Wish we could linger longer

We have been in Costa Rica for a little more than a week, and we already have to leave. This is very unfortunate, because it is a beautiful country and I have the feeling that we missed a lot. I wish we could stay longer, but unfortunately we have to head off to Panama. We ship our camper on a cargo to Colombia on 5th of August and there is a lot of paperwork to do. The process starts on 29th of July and it is going to be a bureaucratic nightmare; it always is, according to the blogs of travellers who have done the same journey. Yes, even on a one year vacation, we still seem not to have enough time to explore properly the countries we are crossing. Why did not we book our passage to Colombia on the next cargo ship two weeks later, is a question worth to be asked. In retrospect we should have. We could have visited Costa Rica and Panama properly. It did not help that we had to stay in the capital San Jose for three days, trying to fix an electrical issue in the van. We went to several mechanics until we found the one who could fix it. Actually, there was nothing to fix really, it was just a breaker that had tripped. I wish I had known that and had noticed the breaker control box hidden in one of our drawers. Well, we learned something new… if it happens again, we will reset it in no time; this is also part of the journey. Positive side: It is great that it was not something more complicated to fix; and we are making great progress in Spanish.

It is the rainy season in Costa Rica right now; because of this we could not see the active volcanoes, their peaks are concealed in clouds. Last night we watched a spectacular thunderstorm over Golfo Dulce with splendid lightning strikes. People are very friendly over here, specially when they learn that we have driven all the way from Los Estados Unidos to visit Costa Rica. We are camping now on a beautiful beach on Golfo Dulce. The campground owners are very nice, one of their sons took us on a walk in the rainforest this morning and showed us the different kinds of trees and plants. Xenia D. found a huge toad in the shower today, she had to chase it out with a stick. I witnessed a giant iguana falling from a tree, fortunately not on my head, but not very far. I did not have my glasses on so I thought first it was a branch falling, but then the branch started to move, I put my glasses on and saw this huge pre-historic animal, first a bit stunned then climbing quickly back into the same tree. There must have been something wrong with it, iguanas usually do not fall off trees.

Definitely, I wish we could stay longer in this gorgeous country but we still have a long way to go until Tierra del Fuego.