A Month in Costa Rica, May 2012

Part 1 - Teaching | Part 2 - Coffee Farm | Part 3 - Puerto Viejo | Part 4 - Final Thoughts

This series of stories is not only a way for me to archive my personal travels but also a way for me to share my experience with the Steemit Community to enjoy. Many people think travelling is fun, easy and relaxing, which it is! But there are many unexpected difficulties as well and I hope to show both sides of my trips

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Conclusion

Overall, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND any nature-lovers or adventure seekers to visit Costa Rica. Here are some of my favorite photographs (please forgive the poor quality, it was awhile ago) to explain my Top 3 reasons why you should visit Costa Rica.

#1 Beautiful and Terrifying Nature

I'm from Malaysia, an already biodiverse country. But Costa Rica can easily give Malaysia a run for its money. Costa Rica has been blessed with all sorts of terrain from rain forests to cloud forests, beaches to mountains, volcanoes and hot springs. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

This is my most favorite photo from my whole trip, it gives a feeling of peace and tranquility being there in the moment

The water is so clear you can see the fishes and turtles swimming around even at deeper sections

The might of volcano is truly terrifying and majestic. This is still an active volcano and the 2nd pictures shows the aftermath of the last eruption

These flowers are called Angel's Trumpets. A hostel I stayed in offered to brew tea from it, where it'll keep you high for 3 days straight. I kindly rejected

Nature can be beautiful but scary. The vines in this picture wrapped around a massive tree and suffocated it. Leaving only an empty husk in the middle

#2 Fauna Biodiversity

For such a small country (~0.03% of Earth's surface), Costa Rica holds 6% of the earth's biodiversity. If you love animals, there's no where better to meet plenty.

Quetzals are the national bird of Guatemala and very popular in Costa Rica. Sadly, it is near extinction. I was very fortunate to have spotted one and take photo of one while I was hiking in the jungle. My host mom claims to have never seen one despite living in the area for her whole life

These cacoons are so beautiful they actually look like real glittering gold

I'm personally not a big fan of cats, but the internet is. So here's a big one

These ants are fun to play with. Run a stick through a swarm and they'll jump really high before raining down on you. Don't do it though, their stings can be deadly

These are called Poison Dart frogs because indigenous people of the past would rub their blow darts and swords on them. The poison is very deadly. But their so beautiful!

PSA: Frogs are actually getting more endangered due to global warming because their gender is determined by temperature. At high temperatures, frogs develop into females. With not enough males in the environment, they have no way of breeding. So many beautiful frogs are going extinct because of this.

#3 Adventure and Pura Vida Spirit

Throughout my month in Costa Rica, I've learnt to truly embrace the Pura Vida attitude. Pura Vida simply means Simple Life. Ticos and Ticas (colloquial term for locals in Costa Rica) are the nicest, most sincere and chillax-est people you'll ever meet which probably explains why Costa Rica has always ranked among the top countries in the world with the happiest people.

Another amazing fact about Costa Rica is also one of the few countries that runon 100% renewable energy and it is home to EARTH University that is committed to providing the best natural resource management education and developing leaders of positive socio-economic and environmental change for their home countries.

If you're an adventure-junkie, Costa Rica also offers all sorts of activities like White Water Rafting, Hiking, Diving etc.

Final Advice for those planning on visiting Costa Rica

I travel a solo a lot and always encounter issues. Costa Rica was not any different. Costa Rica was the first country I encountered that has a Departure Tax. Unfortunately for me, I decided to give away ALL my remaining money, including what was in my bank account (this wasn't a lot, I was a poor college student), to the school I taught in because I was heading home to Malaysia anyways.

I did not have any money to leave the country and had to literally beg at the airport until I collected enough money to pay the tax. Thankfully, I manage to meet a few kind souls who spared me some change and after almost an hour I managed to collect enough. Remember travelers, always go to the airport EARLY for your international flights just in case shit like this happens.

-- END OF COSTA RICA ADVENTURE --

Thank you so much for those who read about my Costa Rican adventures. I really enjoyed reliving the memory again and I hope you enjoy reading them just as much. It was difficult trying to condense the stories into small chunks for your reading pleasure.

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