The 1st week was spent getting used to the different weather and my lifestyle compared to the UK. The temperature was a balmy 25 to 28 degrees with a brisk wind and mostly blue skies. There was time on my hands after years of full-on studies, working and mixed health to just sit in plazas watching kids chase pigeons and performing clowns. It took time to sink in I had really made the unknown leap at age 48 to South America.
For the first few days I stayed in the university city Heredia about 11km NE of the capital San Jose. Both places are in the most populated area of Costa Rica within the Central Valley running north to the Nicaraguan border. The valley is an intermountain plateau flanked by green mountains of the Cordilleras Central and thus has a more temperate climate than the more hot and humid conditions nearer the coast or where we will be working in the lower valleys.
The mountain range has several volcanoes one of which produced an earthquake in January forcing people to flee with many pets abandoned and adding to the number seen as strays along the roads and parking lots. The volcanic soils are excellent for growing coffee so the hill sides have many terraced plantation fields interpsersed with some dairy farms and settlements. Much of the area was once forested with little remaining except on higher mountain sides.
The America Hotel was about 50 yards from the Cathedral plaza and had been booked by my host. This was appreciated as I was whacked from a coach trip to London, 4am start for flight to Madrid and then to San Jose to arrive GMT about 1am and 5pm Costa Rican time. Very nice to be met and looked after by Manuel, since I felt like an archetypal, befuddled tourist and no match for the lively mass of yelling and gesticulating taxi drivers nor much sense of place.
The hotel was spotlesly clean with industrious ladies polishing and bleaching every surface in sight. The en-suite rooms all faced into a inner atrium so were quite dark and soulless with paper thin walls. There´s a fine if you put used toilet paper down the loo so it all goes into an open basket and must get smelly especially with Montezuma´s revenge! The biggest drawback was the cacophony of noise which reverberated around the central column. The city did not sleep! – traffic, sirens, hooting and boy racers; 24 hour hotel casino; loud TV in reception til 3am and cathedral bells every half hour. I asked for a quieter room and with no fuss was given a double room at the back of the hotel. The palette of noise was muted and replaced, fortunately only until about 9pm, by a group of ladies having motivational speeches via a loudspeaker and rapturous clapping from the top floor conference centre. The staff were friendly, free internet and a small restuarant to have breakfast of rice and beans (pinto), scrambled eggs, fried over ripe banana type slices, orange juice, fruit and black coffee.
Manuel introduced me to the University, the cafeteria which we could use as food is cheap and good, the library, his office and use of a computer. I met up with a German biology degree student, K. who has an internship of all costs paid to spend 6 weeks helping to survey for otters or whatever in Costa Rica. I was born 25 years too early as these opportunities sound fab! K. is sharing a house with about 4 other German students who are doing various research topics eg on poison frogs.
One day we took the buses to Alajuela, another city in the Valley, and onto the active Volcano Poas in a national park. The bus climbed up the mountain side to the 1km concrete road – path from the visitor centre to the volcano and caldera. This was all you could explore but it is very popular so I guess the Authorities are trying to reduce human impact on the flora and fauna. We only saw a few birds but hopefully there is more wildlife ‘out of sight’. Alajuela has many fairly narrow streets so there is a chaotic mix of trucks, cars, diesel belching buses, kamikaze motorbikes, cyclists, beggars, street vendors and so on.
Most people have been very helpful and friendly, stopping to ask if they can help when they see us consulting Lonely Planet. Sadly during a visit to San Jose, I vented my wrath to a cheating scourge of a bus driver who kept my money then indicated it was the wrong bus and get off! Rocio my host, says this is common practice even to Costa Ricans. San Jose is not an attractive city and has a bad reputation for theft, child prostitution etc which unfortunately is very recently increasing across the country. Manuel and Rocio stress we are fine out and about in the daytime and have felt safe, but not to go out on our own in towns at night or use the buses as gun robbery is very common. Many buildings have metal grilles across their frontages and high walls due to the increasing feeling of not being safe. It felt strange and sad, compared to my UK lifestyle, to see people chatting or knitting sat behind a locked grille as I walked around the quiet suburban streets.
I lived at Rocio´s rented bungalow in a suburb between Heredia and Alajuela. It was one of about 6 in a electronically controlled gated compound with some fruit trees remaining from I believe a larger orchard and views over to the mountains. A tasteful, modern and comfortable place. I remained sensitive to the contrast between modern, bright and well stocked shopping centres with tin shacks and cardboard boxes of the poor in shanty towns or under bridges next to foul smelling ditches. As the world moves on & 8 years later – this is a continuing reality everywhere.
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