I stared down at my plate. Scrambled eggs and ham and of course the Costa Rican national dish – rice and beans. I’d made decent time from CRARC and was now breaking for breakfast and to stretch my legs at the Restaurante Caballo Blanco (The White Horse) that Brian had recommended – a place where locals come to eat with good food and reasonable prices. But even here breakfast was expensive. Everything is very expensive in Costa Rican- and the food? Well how many Costa Rican Restaurants do you see in Chicago, Houston or New York?
My God I was sick of rice and beans. I must have head them 20 times over the last fifteen days.
So I’ve established two of the three things NOT to like about Costa Rica. The third is the driving. The roads are better than they were twelve years ago, but having to pass truck after truck going thirty miles an hour while driving on two-lane winding mountain roads is taxing. The 200 mile drive from Siquirres to the airport in Liberia took 6 hours. It’s just no fun to drive in Costa Rica.
I seasoned my beans and rice with some Lizano sauce, more as a tribute to Scott and Tom than anything else. They both loved this sauce on our family vacation twelve years ago.
So what are the reasons to come back to Costa Rica? Well the weather is delightful. But you can enjoy nice weather many places can’t you. The best reason to visit Costa Rica is that it’s a naturalist’s paradise. The memories are still vivid in my mind. In the northwest the Boa Constrictor, blind snake and the national tree, the Guanacaste. The volcano of Arenal wrapped in clouds. Scarlet Macaws flying wild in the jungle. Just to name a few.
Please enjoy these photos.
Tapanti National Park, Talamonca Mtns. Costa Rica
Boa Constrictor at Hacienda Pinilla
- Scarlet-thighed Dacnis at Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center
Green Iguana
White-lored Gnatcatcher at Hacienda Pinilla
Crested Guan at Arenal NP
Common Blunt-headed Snake (Imantodes cenchoa) at Tapanti NP
Broad-billed Motmot at Arenal NP
Streak-backed Oriole at Hacienda Pinilla
Orange-chinned Parakeet at Hacienda Pinilla
Red-eyed Treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas) the most photographed frog in the world.
Red-eyed Treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas)
Red-eyed Treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas)
Sunset over the Pacific, Tarcoles, Costa Rica
There’s a Costa Rican restaurant in Madison!
John,
I finally made it to your latest posts, great pictures, lots of interesting species!
WAV
Your photos of the red-eyed tree frog are fabulous John! You’ve really conveyed a sense of “personality” in these colorful little herps.
“bland” liz
Its a great post! Costa Rica’s Quetzals are more fortunate, since Costa Rica marshalled funds by abolishing its army in 1948 to establish an extensive system of national parks and wildlife reserves to protect the habitat of the Quetzal.