Costa Rica

After 90 dagen in Panama, we had to leave for three nights. After that, you are allowed to enter Panama again as a tourist. With a neighbouring country like Costa Rica this is not much of a problem. This first time we did not go too far. Just over the border, at Ciudad Neily, we turned to the interior, to San Vito, which lies in the foothils of the Talamanca Mountains. San Vito lies at an altitude of about 800 to 1000 m., so it was a refreshing visit.

Kees had chosen San Vito because there is a botanical garden close by (Wilson Botanical Gardens) with lots of birds and, of course, lots of trees and plants. We hoped to learn a bit more about reforestation and also about tourism in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is, after al, supposed to be far ahead of other countries in the region.

The botanical garden was beatiful, although not quite as good as the Vumba Gardens. But the shop had a good selection of books about plants, trees, birds and animals. Most books are poublished in Costa Rica. We did buy a few books because the Costarican flora and fauna are not that different from that in Panama, especially western Panama, where we are located.

The Costarican books are much more practical than there Panamanian counterparts. The Panamanian books place a lot of importance on taxonomiy, while Costarican books tell you more about the uses (modern and traditional) and occurence. Where a Panamanian book would note under comments that a particular tree is the only one in its genus with hooked hairs on the underside of its leaves, a Costarican book would tell you that the wood is excellent for carpentry and that this tree grows easily in former grazing ares and is thus good for reforestation.

Kees also had a good look at the birds flying around in Costa Rica. Bird life in the Wilson Grardens is not very different from that in western Panama, but we had not looked around at this altitude before. And the Talamanca mountains (which stretch into Panama and are protected by the transfrontier park La Amistad) are a region with huge biodiversity and alarge number of endemic birds and plants. Unfortunately we did not have the time to enter La Amistad, although the botanical gardens are also part of the park.

Anyway, I recognised four species of hummingbirds, although 30 species occur. Identifying hummingbirds is always difficult, they are all green and they fly very fast through the rather dark undergrowth. This makes it difficult to see whether the lower bill is black or dark grey. And when a hummingbird hovers in front of you for five seconds, you are too surprised to have a good look.

We did not think that tourism was that much more advanced in Costa Rica than in Panama, at least not in San Vito. True, there is hot water everywhere and accomodation was slightly cheaper, but that is about it. It looks like Costaricans are just better at selling their country as a holiday destination than the Panamanians. It is mostly marketing that is doing the trick. But, please believe us when we tel you that Panama is at least as beautiful as Costa Rica, safe, and it has better surfing. And, even better, please tell this to everyone you know.