“I imagine that gardeners look upon their works with truly immense satisfaction.” – Old Sean
Morning Bus
After exploring the northern area around San Jose, I was ready to check out other nearby areas.
The next couple of days brought me the opposite direction towards Cartago.
Once, in times yonder, Cartago was the capital city of Costa Rica. I’m rather fond of this section of the country despite it’s urban temperament. My entry was extremely welcome. There is a rail line cutting right through the central part of the city, with a biking route alongside. The shops here are quite nice and much more pleasant than San Jose’s brand.
I ended up passing by a coffee shop called La Flor Del Café #2, which smelled amazing. I stopped for a cup of coffee and when I tried paying with a US $20 dollar bill, the staff found they were a bit short on change and happily offered me the cup as a welcome gift into the city.
Exploring Cartago
Caffeine fix sated, I next wandered to Ruinas De Cartago. This large building, once the recipient of several attempts to construct a church in the plaza has been converted into an extremely beautiful and quaint little park with an open-air roof. The nearby plaza is constantly caked with pigeons and a strange concrete spike jutting directly upwards.
A short walk away put me in front of Bascilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, a grand white building dominating another very pleasant plaza. A nearby shop had unique little hanging gardens in their window, tropical birds made from thin rubber tires.
Rainblocker, Longwalker
However, my goal (which was a long walk, since I didn’t feel like embracing another bus) was Lankester Botanical Garden.
To date, this is my favorite visit in Costa Rica. The main nursery is covered in beautiful orchids, which are epiphytes. This is a new word for me, as I recently learned epiphytes are plants that grow on trees without causing harm.
There’s something amusing about going abroad, practicing a foreign language and managing to pick up a previously unknown word in one’s native tongue.
The natural gardens, which take about two hours to walk through, include a large portion dedicated as a Japanese Garden. While it doesn’t quite feel like the gardens in Japan (which are meticulous and oriented with an obsessive amount of care) this garden is a lovely and compassionate recreation of the style, complete with bamboo woods, shallow koi ponds, raked sand gardens and low wooden buildings.
As it was raining virtually the entire time I visited, I had the entire Botanical Garden to myself.
Gardenworld
My next miniture walk brought me deep into the tropical woods, Lankester’s jungle zone. Long-legged birds ghosted between tree branches and butterflies large as sparrows flitted around in drunken joy, shrugging off raindrops in a way their smaller cousins likely couldn’t.
There’s also a desert portion of the garden, showing great dry-houses where cacti thrive. The ones sitting outside are something of a unique juxtaposition. The cacti lounging outside are thick-skinned and spiny as any of their arid brethren, but covered along their base in a fine layer of moss.
The rest of my time was spent among the other Costa Rican plants, often veering towards vibrant colors. Some flowers look like nothing so much as an orange hummingbird in flight. Others are a checker pattern of red seeds dripping with rainwater. Others, pattered starfish sweeping over spiny leaves. Giant bamboo shoots beyond the eyeline in thick stalks, nearly thrice the width of my forearm.
Best of all were the spotted ducklings, hopping up and down concrete cliffs while their parents quacked at me, impatient at my sudden appearance in the rain.
Returning to San Jose
And so we are done. I’m currently at my favorite café near Heredia, Panaderia Cas Vieja located in San Pablo. My Airbnb’s internet was torn out the previous night by a truck running over our cable, giving me the perfect excuse to wander out and borrow some WIFI while guzzling unholy amounts of coffee.
It’s the first day I’ve been in Costa Rica where it hasn’t been cloudy and partially rainy throughout the day. I almost don’t know what to make of the sunlight.
Either way, my first week back abroad is done. In a smattering of days, I’ll head back into the mountains once I decode the bus schedules and stock up on enough food to carry.
Until then,
Best regards and excellent trails,
Old Sean
Written July 13th 2021
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The GoPro Hero Black is my go to Action camera. I’m not comfortable bringing my cell phone to many wet and rugged locations, so the GoPro does most of my photographic heavy-lifting. The only things I bring in my GoPro kit are the camera, a spare battery and the forehead mount. I upgrade my GoPro once every two years. It was particularly excellent to have during my aquatic tour of Belize.
