Above: The rainforest I visited on an aerial tram tour.
Costa Rica, which means "Rich Coast", is a multicultural country in Central America. It is the only Latin American country included in the list of the world's 22 older democracies (it abolished its army in 1949) and has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in the Human Development Index.
Above: Flat vines, which taken on extraordinary shapes!
Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.25% of the world's landmass, it contains 5% of the world's biodiversity. Around 25% of the country's land area is in protected national parks and protected areas, the largest percentage of protected areas in the world. Costa Rica has successfully managed to diminish deforestation from some of the worst rates in the world from 1973 to 1989, to almost zero by 2005.
Above: The foliage is very dense in the rainforest.
One of the shore excursions I went on was the rainforest aerial tram tour (the pictures above and below were taken on this tour). We boarded open cable cars for a 70 minute trip through the rainforest.
Above: Our cable car or 'gondola' - needless to say, it was raining!
Above: We spotted a toucan on our tour as well as an anteater (sadly no picture of him!)
Above: Giant spiders abounded.
After the trip, we had a walk through the forest where our guide showed us snakes, caterpillars, termite mounds, sloths and more! For all of the pictures, visit my Flickr page (just click on a photo).
Above: The air was very humid in the rainforest!
Puerto Limón - where our ship docks - commonly known as Limón (Spanish for "lemon"), has a population of about 60,000 and is home to a thriving Afro-Caribbean community.
Above: A panorama of Puerto Limón
The area contains two port terminals, Limón and Moín, which permit the shipment of Costa Rican exports (primarily banana) as well as the anchoring of cruise ships.
Above: I visited a banana plantation with other crew members.
The workers on the plantation use suspended rails to travel quickly around and transport the bananas. Watch the YouTube video below!
The companies like Del Monte pay the workers low wages, but provide housing and education on site free of charge. In this way, they have a guaranteed future workforce, as children watch their parents working on the plantation even whilst studying at the school.
En route to the banana plantation, we spotted some howler monkeys hanging out in the trees by the roadside:
Above: Howler monkeys
I had seen these monkeys before in Mexico, but never this close. They can make a noise which travels for miles around. We also spotted some fire ants carrying leaves on the ground:
Above: The leaves for the ants are equivalent to us carrying a small car!
Our crew tour stopped at a fruit stall, where we sampled some fresh fruit and saw some exotic plants.
Above: The inside of a cocoa plant!
Above: Dragon fruits.
Above: A shack across the road.
Above: Vivid plant life abounds everywhere in Costa Rica.
Above: The group at the fruit stall.
We then travelled on for a boat ride along some natural canals, in search of more wildlife.
Above: A very rusty bridge which we crossed!
Above: The boat that took us on a tour of the canals.
Above: We spotted plenty of birdlife. As well as a...
Above: ...sloth!
An interesting fact about the country is that in 2007, the Costa Rican government announced plans for Costa Rica to become the first carbon-neutral country by 2021. According to the New Economics Foundation, Costa Rica ranks first in the Happy Planet Index and is the "greenest" country in the world.
Above: We made a final stop at 'Paradise Beach' before returning to the ship.
I hope you enjoyed my photos from Costa Rica. Next time, I'll show you around Half Moon Cay - Holland America's private island in the Bahamas!
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