Costa Rica: part 2   Wednesday 15/02/2023

I was wrong. I thought that the 400km/250 mile journey from Corcovado up to Monteverde would take 8 hours. It took 9.5 hours of driving. Quite astonishing! The problem is: the main roads are in perfectly decent condition, but there is just one lane each way, and because they are winding there are few places to overtake. So everything moves at the speed of the slowest vehicle – usually a heavily laden truck pulling a trailer…

But the journey was worth it! The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve was fantastic. It is at an elevation of about 1,500 metres (5,000 feet), so its climate is very different. At 11am when I arrived at the park office, the temperature was 14 Celsius, feeling like 13 (down at the coast it’s 30, feels like 33). It is not dry mountain forest, pine trees etc. – it’s lush and green, everything constantly wet thanks to the clouds that continually blow across. The undergrowth is relatively thick, sometimes virtually impenetrable, with a lot of very tall trees striving for the light.

What a superb job they have done with the place – trails are laid out, and they interconnect, so you don’t have to retrace your steps to get onto a different trail. In some places there are information boards, in Spanish and English, that are genuinely interesting. I spoke to several people in the 4.5 hours that I was wandering the trails, and all were full of praise for what they were experiencing. (Advice to government of Costa Rica: whoever is in charge of their national parks should be made minister of transport too – their road infrastructure could really do with some of the vision that has gone into the parks). 

The location is excellent: Monteverde sits on the Continental Divide. One viewpoint – photos below – is exactly on it. You stand looking south and any water that falls on your left hand will flow down to the Caribbean; on your right hand, into the Pacific Ocean. As clouds roll in, you are enveloped in a mist and battle to see for any distance, then suddenly it goes clear and you can see for miles. 

As an elderly Englishman said to me: Costa Rica is fascinating because it’s where two continents merge. The result is fauna and flora native to North America and native to South America. Add to that the stunning mountains and the beautiful coastline, and the country is quite rightly renowned as an eco-destination. 

I stayed in the small town of Santa Elena, about five kilometres away. It’s relatively busy and is very much a tourist town: at a cursory glance, over a hundred accommodation establishments, most small, numerous restaurants and several shops. But rather than being the typical tacky tourist place, I thought it was quite charming. No high rise buildings – everything low-rise and slotted in to a hilly and heavily-treed landscape. So again, something they’re doing well. I am very pleased I visited. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful places in my travels in the Caribbean, but very few that I would definitely want to re-visit. Colombia is an exception, and so now is Costa Rica – it’s just a gorgeous country. The people are lovely too – polite, friendly, and not evidently spoilt by tourism (as so many around the world are – pushy, aggressively trying to take your money, etc.). 

So the trip to Costa Rica was a roaring success! I wouldn’t want to suggest that everything is right with the country – they have some problems that will be familiar (especially to my South African friends). When I arrived in Monteverde, I commented to the guy at reception at the motel that the road up was in bad shape in a number of places, even though I knew it had been tarred fairly recently, in the last couple of years. I said it appeared to me that the tar was too thin. He said Yes, you’re right! The road cost three times what it should have, and is already breaking down. It’s corruption, he said, we all know who is involved but nothing is done about it. I said Well, it looks like the guy who owns the construction company should be in jail. He said “Oh, the problem here is that even if action is taken, in the very worst cases, the guy would get just one year’s house arrest and a small fine, he’d be free to continue running his business. Everyone is sick of these people and the government, who are obviously involved”. So, sadly, even in paradise they have their problems… Corruption is the cancer that eats away at so much of the world. Action on that is I think the number one thing that could really make a difference. It’s so easy yet so hard – what we’re talking about is a question of attitudes and acceptance. Not easy to shift. 

I suppose that one has to accept that nothing will ever be perfect. At least it’s heartening when there is so much to admire. I leave with a sign that I thought says it well – even in English…