the abundance of jobs. Although they are all low-paying, these jobs are still better than what they could find in their own country. In fact, almost all of the manual labor and poorly paid jobs in Costa Rica are filled by Nicaraguans. This sets up a situation ripe for prejudices and discrimination. Sure enough, as soon as we crossed into Costa Rica one of the first things we heard were several insults directed towards Nicaraguans. It would be easy to blame Nicaragua for its poverty and congradulate Costa Rica for its wealth. However, to really understand the differences between the two countries, you have to look into the past. While in this past century Costa Rica has enjoyed a realatively calm and peaceful existence, Nicaragua has suffered a long string of exploitation and violence. As a consequence of a cruel dictatorship and a tragic civil war (and the US government's support of both) Nicaragua is now one of the poorest countries in the Americas.

Although Patty and I missed the friendliness and warmth of the Nicaraguan people, we had a fabulous time exploring the natural wonders of Costa Rica. Our prime destination was the cloud forests of Monteverde. In this area there are many parks of protected land and a thick tangle of green extends across the valleys in almost every direction. Once there, we decided that for the true experience we had to backpack into one of the camping shelters deep in the jungle. Just getting there was like being in some kind of fantasy. Pushing our way through the low-hanging clouds we decended steeply through many different plant zones. Slipping and squelching our way through the thick mud we attently listened to our guide who taught us about the plant life and advised us on how to best avoid poisonous snakes. At one point he stopped to point out the claw marks made by a tropical puma as it leapt up a tree!

We were exhausted, but elated when we finally made it to the little cabin in clearing in the forest. Once our guide made sure everything was in order, he left us to trot back up the trail. All alone in the middle of the wild rainforest! Even if we couldn't see them, it was exciting to look out on the forested mountainsides and think about all the animals that this park protects; jaguars, ocelots, monkeys, quetzales, tropical frogs and even the snakes! One of our most exciting moments at the cabin was when a sleek, black animal came ondulating into view. It looked like a cross between a monkey and a weasle. Patty took tons of pictures as it leapt through the grass and looked up at us quizically. I quietly reached for the animal guide and indentified our visitor as a tyra. I had never seen anything like it before or even heard about it in all my visits to the zoo!

In our few weeks in Costa Rica we came to see many more animals and natural wonders. Some of my favorite discovieres were: tall tree ferns whose leaves floated above our heads like green feathers; Volcano Arenal that hurls bolders the size of small trucks out of its crater that glow bright red in the darkness of night; beautiful blue butterflies the size of our hands; baby white-faced monkeys that passed right over our upturned faces; the nightly concert of crickets, sleepy birds and exotic frogs; and my favorite of all, an arboreal anteater I spotted snuffling and slipping through the tree tops, its long, white nose poking into crevices in search of insects to vacum up as a snack. Each discovery filled us with awe and excitment. It was wonderful to visit a country that has dedicated so much of its land to protected natural reserves. We can only hope that in the future these parks remain intact even when preasures to develop it increase.