Vaya Con Dios, Mis Amigos

Well at 9:19 this morning, I will be boarding a plane and heading off to the country of Costa Rica. In the past, my travels abroad have taken me to different regions of Europe, with the exception of the time I traveled to New Zealand in 1999. Since I have not left the United States since July 2004, when I returned from a trip to Kosovo and London, I decided that it was time for me to check out another region of the world.

After considering the matter for about ten minutes, I decided that I wanted to go to Latin America and, after another ten minutes, chose to visit Costa Rica. Already, I am discovering how different this region is than other places I have been. In most of Europe, you can travel hundreds of miles by train with no trouble at all.

In Costa Rica, however, it can sometimes take as much as 8 hours to travel 50 miles. So, all the books I have been reading have recommended picking one or two regions and spending your trip exploring them. I am flying into the Guanacaste regional capital, Liberia. This is closer to the region that I wanted to go to and was actually a little cheaper than flying into San José.

I have the first couple days mapped out. I am going to spend one full day in Liberia before heading off to the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park, where I plan to spend several days hiking around the rain forests, doing zip-line canopy tours, visiting the volcano, and rejuvenating my weary soul in the natural hot springs. There is not much to do in Liberia, but I want to spend a day getting a feel for the culture and the locals, rather than being one of those people who speaks loudly in English and gets indignant when they don't understand me

I have not yet decided where I will be going after I am done with the park. I am considering the village of Samara, which is located right on the Pacific Ocean. Apparently there are these grass hut bungalow things right on the beach there where one can stay for as little as 15 dollars a night.

(See...that's another reason I chose not to go to Europe this summer. 15 dollars a night for a room right on the beach, as opposed to 70 dollars a night for a squalid hotel room in the Earl's Court neighborhood of London.)

I have also told my parents that I am traveling there to start a revolution, in order to continue the work begun by Che Guevara. I say these things primarily just to get under my dad's skin...pontificating about how, for too long, the poor people of Latin America have been alienated from the product of their labor and how, at last, it is time for the dialectic of wealth and poverty to reach their violent conclusion. It is time for the revolution to begin!

The look on my dad's face when I say these things is priceless.

For my travel reading, I have picked up a copy of The Motorcycle Diaries (I know he was farther south, but he fought for all of Latin America...and so shall I!)

Perhaps I will publish my own reflections on my journey- maybe I could call it The Mattercycle Diaries?

Anyway, that's all for now. My next post will no doubt be written as I am skillfully dodging feces hurled at me by a disgruntled howler monkey.

Until then.