We are presently in Costa Rica. I might not come back. I will try to send a few updates, but no guarantees. Here is our adventure so far.....
Day 1
Flying into San Jose is much like arriving in other Central American countries. The airport is small (although not as small as some). It is easy enough to move about and find your luggage. We find our car rental company and they whisk us away to their office.
Car rental prices here are staggering. Two mid-sized SUV's for 13 days apiece set us back a staggering $2000.00+ in U.S. dollars. We pile in and off we stagger. A right, a left, another right and we are gone.
Our first destination is the cloud forests near Monteverde. To get there we drive north on the Pan American highway. Dodging trucks is a serious sport on this road, but it is paved, something we would soon find to be in short supply. Roadside restaurants are called Sodas here, and we stop at one for lunch.
Leaving the highway behind, we begin the climb to the cloud forests. The road quickly goes from good to bad to worse, but the views are spectacular. In front of us the green hills roll down to the Golfo de Nicoya. Beyond that are the mountains of the Nicoya Peninsula. We pass huge trees covered in brilliant orange flowers, bougainvillea in full bloom, and giant hydrangea.
We see busloads of tourists. We see an old man on a white horse, and we watch as he ignores us.
"Buenos tardes". He looks straight ahead as the mare carries him along. If he hears me he gives no indication. The two seem comfortable enough together, and soon they are gone.
We stop at a roadside bar for cervesas. The man there motions us out back. Two young girls accompany us, but one pokes her eye on a twig and starts crying. Iguanas are sitting on the fence. He seems proud of the iguanas. He is a friendly sort of fellow.
It takes three tries to find our lodge. When we finally arrive it is at the top of a long dirt road. Actually more of a trail. The bumps and potholes are huge. The forest is magnificent. The clouds are thick. Everything drips with moisture. That is not unusual here. The big attraction, after all, is the cloud forests.
Day 2
Ten kilometers from our lodge is an active volcano. We have not seen it. There is a picture of the volcano in the lodge, so we can sit there and imagine it on the other side of the clouds. Occasionally they break enough tosee the Laguna de Arenal far below.
There is a trail to a waterfall. The trail is narrow and slippery and covered with the debris of the cloud forest above it. Heavy winds have blown down a few trees. The trail becomes steep and muddy. When we get to the end we find pipes and concrete blocks and other signs of industrious activity next to a stream. I can't imagine hiking down that trail with concrete blocks.
As it turns out this is not the trail to the advertised waterfall. Susan and I find that later. When we get there we find a nice waterfall coming from the thick, steepforest about us and a pump house to supply hydroelectric power to the lodge.
Day 3
After a breakfast of banana pancakes and eggs, we drive down to Santa Elena. Fifteen years ago there were few tourists here. Now it is overrun with them. It is the type of town, becoming more common, that started out as one thing but now is something entirely different. A low budget Aspen. It is a town that woke up one morning to find that the rest of the world was taking an interest in their surroundings.
Talking with our Tico host later that night, Susan asks him the effect the touristos have on the local population.
"It is good because the tourists bring money and prosperity. It is bad because with them come drugs and higher prices. A local Tico family cannot afford to buy a piece of land now to build a house and live."
Day 4
Our final morning at Vista Verde lodge and we are rewarded with a sunrise view of the Volcano Arenal. The fog has departed and in the distance, over a low band of residual clouds, rise the steep flanks, topped with smoke plumes. It is a magnificent sight. As I stand outside with our camera, I am joined by Manuel, the young man who serves us our meals. He photographs the sight with his cell phone camera. He tells me that a friend had watched the lava flows at 4 am that morning.
Over breakfast we look at it through binoculars. We watch as tiny eruptions tumble down the sides. It is a great way to have breakfast.
Leaving Santa Elena we take winding dirt roads north and west. The countryside reminds us of Napa or Sonoma, except instead of grapes we see coffee plantations. We have tried the coffee and it is some of the smoothest, finest we have ever tasted.
For lunch we stop in the town of Juntas. It is a fine place, with paved roads, a big white church, and a stream trickling under the bridge. The lunch we have is at a restaurant recommended in our guide book. As I pay the bill the man asks me in English, "How was the food?" He looks to be in his fifties with speckles of gray in his beard. I guess he must be the proprietor.
"Bien", I reply. It occurs to me there might be some irony in each trying to speak the other's language, but it is fun.
From here the road is paved all the way to Samara. We make good time, despite the one lane bridges and the road crews. An iguana bolts in front of us, but makes it across the road. It is pretty country, opened by clearing the forest and used to graze cattle.
In Samara we find our rooms. The cabana is next to the beach, along a road lined with restaurants and cabanas. I fall asleep to the sounds of waves breaking on the beach less than 100 meters away.