Rode through the town with the really big round rocks again (they are seriously round - within 5mm of perfectly spherical)....
I think I like them more than the big stone heads from Mexico... They are so "Solid and ROUND"... Cant explain it, There is just something beautiful about a sphere like this, and the rough texture adds to it.... maybe I need help!
And lots of pineapple plantations down here too...
From southern Nicaragua I headed into CostaRica. But I didnt really have anything that I wanted to do there, so I just rode along the Pacific edge of the country to try to avoid all the traffic that I experienced last time.
It was a bit better this time but still very much the same thing...
The country is lovely and rolling and green. All the cars are new and clean; There are way too many big trucks on the narrow roads; and frankly, the whole place is just one very large low-key resort!
(warning.... Rant imminent!)
Im not kidding when I say that absolutely every where that I went, the place was peppered with a constant supply of "mini-resorts" (every 5 or 10Km on every road there would be another resort...) This one is an "eco-resort" and has a zip-line canopy tour... This one is a little hacienda and has lots of horse riding and "cowboy" activities... This one does 4WD and ATV tours... This one does surfing and beach stuff... etc.
Its as if everyone swallowed the same pill :)
Seems like everyone in the "wealthy North" of the continent (and the wealthy ones from the South too for that matter) has the same idea... They want a piece of the tropics (a nice piece that is) but they either dont want to be there full-time, or they cant afford to live in the style they want without income, or maybe they are just greedy and cant help but try to make money out of others... Whatever the reason, it seems like absolutely everyone is trying to make money out of tourists to pay for their own little "slice of heaven" - Note, no one is trying to make a living out of the locals... Not nearly enough money there to support the life style people want!
And it was no different in San Juan del Sur or in any of the other tourist and colonial towns Ive passed through, etc.... Everyone who I meet who lives here is working in the tourist industry (as a slave for a business owner, or as the slave master with their own business). And everyone who has a business is flat out trying to push it on you (as a tourist)... Hey wanna come stay at my great place.... or Come to my bar tonight I got a band playing... or How about a massage and yoga at my new holistic spa? etc.
Its just a bit tiring!
And I was definitely considering more or less the same thing too about a year ago... And I was running my own very little motorbike rental business too (though I like to think I was not at all pushy about it), so I know exactly where those people are "coming from".
But at the moment, it all seems quite "greedy" to me.
Its like we "wealthy ones" have found "something nice" and now we are going to exploit it... And by doing so we change it... We make it like the place we came from, and we are "consuming" as much of the nice stuff as fast as we can!
And I have been no different!... I hardly meet a traveller down here who is not looking for a nice place that they can "buy into" before it gets too popular and they cant afford it! We very deliberately want to take maximum advantage of the local cheap land and labour.
We dont want to be fair at all!... We want to exploit the locals as much as we can... There is no way we would want to pay someone else the amount we would want to be paid if we were doing the work our selves... Its just plain old greed, nothing less!
Sooner or later, we will run out of places to run to.
Sooner or later we will run out of places and people we can exploit.
Sooner or later we will just have to find a way to be happy with the places we are from.
Sooner or later we will have to learn to be happy without screwing over someone else...
But people never seem to figure things out till after theyve gone too far...
So my guess is itll be later rather than sooner! :)))
Like I said, it seems like a "bad flavour" to me at the moment!
Hmmm I wonder how much of a hypocrite Ill have made of myself when I reread this post in a years time?
For now, I guess Im gonna keep on riding :)))
