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[peteandsiobhan-blog]

Leaving Lockdown Costa Rica & Entering empty England

Corona to COVID-19 with Siobhan & Pete March/April 2020

Part 1 Costa Rica here we come

We departed for a 2-week adventure holiday to Costa Rica a few hours later than originally scheduled, in the afternoon of Saturday 14th March 2020. Heathrow airport was buzzing as usual, we had a little bottle of hand sanitiser, but no protection and no social distancing was occurring. After a boozy breakfast we giggled immaturely at the sight of a singular seemingly more paranoid passenger in full hazmat suit, looking like an extra in E.T.

We were aware at this time of Corona virus starting to take hold of Italy, lock downs in China, very few British cases and hardly any outbreaks outside of China Italy, Iran and France. At this point, news informed us to continue as normal, not travel to outbreak countries, to self-isolate for 2 weeks on return from these Countries and that the virus was flu like symptoms which can be deadly for the old and vulnerable (those with underlying health issues ranging from Cancer to Diabetes), for the young or healthy, the implication was the virus was easily beaten.    

   Slight delays to our departure across the North Atlantic Ocean were accredited to Donny Trump’s announced ban from midnight Friday 13th on EU flights entering the US (excluding the UK, thankfully), which meant merging multiple flights to Atlanta, Georgia. The delay meant we would miss our connecting flight to San Jose and would have to stay in Atlanta for a night rather than San Jose. On Announcing our arrival in Atlanta, the pilot who was rather confused and concerned, informed passengers the CDC would be boarding the plane and to stay seated. We asked the beautifully cool, smooth accented airhostess, who sat next to us cooing over the baby on the front row, what the CDC was and what was about to happen. 

‘Centre for Disease Control’. The airhostess’s little girl was in New York and soon to celebrate her first birthday, she immediately started worrying about getting quarantined, turned around, or maybe even tested. Several ridiculously huge uniformed, plastic masked men walked down the aisle, with their loaded guns, handing out paper forms for us to complete and return. The men requested everyone to go home and isolate for two weeks and check for symptoms. We were each given poorly printed leaflets, which included details of symptoms, requesting again for isolation, except for us who were wished a good onward journey. 

That weird rush of America filled all our senses, from the colour of the light, the accents, guns, and general factor 50 vibes, as we tiredly tried to find the Delta desk to figure out where to stay and next flights out of Atlanta. We were greeted by a cheerful yet stressed, smiley yet take no shit, well humoured team of middle-aged ladies, who sorted us out with free vouchers for a hotel and new flights – advising that our luggage would be transferred automatically to the new flight tomorrow. Boom! There were lots of Europeans trying to get home and rearranging flights etc, we just seemed to breeze through, after realising the call centre were really struggling and the ladies on the desk had it under control. We cancelled our night in San Jose with an extremely helpful, understanding Airbnb host, and set all the alarms after a little steak dinner at a hotel within walking distance from the airport, we were advised $50 per person per day spends on food and drink would later be reimbursed on application.

It was then we read that Atlanta was where the CDC is based (It was here that we discovered the CDC’s head quarters is based in Atlanta), and where ALL of Americas Corona tests were sent for analysis and a result. Felt like we had fallen out of a tree into a bees nest, movies like Outbreak and Contagion sprang to mind. We were keen to leave and get to our paradise. Airhostesses were wearing gloves on the next flight, headed South over the Gulf of Mexico, and kindly gave us a free bottle of red wine, after Pete explained our missed flight, happy days. We hung out with Americans at the other end in San Jose, whilst awaiting our ride to the cloud Forest in Monteverde. The Americans seemed chilled, happy to be on holiday and excited about their plans for diving, exploring, beach life and all the animals and birds. We spoke about Corona, how it may kick off in New York, where one couple lived, the bartender would be screwed if the bar closed, his veterinary wife seemed sceptical of any impact on her business. We agreed to look out for each other the following week in Manuel Antonio and casually joked about how we would be lucky to get trapped in Costa Rica, which none of us envisioned to be possible. Three cases of Corona virus in northern Costa Rica, from American tourists who were isolated and being looked after.

Part 2 Monteverde mountains and cloud forest creatures foraging

Montverde is out of this world. We were welcomed to our glass box hut tucked away in the forest by a beautiful orange puff chested brown bird and an Agouti (aka wish pig). We decided to detach from the world news, friends on WhatsApp groups and make the most of our trip. Night Safari seemed like a well-polished tourist trip, with fewer groups than usual, as tourists had begun to cancel trips or return home. We ran around in the early evening dusk, when all the animals and birds go nuts, with a charming guide, who showed us all sorts, from scorpions that glow in UV light like psy trance ravers to young 2 toed sloths climbing down their tree to take their once weekly poo on the ground. We saw a Hairy female Tarantula, Armadillos, sleeping birds, poisonous tree viper snakes, the classic red eyed frog (teeny tiny!). Best comment came from another guide, who as Pete was getting closer to a green viper snake for a wildlife picture shoot, wisely informed us that not only was the viper deadly poisonous and leaps when threatened, but this tree like all the trees and all the forest are connected and move as one.     Ziplining through the mountain tops with a group of young American tropical biologist students, and a pair of talking parrots was immense. Flying alongside large birds of prey, feeling free and pumped full of adrenalin with stunning views of such diverse bright colourful flora and fauna, was invigorating and fun as fuck. The final Tarzan swing was a jaw dropping moment of pure thrills. We went first and recorded the students screaming behind us, who were made up to have a record of their bravery. This, along with pretty much everything else closed 2 days later.

The students were getting one last adventure in before returning to the US, against their will, they had been threatened by universities with loss of credits, pulled funding and project shutdowns. We encouraged them to rebel and stay to finish their projects and studies which will no doubt help with the protection and knowledge of such wonderous places on our planet. We spent the afternoons and evenings walking and exploring the beautiful mountainside, village homes had very English like gardens with rhododendrons, there was a big artist presence and the most stunning sunsets. One on such evening sunset gazing, we were asked to sit one seat apart as part of the new Costa Rican tradition, we were confused and complied wearily, unaware the government had been issuing corona spread reduction advice. On the recommendation of our Airbnb host, handily an ex tour operator, worryingly an ex whaler, we went over to the other mountain Santa Elena, for a national park exploratory hiking day. We didn’t anticipate the accent Japanese meets hippy messages around the first hike and got fully immersed in the advice and vibes which were curing and calming. The jungle was dense, enchanting and beautiful, with birds that seemed to call back to us, mimicking our whistles, whilst others sang in harmony with each other and some calls were straight out of Star Wars. The winding paths took us high enough to see the Arenal volcano and low down in the valley streams. Something quite magical about this place, a place where the past and future faded and the present was filled with wonder, respect, admiration and appreciation of all nature has to offer.  There were very few others in the entire national park, which closed the following day.

Whilst we were blissfully unaware of the escalation and seriousness of Corona virus spreading, we started to receive messages from friends advising us to come home. We decided we were probably safer in Costa Rica than Europe, and that getting early flights back would be stressful and expensive. We found an ancient strangler tree, now hollow after 400 years of growing around its host tree, which since died and crumbled away. There were around eight or so other tourists admiring the spectacle and climbing the inner maze of its curly wurly like structure. There was talk of Panama closing its boarders, but no concerns over being in groups together, or returning to Europe early. We received an Airbnb notification to say anyone who booked our next apartment advising anyone who was booked between 17th March to 13th April must cancel their bookings. Lucky for us, Pete miss interpreted this to refer to the date the booking was made, rather than the dates booked. We responded to confirm we would arrive soon, as planned.   We left the quaint Quaker mountain town and headed to the coast to the paradise beaches of Manual Antonio, famed for surfing, excited, energised and fully relaxed. We were so grateful to our host, we gifted him with a Liverpool football shirt for his new baby daughter, for which he was delighted.   

Part 3 Surf’s up in Manuel Antonio

Tucans, spider monkeys, lizards, iguanas, wish pigs and stunning tropical sea views welcomed us to our apartment in Manuel Antonio. The pool, Jacuzzi and beautiful open areas in full bloom were guest free; the place was eerily quiet. Bonus! All this space to ourselves, bliss. 

The magnificent beach was a few minutes down the hill, past empty bars and restaurants, closed stores and shut up tourist attractions. The heat of the morning was immense, cooling off in the sea felt like pure luxury. We had all this room, all this space on what should have been a crammed tourist hot spot. We felt spoiled, privileged and elated! We planned to kick back, check out some of the surf schools in the afternoon and make some solid plans for the coming days. 

We spotted a police van on the beach on the far left in the distance, guessing a theft or accident perhaps? A large authoritarian boat and a smaller one appeared in the bay, as lifeguards began speaking to people on the beach methodically. When they reached us, they explained the government had closed not only this beach, but all beaches in the country from now and until at least June. They politely asked us to leave, to return to our hotel and to stay there. We went to the nearest bar to eat, drink and check the news. We met an English couple, who were worried too, and shocked to learn the beach had been closed. We met them later that night for dinner and bumped into them once more a few days later. They explained a car had crashed into the shop under their flat in London, destabilising the whole structure! More drama. They were weighing up their options of where to stay for lock down Britain on their return in a day or so. Yikes.

We returned to the villa to find the owner, a Canadian woman panicking, flustered, explaining she would close after we and one other couple left in few days and imposed upon us that we should check with airlines and make plans to return home. Jeez Louise, this woman was bumming us out. Our airline requested we avoid contacting them until 72 hours before our flight home, we had ages yet! Everyone seemed to leave the area, leaving even fewer tourists. Pete and I spent our time eating in empty restaurants, drinking in empty bars, enjoying the wildlife from our veranda and floating on the inflatable donut in the pool, and admiring the stunning sunsets, trying to snap the sun melting into the sea and playing Yahtzee. This must be what famous people experience, in terms of closed only to them restaurants and bars.

Lucky for us we bonded instantly with an old American man who was leaving to stay with a friend nearby to see this thing out, rather than risk returning stateside. He was fascinated with us, as he grew up in the UK and even had a Bristolian connection somehow.  As he departed, he smoothly passed Pete a bag of mighty fine weed, asking subtly if its something we would enjoy, explaining he couldn’t take it where he was going. All felt a bit James Bond, what a dude! Score. As we explored Manuel Antonio, and admired the beach from afar, admired the water sports and adventures no longer available, we vowed that one day we would return.

We nervously checked with our third and final, destination in Uvita, our most luxurious booking of the holiday, of the check in times. The response was slow but came back positively, thankfully. By this point everywhere was closed and we were one of two couples left. 

The Uber driver turned up and instantly cancelled our booking, issuing us a refund, then agreeing to take us, cash in hand, outside of the Uber app. It was a long drive, with a roadblock police check point on route.  

Part 4 Toucan time, UVITA!

Wow! This place is insane. Nestled on a mountain side with sea view, sprawling tropical plants and trees decorate and frame each glance in every direction. The heat enveloped us from head to toe as the diverse jazz orchestra sounds of the jungle reverberated, bouncing energetically and harmoniously, waking all our senses. The open-air restaurant framed with curvy interwoven majestic strangler trees, led to small, yet dramatic infinity pool on a cliff edge. There were far more staff than tourists, we were one of 4 couples soon to be 3. Exhausted and relived, we were led to our stilted jungle bungalow. MADE IT. LUXURY.