Life in the mountains

So life here goes on, classes have started days are getting a little busier and we have started to get used to the lack of information stimulation. The local shop doesn’t sell newspapers but the owner gets one for his own personal use, sometimes he’s kind enough to give me what he’s finished with. Getting access to the internet is also difficult, a number of the hotels in the area have access via satellite so we usually go every two or three days and try getting our fix in one sitting. The few people who have connections in there houses are all using dial up, which is painfully slow. To be honest, I haven’t really missed not having a TV, mobile phone or any of the other stuff, but the internet is something I definitely do miss.

Today we visited Cloudbridge rainforest reserve, its 220 hectares of pristine rainforest and has great trails for hiking and taking in the scenery. In my opinion its probably one of the highlights of the area, you could kill a day hiking there and you are bound to see some amazing plants and animals. The area was bought back in 2002 and is used to study the biodiversity of the highland rainforests of Central America. If anyone is heading this way sometime soon be sure to check it out!

A few days ago I visited the local city, San Isidro de General. The city is about 45min from the village and is located on a plateau. It’s much lower than San Gerardo and therefore much hotter. It was my first time in a city for more than 2 weeks and the noise, heat and congestion were definitely a culture shock. The sensory overload was similar to the first time I visited Vegas or New York. It was weird seeing that it’s a city about the same size as my home town of Cork, but after been hidden away in San Gerardo for so long I felt the difference. I was glad to get back to base after my few hours in the city

You might have read in my previous entry that Dominical was “hellish”, let me explain. Dominical is a small beach town on the pacific coast, beautiful beach, huge waves basically a surfer’s paradise. Like a lot of places I have visited I think Dominical was probably amazing once upon a time. Unfortunately, it is slowly developing into just another “once beautiful now overrun with drunk tourists” beach town. I think there are more Americans living there now than Costa Ricans. It’s a town that could one day develop into something like Torromolinos or Benidorm on the Spanish coast. If you visit Costa Rica and are looking for a party town with lots of holiday makers this is a good place to go and if I was in that mood I certainly would have spent longer there, but to be honest after two days I had enough. What did it for me was when I saw a drunk tourist do wheelies on his motorbike down the main street while confused locals looked on. Looking back, it was kind of funny, but at the time I wasn’t too impressed; probably because we had just missed our bus. It’s a shame to see a town disappear like that but I guess it's development and money for the people of Costa Rica.