(Photo Credit: Google Images, Arenal Volcano)
.... Costa Rica! On a whim, and like most of my trips recently, I found it, bought it and started planning it all in a few hours. A trip to Niagara Falls turned into a nine day tour with G Adventures to Central America. Impressive, no? So it seems the travel bug has not only bitten and infected me, it also won out over reason and logic. My poor Visa is feeling the effects of my impulses.
But isn't life more interesting that way? If everything is so carefully planned and calculated it can suck the excitement right out of it. That's not to say I don't like to plan, I do like a list or two, but that's because I like to use fancy pens and pretty paper. But I find the planning is most fun when it's a spur of the moment decision, like mine to take off to San Jose. Though an impulsive buy, the trip doesn't take place till at least the fall, so I suppose it's not exactly a last minute departure. My trip to Texas was much more last minute, decided and bought about three weeks before we left.
The challenge with this trip will be dodging all of the ailments that come with it. Malaria, Cholera, Dengue Fever and various forms of Hepatitis. If you don't know anything about me, as much as I love to travel and I love food, travel and food are not things that love my stomach. I have a finicky digestive system, plagued with lactose intolerance and IBS whenever it feels like flaring up. So travel mixed with foreign foods has never been good to me. I usually end up mildly uncomfortable for most of the trip but nothing significant enough to put a damper on the experience. Cholera is probably one of those trip-ruining things, and as the description of it says:
"The diarrhea starts suddenly, and pours out of you. It's characteristically described as 'rice water' diarrhea because it is watery and flecked with white mucus. Vomiting and muscle cramps are usual, but fever is rare. In its most serious form, it causes a massive outpouring of fluid (up to 20L a day)."
Can't say that sounds exciting. The phrase: pours out of you... something about that makes me rather uncomfortable.Of course, explosive diarrhea is only one of the concerns, I'd rather that than Malaria. But, the chance of small danger makes it that much more of an adventure. I'm actually going somewhere outside of the Western world as I know it. I've been to Europe a few times and the States plenty but this is a culture I've never experienced before. Sure, it's still part of the Americas, sits on the same continent as I do, but an entirely different world none-the-less. I am so excited it's all I can think about. For as long as I can remember Costa Rica was on my top "places" lists. I mean, the world is on my life list of places to see, but I've always been drawn to that place in particular, out of anywhere tropical anyway.
The dates have yet to be solidified but as the plans form I'll be sure to post with updates. Not only am I travelling to an unknown world, I finally have found someone who is willing to take it on with me.
