CYHA News

Fun in the Friary

May Bank Holiday saw us heading north to the East Riding of Yorkshire and the beautiful town of Beverley. Some say that Beverley is like York in miniature. It has some fabulous old buildings, a jaw-droppingly impressive Minster and, naturally, an impressive selection of pubs. Best of all Beverley has a youth hostel and it’s located in the historic friary in the middle of the old town.

It proved to be a chilly weekend and a drafty, old friary wasn’t the place to linger of an evening. This may have been a deliberate ploy to enhance the sales of the local hostelries, but we certainly enjoyed the experience.

My ex-boss recommended a pub from his student days, so out of curiosity I had to check it out. I had a post code and knew roughly where it was, but even so it was a tough pub to find. Up on the far side of the market square, away from the trendy pubs, there was no pub sign and we only spotted it because we saw people drinking through the window. The White Horse (or “Nellies” as it is also known) is a peculiarly traditional pub. Bare floors, open fires, nicotine-coloured walls and gas lighting, it was like stepping back in time. Even the beer had yesterday’s prices at just £1.50 a pint. The visit was slightly marred by locals almost starting a punch up in the bar when we arrived, but I guess you could put it down as just a bit of local colour.

Our Saturday walk took us through the town and included a tour of the Minster before we headed out to the hills and villages out on the periphery. It was a late return to Beverley and touch-and-go whether we’d make the tea room. In fact they’d just turned Cress away, when by sheer weight of numbers we flocked in and demanded chocolate cake.

Sunday we were blown over to the coast for a super walk over the cliff tops of Flamborough Head. Along with spectacular views along the coast, there were puffins, razorbills, guillemots and fabulous wheeling gannets. The walk also included a café half way round and there was a spontaneous outbreak of chip butties. It was such a fabulous day that Andrew obviously didn’t want it to end and just kept on walking (we did retrieve him eventually).

Monday was the day for Wolds and history as we strolled through rolling hills to the deserted medieval village (or DMV) of Wharram Percy. The DMV itself was little more than foundations and interpretive panels with the exception of the church, which was still standing in pride of place, and made a great location for a picnic.

A bit chilly, but otherwise a super weekend to a part of the country we don’t get to much. Thanks go to Doug and Andrew for keeping us particularly well nourished.

Ali

Exploring Copped Hall

Many thank to Cressida for arranging our visit to Copped Hall. The Hall was built back in 1758, but was reduced to an elegant but scorched shell back in 1917 after a fire. Since then it has been gradually restored, but you still get to see the bare bones of the building – the brick and stone uncovered by plasterwork. The tour included a full spiel on the history of the building, plus tea and cakes, and a tour of the garden. The garden was fascinating, revealing hours upon hours of volunteer work and a fabulous walled garden.

After lunch at the hall, we spent the afternoon walking through Epping Forest. We even managed to find a second tea shop of the day, thanks to the church at Upshire. So we returned to the cars caked out and thoroughly satisfied.

Ali

Que impresion tiene............?

"Que impresion tiene della situacion economica y politica in Costa Rica a hora?" *

Adapted from a well-known language course in Spanish, this enquiry about the current political & economic situation in my destination country was about as useful a phrase for a traveller in Latin America as the old laments about  postillions being struck by lightning reputedly  to be found in travellers'  phrase-books 100 years ago. Such replies as it provoked, were well-nigh incomprehensible to one as linguistically challenged as yours truly, and like as not to be accompanied by the kind of indulgent, tolerant smile that one might present to a small child asking about quantum physics. As an exercise in applying useful grammatic conventions, though, the phrase had a practical usefulness. As a social lubricant, it oiled the wheels of interaction. When introduced to Costa Ricans by Costa Ricans, I was invariably urged to "say your question, Doug". My compliance was immediately followed by gales of laughter from all present, probably due as much to my execrable accent as the grotesque inappropriateness of the query. It did not however elicit the kind of derisive, expletive-laden response the query might provoke in UK at the time of writing, May 2010, following an inconclusive election in the depths of recession.

Whatever they may have thought about economics and politics, the Costa Ricans I met appeared to be content, happy even, very friendly and hospitable, with a good sense of humour, and generally tolerant of my inadequate attempts at communicating in their language. It seemed that their economic and political situation had contributed in no small part to their equable dispositions. Differences between rich and poor appeared less extreme than anywhere else I had travelled in LA, except Cuba. Public services and infrastructure were of good standard; you could even drink the tap water safely in most places. Guide-books warn about crime, and certainly heavy security gates and razor wire protecting urban property reinforced these warnings, but personally I experienced no crime-related problems. Politically, the country appears stable and peaceful, perhaps not least to its having had no standing army since 1948.

 However, I had not visited Costa Rica to investigate either its political or economic situation. A major motivation was a good rainforest experience, though what this would mean in practice, I wasn't entirely sure. Having no background or expertise in biology, I nevertheless respond to the idea of timeless primeval environment, and sightings of rare, genuinely wild creatures in a completely natural habitat can still awaken feelings of excitement and privilege in me. My years in Africa have failed to satiate this, appetite for close encounters of the wild kind, and I anticipated experiences in the rainforest as reviving the excitement of my early years on that continent's  vast savannah. I realised that my chances of seeing a jaguar were probably similar to my chances of winning the lottery, but hoped to add to my brief encounters with tarantulas and vampire bats in Amazon basin in Peru, and the vivid butterflies and insects of Ecuador. Anything larger in the largely secondary forest around Misahualli had long been hunted to extinction by the local population, and more adventurous and expensive itineraries would have been necessary to obtain an authentic  experience deeper in the rainforest. In any case, my appetite for serious wildlife encounters was to be more than satisfied by the uniqueness of Ecuador's Galapagos islands, visited later on that journey.

Costa Rica has a particular reputation for the richness of its rainforests among the enormous variety of its ecosystems that belies the nation's tiny size. It has earned this through enormous efforts to conserve and educate, supported by an effective national parks system. Supporting this activity by visiting these environments is a positive way for the tourist to counter the kind of economic pressures which can be so destructive of them, and I had no ethical or environmental concerns about visiting the country and its rainforests.

From a botanical viewpoint I was not disappointed. Ubiquitous seas of greenery are an abiding memory, whether viewed from the shores of Tortuguero's canals and lagoons, or the luxuriant canopy walkways and zip-lines of Monteverde's cloudforests, these more alpine than tropical-proper name "montane tropical rainforest"- branches dripping lichen, embraced by clinging epiphytes, notably the bromeliads, huge trunks supported by great buttress roots, themselves providing a routeway for various vines creeping towards the sunlight above.

Spotting fauna was far more difficult in the thick foliage. Insect life was seldom intrusive, which in one sense was welcome, but in another rather underwhelming. Small amphibians expertly concealed themselves, the tiny poison dart frog a very occasional exception. Another frog wasted its natural camouflage of resembling a stone by ostentatiously resting on a large green leaf in the dry forest of Manuel Antonio. The only view to be had of the iconic red-eyed tree-frog was in a serpentarium where some of the more venomous reptilian denizens of the forests could be viewed in relative safety. The lethal eyelash viper was one of these, and I narrowly missed brushing against one on a night walk in Toruguera. This, incidentally was while returning from a night walk to view an enormous marine turtle lumbering ashore to lay its eggs.

Such close encounters were rare, however, and most views of larger creatures were from a distance, particularly in the forests. Sloths hung upside down from distant branches, motionless apart from constant, slow  munching on leaves. Howler monkeys, often to be heard invisibly roaring from the depths of the forest occasionally congregated in small groups in overhead branches as we paddled or drifted  by on rivers and lagoons. There were equally distant sightings of squirrel and spider monkeys, using their prehensile tails to advantage in the upper layers of the forest. Where the forest of Manuel Antonio approached the broad white beaches acquisitive capuchin monkeys looked out for stealing snacks from careless tourists, and scavenging raccoon-like coatis hunted in the undergrowth

The largest animals to be seen in the country were undoubtedly the crocodiles, and their smaller relatives, the caimans dwelling in freshwater lagoons and rivers. There are few more fearsome sights when gliding along a river than a cluster of basking crocodiles, huge jaws open.

It is however, its bird-life which attracts visitors to Costa Rica from all over the world. There are more than 850 species, more than all of Europe or in Australia. The one I was determined to see above all others was the resplendent quetzal. We had a number of false sightings-the bird is notoriously shy-before spotting its green iridescent plumage amidst the equally green foliage amidst which it sought to camouflage itself, an environment which inhibited successful photography. Although not a large bird, its iridescent tail feathers extended nearly two feet below its body, and it was easy to see why they were so valued as adornment by the priests and rulers of pre-Columbian civilizations.

I viewed many colourful and interesting birds during my short visit to this fascinating little country, explored a number of its various environments, and saw something of its abundant fauna, although the forest concealed even more that I did not see. Perhaps that is as it should be. A little mystery and seclusion may be what is needed to preserve such a rare and fragile habitat.

In the unlikely event of my being able to return, I hope that I can ask with the hope of being taken seriously "Que impresion tiene della situacion ecologico in Costa Rica a hora?"

More importantly, I would hope for a positive response. The indications from my brief visit are that I will indeed receive one.

Doug

* What impression do you have of the economic and political situation in Costa Rica at present?