Costa Rica is only about the size of Kentucky, and seventy-five percent of it looks like the picture to your left.  How long do we have before most of Amazonia looks the same? Everywhere I looked there were crowds of young people. Although the fertility rate is quite low, Costa Rica's population will double in the next few decades because of the large number of young people yet to have their families.

The towns and villages looked like armored fortresses with barbwire and steel bars protecting every entrance and window.  Hired security, gaurd dogs, and night watchmen were everywhere. We ate at a restaurant made out of an abandoned military transport once used by the CIA to illegally supply arms to the Contras. Human nature is the same wherever you go.

This was a beautiful sunset over a pond. Just to the right of this pond was the bulldozer being used to clear  jungle to make room for more hotels for eco-tourists like myself.

Horse back tours meander through wooded areas, giving the tourists the impression that they are in a jungle when they are actually just winding their way between pastures. A highlight on one tour was this monkey, isolated on a ranch by seas of pastureland.

This sloth was crossing a road in broad daylight in an attempt to find a patch of forest with more leaves and less competition for them.

Mounted butterfly displays were in every tourist shop. Not to worry, an official label on the back assures you that no wild butterflies were caught.  What the label does not say is that these butterflies all came from wild caught caterpillars, which are simply a lot easier to catch.

This is a view from a lookout at Manuel Antonio Park. If you look closely, you will realize that this park is the only place in that part of Costa Rica that even has trees. After being cheated on the admission price, I hiked every trail in this park in less than two hours. At one point, I walked down a creek which emptied into the ocean. I found the official sign that told tourists the price for a nature tour. The guides had dragged it into the creek so they could barter for higher prices. The trails were carefully arranged to give you the impression that the park was much bigger than it actually was. I saw a coati mundi and an agouti, both scavenging in trash cans for garbage.

These large crocodiles could be see from a bridge but when you look a little closer, you will notice that the river is filled with trash and garbage.