LUSH COSTA RICA, BEAUTY, BANANAS AND BOAS: Today we landed at Puntarenas, (Spanish for Sandy Point) to venture deep into the Costa Rican rain forest.
First known “Villa Bruselas” in colonial times, Puntarenas was discovered by famed explorer Ponce de Leon in 1519. Unlike the famed Spanish explorer before us, our voyage of discovery is substantially more civilized as we spent an hour on an air conditioned motor coach heading to the rain forest.
About halfway to our destination, our coach came to a stop on a bridge over a muddy river where we get our first taste of local wildlife. Our guide spotted a collection of crocodiles enjoying the morning sun. They paid no attention to our coach, but the herd of nearby cows, however, did appear to have a worried looks on their faces.
In another 30 minutes we were deep in the “jungle” and our rain forest education began with a lesson on Costa Rican reptiles. The country has 135 types of snakes, but fortunately 118 of them are non-poisonous. I breathed a sigh of relief as our guide, Andrew, took us through the reptile display.
We then adjourned to what is truly an authentic rain forest café for a traditional Costa Rican meal that included a staple of the country’s diet, rice and beans, along with locally grown fruit and fried bananas. Our “tico” guide, Adrian, explained that Costa Rica has four grades of bananas, the supposed best (they are larger, well shaped and bruise-free) are exported while the worst are kept for domestic consumption.
Post lunch it was time to brave the stifling humidity and scorching sun to queue up for our tram ride up and over the 
rain forest canopy. Now, this is impressive. The flora was incredible. Huge flowers and plants that looked vaguely familiar, despite my lack of knowledge of all things horticultural. Then it hit me, I’m looking at giant versions of the tropical house plants common to homes across Canada, except these ones have grown into trees. Yup…we’re in the rain forest for sure. On our descent from the canopy we were treated to panoramic view of the Costa Rican landscape. I enjoyed it…well between sneezes. If anything can kick one’s allergies into high gear, it’s these huge plants.
On our coach ride back to the port, we came to a jarring halt. What’s going on? Our guide spotted a colourful couple of macaws in a tree just off the roadside. These large, parrot-like birds that chose livelong mates, put on a colourful display for us before we were whisked back to our ship.
Costa Rica is surely a country that deserves more exploration. It has a very low infant mortality rate thanks in part to its socialized medicine; an inconsequential suicide rate; no army or military forces, and an average life span of 75 years.
