Costa Mucho

....the literal translation for Costa Rica is the Rich Coast. I think this fact has gone to the heads of the tourist industry here. i spent 4 days in Monteverde and went on two trips, each costing around the $40 mark. My budget is $50. I thought it would be tours of the highest quality. But no, a natural history tour of 2 hours duration, where I found little out about natural history and hunted down the elusive quetzal bird for most of it. A shocking waist of money. The second tour was a canopy trek, see below. The price of things here is all due to American package tours. They come here with their dollars and grossly inflate the price of everything. And these are the arrogant Americans, the ones oblivious to what something should cost. They are rude and loud and irk all backpackers. The feckers. I feel Costa Rica will ultimately suffer when Honduras and Nicaragua get their industries in order........
.........a gale blew for most of the night, dissipating cloud from the cloud forest. I lay on my bed, slightly nervous because I booked a canopy trek that day. I thought there was no way it could go ahead with such wind. I was wrong. The van picked me up promptly and drove me the 1 hour drive to the trek. I am not an adrenalin junkie, so this activity is new to me. As the guide strapped me in I felt strangely serene. The first cable was an easy slide 8 metres above ground through densely packed forest. Then I came to the second, some 80 metres above ground and about 45 seconds duration. The camera man went first and got stuck in the middle. He struggle to get himself across. I went next, trying to remember the safety procedures, swimming in my head. ´Just lean back and brake at the end¨was the instruction. As I slid out 80 metres above terra firma the gale picked up and shook me from side to side, causing me to brake unnecessarily. But by sheer positive thinking I made it across, pumped full of adrenalin and screaming madly. ¨that was bleedin rapid.´¨ After 14 more such treks the longest and highest at 1 minute and 150 metres I was only fit for bed. I have the photo to prove it. It cost $6........
.......San Jose, capital, confusing mixmatch of modernity and earthquake ruins, brimming with gringoes in search of the easy life, of 6 foot tall prostitutes with blond hair and an adams apple. There ain´t much here, I leave tomorrow for Puerto Viejo.
Adios