Mets Day 263 - Costa Rica Days 5-9

Costa Rica Days 5-9

Wednesday, December 26

We started our last day in the La Fortuna/Arenal area by splitting up:  Spencer, Garrett and I went canyoneering and rappelling, while the others went browsing around the town looking for souvenirs. The canyoning was good -- we essentially made our way down a narrow ravine with a small stream rushing past. It was narrow enough that we could shimmy and edge our way down without too much difficulty.  About 4 or 5 times, we roped in and rappelled down the waterfall.  One untethered decent ended with a jump and plunge into a 9 foot deep pool that was only 3 feet wide.  The rappels were not too technical; in fact, the longer drops (one over 250 feet) were a couple of controlled drops, then kick back and free slide, trusting the belay to slow our progress.  The hike back out was the most difficult part.

We met up with the others, loaded up the 4x4 with 4 of our bags tied to the roof rack, and headed west over the Continental Divide to Monteverde.  It's about 45 miles as the crow flies, but took nearly 4 hours to get there.  We drove around the scenic shores of Lake Arenal, a large reservoir near the base of the alleged volcano (we never did see it, since it was always shrouded in clouds). We stopped at the German Bakery in Nuevo Arenal, and were stunned when we were charged $30 for 2 bratwursts and a couple of croissants and sodas.  It was the first sign that we were headed to a zone where envy thing was overpriced and underwhelming. In addition, it started to rain steadily as we drove deeper into the mountains.  Before the rain hit, this was a view of the road to Monteverde:

 We would not see the sun again for days.

We rolled into Monteverde around dusk, the last 40 kilometers on a rutted dirt track. The GPS tried to direct us on a detour of more than 60 kilometers in exchange for 20 fewer kilometers of dirt roads, but that would have taken more than an hour longer.  Kirsten was incredulous when I announced that I didn't trust the GPS, shut it off, and turned on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.  She didn't know that I had studied the maps a good deal before we left on our tip, and again in the days before the drive.  Her questioning me, and the increasing the uncertainty with the rest of the family, made our arrival all the sweeter.

We arrived at Cala Lodge, a small, eco-friendly hotel adjacent to open of the nature preserves.  Each of the rooms was supposed to be capable of sleeping 3. I had emailed the owners and had been assured that, for the kids, that meant 3 different beds.  When we arrived, however, we found that all the rooms had a queen and a singe - three different beds was not an option.  Spencer and Garrett were not about to share bed, so they took one room and Kirsten took the extra bed in our room.  Fortunately, I had packed extra ear plugs to help her block out our happy snoring noises.  She vowed that she will never snore when she's middle aged.  I think that will be as effective as my youthful vow that my children would be respectful of their parents at all times.

We are dinner at the Chocolate Cafe -- how could you go wrong at a place like that, right?  It was very good; in fact, the empanadas were fantastic, and the chocolate was amazingly good.  We learned that they produced all of their chocolate from the local cocoa bean harvest, and gave a daily tour of their chocolate-making operation.  We promised to return.

Thursday, December 27

We rolled out of bed at 6:30 am, eager to see the fabled Cloud Forest Nature Reserve (link here), situated on the Continental Divide.  The moisture from the Pacific Ocean comes rushing up the mountains, cools, and rains almost every day of the year, creating an unusual tropical rain forest in the mountains, surrounded by tall mossy trees and abundant wildlife.  We had read that we should get an early start to see the critters and avoid the afternoon rains.  It was lightly misting as we set out from the entry point.  We decided to hike the circular route around the perimeter of the park.  In the first few hundred yards, we saw a monkey and a coati, and some spectacular vegetation.  This is pretty cool, I thought.  Then it started to rain.  The wind started to blow.  Soon we were slogging through a monsoon.  All the critters went under cover, the fog started to roll in, and it turned into a bad Seattle winter day.  By the halfway point we were wet, tired, and grumpy.  Spencer compared it to walking to Mordor. We eventually made it to the suspended bridge, and got someone to take this photo of our clan during one of the brief breaks from the rain.

After four hours, we made it back to the entry point and proceeded to coat every interior surface of our 4x4 with a muddy layer of grime.  Eh, it's a rental.  (It still smells like a locker room.)  We made our way back to lodge for showers and naps, and decided that the Cloud Forest was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, with the emphasis on once.

The winds rose the rest of the day, and the rain was horizontal at times.  We played a number of family card games, then braved the elements to hunt and gather nuts and berries.  We found good eating at Morphos Restaraunt, then went back to the rooms for more relaxation.  Unfortunately, Chelsea got some stomach bug, which is ironic because she was the one most vigilant about only drinking bottled water (the rest of us had mostly been drinking tap water).

So far, the rest of us were not having any problems.  I was still incontinent at night and waking up when I leak, but the Lunesta helps me get back to sleep.  As long as I take it slow and don't try to do anything too strenuous or analytical, and take regular breaks, I'm usually ok.

Friday, December 28

Montevede is the home of the zip lines, where you are suspended from a cable and glide over or through the trees, and canopy tours, where there are suspended bridges through the tree tops.  Before we left, the kids had been excited about doing the zip lines, and Jennifer wanted to do the canopy tour.  Now that we were here, however, they did not seem as enthusiastic.  Maybe it was the fact that it was raining, and they would not be able to see anything.  We did, however, stumble upon a brochure for one place called Extremo Adventures that offered bungee jumping.  Spencer and Kirsten immediately declared that they would much rather bungee jump than zip line.  Neither had ever been bungee jumping, and both wanted very much to do it.  To my surprise, Garrett also said he wanted to do it.  No one else wanted to do it, so while I was figuring out logistics, a van for the bungee jumping company pulled up to our lodge to pick up some other tourists.  I gave Spencer my credit card and some cash and they jumped in the van.  My parting words to Garrett was what he wanted on his epitaph. He laughed nervously.

While my three younger kids were jumping off platforms hundreds of feet in the air, the rest of us went to the orchid gardens next to Morphos.  There was no one at the entrance, and after waiting a bit, we walked through.  Chelsea and I saw two orchids, and thought, that's it?  One of the workers eventually found us and explained that they gave a guided tour and provided magnifying glasses to examine the orchids.  Jennifer and Josh decided to go for it but Chelsea and I decided we'd rather do something else.  We walked around the small town of St. Elena -- a small tourist town formed on a triangle of streets. We browsed some shops, then found a bookstore and passed the time.  Everyone was happy.

When we met up again with Jennifer and Josh, they said how they thought the orchids were amazing. They took lots of pictures using the macro, so the orchids look larger than the head of a pin.  I'm glad they liked it.  Then Spencer called, and said that they had all survived the bungee jumping, and since the ride back wasn't several hours, could we get them?  So we loaded up and fund our way out to Extremo Adventures, where they all had silly grins and we're gushing about the insane thing that they had just done.  A platform was suspended over a ravine with a drop over over 460 feet.  They wrap the bungee cords around your feet, and also secure you to a climbing harness for safety, and you stand at the edge as they call 3-2-1-GO!  Spencer was first, and later said that he got kind of shaky after once the adrenaline wore off and he though about what he'd done.  Garrett went second, and did not jump an the GO! (he said he was waiting for the wind to be "just right").  He eventually took the plunge.  Kirsten was last, and was whooping the whole way down.  All of the jumps were recorded from multiple angles on video (including a helmet cam) and Spencer bought the DVD.  I have not seen it yet because all I brought was the iPad.  Maybe I'll figure out how to add a link after our return.  Spencer also said that the forms stated that no one under age 18 would be permitted to bungee jump, which should have disqualified  Kirsten and Garrett, but they were happy to take the money and let them do it.  Pura vida!

After picking up the kids, we drove up to Selvatura Park, a privately-operated place with zip lines, canopy tours, a snakes and reptile house, and insect collection, a butterfly house, etc.  I thought we'd do a number of activities there, but when we got there it was raining, windy, and cold.  The kids chose to go through the reptile house, since it was enclosed and out of the wind and rain.  Everyone passed on the opportunity to ride the zip lines or walk through the suspended bridges for the canopy tour.  We saw the critters, then bounced off to find some lunch.  After, some of us took naps while others went off to find hummingbirds.  We have pictures of the kids with hummingbirds perched on their fingers while they sip nectar.

None of the girls were hungry for dinner, so I went with the rest of the boys to a pizza joint, where we sat by a wall adorned with a poster for a 1987 Paris exhibit of impressionist painters, and were entertained by a family from Texas singing country songs from the 1970s, karaoke style.  Some of the notes were actually on key, too.  Garrett could not understand why the owner would let them sing so badly.  I told him to roll with it. At least the pizza was better than the music.

Saturday, December 29

When I was planning out the agenda for this trip, I initially planned on staying only 2 nights in Monteverde.  After reading about all of the amazing things there, I added a third day.  I should have stuck with my original plan.  Of course, we had no control over the weather, but Monteverde was not what we had hoped or expected.  Maybe it's the fact that Moneteverdians are so hyper eco-aware that everyone is forbidden from flushing their toilet paper; instead, you must us a separate bucket.  Why not just use bio-degradable toilet paper instead of adding to a landfill?  Anyway, I was ready to leave for the beach on Friday, but our reservations were made and there was little flexibility in the high season.

On Saturday morning we all slept in until 8:30 am or so, packed up, then decided to try the butterfly house. We'd stopped at two others but had been told that we would not see much if the sun was not out.  Although it was cloudy, we decided to give it a shot (except Chelsea, who was still had a rumbly tummy).  It ended up being a lot of fun.  There were about 30 people on the tour.  Our initial guide was an enthusiastic Canadian girl who introduced us to a bunch of insects, including a bunch of 4 and 5 inch long cockroaches that she let crawl all over her.  She couldn't understand why we were all so grossed out, saying that these cockroaches were cleaner and more sanitary than humans, and popped one in her mouth to prove the point.  Lots of shrieks and groans for that stunt.  She also described in detail how the female praying mantis would bite off her sex partner's head in the middle of copulation, which had the effect of prolonging the mating experience for her.  She would then eat the rest of her partner, which gave her all the proteins she needed to give birth.  She remarked that the only species where the males were stronger was where they either cared for the offspring or defended the family.  I wondered if modern human society fit in either category.  We were then divided into two groups, where a Canadian guy (what's with all the Canadians, wondered Kirsten) enthusiastically took us through 4 different butterfly habitats and described each specie.  We got lots of neat pictures.  It was a nice note on which to leave Monteverde.

On the drive to Playa Grande, our beach spot north of Tamarindo, I made the mistake of listening to the GPS instead of following the map.  We ended up taking a 30 km detour down a bumpy dirt road.  It's like sailing, I kept telling myself.  As long as we get to our destination by dark, it's ok.  As we rapidly dropped in elevation, the temperature rose steadily, from the high 60s to the low 90s. We rolled into Playa Grade at about 330 pm, quickly changed into swim suits, and went to the beach.  Playa Grande is a beautiful crescent beach about 3 miles long, with an excellent surf break within yards of the beach.  The entire beach is a protected reserve for loggerhead turtles, the beach is closed at dark, and no lights are allowed to to be visible from the ocean.  (We're scheduled to go on the turtle tour on Jan. 1.) Anyway, we sat on the beach and marveled that we were only 50 miles as the crow flies from Monteverde, but it seemed we were in another country.  Here's a picture of our pasty white gringo bodies on the beach that first day.

We applauded when the sun set, then ate dinner at the hotel's restaurant, where we were delighted to see that we had left the inflation of Monteverde behind too.

We had rented three apartments owned by Las Tortugas hotel that were a short walk from the beach.  Josh and Chelsea have their own place; the three younger kids are in another apartment, each with their own beds; and Jennifer and I have a larger apartment with a small kitchen and dining room large enough to hold a table that seats 7.  It's working out great.  I made a grocery run at the local supermarket, and spent as much for a week of groceries as we usually spend for one dinner.  We'll be at the beach for 6 nights, and will make it up as we go along.  After not needing A/C in Arenal or Monteverde, here it is running constantly.

Sunday, December 30

Near as we can tell, there are no Mormons in the area, and we didn't feel like venturing into another church.  Instead, we all went to the beach and did a lot of nothing.  Jennifer and the kids built a huge sand sculpture of a loggerhead turtle, and decorated it with shells.  People were coming by and taking pictures of it.

Garrett got a nice sunburn on his back.  Josh discover the hammocks next to the hotel pool and has been reading the Hunger Games.  I borrowed some boogie boards from the hotel and we played in the surf, which has consistent 3-5 foot break in water that is waist or chest deep, but little turbulence, and a fine sandy bottom.  The kids vowed that they wanted to learn to surf.

Spencer got it in his head that we needed to see the Redskins play Dallas in the final regular season game, with the winner going to the playoffs as the NFC East Champion, and the loser going home.  There have been no TVs in any of the places we've stayed, so that might be a problem.  I called the Westin Resort in Playa Conchal, and was told no problem, the game is on, come over.  We loaded up and drove over, only to find that it was an exclusive members only resort that refused to admit outsiders.  The manager was rather rude, and shrugged off the fact that we had been told on the phone that we could watch the game at the sports bar there.  Fine, we'll take our business elsewhere, and I'll trash Westin in my blog.  So we drove over to Tamarindo and found a place that was showing the game and had a great time eating the dinner, watching the game, and cheering the final Romo interception. We left a 30% tip and went home happy.

Monday, December 31

I did another shopping run at the local Super Compro -- we are going through more milk and Diet Coke than I expected -- and we spent another day at the beach.  I talked the owner of the hotel into renting two longboards for $50 for the week, and we proceeded to make fools of ourselves trying to learn to surf.  I found that sitting on a long board is incredibly difficult, and paddling it is like moving the Exxon Valdez.  I succeeded in three things: falling off the board 24 times; getting 37 dirty looks from the real surfers; and re-learning the lesson I learned 20 years ago when I tried snowboarding for the first and last time:  this old dog is not learning any new tricks.

Chelsea did better, however, managing to stand up several times.  Kirsten was a bit more shaky, and Spencer spent 15 minutes getting his butt kicked by the waves before storming ashore, throwing down the board and announcing that he was never going to try that again.  Josh wisely stayed in his hammock and read.  We oozed between the beach, the pool, the hammocks, and the rooms for napping.  The entire beach applauded as the sun set on 2012.  After dark, I made RUPs (rolled-up pancakes -- a Dutch treat consisting of thin crepes, lots of butter and powdered sugar), and we played family games, intending to stay up till midnight, but we all ran out of gas and went to bed.   This is exactly what a beach week should be.