Live - Costa Rica - Money

I just wanted to say hi and I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter preparations. You may or may not be surprised to hear that Easter here is not commercialized at all! I went looking for Easter treats for my volunteer group and the options were very limited and extremely expensive. A small bag of chocolate eggs (maybe a dozen) was 12 dollars!

Speaking of money... Money is really interesting to me and it is always cool to see how it differs from country to country. In Costa Rica they use Colones. By the way, when I show people the new Canadian bills they always comment how pretty they are!

There is also a 50 colones coin. No 1 cent coin... but I did have a dream that is existed! 500 colones is worth about 1 dollar, give or take a few cents. You might also notice that there are two variations of the 10 colones coin. Yup, it's strange, there are also two varieties of the 5 colones coin. The silver coins are so light, it feels like you could break them without trying too hard.



White-faced monkey

Bull shark

Guanacaste Tree and a White-tailed deer

They are all different sizes, like Euros.

There is also a 50000 bill that is purple (my favourite) and has a butterfly on it, but seeing as I will never have one of those you should just google it because it is pretty.

Things are really quiet here because of Holy Week. The schools have been closed since Monday, and apparently everyone heads to the beach. However, since I am not fond of the beach or large crowds of people (or sometime just people in general) I am staying put. Today I am going to a butterfly farm , so I hope that works out well, and apart from going to church it should be a pretty quiet weekend. It'll give me a chance to rest up for the upcoming month; I have booked something for every weekend until I go home. Next weekend is Manuel Antonio National Park, then zip lining in Monteverde, then a coffee plantation tour, and then home! Since I'll be nice and occupied time will whiz by!

Live - Costa Rica - Zoo Ave

I was looking for something to do with myself this weekend, and after a little bit of research I found this zoo about an hour outside of San Jose. It is different from a typical zoo for two reasons: 1. some of the animals aren't in cages and you can get really close to them without too much trouble and 2. it is a rescue centre too. They take in injured and orphaned animals and nurse them back to health. I even saw a large bird being brought in! In some cases they have the facilities to teach them how to live in the wild again and then set them free, but sometimes the animals can't be reintroduced, so they stay at the zoo. There were two pumas whose mother was killed by a farmer because she killed his cow and then he tried to sell the cubs. However, that is illegal so the cubs were taken in by the zoo. Unfortunately, since there was no one to teach them how to hunt and live in the wild they couldn't be released. The zoo also pointed out that because of deforestation this type of thing is happening more often because regular food sources are being taken away and the animals are having to look elsewhere.

"Costa Rica has over 850 species of birds; more than the US and Canada combined" That is a lot of birds in a very small space.

Now that is a rainbow!



These macaws weren't in a cage, and they looked very content just watching from their perch.

This guy was just casually crawling around on the path. That would never happen at a zoo at home, but it was great!

The peacocks were also just roaming around. This guy just happened to spread his feathers as I was taking the photo.

 

A baby emu. This little kid had his hand out and his mom was saying to be careful and the kid said "it won't bite me". As I was walking away I heard someone start crying. Wouldn't you know, it was the untouchable kid holding out his finger. Apparently he hasn't learned that mother knows best!

Jumbo bamboo!!! Look how small the people are.

Very friendly ostriches. And yes, avestruz is ostrich in Spanish.

This week is holy week and a lot of things here are closed for the entire week! I have my project from Monday-Wednesday, Thursday I am going to a butterfly farm, and then the rest of the weekend will be celebrating. I went to a procession today for Palm Sunday, which was nice, but it wasn't as solemn as I thought it would be. It was incredibly hot and sunny here this week. I have been told that holy week is even hotter and that people typically flock to the beach. Good thing I have lots of sunscreen!

Travel - Costa Rica - Cartago

On Saturday I went to Cartago, which was the former capital of Costa Rica. They also have the most famous basilica in the country, with "La Negrita" housed underneath it. Apparently it is the site of a very large pilgrimage on August 2, the feast day of the Virgin of the Angels.

Church ruins that are now home to a garden inside.



The museum in Cartago, which I just happened to stumble upon!

A beautiful mural depicting the history of Cartago and Costa Rica, painted by a woman from Cartago. It was just finished last year, and took over two years to complete!

Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles

All the pillars are painted beautifully. I wish I could have gotten a good photo of the stained glass windows because they were stunning!

People lining up to get their holy water from the spring.

"La Negrita"

Here is the story of the statue:
Legend has it that in Costa Rica, the Black Madonna statue was discovered by a Costa Rican girl in 1635, who was looking for firewood. Upon finding the statue, shaped like a doll, on top of a stone, she brought it home and when she awoke the next morning it was gone. Returning to the stone, there was statue. This, according to legend happened three times. In some telling, the little girl told the residing priest, Father Baltazar de Grado, and the same thing happened to the priest as well. Since then the legends have grown, and persisted.
La Negrita became the Patron Saint of Costa Rica in the year 1824 and was visited by the late Pope John Paul II in 1983.
http://thecostaricanews.com/the-mystery-of-la-negrita-costa-ricas-holy-relic-the-virgin-of-the-angels/12933

Live - Costa Rica - Tortuguero

Here are some photos from my day trip yesterday to Tortuguero. On our way there we passed by LOTS of banana plantations, and a field of pineapple. Then I went on a boat ride through the canals and saw white face monkeys, spider monkeys (video), a real life basilisk (it can walk on water), butterflies, and lots of birds! Then we continued on to Tortuguero beach for a quick stop.

 

I'd never seen sand this colour!

The tour guide insisted that I have this photo, but he would tell me why. He just said go stand over there, and DON'T smile!

The Basilisk Lizard

Pineapple Field

Can you spot the baby pineapple? In the middle section of the picture, slightly to the right of centre.

Our very jolly tour guide, who was also the owner of the tour company.

The bags make sure all the bananas ripen evenly, or else the ones on the outside would get more sun than the ones on the inside. Apparently they have figured out that the bags don't have to be blue and are currently testing other colours. Also, contrary to some rumors these banana plantations do not employ children. So buy whatever bananas you want!

 

White faced monkeys

 

The spider monkeys are gutsy! Look at this...

Live - Costa Rica - Updates!

I think I will being doing vlogs from now on because of my computer situation, but let me know what you think!

Travel - Costa Rica - Hot Springs

Since my keyboard has decided it is going into retirement I thought I would do a video blog! I should have it ready to go in the next day or two. In the mean time here are some photos from my trip on Saturday. 

The metal church in Grecia (Greece)

I didn't know I was scared of heights

The view from the bridge that was a little shaky when a semi drove next to us.

They have a Guinness record! This is in Sarchi.



The Arenal volcano

Arenal's "brother". It is called the sleeping man

Tabacon hot springs

A little video tour of the hot springs. Sorry I was walking so fast. I will do better next time!

!