Pura Vida - Our Costa Rican Adventure

Over the hill are coasts and more rollings hills.  As a fine painter dabs and strokes their paint brush on a canvas so do houses pop out of trees in the landscape.  Exotic birds ranging from red, yellow to green chat in eagerness as they pluck mosquitoes from the air.   There are moments in which the surmounting spirit of Costa Rica can be felt as gentle waves turbulently inch closer  during high tide or when showers briskly start and finish in deluges that baffle the senses.

Everywhere are parrots and lizards that keep steady watch, today we decided to walk up our hill which became three hills.  A driving passion coursed through my body as I felt it was a good day to hike and see the sunset.  Through word of mouth, I heard that there was a three story house that overlooked the bay and the owner was renting out the first floor for around 1200 US dollars.  In Costa Rica everything is for sale and nothing is a secret.  One often has to be careful to not end up in the newspaper.  As in New Zealand the people and community feed off of gossip, unlike New Zealand there is a strong American presence which divides the communities further.  Somewhere in this chaos exists order as the people live in balanced harmony.  We have no convenience store or general store for its more about who knows who and most goods are driven into town.  Kelly told me the main road is paved every few years but the constant battle with nature is forever present.  The rain forest is always victorious.  As we hike up the hill, sweat pours of my body.  Many times there is simply no point to have a shirt on.  No one cares what you look like and obesity is viewed as wealth by many.  Undaunted I listen to the parrots chirp and sing.  I see two sitting next to each other, reminding me of two lovers sitting on a swing set.  Further ahead nifty Costa Rica houses temporally cut off the view to the coast as they have fences around them.  There is one house that looks empty and has a for sale sign but when we get closer a dog unyielding barks. I think that is the house I heard about.

Unlike New Zealand we do not have to take public transportation and unlike America we do not have a car.  Other visitors blaze past us on four wheelers.  In the distance are more hills and valleys, all covered by dense rain forest.  There are volcanoes in the distance.  The difference between jungles and rain forests is that jungles grow on the ground while rain forests grow in the canopy.  Finally we make it to the top.

After sunset we drink our fill of water.  These are the water bottles we must painstaking carry every few days through sun or rain.  They are heavy and contain six liters, ironically bottled by Coca Cola. Thanks for tuning in this week.