I am not through sharing photos from this year’s trip to Banana Azul and haven’t even started on the photos from a morning hike in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (source of my most wildlife sightings this year), but with all the praise I’ve given Banana Azul over the years and what was an annual trip every September (the month with usually less rain), I need a “DISCLAIMER” to previous recommendations for this hotel and area and to explain why I will not continue annual trips here and may not even return to Banana Azul.
Read on for my explanation or reasons and to see more photos . . .
Why I will travel less and it may not be to Banana Azul
- My age: I turned 86 this year and physically must decrease one of my favorite activities, travel. Just the way it is. 🙂 And thus I will be prioritizing places for my fewer trips and this place is losing its high priority for me.
- Money: I live on a fixed income of my U.S. pensions and social security, paid in U.S. Dollars which have been greatly devalued against the Costa Rica Colones! I don’t understand nor can I explain how that happens, but everyday things here are priced in colones (except some tourism) and that means I effectively have less money to live on now. As just one example, groceries are costing me at least 50% more than when I moved here in 2014 while my income remains the same with a devalued dollar meaning less colones to spend. Thus I cannot afford to travel much!
- Global Warming is Changing Caribe Sur: I’ve seen signs of it in the past but it is more dramatic now with a rising ocean and more storms, the beaches are all rapidly eroding away to almost nothing and the ocean will eventually cover the “Beach Road,” my past #2 best source of butterflies in all of Costa Rica after my own garden and this year I photographed zero butterflies on the Beach Road behind Banana Azul, my #1 reason for returning there almost every year, where I usually photograph 30+ species! Plus the birds are fewer with only 5 species photographed at the hotel this year! And of course weather is a big part of the reason with more wind and rain this year, which I think is due to global warming which I think caused this year’s “Super El Niño.” And there is no longer space on the beach for a volley ball net which used to be a joyful spot at Banana Azul! Nor the casual soccer games!
- One option for me is the Caribe North which is mostly Tortuguero National Park and it still has much more wildlife (as of last year’s trip), especially birds and even quite a few butterflies. So it may be my new Caribe choice in the future, even though they have the same beach erosion problem as down south. But beaches are not my thing! 🙂 And I will not likely be going any one place every year again! 🙂
- And lastly, almost hating to mention it, but the originators of Banana Azul were getting older and 2 or 3 years ago sold it to I don’t know whom, but probably an investment group and the constantly changing managers and inconsistent maintenance and service just means “it is not the same as it used to be.” And I know that sounds like a nostalgic old man, but as Popeye the Sailor Man said, “I yam what I yam!” 🙂
I plan to do a new set of photo galleries sometime, focused on places, and Caribe Sur will definitely be one of those places or maybe multiple places with collections of my favorite photos from past trips. 🙂 That will be introduced in a blog post of course!
¡Pura Vida!