Costa Rica and I are not on good terms. I was recently there and had a great time; it’s a beautiful place with fabulous weather. But I have issues.
The first thing that lured me there years ago was the promise of the new phenomenon, zip lining. I was told I would float up high through the trees where I could see and be close to the birds and monkeys. Wrong.
I went so fast that I didn’t see a thing. I might have seen more if I’d opened my eyes. You just hang on and hope you don’t fall off or the wire doesn’t break. Tricked!
I made my second, recent trip to go on a ‘Safari Float.’ What they don’t make plain when you sign up for the trip is that you have to go where a particular feature, like the ‘Safari Float’ is offered. But you are discouraged from renting a car and traveling around because the roads are poorly marked, very rough and filled with hairpin curves. So, I was never able to find any water meandering through a jungle to float on as promised.
Tubing did live up to the promise. One of the guides helped me stay away from the bank and kept assuring me with, “I’ve got you, mama!”
Most of the country is filled with lush tropical greenery and flowers. Our popular house plants like bromeliads are growing everywhere and often are as big as trees. There were a number of familiar flowers: lantana, roses, coreopsis, petunias, as well as bright tropical blooming plants. The most outstanding was the bougainvillea that can grow as big as a tree.
In the mountainous region where we were, the ‘in’ thing was to climb in the Cloud Mountains. So, I struggled up our narrow path dreaming of floating on black water.
The mountain jungle was beautiful and filled with so many diverse plants and trees. Ferns and moss grew on the tree trunks and covered the banks. One tree I was taken with was the fern tree. Looks a little like a ten-foot fern.
A site to behold was a restaurant built around and up into a huge Mayan tree and open to the sky. The food was rather exotic too. It was sad to see Americans ordering hamburgers and French fries. Speaking of food, I found it fresh, reasonably priced, and delicious!
The mascot and symbol for our area was a smiling sloth. One restaurant said they had a sloth in their woods, so we went back several times to look, but had no success. I guess you need a sloth whenever business is slow! Since we never saw it, they must move faster than reported. Don’t ask me why, but I now have a smiling sloth coffee cup and a sloth refrigerator magnet!
We saw pretty birds, orchids growing wild, and a coffee plantation. Costa Rica is a lovely country with beautiful scenery, good weather, and friendly people. A special place for nature lovers. And, now, I have a plan to satisfy my desire for a ‘safari float’. I’m going to forget about floating in Costa Rica. I’m going to take myself to South Carolina’s beautiful Edisto River and float away.
Jeanette Smith, 95, a Blythewood resident, has been active in the community’s civic affairs for over 50 years.