A Tale of Woe (Mainly)
Costa Rica 2021
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| Costa Rica |
It came two days later. Our travel company wanted to bring us straight home, but I demurred and we eventually lost only one day of our holiday. The airline industry was shutting
down and we had to fly Havana-Paris-Amsterdam-Birmingham, arriving home the day
after the first lockdown had started.
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| Where are they all? Driving home from the airport after the start of the first lockdown. March 2020 |
By summer the prolonged lockdown had worked, the number of cases was much lower and stayed low even after restrictions were lifted. I was no Covidiot, unlike the
Prime Minister, Lynne and I had obeyed the rules meticulously, but I was throughout a
hopeless Covoptimist. By the end of August, I thought Covid was over and the
world would start opening up. We booked a trip to Costa Rice for February 2021.
But of course, it wasn’t over, autumn came and cases rose. The Prime Minister promised a ‘normal Christmas’ even though he was in possession of the facts and
projections, but he was, as usual, saying what he thought people wanted to
hear. The second lockdown came, I contacted the travel company and we
rescheduled for 2022.
Where Were We (not) Going?
Costa Rica has become a popular destination and I was surprised by how many people I have spoken to recently have been there. No doubt, they
know where it is, but others seemed less sure. They know its not one of the
Spanish Costas, so it must be across the Atlantic somewhere, but where? Confusion
with Puerto Rico is common, and understandable, but Puerto Rico is an island,
Costa Rica isn’t, it is a slice across central America.
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| Costa Rica's position in Central America |
It is not large, 150 km from the Atlantic to Pacific coast and 400 km north to south. Our plan was to cherry-pick the best of Costa Rica, stopping at five
locations across the country.
Flying Gatwick to San José, we would look round the capital and then journey by bus and boat to Tortuguero, a National Park on the Atlantic coast. It was
the wrong season for the turtles (never mind, see Oman (2): Sur and Turtles), but we were guaranteed howler monkeys, sloths in the
hotel garden and an early morning boat trip to see what we could find. From
there we would travel to La Fortuna at the base of Arenal, an active volcano, for lava walks and a dip in a thermal pool.
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| Costa Rica with our intended stops marked in red |
Stop 3 was the cloud forest at Monteverde, with walkways through the canopy – as featured in the Paddington movies, even though it is not ‘darkest Peru’. Then down to the
beach at Sámara on the Pacific coast before returning to San José and home.
Costa Rica in 2022
Little did we know it but the 2022 plan started unravelling in September 2021.
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| Intended Stop 1: Tortuguero National Park (photo: Peter) |
Lynne was suffering from a persistent and very unpleasant cough and extreme tiredness. Coughing fits regularly left her retching, but when one brought up a
little blood, it was time to consult the medical profession. A series of blood tests,
an x-ray and an CT scan failed to throw light on the cough, which by January
had gone away on its own, but they did flag up a potential heart problem. We
were not worried, Lynne had major heart surgery in 1954 and as the heart/lung
machine was yet to be invented the surgeons had only minutes to perform the
operation to avoid brain damage. Looking inside the chest now, is alarming – to
those who understand these things - but the experimental operation was a complete
success and she has been able to live a normal life for the last 70 years.
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| Long-billed Curlew, Tortuguero (photo: Peter) |
We were to travel on Thursday Feb 24th. On the Monday evening a cardiologist phoned us, saying he needed to see Lynne immediately. She said we were going to Costa
Rica in two days. He sounded sceptical. Lynne gave him a brief history and he
asked if she had regular check-ups. She told him she used to, but was signed
off in 2002. ‘They wouldn’t have signed you off if they had seen what I have
just seen,’ he replied. And that sentence effectively finished of Costa Rica 2022.
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| Intended Stop 2: Arenal (photo: Peter) |
A week or two later Lynne had an ECG and we walked into his consulting room. He looked surprised, I think he had been expecting an invalid. To be fair, he
had been checking her history; we knew (and he discovered) that parts of
Lynne’s notes have gone walkabout, but he had clearly done some extra digging and was
well informed. He showed us the apparent massive aneurysm, ‘larger
than those we operate on’ on his screen. He listened carefully, asked
a few questions and suggested Lynne have a MRI scan in a few months’ and if
nothing had changed, he would accept it was stable, meanwhile he would support
our insurance claim. In June Lynne had her scan, nothing had changed and she
will have another in a year. Our travel insurance paid up in full and
reinstated Lynne’s cover.
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| American crocodile, Arenal (photo: Peter) |
What Makes Costa Rica Special
Costa Rica – The Rich Coast – was so called because the conquistadors claimed to be impressed by the gold ornaments worn by the natives. They were lying.
From 1609 to 1821 Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Being a long way from the capital and forbidden to trade with its
southern neighbour (Panama was part of the rival Viceroyalty of New Grenada) it
was remote and sparsely populated. In 1719 a Spanish Governor described Costa Rica as the poorest and most
miserable Spanish colony in all America.
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| Coat of Arms of Costa Rica |
At independence in 1821 the Captaincy General became the Federal Republic of Central America. Fighting between the constituent
provinces doomed the Federation from the start. Costa Rica withdrew
in 1838 and proclaimed itself independent, but by then it was unclear if there
was anything to withdraw from.
One major reason for Costa Rica's early poverty was the lack of a significant indigenous population
available for forced labour. In the mid-19th century this disadvantage turned
into an advantage as the lack of a substantial oppressed community enabled
greater social cohesion and political stability. Economic expansion loves stability, and coffee, first planted in 1808, became, and remains the most important crop.
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| Laura Chinchilla President 2010-14 CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International |
Being Latin American, Costa Rica had to have at least one military coup; in 1948 a disputed presidential election led to an armed uprising and a bloody 44-day
civil war. The would-be military junta lost and to make sure it never happened
again Costa Rica abolished its army. Since then, 18 presidents have served single
4-year terms and their successor has been chosen by free and fair elections. President Laura
Chinchilla, served 2010-14, was Costa Rica’s first female president.
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| Rodrigo Chaves, President since 2022 CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International |
Costa Rica is today by far the most prosperous of the 5 republics that made up the Guatemala Captaincy, its per capita GDP is almost three times that of Guatemala the
second most prosperous. Costa Rica’s Human Development Index, which
takes account of life expectancy, education and income is rated 'Very High'.
Costa Rica 2023
We rebooked for February 23rd 2023 - surely nothing could go wrong this time. Early February all seemed well, but as departure approached that cough, the one that
had led indirectly to last year’s problem, returned, but I convinced myself it would get
better. 24 hours from departure I checked in and then we drove down to my
sister’s in Sussex. She had generously offered to put us up for the night,
provide car parking and drive us to and from the airport.
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| Caterpillar of one of the Leucanella family of moths, Arenal (photo: Peter) If nature has anything more like a decorated turd, I don't want to see it |
I was confident we were going when we sat down to dinner. Lynne ate, but did not do justice to an excellent meal. She started coughing when we went to bed and coughed solidly all night. I might have had 60 minute’s sleep, but probably less.
At some time in the small hours she said quietly ‘I can’t get on that plane
like this.’ My mind had been so set on going, that was the first time I
realised the trip was in jeopardy. Removing my head from the sand, I could see it was impossible.
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| Intended Stop 3: the Monteverde Cloud Forest |
Instead of being driven to Gatwick, I drove us home. Lynne went to bed with a lung infection and stayed there for most of the next fortnight. The cough subsided, but the tiredness lingered.
In Conclusion
The first cancellation was just Covid, it was not the only trip we cancelled that year. The second was, I am sure, unnecessary but looking at it from the point of view of the doctor I cannot see what else he could have done, and he left us with no real choice but to cancel. With hindsight it was clear that from the moment Lynne was sent for a chest x-ray the consequences had to play out, but instead of foreseeing the problem we just sleepwalked into it – and the timing could not have been worse. Cancellation three was just unlucky.
Will there be a fourth attempt? Who knows?
Costa Rica 2024
My In Conclusion was a bit too quick. On my birthday in September, I received a communication from my sister, Erica. It was a birthday greeting of the kind you
would expect between siblings who live 200 miles apart and so do not see each
other often. The final paragraph read I think it is time to fess up that our
main holiday this year is to Costa Rica. I did not say anything previously as we did not want to appear as though
we were doing a one-upmanship thing on you. I do know that you are far more mature than to think that… and of
course I am. I wished them (Erica and husband Peter) well and was glad that one
of us would get there, even if it was not me.
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| My sister Erica and her husband Peter |
They booked with a company well-known for sending people to far-flung places. Initially they told them they would fly to San José,
the capital of Costa Rica, from Heathrow via Montreal – considerably less of a
detour on a globe than it looks on a flat map. A little later they changed this
to Heathrow – Frankfurt – San José and then to Heathrow – Miami - San José.
At American airports, unlike all other airports, the segregation between airside and landside only happens at the gate, so once
disembarked they cannot separate those who have reached their final destination
from passengers in transit. Consequently, everybody must go through the whole
rigmarole of entering the USA, and transit passengers must then exit again. To
enter, even for an hour, you require a visa or at least a visa waiver.
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| Side-striped palm-pit viper, Monteverde (photo: Peter) Good news, a bite is nasty but not fatal to humans (usually) |
To receive a visa waiver you must apply by ESTA (U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization.) This takes time and costs money,
so Erica did not do it immediately in case the company changed their minds
again. Once that seemed unlikely, she sat down to complete the on-line form.
All went well until the question have you entered Iran, Syria, North Korea
or Cuba since 1st March 2011. She spent a week in Iran as a tourist in 2017.
Since then, she has acquired a new passport and a new surname, so would a
little fib be appropriate? She was tempted, but the consequences of being
caught out would be serious - who knows what sources of information governments
might have - and one visit, that long ago? Would it matter? She did what I
would have done and told the truth - and it did matter. Within the hour she and
Peter knew their applications had been rejected.
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| A bird-feeder in Monteverde is visited by two of the 366 species of hummingbird tentatively identified as: left a female purple throated mountain gem (the males have the purple throats) and right a green-crowned brilliant |
By then it was too late to apply for a full visa – and would it be granted, anyway?
The curse of Costa Rica was striking again.
The travel company were unsympathetic. A cancellation at that stage would mean no refund from the company and their travel insurance would not cover it.
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| Intended stop 4: The Beach. We intended to stay Sámara, thus photo is of sunset at Tamarindo, 50 km to the north. I doubt they are very different. (photo: Peter) |
But why cancel when there are any number of ways of getting from Sussex to San José. Erica did some research and went back to the
company. Eventually they offered four choices, two involved leaving on the
wrong day for their pre-booked tour and one was a direct flight from Gatwick to
San Jose on the right day. They live 30 mins from Gatwick Airport, so not a
difficult choice. BA fly three times a week from Gatwick to San José, they
would have to return via Madrid (BA and Iberia are essentially the same
company) but that was a minor inconvenience.
So, everything was solved, but still Erica said she would not believe they were going until wheels met tarmac in San José.
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| Teatro Nacional, San José |
And the curse of Costa Rica is not so easily
sidestepped. The belated end of the rainy season brought a deluge of biblical
proportions. Costa Rica closed down and the Foreign Office advised against all
but essential travel.
Just in time the flood abated, the waters receded and a dove was seen flying eastward across the Atlantic with an olive branch in its beak.
The curse of Costa Rica was finally lifted.
Erica and Peter enjoyed their holiday, if it was at times a little damp,...
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| Erica enjoying the rain |
... and I am grateful to them for this story and the wildlife photos above.
