Thursday, March 17, 2016

Costa Rica wrap up

Above: Howler monkeys use their tail for balance and to hold onto tree branches. They are given that name because they make a lot of noise. Their favorite trick is to start this at 5 a.m. to wake up American tourists.

Things got hectic and I didn't post any blog pieces after the first three days. My trip was amazing. Folks, if you haven't been to Costa Rica, consider adding it to your bucket list. Besides being a beautiful country, the people are beautiful as well.

In 1949, Costa Rica abolished its military, and used that money for education and health care. It has a 98% literacy rate with a huge middle class. Compare it to its neighbor, Nicaragua, which has a few at the top of the economic structure with the majority of people living in poverty -- no middle class at all.

The population of Costa Rica is 5.9 million of whom 1 million are illegal immigrants from Nicaragua. These are people who are trying to find a better life. If the authorities catch them and spend the money to deport them, they are back in the country a day or two later. The Tour guide asked us if this problem sounded familiar?

The bio-diversity is due to the variety of ecosystems and the fact that it is a crossroads for North and South America. We visited rain forests, cloud forests, dry forests, jungles, etc. We went from the ocean to 11,000 feet elevation. We saw two volcanoes (yes, Costa Rica is part of the Pacific ring of fire) and sunset at the Pacific Ocean. It's a pretty amazing place.

Above: Anhingas, sometimes called snake birds, are common where the weather is warm, including Florida. After diving, they sit on branches to dry their wings. They are also called piano key birds because of the markings on their back.

Above: Iguanas are everywhere. The joke was they taste like chicken. One day when we had chicken for dinner, somebody remarked it tasted like iguana. Um, well you had to be there.

Above: A Pacific Ocean sunset. It doesn't get much better than this.

18 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this, Dave. I've heard lots of good things about Costa Rica though I've never been there. I did read the other day that our educational system is almost as good as Costa Rica's.

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  2. Me again! Re the Cohen video...I believe that was from 2013...I think he had just turned 80...he's 2-3 years older than I am. Unless he's ill, I'd guess he's still doing some concerts. He's my mentor...my poetry is similar to his in some ways, and my book "Perched on the Edge," has some similarities to his work. BTW, you can get my book at Amazon at a pretty big discount. Some nice reviews, too. :)

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  3. Thanks for your comment on L & L. I just took notice of you with your brothers. I'll bet you were a fun group when you were kids! Are your brothers living in Florida, too?

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  4. I'm waiting avidly to hear about you winning a huge jackpot! Then, I'll be waiting your move to Costa Rica! :) Thanks for the comment, Dave!

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  5. Great photos, Dave. We really enjoyed our week in Costa Rica, but didn't see nearly as much as you did. A river trip, ziplining and some monkey encounters, but our major activity was sipping umbrella drinks by the pool :)

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  6. Thanks for the comment, Dave. Hope all goes well with you!

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  7. We haven't seen any new posts from here lately! We want poker or bridge posts! We want travel recaps! Your readers are demanding it!

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  8. Hi Dave...re your comment on Florida Fotos...there are several "Cowboy" churches around here -- this is horse country and they point themselves to those people (often Hispanic) who work on the various horse farms, people who might not feel comfortable in a more traditional setting. I've never been in one, though.

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  9. Thanks for the comment on L & L Photography and also for your note about enlarging the photos. I have to make a manual adjustment to allow for such enlargement and I just forget to do so with the past three posts. If you check back, you'll be able to get the bigger pic.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Fascinating post and lovely photos.

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  13. Greetings...thanks for your comment on Florida Fotos. It's good to hear from you and I hope that all is well. I'm assuming you're in Florida for the winter.

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  14. Hi again, Dave. Something is really screwed up. Blogger is posting blogs of yours from years back...lots of them. Makes no sense.

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  16. Hi Dave...nice to hear from you again! Hope you're enjoying the cooler weather here in central Florida!

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  17. Hi again! Thanks for the comment. Hope all is well with you!

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