An Indigenous Connection

An email from a friend and one of our favorite tour book writers, Beatrice Blake at The Key to Costa Rica , reminded me today I hadn't visited with our indigenous friends and acquaintances lately.  And it is time once again to head down to Boruca (the home of a fascinating and successfully self sufficient indigenous culture) as we are nearly completely out of masks again.

This photo is of Don Ismael, the person who, in the 1970's, brought a revival of mask making to the village of Boruca.  He and his son (also pictured) now teach others the craft and also make some of the finest masks we have ever seen.

Costa Rica has a darn good shot of avoiding becoming entirely globalized.  So many factors have placed our adopted country in the cross hairs of a unique solution and response to the pressures placed upon all countries.  It was interesting, watching the Vancouver Olympics this year to see how they tried to bring forward "aboriginal" and "first nations" as representatives of their country.  Successful or not, other countries such as Costa Rica also have rich histories in their "first nations" communities.

There are in fact so few indigenous people here most tourists miss them altogether but some do find remote communities like the Isla de Chira for example.  

Isla de Chira is located in the Gulf of Nicoya and per se is not an indigenous community.  These folk trace their roots back to the Andalusian farmers (if a Tico ever bothers to look into their past).  They are not ones who fled the onslaught of the conquistadors.  However, you won't find a more "Tico" community anywhere in Costa Rica.  I think of such communities as "indigenous" inasmuch as can be in the 21st century in any community. This is part of our tale of  visit to Chira some time back: Rural Treats in Costa Rica

As Beatrice mentioned in her email,  "I just got back from a great trip to El Descanso, BriBri Pa Kaneblo, Yorkín, and Kekoldi, four ACTUAR projects where indigenous people are successfully bringing back their culture, and using tourism to support their efforts. All the communities have a somewhat different angle on the subject."  I look forward to Beatrices upcoming trip report.  She has probably done more than any gringa I know to help get rural communities in Costa Rica into a better state through sustainable tourism activities.

Another web site you may like to visit is that of our friends Ginnie and Phil - you'll find their blog here: Ginnee and Phil's Esparanza Adventure .  There are hundreds of reasons to support what they are doing and here's a delightful tale from one of their supporters last year:Anna's week

As Anna notes in the blog "I will never forget this most memorable week in my lifetime! It was the toughest, most difficult, arduous, dangerous, most exciting and most fascinating thing I've ever done in my 19 years of life."  Think of spending some time on this project on your next visit?  If you can't visit them on your trip, think of dropping some supplies for the Cabecar at the Pura Vida as you pass by the SJO airport area (we are 10 mins from the airport and even if you don't come here you can put your donation bag in an airport taxi and we'll pay the ride).

My suggestion to all our visitors is for you to find a location you like, find a place you'd like to stay and then ask them how you might best visit one of these locations while you are in that area.  Remember also that a number of them have small rustic and usually spotless lodges and a night in the village will be an experience you (or your kids) will surely never forget.  If not there'll be a lovely experience to be had somewhere in the area.

Another good web site to find information about these remote lodges is the Costa Rican rural community tourism association known as ACTUAR - you can reach them here doing "alternative travel" as they like to call it or just contact Beatrice Blake and she can figure it out for you.  Or just ask your hotel to point you when you get there.

Berni
p.s. The nearest rural community to us and part of ACTUAR association is Nacientes Palmichal.  They have done a lot to create a sustainable environment in this lovely village about 90 minutes south west of the Pura Vida Hotel here: Albergue Nacientes Palmichal

We took this photo near the water source that Nacientes is named after.  They'd be happy to organize a day trip to the community and they do have a spotless and delightful lodge if you want top stay overnight.

On Shopping (a gringo perspective for visitors or those moving here)

Costa Rica is not a "shopping country" except for the 3 weeks before Christmas when everyone has an extra month of pay to spend on the kids or on major appliances or mattresses. Christmas is a delightful and happy time of year here due to that 13th month of pay known as an "alguinando" (a legal requirement of all employers in Costa Rica).



The rest of the year there is no so called "disposable income" (what loony came up with that phrase?). As Costa Rica is a very "local environment" everyone tends to buy things locally. Since there are not that many stores and nobody has much money this tends to save a great deal of unnecessary expenditures (well except the month of December).

If you are a visitor to Costa Rica you should be aware that there are very few uniquely Costa Rican items anywhere in the country . . . but you may want to think about adding these to your itinerary to help support local folk (make sure stuff is made in Costa Rica).

There are plenty of souvenir shops but none like this one. In San Jose just north of the center you'll find a lovely shop called the Namu gallery - about 40 mins from here. They collect and sell only indigenous art from groups like the Borucans and the Maleku. Their sales help support these indigenous communities. Namu is a one of a kind in Costa Rica and is doing the right thing.

You can also visit Boruca - about 5 hours south of Alajuela (easy to get to, drive past Manuel Anatonio) and a spectacular visit in a beautiful village where most of the folk are somehow connected to the selling of intricately carved and painted masks and the police station is shuttered closed. You need a 4*4 to get to the village but worth the effort.

You can visit the Maleku if you travel to Arenal as do 80% of our visitors but nearly nobody goes another few km to the Maleku reserve. The Maleku can organize tours for you that your hotel can hook you up with to visit things like poison dart frogs, medicinal plants and a "museum" (really a twig hut but a great visit where you may be able to find a necklace made from Gar fish scales). The people are wonderful and need your support . . . they make some art such as rain sticks, iguana covered drums etc.

You may not have heard about the Chorotega? Yup right on your way to the northern and central Guanacaste beaches near Santa Cruz - distinctive pottery in pre-colombian styles.
You can visit the Bribri in the Caribbean zone . . . take a day trip to Yorkin (if your trip includes Puerto Viejo or Cahuita), a delightful indigenous group - and the largest in Costa Rica . . . the trip is by dugout and they make chocolate, bows and arrows as well as the occasional painting (which you should snap up because their output in nearly zero).

Many tourists also visit Sarchi, the home of the wood workers of Costa Rica just 30 mins from the Pura Vida Hotel. You'll find all kinds of local wood stuff and things like our famous rocking chairs (very good for pondering about peace) and ox carts and such. If you go, try and visit the last authentic waterwheel driven oxcart factory still run by the nearly octogenarian Alfaro brothers - find the big church/giant oxcart and wander around about 300 meters north and west of the church and you'll see their ancient factory. Make sure to leave a small donation in the box for using up their time showing you their wonderful ancient contraptions.

Finally, there are more but you'll also find interesting things in some hotel gift shops - look for locally produced items - often wood but sometimes some nice ceramics - in particular the famous PEFI ceramics (also at the Pura Vida) made by the daughter in law of Don Pepe Figueres (the guy who established modern Costa Rica and no doubt pondered peace in our time after he abolished the army in 1948 while sitting in a famous Sarchi rocking chair). You may have to work on these things but they'll be worth it :-)

For people moving here, we advise stuffing a container with good plumbing and electrical stuff. If you do not use it you can always sell it. Such items are expensive here but over the last couple of years have become more available. A few things like 3-way dimmers are impossible to find and some products seem to be being dumped here (such as safes where the keys don't work).

For housewares we recommend Cemaco - a local chain with branches around the country - good quality and selection. For gringos in need of a Home Depot fix, we have a smaller chain called EPA (3 stores - Escazu, San Pedro and Heredia - and growing) - but still most home fixit stuff is bought at little ferreterias on most town street corners. These little stores are troublesome if you don't speak Spanish and you need to describe a plumbing fixture to the runner who seeks such things. However, we highly recommend trying to support the local economies which is what we use local people and local businesses if we are going to build something.

For furniture we have most stuff made now through a local expert carpenter in our village and a guy with a shop in Sarchi (the woodworking capital). It is also good to be on good terms with a local welder - we have 2 or three we know - one who makes beautiful windows and doors. For kitchen stuff, there is a commercial kitchen supply house in Pavas called TIPS - they have the best selection and anyone can buy there. There is no real diferentiation or discrimination - if you can find a wholesaler you can often buy small amounts at wholesale prices.

For appliances we have a duty free purchasing area at Golfito in the zona sur - a long way from here. few people recommend this anymore as it is too far and the prices are not much different to places like Pricesmart in Escazu. All the gringos have a Pricesmart card - good prices on things like fridges, generators (yes, some people need them), dog food, rice and bulk stuff like that. An finally for our guest building a house in Dominical, yes we have a Walmart here - it is in Escazu and is disguised as a Hipermas store so nobody gets upset. It is a vast and sad place. I think the better options are above.

Finally when buying things that need fixing like lawnmowers and such, get it from the local store - they need the money more than you and they love fixing things. Every town has a fixit shop and they will fix almost anything you can think of. We just recently found a place for example that will put wheels back on suitcases.

Got 4 days and 3 nights?

Heading south from the Pura Vida Hotel . . . this week we asked our manager if she's cover while we played hooky in the jungle . . . heading south in "The Beast" we dropped quickly around the bottom of San Jose (recently rated #80 out of 81 municipalities in Costa Rica) and out to Cartago.  At Cartago we got lost (always happens) but 15 minutes later are heading up into the cloud forests along the Cerro de la Muerte.  The cathedral at Cartago is well worth a visit so when you get lost why not take a minute more to drop inside - this is the scene of a million "pilgrims" walking to Cartago on August 2nd each year - not to be missed if you are in country then.

A little bit of history on the "mountain of death" can be found on Wicki here: Cerro_de_la_Muerte

We dropped by Jorge Serrano's Quetzal Paradise to check it out for a tour of animal rescue people we will be hosting next year.  Jorge was not in but 2 of his sons showed us their spotless and rustic jungle lodge: Quetzal Paradise .

It is best to be there early in the mornings for Quetzal sightings on jungle walks they have from the lodge.  From there we continued south to visit with friends at the Borucan indigenous area.  Boruca is a tiny artisanal village that is the center for delicious wood carvings of masks representing creatures from the jungle and past lives of the Borucans.

If you are following me on a map you'll now be about plumb center of Costa Rica heading south on the only road to Panama towards San Isidro . . . just before San Isidro is the delightful birding area centered on San Gerardo de Dota . . . good idea to take a break and drop off the clouded highway at San Gerardo and maybe visit one of the lodges run by the Chacon family.  Continue south past San Isidro also known by the name of one of the founders, Perez Zeledon.  To visit Boruca continue south on Route 2 (route numbers are only on maps not on the roads themselves so don't bother keeping an eye out for them on the road too often).

You can turn off at the tiny village of Terraba which is part of the Borucan reserve.  Or you can continue on the 2 another 20 or 30km and turn at the sign that says "Boruca 8Km".  Once in the village it is easiest to go to the "museum" - a small display area where villagers bring their masks to display and sell.  You can ask to visit the homes of those who display and you'll maybe see some more stuff you'd like.  There is no "gringo" accomodation in the village but there are some rustic cabinas behind the bar - no sign, just go to the bar and ask.  If you visit in December there is a riotous festival that starts December 30th and drinks its way to Jan 2nd celebrating the attack of the conquistadors among other things.

Head out of Boruca now as you're not stopping overnight back down to Route 2.  Oh, did I mention a 4WD is essential?

Go around the loop and back north up the coast for those following me on the map and stop and the "fancy tile fish bus stop" and turn inland to our friends Daryl y Donna at Shelter from the Storm . Probably nay certainly the best appointed villas in all of Costa Rica.  And most pleasurable Innkeepers . . . stay a few days or if you want to keep on our nutty schedule "4 days and 3 nights" stay just 2 nights.  Make sure you eat at Exotica - funky on the outside, wholesome and creative dishes on the inside - just a great way to end your first day!

The next day you maybe take off at one of the local beaches - ask Donna and Daryl which they like.  Rested and relaxed on day 3, you have a mere 1 hour drive to the famous Manuel Antonio and stay with Rebecca at Mango Moon Hotel .

This road is nearing completion . . . for years the barrier to travel to the Zona Sur (everywhere past Manuel Antonio to the south) was this bone jarring 50km of gravel, dust and dirt punctuated by pot holes.  Today - nearly a superhighway . . . if you blow through it quickly you can do it in 45 minutes but like us you might want to renew an acquaintance with Dominical - often called the surf capital of Costa Rica after its huge and impressive beach and surfer waves.  But not being surfers you may want to skip it too - we dropped in and found a couple of nice bits for the hotel and a lovely Toucan painting that is now in our Orchid Restaurant.

Turn into Manuel Antonio (they forgot to put up a sign) but turn left a bit past the "airport" on the biggest road you can find.  Drive into Quepos and up the manuel Antonio park road loaded with 50 or 100 smallish hotels and turn right at mango Moon 1/2 way up past Barba Roja.

Park up - if you left early from Uvita and Shelter from the Storm you'll have time for the nice little park.  Don't leave anything in the car or it won't be there when you get back.  And make sure you hook up with a real guide at the park entrance who can show you things you'll never see on your own.  If you took a little picnic he or she could show you some tiny tiny beaches perfect for a couple on a romantic getaway.  Of course you may have to share it with giant red grasshoppers or a family if Capuchin monkeys.

That night ask the hotel for their best dinner recommendation that night and retire with your room with a view of the Pacific.  The next morning you're on the way back up north . . . we liked our Kayak trip in the Damas mangoves just north of Manuel Antonio a few years back but today we had no time for that.  We did stop at the Rainmaker cloud forest reserve about 30km north of Damas and up about 10km of bumpy road but the gate was closed so maybe skip that idea.  Particularly problematic was there was no way ti turn around so we had to drive backwards on a very bad dirt rutted potholed track till we could find enough space to make an 8 point turn with our "Beast" the 4WD 4Runner.

Head north and maybe stop at Bejuco - a lovely deserted beach - we brought our picnic lunch from M. Antonio and a nice balkery - proscuitto and french bread . . . mmmmm!

Keep going north to Jaco - stop for gee-gaws or keep on going . . . head inland near the crocodile bridge at Tarcoles and then on in the long slog up to the meseta centrale behind concrete trucks doing 10kph and often at least once stopping for an accident (everyone must stop on this road sometimes for an hour while they sort out which insurance company is to pay).  I thought you might like to know that while sitting in line with endless other drivers waiting for the crunchy decisions to be made that there is ONLY 1 insurance company in Costa Rica - the government :-)

Continue on up the windy road past the gringo retirement haven of Atenas (very nice I might add)  and on to Route1 towards San Jose . . . get off  near the airport (200 meters after the airport exit to Alajuela) and you'll be back at the Pura Vida in 4 days.  Your last day will take about 3 1/2 hours but depends how many digressions you make (it takes us a day).

Have a great trip - if you are tight on time you'll find this itinerary wont wear you out and you'll get to see quite a bit of the country.  Thanks Daryl, Donna and Rebecca for your hospitality!

A 10 Day Tour - a worthy route suggestion

A nice couple from Barcelona showed up late last night "on the fly".  They just landed on the Iberia flight from Madrid (the only jumbo that lands in Costa Rica), snagged a car at the airport, found us in the guide book and drove the 10 minutes to the hotel without getting lost.  2 or 3 accomplishments all in their first evening in Costa Rica!  They headed for bed with the statement, "We'll need some ideas tomorrow morning!  Buenas noches."

We get quite a few guests landing at the airport with little idea what to do . . . but this couple had two basic destinations in mind at the breakfast table the next morning.  First the Caribbean and then the Southern Zone or south Pacific side of Costa Rica.

So we spent the next hour in the garden plotting out a route on a map.  Two maps we recommend the National Geographic which has all the parks and indigenous areas marked nicely - this works well if you are visiting parks and such.  The other, perhaps better map, is the Toucan map of Costa Rica - it has very good road markings as well as points of interest and some good town maps.

The route started from Alajuela heading across the top of San Jose (best to avoid San Jose on weekdays and definitely not a place to get lost in at night).  The road goes through Heredia (a bit convoluted there) then up to San Rafael (caution: there are 47 San Rafaels in Costa Rica) and then over to a road that on maps says the number 32.

Just as a point of reference (or lack thereof), it should be noted that the number 32 or any numbers that show on Costa Rican maps are rarely to be found on Costa Rican roads.  If you are expecting signs, numbers and such they are few and far between but that's part of the adventure.  Personally I hate GPS (in Costa Rica as you miss a lot of good bits to get lost in) but do recommend a cheap compass when you get turned around in a barrio somewhere you don't know the name of.

If you are trying to follow this route on a map  . . . look for San Jose heading north from Tibas and then "westish" towards the big road in the direction of Guapiles.  This route (#32 :-) will lead you into a cloud forest,  through a big tunnel (well actually a small tunnel but big for us) and you should be careful as visibility can drop down to nothing in a cloud forest.

This is the main highway to the Port of Limon so there are lots of fast big rigs on this 3 lane road coming at you though they are usually slowed to a crawl by slow big rigs overloaded with things like concrete blocks.  There ARE times when such impediments to progress can be appreciated and driving in a cloud forest is exactly that circumstance.  Slower is better.

After Guapiles you are now coming down the Caribbean slope and a complete climate change.  Cold mountain air is being subsumed by very warm and very humid tropical goop.  You'll gradually notice the transition but soon get used to it like you lived there all your life (maybe).  You'll pass through Siguirres without even noticing it (but you should because you need this turn off for a very interesting and different route back).

The road now flattens past pineapple and bananas everywhere and eventually to the Port of Limon (this town is best avoided - this week it was voted 81st worst town in Costa Rica . . . it could have been better except there were only 81 towns in the survey).

 The road south (assuming you are still following me on a map?) skirts around the bottom of Limon town and eventually cuts right towards Cahuita and Puerto Viejo (we have a few Puerto Viejos too, this one is known locally as Puerto Viejo de Talamanca).  You will notice you are now very Caribbean as you pass through a bit of a dump south of Limon and in an hour or less you'll see the Cahuita signs on your left (take any one of them - its worth a brief visit even if your hotel is not to be there this night).

This blog item is not about the destinations - that you can find in tour books easily.  It is about a route for 10 days so apologies if you wanted more (email me for that).  The road then continues south and eventually dumps into Puerto Viejo and points south.  There are a couple of things you could do going further south - one is to drop down to Panama for a few days to the Bocas del Toro (only about 3 hours south) but if you do that I'd leave the rentacar at your hotel and taxi to the border (and one heck of a bridge) at Sixaola.  Be aware this area can experience devastating floods in the high rainy seasons.

Another trip we'd highly recommend is a day or two in the Bribri village of Yorkin - your hotel can tell you how to find this trip.  You'll drive past the village of Bribri and then take a dug out canoe upriver to Yorkin.  This is a delightful indigenous visit - they even have a little lodge now if you'd like to stay and experience a lovely people or you can return the same day.

Continuing our 10 day itinerary, I'm going to assume you made it to Puerto Viejo and maybe stayed with our friend Wendy at Cashew Hill Lodge and perhaps stayed day 2 and 3 there.  You'll need a few more days to stay longer on the Caribbean and will kick yourself that you couldn't but come back next time.

Now head north back past Limon (there's a great canal route, not road to Tortuguero just north of Limon).  Head to Siquirres again and cut across the mountains to Turrialba (Route 10 - hmmm like you'll find that number anywhere?).   Here's an optional overnighter we'd not miss - the excellent Casa Turire would make a nice 1 or 2 day stopover to see the Irazu volcano, lake Cachi area, the Orosi valley, the precolombian ruins and such in the area.  We'd suggest day 4 and 5 in the area.

Day 6 will find you heading west to Cartago (stop at the cathedral) and then south on the famous Cerro de la Muerte (sometimes known as the Pan American highway) and the scene of the 1948 escape of the wife of Don Pepe Figueres who was busy taking over the country with a small insurgency of 2000 folowers to right a bad election.

You might stop a few hours at San Gerardo de Dota (but you don't have time to birdwatch the amazing Resplendent Quetzal that inhabits this beautiful region).  Keep going south to San Isidro and perhaps drop by the delightful indigenous region centered on the village of Boruca (needs a 4WD).

Keep on going south turning at Palmar and the strange perfectly round pre-colombian stone globes.  Turn right at Chacarita and meander down the little road to the super nice one horse town of Puerto Jimenez.  There's lots of places to stay but you'll be tired so try Nico's Black Turtle Lodge - rustic tree houses for the night of  Day 6 and 7.

 Day 6 will take you maybe 10 hours of traveling if you skip San Gerardo!  You don't want to miss a sunset paddle in the Golfo Dulce . . . absolutely a treat for kayakers of all sorts of shapes and sizes.

For the adventurous you'll want to go to the end of the road at Carate (most people say that Pueto Jimenez is the end of the road but adventurous types say it is 2 hours further across some rivers and loads of dirt roads and tracks).  You'll maybe stay at Lana's Luna Lodgewhere they'll REALLY take care of you . . . and let them show you the way into Cocovado - one of the most bio-diverse areas anywhere on the planet and still barely touched by humans (see above - 2 hours past the end of the road . . . plus when the dirt track ends drive another 20 minutes into the jungle.)

That gives you Day 8 and 9 in the jungle with pecaries, sloths, lovely ant eaters and a trillion species of bugs.  Again not long enough but our visitors from Barcelona wanted to see both sides of the country in 10 days.  Which you can't really do!

So day 10 is taken driving back from Carate - its a tough 10 hour adventure up the coast road through Palmar Sur, Uvita/Ojochal, straight through Quepos/Manuel Antonio (assume you are following this on a map of Costa Rica?).

Its then another grind into San Jose at least as far as the airport and your last night and a delicious gourmet dinner at the Pura Vida Hotel in Alajuela.

Thus we'd recommend a stopover at Uvita (well that will make it an 11 day journey except you gotta stay 2 nights at our friends Daryl and Donna and the amazing hospitality, ludicrous humor and 180 degree views of the south Pacific at Shelter from the Storm ).  Or if you wanted to also visit the famous Manuel Antonio you'd want to spend another 2 nights there perhaps at Mango Moon .

OK, so to do this lot you can't easily stay 2 nights at every location and do this trip in 10 days.  It's so hard to get a feel for a place in an overnight stay so you'll need to cut some corners somewhere or maybe just do the rest on the next trip.

 If you have questions and need help with an itinerary idea, just email us at The Pura Vida Hotel - we'd be happy to give you some insights into what may work for you on your next tropical adventure.