We greeted the new year by sleeping in. This was unlike the day before, where I was awoken by loud hooting noises. I looked out the window and saw a large howler monkey sitting in a tree. I walked out and saw a family of monkeys, including a mother with an infant clinging to her chest, slowly making their way through the trees, pausing to eat nuts, berries and fruit. I woke up the kids and watched the monkeys for about a half hour.
They eventually moved on, and the kids went back to bed. I spoke with Louis, the owner, who said that this was a monkey highway, and he had been careful to leave lots of trees so they could continue to move around.
Anyway, to greet 2013, the kids eventually made their way over to our apartment and finished off the cereal and milk. We spent another strenuous day going from the beach to the water, to the beach, to the hammocks by the pool, into the pool, back to the hammocks, back to the beach. The Las Tortugas Hotel pool is 15 feet from the beach, so getting to the hammocks is quite convenient. The hotel has a large thatched hut holding 6 hammocks and a table and chairs. There are 17 bats that roost in the rafters of the hammock, and fly out at dusk.
All of us have books, of course: I have been reading Rough Stone Rolling, a cultural biography of Joseph Smith; Jennifer, Cutting for Stone; Josh, The Hunger Games, Chelsea, A Dublin Student Doctor; Spencer, The 100 Most Important Battles in World History; Kirsten, Candide, and The Hobbit; and Garrett, The Hobbit.
Jennifer and Garrett like walking on the beach and collecting shells, and I expect we'll have quite a bag full by the time we leave. I'm not so big on shell collecting.
Garrett asked for a surfing lesson, and we found a local dude who gives a 2 hour lesson for $25. Spencer repented of his vow the day before to never surf again and joined the lesson, and they had a good time. Both succeeded in standing up several times.
At various times for the rest of the week, each of the kids would grab a board and try the waves. The hotel also gave us 2 boogie boards to use, so we could alternate our water amusements. The beach and waves are perfect: you can stand waist deep in water and wait for a 4 foot roller to come behind you, hop on and enjoy the ride.
We were scheduled to go on a turtle tour tonight, sponsored by the national park. They take reservations a week or two in advance -- no more than 40 people per evening, they said -- and you show up at the park enhance at dusk and wait to see if the spotters see a leatherback coming ashore to lay her eggs. If so, they take 15 people per group, and only 2 groups for each turtle. If you have a number over 30, and all of the first 30 show up, then you have a minimal chance of seeing a turtle. But there is a 20% no-show rate. Our 7 were numbers 30-36, but 8 people in the first 30 did not show up, so we would see the first turtle, if one showed. You pay the $25/person fee only if you get to see a turtle.
While waiting, the park employees narrated a show a slide show explaining how poachers in the 1980s caused a 90%+ drop in today's turtle population in the Pacific. It takes about 20 years for a turtle to reach sexual maturity. The park was established in 1989 and the employees have been counting how many turtles show up each year. Last year, only 34 turtles showed up, in contrast to 1990, when over 1800 turtles showed up. Since egg-laying season lasts about 150 days, we knew there was only a 20% chance a turtle should show up that night. We waited for about 3.5 hours before the ranger said to go home -- high tide had passed, so no turtles tonight. So other than feeding the mosquitoes, we didn't see any wildlife. (We signed up for the next night, but were told that we were numbers 46-53, so we didn't even bother checking in.)
Wednesday, January 2
Another sedentary beach day. The weather has been perfect -- clear skies, high 80's, and a nice breeze. In the afternoon, Jennifer, Spencer, and I paddled a canoe up the salt water estuary. We saw lots of birds, and Jennifer thought that she spotted a crocodile. Coming back we were paddling against the tide, and my hands, arms, and back got a workout. I'm out of shape. (Chelsea: "Round is a shape!").
Since we arrived at the apartments, we have been cooking more and eating out less. We have cereals and fruit for breakfast, sandwiches and chips for lunch, and for dinner we have had spaghetti, burritos, RUPs, and more. I've been doing a lot of cooking for dinner, and have been enjoying preparing the food. We usually play lots of family games each night, such as Mao (a variation of Uno, where the winner of the prior round makes up a rule but does not reveal it until it is broken), Bananagrams (a variation of Scrabble), Beananza (another card game), Five Crowns (still another card game), or Pit. We have a lot of good natured kidding during the games. Both Jennifer and I can be competitive when playing games, and each of our kids can be likewise. It can get intense.
Thursday, January 3
Everyone except Jennifer got picked up for deep sea fishing at 6:45 am. (Jennifer, who can get seasick, slept in, then walked on the beach and read in the hammock.) The rest of us were taken to a small port at Playa Flamingo, where the six of us boarded a 31 foot fishing boat. The captain took us a mile or two out, and two fisherman baited 4-6 lines. We took turns reeling in whatever hit our lines. We started off by catching some tuna, each about 2 feet long.
We also caught some red snapper. Josh caught an ugly grouper. We trolled for some bigger fish but nothing was biting. The fisherman filleted a couple of tuna and cleaned the red snapper. We had our dinner! We were back by lunchtime. It was the first time fishing in open salt after for any of us, and we had a good time.
The rest of the day was spent recovering. Naps, reading, swimming, beach walks, and surfing by the kids. That evening, I cooked rice and beans, and fried up the snapper and tuna. Good stuff. We played more games and talked and laughed a lot.
Thursday, January 4
Our last day at the beach. I made French toast for breakfast. No syrup, but butter and powdered sugar did just as well. We spent a couple of more hours surfing, boogie boarding, walking on the beach, shelling, and getting a few more minutes of hammock time. Our goal was to be back at the apartments by 11 to shower, pack up, have lunch, then hit the road back to San Jose. The adults wanted to try to visit the Mormon Temple in San Jose, while the kids caught a movie at the nearby mall. According to Google, it was about 250 km, or about 4 hours, from Playa Grande to San Jose. Of course, packing up took long than expected, and we didn't get going until about 1:15 pm. It was clear driving until we hit the Pan-American Highway, and our pace slowed to a crawl behind a line of semi trucks. We didn't arrive at our hotel in San Jose until 6:30 pm, too late for the temple. We were all tired of the drive and hungry, so we decided just to have dinner and relax. I found a nearby place to eat called Soda Tapia -- a Tico version of Johnny Rockets -- and we enjoyed s the first junk food of our trip.
Driving back to the hotel, I could not legally turn where I wanted to, and in trying to make our way back, I got lost. Of course, we had taken out the GPS and the maps when we emptied the car, so I was driving blind in San Jose. I was pretty sure I was circling back, but in the dark with no landmarks, and no street signs or addresses, there was no way to be sure. We finally drove by some police, and Josh jumped out and got directions back -- simple, once we knew the way to go. Sort of like life.
Saturday, January 5
We had breakfast at the hotel, loaded up, then drove by the LDS temple for a picture. We then filled up the Montero and returned it. Despite all of the horror stories I'd read about car rental places ripping you off, the people at Dollar were fine, not worrying about the hole I'd driven in and pushing back the front mud flap, or how we had a layer of sand and grime throughout the car.
Going through airport security, they made Jennifer take out the shells and keep only 4 and through the orders away. She's still upset about that -- those were her souvenirs! The security person would not say why, either. Oh well.
Today is Spencer's birthday, so I gave him the last of my Colones and a mission to spend it all before we got on the plane. He came back with a t-shirt and a tin of chocolates, which the rest of the family fell upon like ravenous wolves. I hope he wasn't planning on giving it to his girlfriend.
We connected through San Salvador, and we were on final approach to land when the pilot suddenly made a hard S-turn at full throttle. We were only about 500 feet above the ground. I told Jennifer that something had happened on the approach, and that the pilot had bailed. The pilot kept the full throttle on for another couple of minutes as he climbed back up to about 2000 feet and got back on the groove for another approach. The senior flight attendant got on the PA and explained that the ground radar at the airport was not working, and that the pilot saw traffic on the runway just as he was about to land, so he aborted. It was a split-second decision, but was handled very well.
After we deplaned at the San Salvador airport, we were put into another queue to have all of our carry-on luggage subjected to a hand search, then be wanded, and our shoes physically inspected. The inspector took out every item in my bag -- I was carrying a lot of dirty laundry, and was concerned that some of it might be declared to be a toxic weapon of mass destruction -- but the inspector was more interested in whether my ratcheting tie-down straps were ok. He also came back to Garrett's solar-powered flashlight three times, as if he never had seen such a thing. (I could see the wheels turning in his head: why have a solar-powered flashlight, since you don't need a flashlight in the sun . . .) Everyone going to IAD was likewise searched, but Josh said that Garrett and I get the most thorough inspection -- his inspector barely looked inside his bag. It was especially strange since we had already passed security in San Jose. My guess was that it was more drug-related than security-related.
All in all, it's been a great vacation.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Spam comments will not be accepted for posting.