We arrive in Costa Rica’s capital, San José, hours before a hurricane is forecast to hit the nation. The government orders the evacuation of vulnerable towns and villages, coastal communities are urged to seek shelter, and internal flights are put on a wait-and-see basis.
We decide to make the next leg of the journey by road, driving west through the highlands to the Pacific coast of the Nicoya peninsula. We rent a bungalow in a scrubby patch of jungle not far from a beautiful crescent beach near Nosara, and settle the kids into their new home.
When the rains are light or cease, we fill their days with jungle strolls and beach walks, listen to howler monkeys roar and watch them prance through the trees, find iguanas and humming birds, hawks and pelicans, and all types of insect. We eat tropical fruits, rambutan and tamarind, papaya and mango, pineapple and banana. We feast on hearty casados – plates of fish, rice, beans, vegetables and sauces.
Further north, life is less idyllic. Hurricane Otto has smashed through the country from the Caribbean to the Pacific, the first tropical cyclone to cross the nation since records began, and the most southerly ever to hit Central America. At least ten people have lost their lives, with many more missing, and more than 3,000 remain evacuated. Flash floods washed away houses, roads and livestock. Some areas have been devastated, with more than a month’s rainfall pounding infrastructure in just a few hours. The cleanup will cost millions. People from around the country are pulling together to help with the relief effort – President Solis has declared three days of mourning for the victims. Less helpful are the morbid hurricane tourists, who are driving to the area to take selfies with destruction, adding to the chaos.
This hurricane was unusual. It was very late in the season, making this one of the longest on record, and it was the first to strike Costa Rica. Weather can be strange and unpredictable, but Otto also forms part of a recent trend in more intense tropical storms. The world’s oceans have absorbed the vast majority of the global warming that humans have produced over the past decades as we release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As the oceans become warmer and more energetic, so do the storms they stir up. And as sea levels rise, these intense storms can do more damage to our human world – destroying our infrastructure, livelihoods and even our lives.
One of the reasons I have come to Costa Rica is to look at how this small nation is managing the challenge of producing energy we all need for economic and social development while maintaining its important natural ecosystems. What is already very clear, is that in these changing times – in the Anthropocene – we need to plan for unpredictable, violent weather.
Wandering Gaia 
Nice Post.
Ya me tenéis de presidente mundial gratuito por los siglos de los siglos, la mayoría lo desconoce por que esta muerta y un muerto no puede verse muerto, excepto que yo lo resucite, los miles y miles de panfletos , unica prensa democratica del planeta, que doy, por diferentes calles, pueblos, y ciudades gratuitamente, ya explique como deben de llegar a todos los colegios, institutos, universidades, fabricas, y empresas del planeta, a través de las redes insociables de la desigualdad inhumana, o por internet igualitarista cuando lo tengamos, o por la cadena informativa igualitarista estanislaista mundial, casa por casa, o tela de araña informativa mundial con traducción simultanea, a través de la democracia asamblearia, y sus comisiones informativas estanislaistas igualitaristas, para hacer llegar estos panfletos o única prensa democrática a los pueblos cercanos y así sucesivamente hasta los pueblos cercanos a otros países traducido a su lengua, y así hasta llegar a todo el planeta, colegios, institutos, universidades, fabricas, y empresas, para poder estar en tu sitio, los centros de investigación de barrio aprendiendo a ser científica colectiva, para poner en practica la inmortalidad por mi descubierta y poder variar edad, después de trabajar unas horas para tener energías limpias, todas las tierras del planeta con agricultura y huertos y restaurantes ecológicos, estatales y planificados sin transgénicos ni pesticidas con abonos naturales bio, y en donde todas somos iguales, nadie por encima de nadie
Al no ser así lamentablemente ni pongo la otra mejilla ni me dejo explotar sin pasar factura, yo no disfruto la igualdad pero tu no existes, al quedar el mundo divido en un solo jhombre con j, y mas de 7500 millones de tortilleras, jamas hubo masculino ni femenino que acabe con la desigualdad inhumana, somos féminas rabudas y chochonas, las relaciones entre féminas sob lesbianas o tortilleras
Para estar en tu sitio, los centros de investigación colectivos de barrio, hay que organizarse con=igualitarismo estanislaista, tu sitio no es ir a las playas de costa rica en avion, contaminando todo el planeta, con el tubo de escape del avion, millones y millones de tubos de escapes de coches, aviones, camiones, autobuses, chimeneas contaminantes, las tienes en tu nariz, para que no contaminen y maten a mas de 12 millones de no habitantes al año, y tener la inmortalidad por mi descubierta, tienes que estar en tu sitio, los centros de investigación colectivos de barrio, aprendiendo a ser científica igualitarista estanislaista, no en costa rica El 2 dic. 2016 10:35, “estanisla estanislao” escribió:
> Al no ser así lamentablemente ni pongo la otra mejilla ni me dejo explotar > sin pasar factura, yo no disfruto la igualdad pero tu no existes, al quedar > el mundo divido en un solo jhombre con j, y mas de 7500 millones de > tortilleras, jamas hubo masculino ni femenino que acabe con la desigualdad > inhumana, somos féminas rabudas y chochonas, las relaciones entre féminas > sob lesbianas o tortilleras
I think it’s good that your family made the best of the situation by having fun when you could. I find it rude that people will come to just take selfies and prance around even though they probably don’t understand the devastation caused to so many families and how it must hurt those families to see these people running around like they own the place.
Unexpected things spice up the trip but things like Hurricane are not among those..it feels bad to see destruction caused by storms etc..nevertheless, very well expressed !!
https://www.facebook.com/Passport.Souls/
I am watching the first episode now; what a hidden gem Costa Rica and especially Gaia as the presenter, her passion is evident and I look forward to watching the other episodes. What a beautiful country and unbelievably, has no army!
Thanks.