Culture Shock/ Cold Weather

Just returned from 12 days in Costa Rica. In a nutshell, Costa Rica is amazing, but it's the Disneyland of Central America. English is spoken everywhere and prices are higher than in other countries nearby. There are 12 ecosystems in the tiny country and I saw 3 types of monkeys while I was there. Also, the President has a plan in place that will make the entire country carbon neutral by 2021. I wore a lot of sunscreen and I have a light tan. I would wear less sunscreen next time, so I could have a dark tan. It's really mellow there and people seem to need fewer material possessions. I am inspired to clear out a bunch of my crap, so that I can easily fit my belongings into a small luxury shack on a tropical beach. That way I'm prepared for a sudden invitation from Fabio or what have you.

1) I traveled with Bob and Heidi, my favorite couple in the whole universe. I met Bob through acting in Madison, WI. I try to have them take me to Heidi's house up North every summer. It's secluded and wonderful.

2) First stop was Volcan Arenal. It's an active volcano which is very cool, but it's way too touristy. I don't recommend it. We also went to some natural hot springs there, which were warm. We saw an Aguatipaca and also a few Choati.

3) Second stop was the Monteverde Cloudforest region. We stayed in Santa Elena at the Pensione, which was pretty much a hostel with some private rooms. Free coffee and internet though! We toured an organic coffee farm and went to frog, bat and serpent museums. A Cloudforest is a rainforest at a high altitude. In the National Park we saw some howler monkeys, "the" famous Costa Rican bird that everyone wants to see which I am also not sure how to spell, a very cute frog and an armadillo. We also met the Quaker dude that moved there in the 50's to avoid the Korean draft. He opened a cheese factory and used to own the coffee farm we visited.

4) I just want to mention here that I was very excited to see hundreds of different butterflies and hummingbirds. All sorts of colors. The smallest hummingbird was most enjoyable. My favorite creature was the Owl Butterfly. It's actually a large moth that is so big it actually looks like a light brown hummingbird. It has a feathered tail like a hummingbird and a long probiscus that looks just like a hummingbird's beak. Also, it collects pollen the same way.

5) After 10 hours on two different buses, we arrived in Palmar Norte. After spending the night at the weird and super posh Brunka Lodge, we took a short bus to Sierpe and then a boat to our next destination. We had a beach landing and then hiked up into the jungle for 15 minutes to get to Cabinas el Mirador. This was a great hotel with meals and tours included; no electricity. We stayed there 5 nights. From there we went to Sirena which is an entrance to the Corcovado National Park, probably the densest rainforest in Costa Rica. That day we saw a spider monkey mother teaching her baby how to swing from tree branches. I got dehydrated this day and Heidi let me drink some of her dehydration salts. The day before we left the region we were walking on our own around 4pm and saw about 30 white faced capuchin monkeys. That was amazing. Two mothers with babies on their backs. I think a dog on the beach scared them, so they were all traveling in a pack to go deeper into the jungle. We went on an awesome night tour with a cute hipster named John and his hippie lady mentor Tracy. We saw the Smoky Jungle frog, the Tinc frog, the Trapdoor spider, the Net-making spider, cane toads, common jungle frogs, a walking stick and a tailless scorpion. When we went snorkeling near Cano Island, I saw two white-tipped reef sharks, a puffer fish and several colorful fish--I don't know what they were.

5) That's pretty much it. We spent one night in Alajuela, which is near San Jose and really close to the International Airport. It's a very cute town with a nice central square and cathedral.

6) I'm trying to readjust to NYC, but this would be a much easier process if I had acquired a darker tan.