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COSTA RICA- FEBRUARY 15-22, 2005
We spent the night before our trip at the Days Inn, Saugus so we could get their shuttle at 4:30 for the airport. We were in Atlanta early but the plane there had mechanical problems, so we had to wait for them to equip another plane and transfer luggage which made for about a half hour delay. After only drinks and cookies on the first flight, we were pleasantly surprised to get several beverage services plus a good lunch on the Costa Rican leg of the journey. We watched the movie “Sideways” and read or dozed a little on the 3+ hour flight. We saw Grand Cayman Island , but there were lots of clouds and it was a bit bumpy when we crossed Venezuela to Costa Rica .
We got through customs and passport checks easily by about 2:30 and Dick got 80,000 colones (at 460 colones to the dollar). A woman from the travel company with a sign for Mr. Daniels took us to a driver who had unexpectedly been to North Conway . He drove us through the center of San Jose , pointing out several squares and the Teatro Nacionale. There were beautiful flowering trees everywhere. We arrived at the Britannia Hotel- a lovely hotel with lots of glass enclosed garden space. The reception area had high leaded windows all around. Our driver stayed around to help us work out routes on our map and choose the best hotels on our list for our expected destinations. After he left we tried to make our next night reservations, but the hotel clerk advised us that sometimes, if they knew you were traveling with hotel vouchers, hotels would say they didn't have any rooms, so they could save the rooms for people who would have to pay the higher regular rates. So we decided to ‘wing it' the next day, arriving early enough to hopefully find rooms available and ascertain that availability before showing them our vouchers. We figured it would be harder for them to say no to us in person, especially if we smiled and were nice!
We went up to our room, which had two king sized beds and a large bathroom. After cleaning up we went out to walk the city, being careful to guard our wallets, having been pre-warned by many people to be careful. We met a woman from New York who was walking with a breathing mask on because she found the city so smoky. It didn't bother us very much, but she left after a short time to return to the hotel. We walked roughly the route we had driven on our way in. The temps were in the seventies and the streets were crowded with people. We stopped at a square where a large group of parrots squawked loudly in the trees. An old bearded character was playing a game in which three metal rods were placed upright on top three candlepin-type bowling pins. The object of the game seemed to be knocking off the top with a ball without toppling the pins below.
We moved on trying to find a place to eat, and decided only to be daring enough to order in Spanish at a Kentucky Fried Chicken. San Jose wasn't a very pretty city and nothing much beckoned to us there. So we walked back to the hotel to plan the next day, shower and get organized for the trip.
We got up before 7, showered and packed our things. We had breakfast in the hotel dining room- an old wine cellar with brick archways- rather charming. We had fresh pineapple, papaya, and banana and bread and jam, juice and tea. We went back to the room to await the car rental company bringing us our car. The desk called to say he would be there around 9, so we read and relaxed for a while. He took us to the agency instead of leaving the car there, which was good because it was easier to find our way out of town from the office. The song, ‘Love Is in the Air' from Strictly Ballroom was playing as we drove through town. We signed the papers, chose to get extra insurance for peace of mind, and drove off in our lovely aqua Daihatsu Terios 4X4 to the tune of ‘Fernando.'
We followed the Pan American Highway- which is four-lane in San Jose but quickly became an ordinary two lane road. Going was slow as we were stuck behind big trucks that labored up the steep mountain roads. But it was even slower when we turned off onto the road to Monteverde, paved for only a short way before turning into a dirt road with huge holes and ruts and large rocks sticking up everywhere. It was a constant slalom to avoid the worst of the terrain. We stopped a few times to take photos and rest from the jolting and tension of the road. One wrong turn added about 25 minutes to the trip, but after about four hours on the road were able to get a room for two nights at the De Lucia Hotel- a number one choice of our guide of the night before. The room was lovely and airy and the yard was filled with flowers.
We took a walk up the road and stopped for ice cream at a cute place, having mint chocolate chip and lime sherbet. It was raining, but it wasn't normal rain, more like a constant heavy mist which gives the cloud forest it's unique environment. It seemed to dry on you as fast as it landed. We walked back toward Santa Elena, passing the orchid garden, with even walking difficult on the rock-strewn road we had driven over. We got to the hill above the town and decided that was far enough. On the way back we stopped at several art shops, one that sold Bolivian weavings, and others that sold jewelry, wood bowls and trivets with many-colored woods, and ceramics. One was a combination school, with students working on crafts in the front room and many little rooms displaying their wares for sale.
We walked past our hotel, following signs to a nature park and ski lift type canopy ride. For a while we read on the porch outside our room. We tried to get a good picture of a metallic green bird in a tree in the yard, but didn't succeed. Then we walked across the road to the De Lucia Restaurant where we had an appetizer of tacos we could fill with guacamole, refried beans, salsa or veggies. Our main course was sea bass (mine with lemon, butter and parsley, and Dick's with mushroom sauce), asparagus, broccoli, carrots, fried bananas (delicious), and baked potatoes with sour cream. We washed it down with sangria at $1.50 a glass. We sat for quite a long time over dinner. It was a great meal at a very reasonable price. We walked back across the road in the ever-present mist, read in bed, and planned the next day.
Dick had a bad night and woke not feeling well, so I went to breakfast and brought him back some bread. We walked down to see the canopy ride place, then he was tired so I went on alone and did an hour's nature walk on a private nature preserve further down the road. I saw a beautiful metallic blue hummingbird and yellow canary-like bird, lots of bird of paradise and other lovely flowering plants. I walked down to the waterfall there, then found my way back out. At the hotel, by about ten, I read and went up to the ice cream shop when it opened at eleven and got Dick a cup of lime sherbet (grande) and my mint chocolate chip cone. Dick felt good enough to pack and leave for the Monteverde Cloud Forrest.
At the Cloud Forrest Dick asked a young woman working there if she knew Nat Scrimshaw, a man from Sandwich Dick had known through WODC who was now educational director for the Cloud Forest, and she said he was her boss. As we were starting off, she ran to catch up with us and said that Nat wanted to see Dick and we gave her our hotel name. Then we toured with a naturalist carrying a telescope, just for the two of us. He had been born in Panama and lived all around the area but was American too, so communication was no problem. We saw howler monkeys, a blue-eyed lizard and several quetzals, beautiful bright green birds with long flowing tail feathers. Our guide took pictures of animals through the scope, and one of us by a strangler fig tree. The guide showed us two orchids, one so small he used the binoculars reversed to see it. We saw lots of epiphytes growing high up in the trees, sometimes thousands of pounds of them according to the naturalist. Some sent roots all the way down to the ground- like the strangler fig did. It was fairly dry under all the trees, but the mist kept a-coming down during the tour. When we finished the guide took us to the hummingbird garden, where about eight hummingbird feeders were hung around a patio. We saw about six varieties including violet sabrewings, green violet-eared, and fiery throated. The area was full of action and it was neat watching the comings and goings.
Dick went back to the car to rest and I went to the gift shop. I got a wooden puzzle box for Rob and a hat for myself, plus postcards and stamps. We drove back to the hotel and Dick decided to rest and read, but encouraged me to go on the canopy ride, Aerial Adventures. I walked down the road to it and paid for the 1 ¼ mile ride over the tree tops. At first it was a bit scary- high up and jerky, but I got a bit used to it, even though I braced myself in with my legs on the front rails when it went downhill. The cars were old type ski lifts with nothing to hold you in, a padded bench and a control to stop the car briefly and a signal in case you were in distress for some reason. I saw a coati mundi on the forest floor early into the ride, but didn't have the presence of mind to stop the car so I could attempt a picture. Other than that, I only saw a few birds, including one hummingbird perched on the lift wires. By the end of the ride, when the mist was getting appreciably cooler, the lift rolled up to a small building labeled Cafeteria, and the young guy and girl manning it asked if I wanted something to drink- coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. At first I said ‘no,' but when they insisted it was free, I asked for hot chocolate and they mixed it using cocoa and powdered milk. It was surprisingly good- and a nice contrast to the chill mist. On the last leg of the trip I was also treated to great views of a beautiful vivid double rainbow. That was definitely a moment!
Back at the hotel, Dick and I sat outside and wrote our postcards and left them at reception to be sent. We planned our next day- probably driving to Tamarindo, and Dick showered. At the hotel's restaurant we shared a dinner, Dick eating a little of my steak and baked potato, but not sharing the sangria. We read and waited for Nat Scrimshaw, a naturalist at the Cloud Forest whose wife was head of the Quaker school there, to call or come over, but he never did. By about nine both of us were ready to call it a day, and we did.
Dick felt well enough to eat breakfast and move on, so we were up at seven and off by eight. Even though one of our fellow travelers at breakfast said the Tamarindo area was a bit crowded and honky-tonk, we set off in that direction. The road was rough, but not as bad as the one we took in, and we had lots of lovely rainbows leading us on our way. We stopped for pictures, including one of a horse all ready to go. Many Costa Ricans still seem to depend on horses for transportation. We drove down to Juntas, across the bridge to Nicoya and Huacas, changing our minds and driving north towards Flamingo Beach instead of Tamarindo.
We tried to find the Hotel Club Bahia Potrero, and asked an English/Australian? Woman for directions, while right in front of it as we later found out- and she sent us up further north. We drove back, finally found it, and found that rooms at our rate were filled and we would have to pay $175 extra for the two nights- so on we went. Finally we drove to Flamingo Beach and got the one room they had left at the Flamingo Beach Hotel (very posh- we had to wear plastic arm bracelets to prove we belonged there) for $20 over our voucher. It was a resort hotel with two pool tables and foosball in the lounge overlooking a large pool. We went to our room- very nice but all the others were too, then got towels and headed across the street to the beach. I did a little beachcombing and found a large drill shell. Dick lay in the semi shade under a tree and I spent some time there, but then had to wander off again. I walked up toward the town area and found a fallen plumeria blossom to smell as I walked.
We went back to our room to get set for snorkeling, which didn't go all that well. I was adjusting my new gear as we waded out and found the mask too loose when I was out past the wave line. So I walked back in so I could stand while I adjusted it, not noticing that I had come in enar the rocks at the far end of the beach. I lost one swim fin and tried looking under the water to find it, but Dick called (as well as warning me about the rocks) that it was floating and it ended up on top of a large group of rocks toward shore. I could feel rocks below me as the waves rushed in and out, and Dick yelled for me to go in, he would get my fin. Unfortunately he stood on a rock to see where it was and got washed off, bruised and badly scraped on the rocks, losing his mask and snorkel as he fell. I felt really badly, especially when we could have walked on the rocks from the beach and gotten the fin, and Dick felt I should have known better than to get inside the wave swell area, but I'd only swam in pretty calm water before and all this had not occurred to me. We searched for Dick's mask, but it was nowhere to be seen, so we went in to nurse his wounds and dry off.
We showered, then drove out to find dinner, stopping at Marie's- a chicken place almost across the street from our hotel. Dick had chicken ka-bobs, his best meal since getting sick, although he still had persistent slight nausea. The restaurant was covered, but outside, with colorful animals painted on each table and murals of tropical scenes on the pillars and walls- more than pleasant. We watched blue and gold birds flying around as we ate.
We went back to the hotel to watch the sunset from the beach- and a gorgeous sunset it proved to be. Reflections on the water and the beach just magnified the color. We watched until it was almost gone, took another search for Dick's mask, and walked back across to the hotel. The pool was closed and cool enough that I wouldn't have wanted to swim- but I had wanted to sit on a stool in the pool and have a sangria or something just to have done it. We went back to the room to read and plan tomorrow- since there would be no open room for us at that hotel.
We were up our earliest yet and ate at the hotel restaurant, outside looking at the sea as we ate. We walked along the beach once more, looking for Dick's mask and snorkel with no luck although I found a few nice shells. We asked but no rooms had opened up, so we exchanged a book in the book exchange- Dick had read three of the four we'd brought. We drove north along the ocean, looking for Villaggio Flor del Pacifico, following the many signs they had out. Our first stop was evidently at the third of the villaggios- still under construction, but we finally got the idea from the people we asked and drove a little farther up the road and found the Recepcion. We booked a room for one night and the receptionist (who even smiled when we showed her our voucher) walked us across the road, down past the pool and restaurant to our semi-private (duplex) villa, #19 with our own palms in the front yard. The sidewalk was unusual, having humpy speed bumps every so often- to keep bicycles from riding on it, we decided. We had a kitchen/sitting area and an air conditioned bedroom as well as nice bathroom. It was still quite early in the morning so we changed into our bathing suits and headed out over another twenty miles of bad roads, trying to get to Coco Beach. Twice we even had to ford small streams. After seeing no signs and only getting the word from a 10 year old boy on a bike in the middle of nowhere that indeed El Coco was somewhere along the road, Dick gave up and we retraced our way back to the hotel.
We decided to go to Potrero Beach at the end of the road about a mile or so from the hotel. Dick sat under a tree, serenaded by a plain looking but great sounding bird while I beachcombed. The sand was gray and there was a lot of plant sediment floating in in several places, but I did find some neat shells. We went back to the villa to ‘siesta,' having been told by the receptionist that it was better to keep quiet between about one and three because people might be sleeping. We saw a squirrel with a stripe down its back and lots of yellow butterflies along the path to our villa. I finished The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, then walked around taking pictures of the beautiful plants, and even some Brahma cattle that were in a field behind the hotel grounds.
Later we went looking for the second village beach- the nicest one according to the receptionist. We found a small iguana or other lizard by our car tire who stayed around long enough for Dick to take several pictures. We went too far, but we did find another nice beach. And we did see a really truly large iguana there, but he wouldn't wait around for a picture. I beachcombed and Dick went snorkeling for a few minutes using my mask and snorkel. Then we drove back and found the beach we had been looking for. We walked along the beach and I photographed neat patterns in the sand, made where the heavier black sand flowed along the indentations made by the waves. They looked like rows of trees, and in another place were more like steeply peaked mountains. I bought a coke at a stand and we took turns sitting under the tree with our stuff, and walking along the beach. Dick was still feeling nauseous at times, and we decided to stay another night there.
We read for a while, then headed for the dining room, again open to the night but roofed. I had fish in white wine sauce with white wine to drink as well and Dick had a veggie pizza. We watched Animal Planet on the TV mounted up on the wall while we ate, seeing programs about alligators and apes, but hearing ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart' from the radio on a show where a woman sang Besame (Kiss Me) between each of the songs. Most of the families in the restaurant seemed to be Costa Ricans although one other American family came in just before we left. We went back to read, shower and plan the next day.
We got up fairly early and headed for the restaurant where Dick stuck to fruit and I used the conveyor belt toaster to make a piece of toast to go with my breakfast because I'd never done it before. We stopped at the small local market and bought peanuts (including a package of lemon salt ones that were interesting), a six liter bottle of water and cookies. We couldn't get the shop keeper to understand what laxatives were. I could say ‘un dolor de estomago' and he pulled out packages for stomach aches from behind the counter. But we couldn't fine tune the statement to indicate the real problem and neither of us wanted to pantomime it, so we took his advice and headed for the pharmacy at Flamingo Beach . Dick got fiber stuff and a laxative and we headed back.
We stopped at a beach just past the Flamingo Beach area, in front of the hotel we'd tried to get into a our first day there. I walked a fairly long way along the beach and found jade, at least I'm almost positive it's jade, and jade is important enough to Costa Rica that they have a museum dedicated to it in San Jose. We went back to our room and Dick took the fiber stuff and I ate peanuts and cookies for lunch and read./ Dick got concerned about his condition, considering we were a long way from American medical help, and had a long plnae ride ahead. So we went back to Flamingo Beach and found they didn't have a doctor available there, but 10 K's away at Huacas we could find one.
He gave us a card for the doctor and we set off, but in Huacas we saw an emergency medical clinic and stopped there. A lovely young doctor or nurse, we cared not which, checked Dick out and pronounced his ‘stuff' still too far back on the ‘track' to come out and just told him he was fine, no pain and no temp, so to keep drinking the fiber stuff and be patient.
We stopped at a fair in Brasilito that we had passed on the way and wandered through the booths. Dick bought a pair of sandals for about $5, then went back to stay with the car. I wandered along, finding a Bob Marley shirt for Rob, listening to s steel drum band that was playing in a tent. I saw some hats in a booth and knew Dick wanted one like mine, so I went back and we drove along the main street, stopping opposite the booth with hats. While we waited there a small parade came by, women and girls with handmade paper mache heads on their heads, dancing down the street to the tunes played by a small band marching behind them. We were sad that we hadn't brought the camera with us.
We got back and Dick drank another glass of glop, then we went to Penca Beach , the town's best beach once again. We walked along the beach but the water seemed considerably colder and neither of us was tempted to swim. I bought a coke, but the boy was closing up and had to get it from the storage shed, which had obviously been a toilet before. We stood watching the sun go down and pelicans dive. Two golden retrievers were chasing the pelicans, but never got anywhere near them. The sand patterns this night looked more like steep mountain peaks at one point and argyle type diamonds at another. The sunset was nice but not spectacular, but after the sun was completely down, bursts of light along the horizon flashed about every second for several minutes.
We went to dinner and watched the geckos on the lighted 0posts, eating the bugs that were lured by the light. One had been on the clinic walls too, and the doctor/nurse was interested in learning the English word for them. We both had pizzas- Hawaiian and vegetarian- and I had a glass of red wine. The bill came to $17. We went back to our room and showered. We saw a gecko on the ceiling in our bedroom. I checked our travel material and found a hotel close to the airport with an airport shuttle for tomorrow night.
Dick got up at 6 and decided to walk down to the beach to try to get things moving. He walked along and saw a catamaran from Seattle . When he got back, I got up and we had breakfast- pretty much the same as yesterday. Dick had the long awaited success before we left, so we took off will great optimism for the day.
As we drove out, I looked in the back seat for our sweatshirts and realized they had been stolen. As we drove on, we realized more was gone, my ‘pouch' jacket, boot, and sneakers, and both our swim fins and snorkel bag. The most irritating thing I lost was one leg of my convertible pants, something no one could ever use but me. But what was done was done and we had said at the beginning that Costa Ricans stole because they had so little- as evidenced by some of their makeshift houses- and we had so much. So we put it down to experience and just kept driving, since we had little chance of finding even my pantleg because we weren't very sure when it had happened- or even if it had happened more than one time.
The first part of the drive was very pleasant and we stopped and had juice at one restaurant. We stopped at one of the larger pottery stands because we wanted a variety of small things to choose from. Their ornate pots are lovely, but it's hard to get a three gallon jug back on a plane. We stopped at a stand that had an indoor area and got a pot with two terra cotta lizards on the top and decorations on the bottom, plus several small things. A young woman ran the stand with her four year old son in attendance.
Then we began the more grueling part of the journey, down the Pan American Highway , again behind huge slow moving trucks up the mountains and down. When we got to the sirport area, Dick decided to see if he could get the Marriott to take our voucher (they weren't on the list) or give us a bargain room, but had no luck. Along the way we decided to pass on the hotel I had found which was probably still 15-20 kilometers south of the airport. So we decided to go for a listed hotel in the Alejuela (airport) area. We stopped at a McDonald's for ice cream and directions. The people there were very nice and even called the hotel to get directions, but we found it was pretty far out and didn't solve our problem of how to get to the airport in the morning after leaving off our car.
So we went back to Hotel A and decided to see if the car rental agency would drive us there after we checked out with them. But the agency knew a near-by B&B that didn't coast much ($65) and would drive us to the airport in the morning. They called and found a room was available- so that's what we did. The Riviera B&B in Belen, we think although we couldn't find it on a map because it was too small. It was a very nice place with tiled bathrooms, a small pool, and a ceramic jug fountain that flowed and made a nice sound to sleep by.
We took a walk to try to find a sweatshirt for me since I had very little to keep me warm as we waited for the hotel shuttle in cold old Boston . We went down into s small store along a side street. I really went down into it because I didn't see the step and landed on my hands and knees on the cement floor below. We found a package of cinnamon pastry-looking things for breakfast the next morning and went back to the hotel so I could wash off my knees. We started out in the opposite direction and walked around the small town. I stopped in one clothing store, but they only had sweaters. We walked past the train station and a pretty church where teenagers, out of school, sat on the steps. We bought peanuts from a glass case and I got an ice cream cone of ice cream so soft she molded it into a peak with the back of her scooping spoon.
We went to dinner at the hotel connected to the B&B which the rental car guy had told us was good. The chefs even wore high white hats, but it was pretty much a regular bar/restaurant otherwise. I had beef in red wine and Dick had pork. The waitress was very pleasant and I had a nice white wine.
A group of American high school kids came to the B&B after we were back in our room. They were having a good old time as they headed across to the restaurant, but were so quiet we didn't hear a sound when they came back to their room. We set the alarm for 6, asked for a wake up call just to be safe, packed everything we could, laying out tomorrow's clothes, and hit the sack for our last night in Costa Rica.
We were awake before either wake-up alarm and showered quickly. The receptionist went across to the restaurant and brought us two glasses of orange juice, then we got in the shuttle and left for the airport. We were there around 6:45 and paid our airport tax (payable only in American dollars). Costa Rica is the first destination we've been to that lists all prices in their money and American dollars and happily takes either every place. Then we got in line to check in. We went through security and walked to the gates. I stopped at one gift shop and they didn't have sweatshirts, but told me one down at a further gate did. We got to our waiting area, then I checked out the other gift shop and got a light gray sweatshirt with Costa Rican embroidery. I hurried back to the first gift shop to get Dick a thank you T-shirt with baby leatherback turtles across the top that I had seen but couldn't get at the second shop.
Dick went to the counter to get our seat reservations and got them for both flights. We were off a little early and had breakfast while ignoring the movie- which was about firefighters and had John Travolta. We read our way back to Atlanta , where we found a flight was just loading for Boston . For an extra $25 each we were able to leave two hors earlier than scheduled, which got us into Boston around 5. We had about a ten minute wait to layer up as best we could for the outside wait. I had a T-shirt, turtleneck, overblouse and my new sweatshirt and was adequately warm for the short wait.
At the hotel we trundled our luggage into the elevator at the parking garage and were quickly on our way. The traffic through Boston was decently light, pretty much all the way home. We stopped for groceries, bought subs for dinner and ate on the way. We arrived home just before 9. The house was still fairly warm because Heather had unexpectedly come home for the long weekend, so we fired up the electric blanket and the woodstove, threw our dirty laundry in the laundry baskets, gave the cats some attention and went happily up to our good old bed.