(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story is a conclusion of a two-part series on Costa Rica and Panama, which was visited by former Citizen and Tribune Editor Gary W. Meyer earlier this spring.)

You cannot buy a gun in Costa Rica. So, there’s not a good chance you’ll be able to hunt.

That’s just the way the policy makers in Costa Rica like it. No guns. No shooting. Just pristine, quiet landscapes across the tiny Central American country. Our tour guide, Walter Quiros Vargas noted any pest control is left to the pumas and leopards (five varieties) roaming the region. As for home invasions? He suspects his machete is a worthy defense.

Vargas emphasized with great pride the fact that up to 50% of the land space in the country was under some form of protection, usually in parks. So, the exotic birds, varied insects and bees and other wildlife enjoy a good time. The humans they come into contact with are usually walking on restricted trails and enjoying the day. And that’s what our Holiday Vacations group of 24 were there for. Over a five-day period, we visited two major parks, the Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge, on the northeast corner of the country, near Nicaragua, and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.

A highlight for me was our morning visit to Arenal Vocano National Park, in the central part of the country. Mt. Arenal last erupted in 1968 and spewed ash and gases over a 65-mile radius of the site. Farmland was deemed unusable for many years after the eruption, but Mother Nature has had a fortuitous ending for the landowners. Farmland which was once worthless has become the richest property in the nation. Vargas announced one day that farmers, if they were to sell, could require over $100 per square meter for such farmland.

Our group walked a 1.5 mile trek through the lower levels of Mt. Arenal – it was a very ambitious hike. My knees ached for three days.

Following the eruption of Mt. Arenal, the Costa Rican government ventured into a large scale water project, which consisted of claiming a 30-mile long valley and directing waters from 11 area rivers to fill the valley. It has become a highly-successful water resource that serves three electrical generating plants and 40% of the residents of the country.

As for the farmland in the country – it is invariably cut into small parcels, because there is very limited automation and few implements on the land. Coffee plantations come in couple-acre plots. Orange and pineapple growers have larger parcels. Sugar cane is a large cash crop, and the most labor intensive. A day before harvest, the drying fields are set ablaze to burn off extra growth from the cane stalks – and to kill off the infestations of rats who may have taken up residence in the fields. The following day, workers attack the cane stalks with machetes, just like for the past hundreds of years. Dirty, hot, stinky work – for about $8 per hour. Coffee harvesters also experience backbreaking work. About 100 descend to the farms on the Doka Coffee Estate, as their previous workers have done for the past 200 years. 

Today, the workers must fill the equivalent of eight bushel baskets in a workday for a salary of $16. By the way, it takes 45 coffee beans to make a cup of coffee.

Çosta Rica has become a very popular destination for vacationers. Tourism has long been their No. 1 source of national income, followed by technology and agriculture. Schools in the country have become so successful at graduating technology students that they are exported for work in various countries, including the United States.

Much of our Costa Rican travels were in the interior of the country, where we experienced 75-85-degree weather, with a fair amount of humidity. On our last day in country, we traveled across a mountain range (and away from the moisture) towards the Pacific Ocean, and a world of difference. There, we were met with arid conditions – near 100-degree heat. It was perfect timing to stop at one of the roadside shanties and purchase a slurpee, known to them as a “Churchill,” named after the WWII era British prime minister. I forget the connection. It tasted very good.

A final note, While stopped oceanside enjoying the cool-down, we noticed at least a dozen or more cargo freighters out at sea. They were waiting for harbor calls in a nearby marina. And – most of them were Chinese. The Chinese seem to have a lot of business with the Americas now-days.