L

a Cruz

 

April 16-18, 2004






Costa Rican Flag





Bella Vista Hotel Pool, La Cruz
Bella Vista Hotel Pool, La Cruz

We had not expected to be staying in La Cruz when we arrived at the Costa Rican border with Nicaragua, but computer problems kept us waiting at the border for two hours extra meaning that we got to La Cruz just before sunset and were obliged to find somewhere to stay. We were happy with our choice largely because of the swimming pool that you see here. Unfortunately, we didn't bargain for some unusually strong winds that rattled the metal roofs all night keeping us from sleeping. But although we could have moved on immediately, we decided to stay and check out Santa Rosa National Park, nearby, as well as the beaches around Bahia Salinas. We're very glad that we did.

We spent our one day in the La Cruz area visiting our first Costa Rican national park, Santa Rosa. We weren't too happy at the entrance to note that we foreigners were charged three and a half times the local rate which we think is excessive. But for our money we did get a little unexpected excitement.

Jeep Road to the Beach, Santa Rosa
Jeep Road to the Beach, Santa Rosa

There were two or three cars waiting to pay ahead of us and when it came to our turn to pay, the ranger took our money and brought back a map. Then she noticed smoke coming from across the road. The grass along the verge was on fire. Presumably, the guy in the SUV who had rushed by us (we assumed he was a park official) had also dropped a cigarette butt. The ranger panicked some, but did nothing beyond calling frantically for help on her walkie-talkie. Meanwhile, Gerry was looking around for something to use to stomp out the flames which were spreading along the roadside with every gust of wind. In the end the best he could find was his pair of hiking boots. Two 30-something Costa Rican men in the car behind us, saw him trying and also decided to help with their feet and hands trying to move combustible material out of the way. The woman by then had realised she ought to do something constructive and managed to find a broom for the men to beat out the flames and then later brought the water from the bottom of an ice chest. Between them they managed to get it all out in about five minutes and I captured the entire thing on video. Seriously though, without quick action it could easily have developed into a full-blown (pun intended) forest fire.

The Casona de Santa Rosa Museum
The Casona de Santa Rosa Museum

The park is described, accurately obviously, as dry tropical forest and at this time of year, almost the end of the dry season, it is very dry and in the middle of the day, very hot. We drove into the park looking for the restaurant and found it at the end of the paved road. From the restaurant we drove over to the museum, about a mile away, which commemorates the battle between the Costa Ricans and the mercenaries of William Walker, the filibusteros as they are known here (from the Dutch word for freebooter or pirate) who tried to take over the state. The museum is housed in a rebuilt hacienda, or farmhouse, that was Walker's headquarters and burned down during the battle in 1856. Its rebuilding is fairly recent.

The park is divided into sectors, one of which is the estate that was confiscated from Somoza, the Nicaraguan dictator who was deposed by the Sandinista revolution in the early 1980's. From the museum, we drove back to the restaurant and then set off for a walk along the path to the beach. Our guidebook says that the beach is especially good for surfing, but at 14 kms it was a little too far to walk and we needed 4-wheel drive to negotiate the dirt road that goes down there. Our walk wasn’t terribly interesting but it was exercise after a couple of days without any.

Our only wildlife sighting in Santa Rosa
Our only wildlife sighting in Santa Rosa

We had heard much about the amount of wildlife to be seen in Costa Rican national parks so we were a little disappointed to see nary a bird or an insect during our walk in Santa Rosa. However, on our way out of the park, just as the sun was going down we did spot this small animal on the road out of the park. We couldn't identify it, can you?



July 3, 2004