Costa Rica News – Cafe Milagro, in Quepos, has become a home for some Jehovah’s witnesses. The Jamaican and American women hand out pamphlets and try to make a message of God appeal to backpackers. Those who follow Krishna or Buddha compete with them for the attention of those passing by.
The reason none of them have much luck could be that backpacking is all about getting away from religious and other traditions and finding your true self. But, argued the Jamaican woman, “Why not find God on the way?”
In Costa Rica, there are backpackers in nearly every part. They wander from hostel to hostel, in search of a somewhat clean shared bathroom or the best pool or pizza. There are also a number of travelers in the country’s four-star, all-inclusive hotels. Wherever the visitors go, they can find others just like themselves. Everyone searches for a WiFi hotspot together.
No matter what town you arrive in, you find someone offering the best draft beers and cheeseburgers.
Australia and Israel put out the largest numbers of backpackers, though Americans are catching on to the trend. Some put on a backpack but don’t really travel like a backpacker. The truest go to rough places like India or Thailand.
All of them find the same souvenir shacks and pick up a threaded bracelet or a wooden frog instrument. These instruments are said to be of the local indigenous, in almost every country. Who knows where they’re really from.
The other touristy thing everyone finds, no matter their budget, is a falafel place. It may seem weird to eat hummus and pita bread in Costa Rica, with a view of monkeys playing in the trees, but it’s become such a world food now that some even say the best is not in Israel or Greece, but in the French Alps. Go figure.
