Costa Rica
Depois de passarmos boa parte da entrada da Costa Rica sob chuva forte e subindo para a regiao da Cordilheira de Guanascate chegamos proximo da cidade de San Ramon onde pernoitamos numa “Gasolinera”. No outro dia fomos
a cidade procurar uma cruzeta que necessitava ser trocada no motorhome, mas sem sucesso. Nos orientaram a procurar mais proximo de San Jose, que e a capital, e que teria mais recursos. La fomos nos em direcao a capital – que como toda cidade grande tem
muito transito e muito tumulto – ainda mais com um “caminhao” deste tamanho…mas conseguimos achar o bairro de Uruca, onde havia uma agencia Ford e Daniel conseguiu a peca.
Estamos encantados com a Costa Rica, muito verde por
todos os lugares, muitas flores coloridas, muitas lavouras: bananeiras, café, arroz, feijao, coqueiros, e palmeiras, MUUUITAS palmeiras de cuja fruta(que e tipo duma pinha) extraem o “aceite de palma” e existem muitas lavouras e empresas
de extracao e producao do azeite que dizem exportar para varios paises, inclusive para o Brasil. Muito linda a natureza aqui na Costa Rica.
Optamos aqui por sair da Panamericana e irmos para o sul em direcao as praias pela estrada que margeia a costa
sul a fim de constatarmos se a costa faz jus ao nome do pais – Costa Rica! E, realmente, encontramos praias belissimas: Jaco, Parrita, Quepos, Dominical, Parque Manoel Antonio, Costa Ballena…todas muito interessantes, algumas com hoteis maiores
e outras com pequenas pousadas e hoteis menores mas tudo muito rustic. Entramos em algumas delas mas nao encontramos local para acampar e, como disse Daniel, este motorhome a medida que descemos mais ao sul vai se tornando “maior” em funcao de
que as estradas,cidades e ruelas vai diminuindo o que muitas vezes nos impossibilita ate mesmo de entrar em certas localidades…mas conseguimos pelo menos conhecer a rica costa da Costa Rica!
No caminho para as praias existe um local
em que ha o “rio dos crocodilos” onde os turistas param para apreciar e tirar fotos dos crocodilos “lagarteando” a beira do rio. Muitos onibus de turismo e varias lojinhas, restaurantes e lanchonetes servindo “ceviche” que
por aqui e muito popular. Depois de visitarmos as praias e nao conseguirmos lugar para ficar resolvemos retornar para a Panamericana e pernoitamos numa “gasolinera” na cidade de Palmar Norte para seguirmos viagem no outro dia.
Costa
Rica- English
After spending most of the time after entering Costa Rica under heavy rain, and should I say EXTREMELY heavy rain, we went up to the mountains of the Guanacaste Range and we got near the town of San Ramon where we spent the night at a
gas station. In the morning we went downtown San Ramon to find some part Daniel needed to replace in the RV but we had no luck in finding it. The shop attendants suggested we should drive to San Jose, which is the capital of the country that we would likely
find it. Off we went towards the capital city, which, as is any other big city around the world a chaos and a mess as far as traffic goes –especially with the big “truck” we have…but we managed to find the section of Uruca and find
a Ford dealer and Daniel was able to get the correct part.
We are amazed with Costa Rica which has much green, many trees even by the road, many colorful flowers, many plantations: bananas, coffee, rice, beans, coconut and palm trees, MANY OF
THEM…from whose fruit (which resembles a pine) they extract the “aceite de palma” or palm tree oil; and there are many plantations and many plants which extract and process the oil. Many families live up of their small palm tree farms. And
it is used domestically as well as for exportation, even to Brazil.
Here we chose to leave the Panamericana and drive south to the coast to check out if the name given to the country, Costa Rica, would be true – Costa Rica – Rich Coast!!
And it really is since we ran into several beautiful beaches: Jaco, Parrita, Quepos, Dominical, Manoel Antonio Park, Costa Ballena…all very interesting, some with bigger hotels and resorts, some others with small and rustic hostels and B&Bs. We
went into some of them but were not able to find a place to camp since our vehicle, as Daniel comments, is getting “bigger” the more south we drive, or the roads, towns and streets are getting “smaller” which sometimes makes it impossible
for us even to enter a small town…but we were able at least to known the rich coast of Costa Rica!!
On the way to the beaches there is what they call “crocodile river” in which tourists go over the bridge to watch the crocodiles resting
by the river banks. Many tourists and tourist buses stop by and there are several gift shops and small restaurants serving “ceviche” which seems to be very popular around here. After visiting the beaches and not finding a place to stay we decided
to return to the Panamericana to resume our trip in the morning.