Costa Rica November 2013
November 15-16, 2013
Please remember that photos will go up after my return from the tropics.
November 15th was a long day. AlteCocker maybe slept an hour last night. She was all hepped up about her trip. Yesterday was the usual rush of business and cleaning before the commencement of another schlep to a home exchange. To add to the uproar, the bank called AlteCocker in the morning about closing on her equity line loan so she can make some needed repairs to her house. So, AlteCocker added that to her day before the home exchange list and got that done.
As AlteCocker writes this she is plugged in in the United Airlines Club in Terminal C in Dulles Airport killing time. She gets into the Club by virtue of one time passes set to her because she has a United Airlines VISA. It is the best place she knows to kill time at Dulles. She has already consumed a bagel and 4 donut holes and is drinking decaf (so she hopefully can go to sleep on the plane). She is traveling via COPA Airlines, an airline that appears to be a wholly owned subsidiary of United (so they can pay employees less, no doubt). COPA's main hub is in Panama City--which has been developed as a main hub for those traveling to Latin America. It works the same way as Reykjavik does for those traveling from North America to Europe. The airport is small and you don´t have to walk far to make any change. Interestingly, the currency (at least in the airport) in Panama appears to be US dollars. Also interestingly, you can pay $7.50 for a cappuccino and a pastry.
AlteCocker changed planes in Panama City, Panama. There was a long layover there and was hoping to grab a cab to go to the Panama Canal to have a look but was told that it was a 1-2 hour drive and traffic could make it longer. Not wanting to take a chance on missing her flight to San Jose, AlteCocker bagged the excursion. She got into San Jose late on a flight that was packed with Europeans. Apparently Costa Rica gets tourists from everywhere, but it is the old story of rich outsiders building the hotels and the locals getting jobs driving taxis, waiting on table in restaurants, cleaning up, etc. Speaking of cleaning up, the airport in Panama City could have used a clean up. Even with all the expensive duty free boutiques, you know you are in Central America. Lots of the usual expensive duty free boutiques all over to capture traveler though.
House is gated and was a long taxi ride from the airport in San Jose. AlteCocker is staying in the lap of luxury in a mansion with a caretaker. There are orange and lemon trees in the yard with a wonderful view of San Jose. Unfortunately, AlteCocker brought only one pair of long trousers expecting warm and balmy. Of course the higher up you go, the cooler it is. Shorts might not have been the best idea.
AlteCocker brought her laptop because it is so much easier using your own computer, but, alas, the set up information in the house did not allow her access, so she is using her host´s computer. Such is life. The home exchange began with a very late sleep in on November 16th because AlteCocker, due to her very early plane flight, had almost no sleep the previous night. She slept for 11-12 hours--very unusual for AlteCockers who frequently have trouble sleeping through the night. Plans for November 16th were to get organized and do nothing. She finished a book ("South of Normal" about Costa Rica) and vegged out. Home exchanges, at least for AlteCocker, often begin that way because AlteCockers are often slow starters having to consult all their aches and pains first. She always says that home exchanges are always combinations of extensive tourism, checking out the neighborhood and relaxing. Today was a day of the relaxing variety. This morning was focused, for example, on watching hummingbirds chow down in the bird feeder.
November 15th was a long day. AlteCocker maybe slept an hour last night. She was all hepped up about her trip. Yesterday was the usual rush of business and cleaning before the commencement of another schlep to a home exchange. To add to the uproar, the bank called AlteCocker in the morning about closing on her equity line loan so she can make some needed repairs to her house. So, AlteCocker added that to her day before the home exchange list and got that done.
As AlteCocker writes this she is plugged in in the United Airlines Club in Terminal C in Dulles Airport killing time. She gets into the Club by virtue of one time passes set to her because she has a United Airlines VISA. It is the best place she knows to kill time at Dulles. She has already consumed a bagel and 4 donut holes and is drinking decaf (so she hopefully can go to sleep on the plane). She is traveling via COPA Airlines, an airline that appears to be a wholly owned subsidiary of United (so they can pay employees less, no doubt). COPA's main hub is in Panama City--which has been developed as a main hub for those traveling to Latin America. It works the same way as Reykjavik does for those traveling from North America to Europe. The airport is small and you don´t have to walk far to make any change. Interestingly, the currency (at least in the airport) in Panama appears to be US dollars. Also interestingly, you can pay $7.50 for a cappuccino and a pastry.
AlteCocker changed planes in Panama City, Panama. There was a long layover there and was hoping to grab a cab to go to the Panama Canal to have a look but was told that it was a 1-2 hour drive and traffic could make it longer. Not wanting to take a chance on missing her flight to San Jose, AlteCocker bagged the excursion. She got into San Jose late on a flight that was packed with Europeans. Apparently Costa Rica gets tourists from everywhere, but it is the old story of rich outsiders building the hotels and the locals getting jobs driving taxis, waiting on table in restaurants, cleaning up, etc. Speaking of cleaning up, the airport in Panama City could have used a clean up. Even with all the expensive duty free boutiques, you know you are in Central America. Lots of the usual expensive duty free boutiques all over to capture traveler though.
House is gated and was a long taxi ride from the airport in San Jose. AlteCocker is staying in the lap of luxury in a mansion with a caretaker. There are orange and lemon trees in the yard with a wonderful view of San Jose. Unfortunately, AlteCocker brought only one pair of long trousers expecting warm and balmy. Of course the higher up you go, the cooler it is. Shorts might not have been the best idea.
AlteCocker brought her laptop because it is so much easier using your own computer, but, alas, the set up information in the house did not allow her access, so she is using her host´s computer. Such is life. The home exchange began with a very late sleep in on November 16th because AlteCocker, due to her very early plane flight, had almost no sleep the previous night. She slept for 11-12 hours--very unusual for AlteCockers who frequently have trouble sleeping through the night. Plans for November 16th were to get organized and do nothing. She finished a book ("South of Normal" about Costa Rica) and vegged out. Home exchanges, at least for AlteCocker, often begin that way because AlteCockers are often slow starters having to consult all their aches and pains first. She always says that home exchanges are always combinations of extensive tourism, checking out the neighborhood and relaxing. Today was a day of the relaxing variety. This morning was focused, for example, on watching hummingbirds chow down in the bird feeder.
November 17, 2013
It was time for AlteCocker to screw her courage to the sticking post (That's Shakespeare, guys) and drive the car. San Jose has a system where you cannot drive the car into the main area one day a week based on your license plate. Monday is AlteCocker's no drive day. So, she decided to save San Jose for Monday and go in by bus. Today, for her first inaugural drive, she decided to drive to a nearby butterfly garden and have lunch. AlteCocker never does anything super ambitious until she has the feel of the car and is somewhat familiar with her immediate area. There were a couple of wrong turns until AlteCocker arrived at the poorly marked butterfly garden (name of the place is incidentally in English). Entry was $7 US, thank you. AlteCocker has discovered she really does not need the local currency here.
There were few other visitors in the butterfly garden (fortunate since it is very small. One couple was a man with clearly very expensive photographic equipment. He showed AlteCocker some of his pictures; his name was Ruben Campos They were much nicer than mine taken with a very low end camera, but there is no way she would drag around one of those huge lenses. The man's photos can be found here. The photos he showed me on his camera were gorgeous. They are not yet posted.
Well, we got to talking and we all ended up having lunch at Hotel Bougainvillea in the Santo Domingo area of San Jose. Very nice restaurant with upscale food. Everyone had these lemonade type of drinks that had mint in them. Very nice. Price was $22--less than half of what a meal like that would cost in the US. The best part: The gorgeous garden at the hotel filled with an assortment of tropical plants including coffee plants. AlteCocker took a lot of photos and Ruben Campos took a lot more.
AlteCocker is happy to report a safe arrival back to her home exchange home with fewer wrong turns coming back than going this morning. Also happy to report that the car works just fine.
There were few other visitors in the butterfly garden (fortunate since it is very small. One couple was a man with clearly very expensive photographic equipment. He showed AlteCocker some of his pictures; his name was Ruben Campos They were much nicer than mine taken with a very low end camera, but there is no way she would drag around one of those huge lenses. The man's photos can be found here. The photos he showed me on his camera were gorgeous. They are not yet posted.
Well, we got to talking and we all ended up having lunch at Hotel Bougainvillea in the Santo Domingo area of San Jose. Very nice restaurant with upscale food. Everyone had these lemonade type of drinks that had mint in them. Very nice. Price was $22--less than half of what a meal like that would cost in the US. The best part: The gorgeous garden at the hotel filled with an assortment of tropical plants including coffee plants. AlteCocker took a lot of photos and Ruben Campos took a lot more.
AlteCocker is happy to report a safe arrival back to her home exchange home with fewer wrong turns coming back than going this morning. Also happy to report that the car works just fine.
November 18, 2013
Today was a day for AlteCocker to explore San Jose. She is staying in a home that has a very steep walk up or down the hill. So, she parked the car inside the secure gate but at the bottom of the hill and took the bus into San Jose. Don't worry about using a map. The streets have numbers like 1st Street, 2nd Street, etc., but damned if AlteCocker found a good map. She just used dead reckoning--which worked just fine. She had lunch in Rosti Pollo (a chain of chicken sit down restaurants that are much better than the fast food joints transferred from the US that are all over) and then went to the Museo d'Oro (Gold Museum. It is underground in the main square with an associated Currency Museum. It's in the same building and you pay one price for both. It was $11 for foreigners (Costa Ricans pay pennies). The museum is small but well explained and definitely worth it. The examples of Precolumbian gold are really stunning.
Afterward AlteCocker ambled down to the Central Market. She bought some t-shirts there. They were about $6.50 each and were actually made in Costa Rica. After that, AlteCocker retraced her steps back to where the bus stop was stopping at the National Theater to pick up a ticket to a "Viva Verdi" concert later in the month. She will take the bus downtown that day as she did today. As with all large cities, dealing with cars when you don't know the lay of the land is not a good idea. Far easier to be tense on the bus about where you are going. Then you can just be tense about getting off in the wrong place--something AlteCocker is glad she did not do today but certainly has done in the past elsewhere.
AlteCocker plans to spend the day in San Jose when she has a ticket to the concert and visit the arts and crafts market which she did not see today. Downtown San Jose is not very attractive. People are hawking merchandise and lottery tickets all over. You can hardly budge on the main street without seeing some of them. Since this is not the busy season, there were not a lot of tourists. The stores for all the big chains were empty. AlteCocker was amazed to see some of those as it is clear that, for most Costa Ricans, life is tough and they cannot afford those places.
Afterward AlteCocker ambled down to the Central Market. She bought some t-shirts there. They were about $6.50 each and were actually made in Costa Rica. After that, AlteCocker retraced her steps back to where the bus stop was stopping at the National Theater to pick up a ticket to a "Viva Verdi" concert later in the month. She will take the bus downtown that day as she did today. As with all large cities, dealing with cars when you don't know the lay of the land is not a good idea. Far easier to be tense on the bus about where you are going. Then you can just be tense about getting off in the wrong place--something AlteCocker is glad she did not do today but certainly has done in the past elsewhere.
AlteCocker plans to spend the day in San Jose when she has a ticket to the concert and visit the arts and crafts market which she did not see today. Downtown San Jose is not very attractive. People are hawking merchandise and lottery tickets all over. You can hardly budge on the main street without seeing some of them. Since this is not the busy season, there were not a lot of tourists. The stores for all the big chains were empty. AlteCocker was amazed to see some of those as it is clear that, for most Costa Ricans, life is tough and they cannot afford those places.
November 19-21, 2013 TortugueRo
At 5:00am on the morning of November 19th, AlteCocker's alarm sounded. She was off on a Riverboat Francesca excursion to Tortuguero. Getting there involved first getting to a hotel pick up point as AlteCocker's residence is way out of their range. So, a bleary eyed AlteCocker arrived at the Tournon Villa Hotel to await the van that would schlep fellow funseekers to the boat which would take us to Tortuguero. Not knowing bupkis about this excursion, AlteCocker did not know that the only way to get to Tortugueno was via a boat. There is no road. The boat goes on the Intracoastal Waterway (some natural and some canals) to get to ?ortegueno. There were 6 in the group including AlteCocker: 3 fun seeking young German guys on their last big adventure before going home and a couple from the UK who live in Chicago on a long trip that may go on as late as May 2014) throughout Central America and Northern South America (lucky ducks).
This link describes the tour AlteCocker took. She took the 2-night, 3 day tour which she thinks is a much better value than the overnight tour. The overnight tour is very rushed and there is a lot to see. We stayed at the Laguna Lodge, which was fine. There were fans but no air conditioning in the rooms. Surprisingly the jungle location got cold at night and you even needed a blanket. So the lack of air conditioning did not affect comfort unless you wanted to take a nap in the middle of the day. The tour company is owned by Fran (American) and Modesto (Nicaraguan) Watson. Modesto was our guide and driver. There are lots of companies doing similar tours to Tortuguero--from ones done as part of 2 week tours of Costa Rica to an array of small tour companies. AlteCocker chose Riverboat Francesca because her home exchange family recommended the company. AlteCocker does not know about the quality of the other tour companies, but she would highly recommend Riverboat Francesca (assuming any of you value AlteCocker's opinions). Everything that was promised was delivered. We saw every animal on the list of potential animals except a jaguar (very rare to see); we saw only one sloth but at least we saw one. There were numerous monkeys, birds galore (including toucans!) and several enormous crocodiles. There is farming done along the waterway and it is illegal to kill crocodiles, but we were told that farmers will not hesitate to kill the big guys if they threaten livestock--or people. Obviously, you do not go swimming in the intracoastal waterway. In fact, in AlteCocker's opinion, you should just say "good-bye" to the croc and move on quickly.
Alte Cocker met the Brits in the van. The Germans joined us at the boat dock in Moin (you can take a public bus back and get a taxi connection if you wish, but then you end up with more schlepping; your choice). If you join the tour in San Jose, you do get transport from your hotel to Moin--a journey of 2 1/2-3 hours on (for Costa Rica) decent paved roads. There is a breakfast stop going to Moin and a stop in the same restaurant coming back to San Jose at the conclusion of the tour. Everything is included except alcoholic drinks and, for AlteCocker, a trip to the spa for a massage (more on that later).
The first day of the tour was involved with just getting there. On the waterway to Tortugueno we saw a sloth (the only one of the trip), and an absolutely enormous crocodile (so enormous that Modesto took a photo of it). Once in Tortugueno we had the remainder of the day before dinner free. After dinner we went searching for turtle nests on the beach. The turtle nesting was, alas, finished. We did see baby turtle tracks down to the water's edge but no baby turtles emerged while we were searching. Then we looked for tree frogs on the hotel property. There was luck there as they frequent a certain area and everyone knows where it is.
On the second day we took a morning tour of the nearby national park and saw our first monkeys--mostly howelers who would wake you up at about 4:00am with their cries! Later in the day we saw spider monkeys; they have very long arms. They went across branches taking "monkey bridges" overhanging branches allowing them to transfer from one tree to another. They were my favorite. We also saw capuchin monkeys. AlteCocker could have watched them all day even though they were hard to spot. The way you find them is to look for movement in the trees. Modesto was very good at this as he had loads of experience. AlteCocker was terrible at spotting anything because she has no experience at this. She also discovered that her camera was totally inadequate for getting decent photos of wild animals. The British couple had a much better camera--and got much better results. In order to get best results you do have to have an extremely fast shutter where you can take photo after photo without waiting. AlteCocker has a camera, albeit digital, that fits in her pocket. Consequently, AlteCocker's photos more or less stank. Before she ever goes on a vacation that involves extensive animal photo opportunities, she will purchase a better camera. For your viewing pleasure, The Brits sent AlteCocker a few photos which she will post with her crummy ones upon her return. The real difficulty is that animal photos are taken from a great distance and you do need a good telephoto. AlteCocker should have thought about all of this before the trip but she didn't.
Another problem was AlteCocker's old back problem--which has been giving her problems since her home exchange in Sydney, Australia, in January 2013. She has had intensive physical therapy at home. It does help but it had to be cut short when she flew to Costa Rica. Not so good for AlteCocker's back but very difficult for AlteCocker's home exchangers if she pulled out at the last minute. So she went intending to ignore her back as much as possible. The boat ride to Tortugueno sort of Tortuguenoed her back (very bad pun) and on the second day of the 3 day tour she could barely move. So, AlteCocker used her free time to take herself off to a spa at a nearby hotel and for $75 had the full massage treatment (with hot stones). AlteCocker has never done this activity before and she figured that it would either help or just be an experience. It appears to have helped--and it was an experience. AlteCocker might do this again sometime even if the whole business felt rather silly. Taking the boat/van back from Tortugueno she actually felt better. Whether the spa treatment worked or the back would have gotten anyway, AlteCocker has no idea, but she feels better. She does do exercises for the back as ordered by the physical therapist so ignoring needed exercises on a vacation was not the root of the problem. Hopefully, the back (and ass) will stay feeling better. We shall see.
Not all home exchanges go smoothly and this one has already had problems--back in the US. Remember the car battery that went dead on the Spanish lady because the French people left it on during August's home exchange in Salamanca? The battery died and could not be restarted. My home exchangers actually phoned the house in San Jose, but AlteCocker was, of course, elsewhere. They finally got a hold of me via email. By that time they had seen all the car repair information in my home exchange book and the problem had been resolved. AlteCocker assured them that they would be reimbursed for the repair. Two home exchanges with car battery problems? Hopefully, there will be no further problems at either end. The Northeast had a cold snap and the car people think that finally killed the battery. Who knows? At least the problem has been resolved. The money will be sorted out later on (son lives near me and I will send him a check).
This link describes the tour AlteCocker took. She took the 2-night, 3 day tour which she thinks is a much better value than the overnight tour. The overnight tour is very rushed and there is a lot to see. We stayed at the Laguna Lodge, which was fine. There were fans but no air conditioning in the rooms. Surprisingly the jungle location got cold at night and you even needed a blanket. So the lack of air conditioning did not affect comfort unless you wanted to take a nap in the middle of the day. The tour company is owned by Fran (American) and Modesto (Nicaraguan) Watson. Modesto was our guide and driver. There are lots of companies doing similar tours to Tortuguero--from ones done as part of 2 week tours of Costa Rica to an array of small tour companies. AlteCocker chose Riverboat Francesca because her home exchange family recommended the company. AlteCocker does not know about the quality of the other tour companies, but she would highly recommend Riverboat Francesca (assuming any of you value AlteCocker's opinions). Everything that was promised was delivered. We saw every animal on the list of potential animals except a jaguar (very rare to see); we saw only one sloth but at least we saw one. There were numerous monkeys, birds galore (including toucans!) and several enormous crocodiles. There is farming done along the waterway and it is illegal to kill crocodiles, but we were told that farmers will not hesitate to kill the big guys if they threaten livestock--or people. Obviously, you do not go swimming in the intracoastal waterway. In fact, in AlteCocker's opinion, you should just say "good-bye" to the croc and move on quickly.
Alte Cocker met the Brits in the van. The Germans joined us at the boat dock in Moin (you can take a public bus back and get a taxi connection if you wish, but then you end up with more schlepping; your choice). If you join the tour in San Jose, you do get transport from your hotel to Moin--a journey of 2 1/2-3 hours on (for Costa Rica) decent paved roads. There is a breakfast stop going to Moin and a stop in the same restaurant coming back to San Jose at the conclusion of the tour. Everything is included except alcoholic drinks and, for AlteCocker, a trip to the spa for a massage (more on that later).
The first day of the tour was involved with just getting there. On the waterway to Tortugueno we saw a sloth (the only one of the trip), and an absolutely enormous crocodile (so enormous that Modesto took a photo of it). Once in Tortugueno we had the remainder of the day before dinner free. After dinner we went searching for turtle nests on the beach. The turtle nesting was, alas, finished. We did see baby turtle tracks down to the water's edge but no baby turtles emerged while we were searching. Then we looked for tree frogs on the hotel property. There was luck there as they frequent a certain area and everyone knows where it is.
On the second day we took a morning tour of the nearby national park and saw our first monkeys--mostly howelers who would wake you up at about 4:00am with their cries! Later in the day we saw spider monkeys; they have very long arms. They went across branches taking "monkey bridges" overhanging branches allowing them to transfer from one tree to another. They were my favorite. We also saw capuchin monkeys. AlteCocker could have watched them all day even though they were hard to spot. The way you find them is to look for movement in the trees. Modesto was very good at this as he had loads of experience. AlteCocker was terrible at spotting anything because she has no experience at this. She also discovered that her camera was totally inadequate for getting decent photos of wild animals. The British couple had a much better camera--and got much better results. In order to get best results you do have to have an extremely fast shutter where you can take photo after photo without waiting. AlteCocker has a camera, albeit digital, that fits in her pocket. Consequently, AlteCocker's photos more or less stank. Before she ever goes on a vacation that involves extensive animal photo opportunities, she will purchase a better camera. For your viewing pleasure, The Brits sent AlteCocker a few photos which she will post with her crummy ones upon her return. The real difficulty is that animal photos are taken from a great distance and you do need a good telephoto. AlteCocker should have thought about all of this before the trip but she didn't.
Another problem was AlteCocker's old back problem--which has been giving her problems since her home exchange in Sydney, Australia, in January 2013. She has had intensive physical therapy at home. It does help but it had to be cut short when she flew to Costa Rica. Not so good for AlteCocker's back but very difficult for AlteCocker's home exchangers if she pulled out at the last minute. So she went intending to ignore her back as much as possible. The boat ride to Tortugueno sort of Tortuguenoed her back (very bad pun) and on the second day of the 3 day tour she could barely move. So, AlteCocker used her free time to take herself off to a spa at a nearby hotel and for $75 had the full massage treatment (with hot stones). AlteCocker has never done this activity before and she figured that it would either help or just be an experience. It appears to have helped--and it was an experience. AlteCocker might do this again sometime even if the whole business felt rather silly. Taking the boat/van back from Tortugueno she actually felt better. Whether the spa treatment worked or the back would have gotten anyway, AlteCocker has no idea, but she feels better. She does do exercises for the back as ordered by the physical therapist so ignoring needed exercises on a vacation was not the root of the problem. Hopefully, the back (and ass) will stay feeling better. We shall see.
Not all home exchanges go smoothly and this one has already had problems--back in the US. Remember the car battery that went dead on the Spanish lady because the French people left it on during August's home exchange in Salamanca? The battery died and could not be restarted. My home exchangers actually phoned the house in San Jose, but AlteCocker was, of course, elsewhere. They finally got a hold of me via email. By that time they had seen all the car repair information in my home exchange book and the problem had been resolved. AlteCocker assured them that they would be reimbursed for the repair. Two home exchanges with car battery problems? Hopefully, there will be no further problems at either end. The Northeast had a cold snap and the car people think that finally killed the battery. Who knows? At least the problem has been resolved. The money will be sorted out later on (son lives near me and I will send him a check).
November 22, 2013
November 22nd is always a sad day for anyone who remembers JFK's assassination. That having been said, AlteCocker is thoroughly glad to be outside the US for the 50th anniversary of THE DAY. Once through was enough for her. She does not need to relive it. What AlteCocker tells people that she is old enough to not only remember the assassination (she was in high school in Stamford, Connecticut) but old enough to remember seeing Kennedy once in person (at a rally in Waterbury, CT).
After three days of early rising to see the animals in Tortuguero, AlteCocker slept in and used the morning to decide what to do for the rest of the day by perusing guidebooks. She is also narrowing the possibilities for side trips/overnight stays outside San Jose.
In the afternoon AlteCocker went to the University of Costa Rica's Insect Museum. It is partially the collection of one man and the was ad ons by others. It was also very small--got for about 45 minutes to an hour at most. Some of the insects were not small and looked like mini versions of lobsters with pincers. No thanks. Given the difficulty AlteCocker had finding the museum even with the GPS, AlteCocker does not think the museum gets many visitors. There was a special exhibition (closing today!) in another building. A biology student named Melissa helpfully guided me to the right place. After AlteCocker offered to buy her something to drink in the Costa Rican version of the campus student union, but she was busy. Melissa is studying biology. AlteCocker gave her a card in case she ever gets to Washington, DC. The University has an area of forest on the campus that AlteCocker was told has some sloths. Unfortunately, AlteCocker (a terrible animal spotter) did not see any.
The day finished with a trip to the supermarket "MasXMenos"--which means "More4Less" in Spanish. It was pretty much the same as supermarkets at home with some exceptions--and was definitely not more for less despite the name. A steaming hot tasty chicken was bought for dinner. Tomorrow some friends are coming for a visit. We will be taking a tour of a coffee plantation on Sunday and going out to lunch afterward. The way AlteCocker "met" these people is quite a story. They wrote a book "Two Weeks in Costa Rica". After reading and enjoying the book as an electronic download on her Kindle, AlteCocker contacted them through their website to tell them she had enjoyed it and we started emailing. Matt, the male member of the couple, actually had been--get this--in the snow removal business before moving to Costa Rica full time. Currently they are doing a lot of house sitting as they figure out where they want to live and how they will earn a living. They will be stopping here on the way to their next house sit on the Caribbean coast (well south of where AlteCocker was in Tortuguero. When AlteCocker home exchanges, it is always fun to have visitors to spice up the trip.
The day finished with fireworks viewed outside the enormous picture window in the house. Apparently this is the custom in Central America when the Christmas tree is put up. As AlteCocker finishes this, the neighborhood dogs are engaged in another round of the Doggie Hallelujah Chorus. They will soon settle down for the night--as will Alte Cocker.
After three days of early rising to see the animals in Tortuguero, AlteCocker slept in and used the morning to decide what to do for the rest of the day by perusing guidebooks. She is also narrowing the possibilities for side trips/overnight stays outside San Jose.
In the afternoon AlteCocker went to the University of Costa Rica's Insect Museum. It is partially the collection of one man and the was ad ons by others. It was also very small--got for about 45 minutes to an hour at most. Some of the insects were not small and looked like mini versions of lobsters with pincers. No thanks. Given the difficulty AlteCocker had finding the museum even with the GPS, AlteCocker does not think the museum gets many visitors. There was a special exhibition (closing today!) in another building. A biology student named Melissa helpfully guided me to the right place. After AlteCocker offered to buy her something to drink in the Costa Rican version of the campus student union, but she was busy. Melissa is studying biology. AlteCocker gave her a card in case she ever gets to Washington, DC. The University has an area of forest on the campus that AlteCocker was told has some sloths. Unfortunately, AlteCocker (a terrible animal spotter) did not see any.
The day finished with a trip to the supermarket "MasXMenos"--which means "More4Less" in Spanish. It was pretty much the same as supermarkets at home with some exceptions--and was definitely not more for less despite the name. A steaming hot tasty chicken was bought for dinner. Tomorrow some friends are coming for a visit. We will be taking a tour of a coffee plantation on Sunday and going out to lunch afterward. The way AlteCocker "met" these people is quite a story. They wrote a book "Two Weeks in Costa Rica". After reading and enjoying the book as an electronic download on her Kindle, AlteCocker contacted them through their website to tell them she had enjoyed it and we started emailing. Matt, the male member of the couple, actually had been--get this--in the snow removal business before moving to Costa Rica full time. Currently they are doing a lot of house sitting as they figure out where they want to live and how they will earn a living. They will be stopping here on the way to their next house sit on the Caribbean coast (well south of where AlteCocker was in Tortuguero. When AlteCocker home exchanges, it is always fun to have visitors to spice up the trip.
The day finished with fireworks viewed outside the enormous picture window in the house. Apparently this is the custom in Central America when the Christmas tree is put up. As AlteCocker finishes this, the neighborhood dogs are engaged in another round of the Doggie Hallelujah Chorus. They will soon settle down for the night--as will Alte Cocker.
November 23, 2013, Matt & Jenn Arrive At Last!
Today AlteCocker finally met the famous Matt & Jenn from "Two Weeks in Costa Rica". They are going to write book entitles (what else?) "Two Weeks in Panama". AlteCocker can't wait to read it. They are having a wonderful adventure living in Costa Rica and doing a variety of house sitting gigs while deciding if they want to stay permanently. It is an adventure you can only have if you ditch all your financial responsibilities back home. AlteCocker envies their energy.
After Matt & Jenn arrived, we sat around for awhile just enjoying the view while Matt went out to take photos of the garden. He also got a nice shot of one of the hummingbird regulars that hang out at the kitchen window because there are feeders outside. AlteCocker has had no success at that activity with her crummy camera. Matt, of course, has a better camera and had better results.
For dinner we went back to the Bougainvillea Hotel, where AlteCocker had such a nice meal with the people she met at the Butterfly Garden. Nice place, but, having been there twice, that will do for this trip. It is also not so easy to find even with the assistance of the GPS. Getting back was a mess too, as the GPS can be off quite a bit. AlteCocker thinks it needs a major update, but she must admit that hers is not up to date either. Costa Rica definitely needs better road signage and AlteCocker needs to learn the lay of the land better than she does to stop making wrong turns.
AlteCocker has given Matt and Jenn the master bedroom--which has its own fireplace. The caretaker built a fire for them this evening. The plan is for AlteCocker to move into that bedroom once Matt and Jenn leave to return to their house sit. The fireplace was the enticement to decamp from the other bedroom and move into the lap of luxury with the fireplace.
After Matt & Jenn arrived, we sat around for awhile just enjoying the view while Matt went out to take photos of the garden. He also got a nice shot of one of the hummingbird regulars that hang out at the kitchen window because there are feeders outside. AlteCocker has had no success at that activity with her crummy camera. Matt, of course, has a better camera and had better results.
For dinner we went back to the Bougainvillea Hotel, where AlteCocker had such a nice meal with the people she met at the Butterfly Garden. Nice place, but, having been there twice, that will do for this trip. It is also not so easy to find even with the assistance of the GPS. Getting back was a mess too, as the GPS can be off quite a bit. AlteCocker thinks it needs a major update, but she must admit that hers is not up to date either. Costa Rica definitely needs better road signage and AlteCocker needs to learn the lay of the land better than she does to stop making wrong turns.
AlteCocker has given Matt and Jenn the master bedroom--which has its own fireplace. The caretaker built a fire for them this evening. The plan is for AlteCocker to move into that bedroom once Matt and Jenn leave to return to their house sit. The fireplace was the enticement to decamp from the other bedroom and move into the lap of luxury with the fireplace.
November 24, 2013, STuck in Traffic
Today Matt and Jenn had to return to the house where they are house sitting on the Pacific Coast--sniff! It would have been nice if they could have stayed longer but it was great to have met them at last.
We reserved the Britt Coffee Tour for this morning at 11:00am. From the house it was supposed to take a half hour. Of course, it took us a bit longer. Matt carefully studied the route last night after our misadventures with the GPS. This time the GPS was 100% in agreement with Matt's directions. We went in 2 cars and arrived 5 minutes late. It took us about 50 minutes when we got stuck behind a bus and then, when the bus finally got off the road, we had to deal with a truck with mattresses on top that threatened to come careening down on the road. AlteCocker was following Matt so, if we got lost, we'd be lost together.
Alte Cocker can highly recommend the coffee tour. In addition to being informative, it is really a dramatic performance. Parts are just hilarious. To describe it would be futile. It is one of those things that must be seen to be believed. It includes the two performers (and they are performers) "riding" in a car while a film rolls in the background. It was a well worth the time spent. You learn about how coffee is grown and processed in addition to having a good time. Afterward we had the lunch buffet at the Britt Cafe and AlteCocker bought a lot of coffee which was shipped back to the United States. It was expensive, but it does take care of the need to buy presents for friends and everyone can use coffee. It's a lot better than more t-shirts. We did get rained on during the outside portion of the tour. When you have umbrellas, it is always helpful to bring them with you rather than to stupidly leave them in your car. Never mind. The coffee tour supplied umbrellas and moved the outside portion of the tour inside. Lots of rain today and much cloud in the afternoon.
After lunch, Matt and Jenn drove to their house sit in Dominical while AlteCocker tried to drive home. It turned out to be one of those misadventures of travel. Somehow, AlteCocker ended up in downtown San Jose. Lots of roads were blocked because it was Sunday. She realized she was in downtown San Jose when she saw the Chinese arch there (There is really no Chinatown, but there is the arch). At that point she knew she was "doomed"; if she were Catholic, she would have uttered a prayer to whatever saint deals with hopeless causes. After a couple of rounds of driving in a circle, because the police had blocked off many roads, and deciding that the GPS was not of much help, she turned right instead of left to repeat the circle and extracted herself from the Chinese arch circle by driving a long way out of downtown and then resuming her slavish attention to the lady giving directions on the GPS. At least there was no truck with mattresses threatening to fall off the top this time. Finally she recognized the street she was on and knew the ordeal was almost over. She made it home and lived to tell the tale munching on too many chocolate covered coffee beans to ease the pain of the ordeal on the way. What should have been a half hour drive home from the coffee tour took over an hour. AlteCocker hopes Matt and Jenn had an easier ride home. Who knows? They could have gotten home before AlteCocker did.
We reserved the Britt Coffee Tour for this morning at 11:00am. From the house it was supposed to take a half hour. Of course, it took us a bit longer. Matt carefully studied the route last night after our misadventures with the GPS. This time the GPS was 100% in agreement with Matt's directions. We went in 2 cars and arrived 5 minutes late. It took us about 50 minutes when we got stuck behind a bus and then, when the bus finally got off the road, we had to deal with a truck with mattresses on top that threatened to come careening down on the road. AlteCocker was following Matt so, if we got lost, we'd be lost together.
Alte Cocker can highly recommend the coffee tour. In addition to being informative, it is really a dramatic performance. Parts are just hilarious. To describe it would be futile. It is one of those things that must be seen to be believed. It includes the two performers (and they are performers) "riding" in a car while a film rolls in the background. It was a well worth the time spent. You learn about how coffee is grown and processed in addition to having a good time. Afterward we had the lunch buffet at the Britt Cafe and AlteCocker bought a lot of coffee which was shipped back to the United States. It was expensive, but it does take care of the need to buy presents for friends and everyone can use coffee. It's a lot better than more t-shirts. We did get rained on during the outside portion of the tour. When you have umbrellas, it is always helpful to bring them with you rather than to stupidly leave them in your car. Never mind. The coffee tour supplied umbrellas and moved the outside portion of the tour inside. Lots of rain today and much cloud in the afternoon.
After lunch, Matt and Jenn drove to their house sit in Dominical while AlteCocker tried to drive home. It turned out to be one of those misadventures of travel. Somehow, AlteCocker ended up in downtown San Jose. Lots of roads were blocked because it was Sunday. She realized she was in downtown San Jose when she saw the Chinese arch there (There is really no Chinatown, but there is the arch). At that point she knew she was "doomed"; if she were Catholic, she would have uttered a prayer to whatever saint deals with hopeless causes. After a couple of rounds of driving in a circle, because the police had blocked off many roads, and deciding that the GPS was not of much help, she turned right instead of left to repeat the circle and extracted herself from the Chinese arch circle by driving a long way out of downtown and then resuming her slavish attention to the lady giving directions on the GPS. At least there was no truck with mattresses threatening to fall off the top this time. Finally she recognized the street she was on and knew the ordeal was almost over. She made it home and lived to tell the tale munching on too many chocolate covered coffee beans to ease the pain of the ordeal on the way. What should have been a half hour drive home from the coffee tour took over an hour. AlteCocker hopes Matt and Jenn had an easier ride home. Who knows? They could have gotten home before AlteCocker did.
November, 25, 2013, San Jose
AlteCocker tooked the bus to San Jose today and went to the tour of the National Theater. She had purchased a ticket for the "Viva Verdi" concert in 2 days but is going out of town. So she returned the ticket and told them to resell it. She did not ask for her money back, as it was only $10 and she assumed the money could not be refunded anyway. It took me forever to explain things to them in Spanglish. When all was said and done, they gave me a free tour of the National Theater--which they did not have to do. So nice. What made it even nicer is that there was no one else for the 2:00pm English language tour.
That's the nice part. Now AlteCocker also found out why yesterday's traffic was such a friggin' mess. It was the annual oxcart parade. Damn. Missed it. AlteCocker noted that it was normally in November but assumed that it had happened already as her exchangers did not mention it. Well, AlteCocker missed it. Such is life when you don't exactly know what you are doing.
After the tour, AlteCocker stopped at a nondescript place near where she picks up the bus downtown and they piled mounds of food on her plate. It turned out not to be very good and she just picked at it. She realized she was having a little bit of traveler's tummy at the end the food and picked up a couple of medicines at the pharmacy across the street before boarding the bus back to her home away from home. In addition to a bit of travelers' tummy, AlteCocker developed a canker sore in her mouth. Whatever the guy at the pharmacy gave her seems to have helped. Fortunately, he spoke English.
Later AlteCocker tried to get a reservation at the volcano area near La Fortuna-Arenal. Problem is that phone cuts out and internet response time is not the promised 24 hours if you get responses at all. There are some Americans down here for Thanksgiving week, but nothing like what will occur Dec. 20th to Jan. 5th when a lot of families come down and hotels raise their rates. Fortunately, AlteCockers can time their trips to avoid such time periods and AlteCocker leaves Dec. 15th. Hopefully she will not have trouble just going up there and finding a place, as this is the shoulder season. Most AlteCockers favor the last 3 weeks of Jan. and Feb. when the weather in the US is mostly unspeakable and--brr!--cold.
That's the nice part. Now AlteCocker also found out why yesterday's traffic was such a friggin' mess. It was the annual oxcart parade. Damn. Missed it. AlteCocker noted that it was normally in November but assumed that it had happened already as her exchangers did not mention it. Well, AlteCocker missed it. Such is life when you don't exactly know what you are doing.
After the tour, AlteCocker stopped at a nondescript place near where she picks up the bus downtown and they piled mounds of food on her plate. It turned out not to be very good and she just picked at it. She realized she was having a little bit of traveler's tummy at the end the food and picked up a couple of medicines at the pharmacy across the street before boarding the bus back to her home away from home. In addition to a bit of travelers' tummy, AlteCocker developed a canker sore in her mouth. Whatever the guy at the pharmacy gave her seems to have helped. Fortunately, he spoke English.
Later AlteCocker tried to get a reservation at the volcano area near La Fortuna-Arenal. Problem is that phone cuts out and internet response time is not the promised 24 hours if you get responses at all. There are some Americans down here for Thanksgiving week, but nothing like what will occur Dec. 20th to Jan. 5th when a lot of families come down and hotels raise their rates. Fortunately, AlteCockers can time their trips to avoid such time periods and AlteCocker leaves Dec. 15th. Hopefully she will not have trouble just going up there and finding a place, as this is the shoulder season. Most AlteCockers favor the last 3 weeks of Jan. and Feb. when the weather in the US is mostly unspeakable and--brr!--cold.
November 26-28, 2013 La Fortuna & Arenal
While the rest of you were cooking and stuffing yourselves, AlteCocker drove the car to La Fortuna & Lake Arenal. This was also a learning exercise in San Jose traffic, Costa Rican roads and finding a hotel when she did not have one (works the same as Europe: Tourist Information finds one for you). AlteCocker also had a little fun!
Driving up from San Jose to La Fortuna, you first have to get out of San Jose. If AlteCocker did not have a GPS, she would probably still be there. Except for central cities, there are no street names in Costa Rica. Sometimes you put coordinates into the GPS rather than other things. When you ask someone for directions, Costa Ricans use landmarks. It may work for them but all North Americans have trouble with this--which is why most are GPS dependent when they visit here. Also, the sun sets about 6:00pm year round here (no long summer/short winter days closer to the equator). You do not want to be on Costa Rican roads after dark. Even Costa Ricans tend to avoid that. Many roads are twisty going up and down into the mountains and have no reflectors. You make one wrong move and you are a gonner. Roads can be full of pot holes or downed trees in the middle of the roads. For a really funny video on the subject, you might want to check youtube here. It may be amusing, but it is true. Costa Rican roads are a mess. Many outside the main ones are gravel. Potholes are a major problem. Before you start attacking Costa Ricans for this, consider the fact that you are in Central American and making a financial go of it is difficult for a lot of people--and there is less of a tax base to fund good roads than there is in the US (and we have plenty of problems with our roads too). Also consider that you are in the rainforest. It rains all the time--duh--in the rainforest and that leads to potholes (the US Northeast has similar problems after a hard winter from freezing and thawing). The key to success is to just slow down and realize you will average no more than 30km per hour and to plan your route to avoid, when possible, unpaved roads. Traffic in San Jose can be bumper to bumper all day. There is no Capital Beltway circling the town. Again, slow down.
AlteCocker is happy to report that she got out of San Jose, drove on--ta da!--the Pan American Highway--and successfully negotiated the twisty road into La Fortuna before dark. Hotel was the Hotel San Bosco selected for AlteCocker by the helpful young woman at La Fortunata tourist information. It was perfectly adequate but totally packed on the first night with noisy groups. The second night, with the departure of the aforementioned, it was bliss. Breakfast was included for $60 a night.
Now AlteCocker is normally a big chicken. There are things that she will never do--such as amusement park rides that turn you upside down or exert multi "G" forces on your body. She steers clear of any roller coaster--even the baby roller coasters. Nix for AlteCocker. Having said all of that long about the time she was ready for a stop from the twisty road, there was ziplining off to the right of the road in San Luis. With some trepidation, AlteCocker paid $65 and got suited up for this experience. She was a nervous wreck, but the two guides encouraged her and she had a blast. She did opt out of the Superman harness and the Tarzan swing (her orthopedist would be happy with that but would have cringed at the whole ziplining business for sure. She had a private tour because there was no one else. Judging from what she saw driving back to San Jose at the end of her stay in La Fortuna, most tourists come in the morning. This place tends to get small groups in "tourismo" vans--not huge bus tours. The bus tours tend to go to Sky Tram west of La Fortuna. More on Sky Tram in a minute. Just keep on reading. San Luis Canopy tours does require some walking from one cable to another. AlteCocker was glad she brought her Nordic walking stick. A wet jungle can be rather slippery and falling and hurting herself is not on her list of things she wanted to do in Costa Rica. She did that one already in Rome. No repeats, please. It was just a wonderful experience and pretty tame compared to whitewater rafting (which AlteCocker has done many times in different places including Austria & Finland.
A further note on San Luis: There are tons of photos including the absolutely worst photo ever of AlteCocker taken from behind with her fat ass in a zipline harness. You will have to wait to see that stellar photo until AlteCocker gets home and deals with the photos. AlteCocker kept thinking about deleting it but it is just too hilarious. AlteCocker, as with many AlteCocker's, needs to lose weight.
AlteCocker's next stop was at the roadside cafe run by the Lands in Love Resort (also on the right on the way to La Fortuna. She had--get this a reasonable version of a sacher torte--and pineapple juice. The juice, by the way, in Costa Rica is so good, it has killed AlteCocker's desire for alcohol. Lands in Love is an unusual resort. It has an animal shelter for maltreated animals associated with it. AlteCocker did not have the time to investigate it (or to try its ziplines) but it does look as if it would be a great place for a family vacation. Perhaps another time. AlteCocker was lured into the restaurant by the signs which included Spanish, English, and Hebrew. Who knows who will end up in Costa Rica?
Arriving in La Fortuna, thanks to the GPS, AlteCocker easily found the Hotel San Bosco. This hotel is fine for the price. There are two pools and a jacuzzi outside for people who have time to use such amenities. AlteCocker did not. Breakfast included scrambled eggs and the ubiquitous beans and rice as well as a selection of fresh fruit (AlteCocker is absolutely in love with the fresh fruit in Costa Rica--especially the pineapple). Bread was just package bread. Cold cereal, fruit juice and coffee/tea are also available. For $60 a night a good deal. AlteCocker would stay there again.
OK, the first night in La Fortuna, AlteCocker walked around the corner and ate dinner at El Rancho. The decor of the restaurant--a huge hut cannot be missed. AlteCocker had a fish stuffed with shrimp and chili rellenos in a coconut sauce. Sounded great but it wasn't. The portion was huge and could have been eaten by two people. The restaurant gets good reviews. Maybe AlteCocker was just exhausted and not in the mood. In any event, that was her experience.
The next day, AlteCocker went to Tabacon Hot Springs. She got there before they opened at 10:00am, so she took a drive around part of Lake Arenal (an artificial lake that resulted when the Arenal dam was built. The big site in Arenal is the Arenal volcano (now dormant but used to put on gorgeous night shows after it began erupting in the 1990's. AlteCocker is glad she snapped a photo of it from the car on the way into La Fortuna--albeit with clouds on top as a crown. Clouds, torrential downpours and mists were to prevent an equivalent view later. Which mountain is the volcano is fairly obvious from the lack of vegetation.
The drive around the edge of Lake Arenal was aborted when the road got worse and it was raining so heavily that not much could be seen. So, AlteCocker turned around and was just about the first customer at the Tabacon Hot Springs. The link is to the resort, but you can visit the hot springs or spa for the day. AlteCocker had no difficulty buying a pass at the door no matter what their website says about booking in advance. It cost $85 for the day including lunch ($65 without lunch). If AlteCocker were to do it again, she'd skip the lunch as it really was too much food for lunch--although very nice. You can just go in the restaurant and order a la carte without the lunch package. To get to Tabacon, just take the road from La Fortuna (There is only one) towards Lake Arenal. Tabacon is well marked. If you don't have a car, there are plenty of tour packages that can be arranged by your hotel.
AlteCocker is happy to note that the sun came out just as she entered Tabacon! It was the last sun she would see in Arenal/La Fortuna.
Tabacon channels the water from the volcano into a series of hot spring pools. Despite AlteCocker seeing some stuff online calling it "cheesy" it isn't, but it is expensive. She did not inquire about the prices at the Spa on the grounds, but probably as high as you would expect at a high end place. The grounds are beautiful with an assortment of pools and hot springs with waterfalls that felt so nice on AlteCocker's aching back. After about 2 hours, AlteCocker had lunch. As soon as she sat down for lunch the rains came again. That ended the thought of staying a bit longer at the Hot Springs.
What to do for the rest of the day? AlteCocker took a chance braving the gravel road into Sky Tram and went ziplining again. Yeah, you read that correctly. She goes ziplining, then relaxes her back at Tabacon and messes it up again by ziplining again? Yes, that is what she did. You only live once--and the sun broke through enough once she arrived at Sky Tram. Heck, if she gets anywhere near a zipline again, she might be too feeble to enjoy it. Sky Tram takes you up the mountain in a gondola. Those ziplining then break off and go with the guides. AlteCocker--and 3 others--got put at the end of a huge tour group from Britain. It was fine. The Brits were mostly around AlteCocker's age and game as hell. The "chickens" in the British group rode the gondola back down the mountain after watching their friends on the first 2 ziplines. Unlike San Luis, there is no hiking between ziplines. You get off one and onto the next. So the experience can handle big groups. Some of the ziplines were much longer than those in San Luis. Class "A" ziplining!
AlteCocker, still stuffed from lunch, did not eat dinner the last night in La Fortuna. On the 28th--Thanksgiving back in the US--it absolutely poured in La Fortuna (better than snow back home). AlteCocker got up, ate breakfast and drove very slowly back to San Jose. It was foggy much of the way so driving was extra slow. Of course, driving home through San Jose could not be done with some confusion, but AlteCocker arrived in one piece. She then went to the grocery store--taking the handyman at the house to buy his provisions as well. She is taking the rest of the day off after 3 busy days.
Driving up from San Jose to La Fortuna, you first have to get out of San Jose. If AlteCocker did not have a GPS, she would probably still be there. Except for central cities, there are no street names in Costa Rica. Sometimes you put coordinates into the GPS rather than other things. When you ask someone for directions, Costa Ricans use landmarks. It may work for them but all North Americans have trouble with this--which is why most are GPS dependent when they visit here. Also, the sun sets about 6:00pm year round here (no long summer/short winter days closer to the equator). You do not want to be on Costa Rican roads after dark. Even Costa Ricans tend to avoid that. Many roads are twisty going up and down into the mountains and have no reflectors. You make one wrong move and you are a gonner. Roads can be full of pot holes or downed trees in the middle of the roads. For a really funny video on the subject, you might want to check youtube here. It may be amusing, but it is true. Costa Rican roads are a mess. Many outside the main ones are gravel. Potholes are a major problem. Before you start attacking Costa Ricans for this, consider the fact that you are in Central American and making a financial go of it is difficult for a lot of people--and there is less of a tax base to fund good roads than there is in the US (and we have plenty of problems with our roads too). Also consider that you are in the rainforest. It rains all the time--duh--in the rainforest and that leads to potholes (the US Northeast has similar problems after a hard winter from freezing and thawing). The key to success is to just slow down and realize you will average no more than 30km per hour and to plan your route to avoid, when possible, unpaved roads. Traffic in San Jose can be bumper to bumper all day. There is no Capital Beltway circling the town. Again, slow down.
AlteCocker is happy to report that she got out of San Jose, drove on--ta da!--the Pan American Highway--and successfully negotiated the twisty road into La Fortuna before dark. Hotel was the Hotel San Bosco selected for AlteCocker by the helpful young woman at La Fortunata tourist information. It was perfectly adequate but totally packed on the first night with noisy groups. The second night, with the departure of the aforementioned, it was bliss. Breakfast was included for $60 a night.
Now AlteCocker is normally a big chicken. There are things that she will never do--such as amusement park rides that turn you upside down or exert multi "G" forces on your body. She steers clear of any roller coaster--even the baby roller coasters. Nix for AlteCocker. Having said all of that long about the time she was ready for a stop from the twisty road, there was ziplining off to the right of the road in San Luis. With some trepidation, AlteCocker paid $65 and got suited up for this experience. She was a nervous wreck, but the two guides encouraged her and she had a blast. She did opt out of the Superman harness and the Tarzan swing (her orthopedist would be happy with that but would have cringed at the whole ziplining business for sure. She had a private tour because there was no one else. Judging from what she saw driving back to San Jose at the end of her stay in La Fortuna, most tourists come in the morning. This place tends to get small groups in "tourismo" vans--not huge bus tours. The bus tours tend to go to Sky Tram west of La Fortuna. More on Sky Tram in a minute. Just keep on reading. San Luis Canopy tours does require some walking from one cable to another. AlteCocker was glad she brought her Nordic walking stick. A wet jungle can be rather slippery and falling and hurting herself is not on her list of things she wanted to do in Costa Rica. She did that one already in Rome. No repeats, please. It was just a wonderful experience and pretty tame compared to whitewater rafting (which AlteCocker has done many times in different places including Austria & Finland.
A further note on San Luis: There are tons of photos including the absolutely worst photo ever of AlteCocker taken from behind with her fat ass in a zipline harness. You will have to wait to see that stellar photo until AlteCocker gets home and deals with the photos. AlteCocker kept thinking about deleting it but it is just too hilarious. AlteCocker, as with many AlteCocker's, needs to lose weight.
AlteCocker's next stop was at the roadside cafe run by the Lands in Love Resort (also on the right on the way to La Fortuna. She had--get this a reasonable version of a sacher torte--and pineapple juice. The juice, by the way, in Costa Rica is so good, it has killed AlteCocker's desire for alcohol. Lands in Love is an unusual resort. It has an animal shelter for maltreated animals associated with it. AlteCocker did not have the time to investigate it (or to try its ziplines) but it does look as if it would be a great place for a family vacation. Perhaps another time. AlteCocker was lured into the restaurant by the signs which included Spanish, English, and Hebrew. Who knows who will end up in Costa Rica?
Arriving in La Fortuna, thanks to the GPS, AlteCocker easily found the Hotel San Bosco. This hotel is fine for the price. There are two pools and a jacuzzi outside for people who have time to use such amenities. AlteCocker did not. Breakfast included scrambled eggs and the ubiquitous beans and rice as well as a selection of fresh fruit (AlteCocker is absolutely in love with the fresh fruit in Costa Rica--especially the pineapple). Bread was just package bread. Cold cereal, fruit juice and coffee/tea are also available. For $60 a night a good deal. AlteCocker would stay there again.
OK, the first night in La Fortuna, AlteCocker walked around the corner and ate dinner at El Rancho. The decor of the restaurant--a huge hut cannot be missed. AlteCocker had a fish stuffed with shrimp and chili rellenos in a coconut sauce. Sounded great but it wasn't. The portion was huge and could have been eaten by two people. The restaurant gets good reviews. Maybe AlteCocker was just exhausted and not in the mood. In any event, that was her experience.
The next day, AlteCocker went to Tabacon Hot Springs. She got there before they opened at 10:00am, so she took a drive around part of Lake Arenal (an artificial lake that resulted when the Arenal dam was built. The big site in Arenal is the Arenal volcano (now dormant but used to put on gorgeous night shows after it began erupting in the 1990's. AlteCocker is glad she snapped a photo of it from the car on the way into La Fortuna--albeit with clouds on top as a crown. Clouds, torrential downpours and mists were to prevent an equivalent view later. Which mountain is the volcano is fairly obvious from the lack of vegetation.
The drive around the edge of Lake Arenal was aborted when the road got worse and it was raining so heavily that not much could be seen. So, AlteCocker turned around and was just about the first customer at the Tabacon Hot Springs. The link is to the resort, but you can visit the hot springs or spa for the day. AlteCocker had no difficulty buying a pass at the door no matter what their website says about booking in advance. It cost $85 for the day including lunch ($65 without lunch). If AlteCocker were to do it again, she'd skip the lunch as it really was too much food for lunch--although very nice. You can just go in the restaurant and order a la carte without the lunch package. To get to Tabacon, just take the road from La Fortuna (There is only one) towards Lake Arenal. Tabacon is well marked. If you don't have a car, there are plenty of tour packages that can be arranged by your hotel.
AlteCocker is happy to note that the sun came out just as she entered Tabacon! It was the last sun she would see in Arenal/La Fortuna.
Tabacon channels the water from the volcano into a series of hot spring pools. Despite AlteCocker seeing some stuff online calling it "cheesy" it isn't, but it is expensive. She did not inquire about the prices at the Spa on the grounds, but probably as high as you would expect at a high end place. The grounds are beautiful with an assortment of pools and hot springs with waterfalls that felt so nice on AlteCocker's aching back. After about 2 hours, AlteCocker had lunch. As soon as she sat down for lunch the rains came again. That ended the thought of staying a bit longer at the Hot Springs.
What to do for the rest of the day? AlteCocker took a chance braving the gravel road into Sky Tram and went ziplining again. Yeah, you read that correctly. She goes ziplining, then relaxes her back at Tabacon and messes it up again by ziplining again? Yes, that is what she did. You only live once--and the sun broke through enough once she arrived at Sky Tram. Heck, if she gets anywhere near a zipline again, she might be too feeble to enjoy it. Sky Tram takes you up the mountain in a gondola. Those ziplining then break off and go with the guides. AlteCocker--and 3 others--got put at the end of a huge tour group from Britain. It was fine. The Brits were mostly around AlteCocker's age and game as hell. The "chickens" in the British group rode the gondola back down the mountain after watching their friends on the first 2 ziplines. Unlike San Luis, there is no hiking between ziplines. You get off one and onto the next. So the experience can handle big groups. Some of the ziplines were much longer than those in San Luis. Class "A" ziplining!
AlteCocker, still stuffed from lunch, did not eat dinner the last night in La Fortuna. On the 28th--Thanksgiving back in the US--it absolutely poured in La Fortuna (better than snow back home). AlteCocker got up, ate breakfast and drove very slowly back to San Jose. It was foggy much of the way so driving was extra slow. Of course, driving home through San Jose could not be done with some confusion, but AlteCocker arrived in one piece. She then went to the grocery store--taking the handyman at the house to buy his provisions as well. She is taking the rest of the day off after 3 busy days.
November 29-30, 2013, Just Hanging Around
These have been two slow days. AlteCocker finished a book called "Panama Fever" about the building of the Panama Canal yesterday. Then she went to the supermarket, got gas, got local currency, and, most importantly, found the local ice cream store--which is a chain called POPS. She had a lemon cream flavor in a cake cone (no sugar cones available). AlteCocker explored a neighborhood shopping center (and she does not mean a shopping mall--just one with a few stores). The grocery makes prepared salads for lazy people--perfect when you are on a holiday.
On the 30th, AlteCocker went back into San Jose to see the Jade Museum. Well, it was Saturday--meaning fewer buses--and it was also the start of the Christmas shopping season. Adding to that many people get paid only once a month at the end of the month. Chaos, and, yes, they do have "Black Friday" here and it is "Black Weekend"; it is often not translated into Spanish as "Viernes Negro", by the way; they use largely use the English term for this lovely custom). The bus was packed. Since she gets on toward the end of the line, AlteCocker did get a seat but seats were definitely at a premium. The normal 25 minute bus ride took an hour. By the time she found the Jade Museum, it was only a half hour to closing time at 2:00pm (never mind that Lonely Planet says it closes at 3:00pm). The Jade Museum has the largest collection of precolumibian Jade in Central America and is very nicely presented (and much nicer than the description in Lonely Planet). It is a small museum and can be done in 30-45 minutes easily. AlteCocker was a bit rushed but she did see enough (and did get a discount because there was only a half hour left).
After the museum, AlteCocker was going to go to the large market in downtown to pick up a couple of t-shirts for a neighbor's kids back home. She never got there. There seemed to be a street party going on in all the park areas with hula hoops, vendors selling food and jewelry and, in one place, a guy trying to teach people how to dance various dances. AlteCocker got rice with hearts of palm as a main course from one of the vendors (cooked in a lasagne pan with a white sauce) for lunch with salad, bread and a carbonated water drink with lemon flavor for about $5 and ate while enjoying the people trying to learn the "cha cha". When she left another group of "victims" was trying to learn another dance. There was also a concert going on in the courtyard of the building that formerly contained a liquor distillery and now houses the national theater--among other things. She took a peak in at the concert but, as an AlteCocker, does not favor loud music. She noticed that "El Rey Lear" ("King Lear") was playing at the theater.
So, AlteCocker set out for the market, but found the t-shirts she wanted in a souvenir store. At that point, AlteCocker packed it in and got in the queue for a supermarket thinking it was the bus queue. She figured it out before the bus arrived. When it did, people had no compunction about letting friends sidle into the line. AlteCocker is not shy about saying something when that occurs in the US, but she certainly was not going to get herself involved in a potential scene in Spanish. Besides she does not know enough Spanish. The guy waiting behind shrugged his shoulders with an affect that denoted anger. Nevertheless, AlteCocker got a seat. As with her Saturday commute in, the bus ride took longer than normal.
On the way home on the bus, AlteCocker was sneezing a lot. She just might have a cold. Drat. She will have to wait until Monday to pick up something for it.
On the 30th, AlteCocker went back into San Jose to see the Jade Museum. Well, it was Saturday--meaning fewer buses--and it was also the start of the Christmas shopping season. Adding to that many people get paid only once a month at the end of the month. Chaos, and, yes, they do have "Black Friday" here and it is "Black Weekend"; it is often not translated into Spanish as "Viernes Negro", by the way; they use largely use the English term for this lovely custom). The bus was packed. Since she gets on toward the end of the line, AlteCocker did get a seat but seats were definitely at a premium. The normal 25 minute bus ride took an hour. By the time she found the Jade Museum, it was only a half hour to closing time at 2:00pm (never mind that Lonely Planet says it closes at 3:00pm). The Jade Museum has the largest collection of precolumibian Jade in Central America and is very nicely presented (and much nicer than the description in Lonely Planet). It is a small museum and can be done in 30-45 minutes easily. AlteCocker was a bit rushed but she did see enough (and did get a discount because there was only a half hour left).
After the museum, AlteCocker was going to go to the large market in downtown to pick up a couple of t-shirts for a neighbor's kids back home. She never got there. There seemed to be a street party going on in all the park areas with hula hoops, vendors selling food and jewelry and, in one place, a guy trying to teach people how to dance various dances. AlteCocker got rice with hearts of palm as a main course from one of the vendors (cooked in a lasagne pan with a white sauce) for lunch with salad, bread and a carbonated water drink with lemon flavor for about $5 and ate while enjoying the people trying to learn the "cha cha". When she left another group of "victims" was trying to learn another dance. There was also a concert going on in the courtyard of the building that formerly contained a liquor distillery and now houses the national theater--among other things. She took a peak in at the concert but, as an AlteCocker, does not favor loud music. She noticed that "El Rey Lear" ("King Lear") was playing at the theater.
So, AlteCocker set out for the market, but found the t-shirts she wanted in a souvenir store. At that point, AlteCocker packed it in and got in the queue for a supermarket thinking it was the bus queue. She figured it out before the bus arrived. When it did, people had no compunction about letting friends sidle into the line. AlteCocker is not shy about saying something when that occurs in the US, but she certainly was not going to get herself involved in a potential scene in Spanish. Besides she does not know enough Spanish. The guy waiting behind shrugged his shoulders with an affect that denoted anger. Nevertheless, AlteCocker got a seat. As with her Saturday commute in, the bus ride took longer than normal.
On the way home on the bus, AlteCocker was sneezing a lot. She just might have a cold. Drat. She will have to wait until Monday to pick up something for it.
December 1, 2013, Searching for Birds
AlteCocker was up at 4:30am, as Tere (pronounced "Terry") and Reuven Campos were taking her in the country on what turned out to be a memorable day. This was the couple that AlteCocker met at the butterfly garden at the beginning of the trip. We met another couple and were off to a private road into a national park. AlteCocker does not understand how anyone could buy property in a National Park, but this is Costa Rica and the rules are different.
The road in? Well it was a private road and muddy as hel; of course, it was not pavedl. In some places Reuven's car actually went thru water. We got out at a muddy path to a lake. Now AlteCocker had not planned to do ambitions hiking and did not bring hiking boots. Today was some ambitious hiking. After she almost lost her New Balance walkers in the mud, Tere loaned her a pair of hiking boots she had in the car. Turned out the fit perfectly. Fortunately, AlteCocker's socks wicked away the water. The New Balance walkers were a muddy mess as were AlteCocker's trousers (both are now in the wash as AlteCocker updates the blog. It was wet and cold by that lake and the only thing we saw was tapir "caca". AlteCocker did not take a photo of the "caca", but Tere did. The muddy wet road to a second lake continued. At the lake the men went to take photos and the women stayed in the car where it was a lot warmer. The surprise for AlteCocker is that it could be cold in Costa Rica if you were up high enough in the mountains. The cold and the wind creates an environment with short stubby trees and lots of red moss--in addition to some beautiful flowers.
Lunch was at the wonderful Savegre Hotel. Very nice buffet in the restaurant where AlteCocker had some excellent fish. It tasted a little like salmon but it might have been something else. Outside the window of the restaurant the restaurant had humming bird feeders. Reuven and his pal set up their cameras and adjusted the feeders to their liking so the birds would be more easily "captured by their gigantic lenses. Even AlteCocker got some acceptable photos. The Hotel is located 55.3 miles south of San Jose, but don't expect it to be an hour jaunt. The road twists and turns and is not always paved. At least AlteCocker was not driving. Reuven was but he was a tad bit more familiar with the road than she was. The hotel has been discovered by tour groups and an OAT group was there at the end of their Costa Rica tour--very nice people.
After a couple of hours photographing humming birds--and the women joking about the need for an organization similar to Golf Windows--we finally left the humming birds behind. On the way back we stopped first near the hotel at an area where the quetzel birds nest. Now to see the birds involved an arduous climb to where the birds nest. We only saw one female (and she was seen in silhouettette--not the male with its glorious plumage. The feathers used to be used by the Aztecs/Mayas to decorate headdresses of chieftains. Unfortunately, on December 1, 2013, the males were all on strike. AlteCocker was delighted to make it down from the arduous climb in one piece. Boy was she glad to have packed a nordic walking pole. Hiking boots would have been great too. After most of the group climbed down only the two photographers were left. They eventually came down without any good photos. The climb up is not to be recommended with back problems and--auch--osteoporosis, but AlteCocker survived. As with most travel events that don't come off as expected, it was a lot of fun anyway. You can find photos of the quetzel birds here. A fine photo of a quetzel bird previously shot by Ruben Campos can be found here. If you scroll back and forth from that photo you will find others. Hard to believe Ruben is not a professional but he isn't. He's a gynecologist and obstetrician. One other photographer at the Savegre Hotel told AlteCocker that, while serious photography can be an expensive hobby, it is cheaper than a psychiatrist. He and a buddy were on a 2 week trip to Costa Rica focused on humming birds.
Ruben would not let AlteCocker pay for anything until finally he allowed her to buy coffee and tea at the end of the adventurous day. Ruben and Tere have earned an invitation to visit AlteCocker in the US and she certainly extended one. The day finished with AlteCocker being dropped off at her home exchange home by her friends. They did come in and photograph the view of San Jose outside her huge picture window. As usual, better equipment means much better photos than AlteCocker's with her point and shoot.
The only bad news today is that it was obvious, at the end of the day, that her allergies and nose blowing look like a full blown cold although as yet only one side of her nose appears affected. A trip to the pharmacy is on the agenda for December 2nd (along with a late sleep in) for some decongestant/dry up medicine. The clothes are in the dryer as AlteCocker finishes this blog--including her New Balance shoes!
The road in? Well it was a private road and muddy as hel; of course, it was not pavedl. In some places Reuven's car actually went thru water. We got out at a muddy path to a lake. Now AlteCocker had not planned to do ambitions hiking and did not bring hiking boots. Today was some ambitious hiking. After she almost lost her New Balance walkers in the mud, Tere loaned her a pair of hiking boots she had in the car. Turned out the fit perfectly. Fortunately, AlteCocker's socks wicked away the water. The New Balance walkers were a muddy mess as were AlteCocker's trousers (both are now in the wash as AlteCocker updates the blog. It was wet and cold by that lake and the only thing we saw was tapir "caca". AlteCocker did not take a photo of the "caca", but Tere did. The muddy wet road to a second lake continued. At the lake the men went to take photos and the women stayed in the car where it was a lot warmer. The surprise for AlteCocker is that it could be cold in Costa Rica if you were up high enough in the mountains. The cold and the wind creates an environment with short stubby trees and lots of red moss--in addition to some beautiful flowers.
Lunch was at the wonderful Savegre Hotel. Very nice buffet in the restaurant where AlteCocker had some excellent fish. It tasted a little like salmon but it might have been something else. Outside the window of the restaurant the restaurant had humming bird feeders. Reuven and his pal set up their cameras and adjusted the feeders to their liking so the birds would be more easily "captured by their gigantic lenses. Even AlteCocker got some acceptable photos. The Hotel is located 55.3 miles south of San Jose, but don't expect it to be an hour jaunt. The road twists and turns and is not always paved. At least AlteCocker was not driving. Reuven was but he was a tad bit more familiar with the road than she was. The hotel has been discovered by tour groups and an OAT group was there at the end of their Costa Rica tour--very nice people.
After a couple of hours photographing humming birds--and the women joking about the need for an organization similar to Golf Windows--we finally left the humming birds behind. On the way back we stopped first near the hotel at an area where the quetzel birds nest. Now to see the birds involved an arduous climb to where the birds nest. We only saw one female (and she was seen in silhouettette--not the male with its glorious plumage. The feathers used to be used by the Aztecs/Mayas to decorate headdresses of chieftains. Unfortunately, on December 1, 2013, the males were all on strike. AlteCocker was delighted to make it down from the arduous climb in one piece. Boy was she glad to have packed a nordic walking pole. Hiking boots would have been great too. After most of the group climbed down only the two photographers were left. They eventually came down without any good photos. The climb up is not to be recommended with back problems and--auch--osteoporosis, but AlteCocker survived. As with most travel events that don't come off as expected, it was a lot of fun anyway. You can find photos of the quetzel birds here. A fine photo of a quetzel bird previously shot by Ruben Campos can be found here. If you scroll back and forth from that photo you will find others. Hard to believe Ruben is not a professional but he isn't. He's a gynecologist and obstetrician. One other photographer at the Savegre Hotel told AlteCocker that, while serious photography can be an expensive hobby, it is cheaper than a psychiatrist. He and a buddy were on a 2 week trip to Costa Rica focused on humming birds.
Ruben would not let AlteCocker pay for anything until finally he allowed her to buy coffee and tea at the end of the adventurous day. Ruben and Tere have earned an invitation to visit AlteCocker in the US and she certainly extended one. The day finished with AlteCocker being dropped off at her home exchange home by her friends. They did come in and photograph the view of San Jose outside her huge picture window. As usual, better equipment means much better photos than AlteCocker's with her point and shoot.
The only bad news today is that it was obvious, at the end of the day, that her allergies and nose blowing look like a full blown cold although as yet only one side of her nose appears affected. A trip to the pharmacy is on the agenda for December 2nd (along with a late sleep in) for some decongestant/dry up medicine. The clothes are in the dryer as AlteCocker finishes this blog--including her New Balance shoes!
December 2, 2013, Nursing a cold or whatever
AlteCocker is happy to report that her New Balance shoes survived yesterdays walk in the mud.
After yesterday's predawn commencement of the excursion, AlteCocker fell asleep, with stuffy nose, as soon as she turned the light out. No sense even trying to read a bit in bed. AlteCocker slept in today saving all adventures for alternative days. The big excursion today was a trip down the mountain to the closest "Farmacia". Warning, folks, Costa Rica is not Mexico when it comes to medications. It's expensive here. 10 cold pills cost over $22--and this was for generic. Next time AlteCocker will pack Contac. It is always the case that the medication you need is the one you haven't packed--and AlteCocker packs a lot for potential problems. The other surprise is that you buy medication by the pill--which explains why there is no stockpile of meds in this house similar to what AlteCocker has at home. You buy the medication by the pill--another surprise. AlteCocker will not be bringing any generic medications home!
Then AlteCocker continued down the mountain to a "Soda" or "Cafe" where she got a set price casados for lunch. These always come with rice and beans (a staple of the Costa Rican diet). OK, for about $7 AlteCocker got a chicken leg with potatoes, salad, rice, beans, spaghetti and a piece of cake. Starch anyone? AlteCocker left most of the rice, beans and spaghetti but ate the rest. The lunch was not gourmet, but the price was good. The cake was delicious. It was vanilla cake with vanilla icing but with some sort of creme gushing out of it; she thinks that it was a version of the "tres leches" ("3 milks") cake popular in Latin America. If you ate everything in that lunch and went swimming afterward, you would be sure to sink!
The plan for the afternoon is to relax by the picture window with a spectacular view of San Jose and finish Amy Tan's "Saving Fish from Drowning."
Tomorrow begins another journey. AlteCocker will be starting her drive to a little south of Puerto Viejo to visit the famous Matt & Jenn of "Two Weeks in Costa Rica". She will stop overnight along the way, maybe stopping at the Aerial Tram (but no more ziplining if they offer that; enough is enough and it is expensive). She would like to tour a banana plantation if she runs into one too. We shall see.
AlteCocker is not bringing her computer with her because it is an old clunker. One of these days she has to get a real tablet. She will be relying on a first generation Kindle Fire during her holiday out of the home exchange. Blog will be updated when she returns.
After yesterday's predawn commencement of the excursion, AlteCocker fell asleep, with stuffy nose, as soon as she turned the light out. No sense even trying to read a bit in bed. AlteCocker slept in today saving all adventures for alternative days. The big excursion today was a trip down the mountain to the closest "Farmacia". Warning, folks, Costa Rica is not Mexico when it comes to medications. It's expensive here. 10 cold pills cost over $22--and this was for generic. Next time AlteCocker will pack Contac. It is always the case that the medication you need is the one you haven't packed--and AlteCocker packs a lot for potential problems. The other surprise is that you buy medication by the pill--which explains why there is no stockpile of meds in this house similar to what AlteCocker has at home. You buy the medication by the pill--another surprise. AlteCocker will not be bringing any generic medications home!
Then AlteCocker continued down the mountain to a "Soda" or "Cafe" where she got a set price casados for lunch. These always come with rice and beans (a staple of the Costa Rican diet). OK, for about $7 AlteCocker got a chicken leg with potatoes, salad, rice, beans, spaghetti and a piece of cake. Starch anyone? AlteCocker left most of the rice, beans and spaghetti but ate the rest. The lunch was not gourmet, but the price was good. The cake was delicious. It was vanilla cake with vanilla icing but with some sort of creme gushing out of it; she thinks that it was a version of the "tres leches" ("3 milks") cake popular in Latin America. If you ate everything in that lunch and went swimming afterward, you would be sure to sink!
The plan for the afternoon is to relax by the picture window with a spectacular view of San Jose and finish Amy Tan's "Saving Fish from Drowning."
Tomorrow begins another journey. AlteCocker will be starting her drive to a little south of Puerto Viejo to visit the famous Matt & Jenn of "Two Weeks in Costa Rica". She will stop overnight along the way, maybe stopping at the Aerial Tram (but no more ziplining if they offer that; enough is enough and it is expensive). She would like to tour a banana plantation if she runs into one too. We shall see.
AlteCocker is not bringing her computer with her because it is an old clunker. One of these days she has to get a real tablet. She will be relying on a first generation Kindle Fire during her holiday out of the home exchange. Blog will be updated when she returns.
December 3-6, 2013, Puerto Viejo Area
As usual with all her drives in Costa Rica, the most difficult bit has been getting out of San Jose. The GPS is a bit old and does give confusing directions--meaning it takes AlteCocker longer than it would a San Jose "pro" to get the hell out of San Jose. That having been accomplished, the drive from San Jose to Puerto Viejo is very straightforward: Take the road to Limon until you get to see a sign in Limon for Puerto Viejo and turn right. While Costa Rica does not have house numbers and does not have a lot of roads, driving is really not that bad. When you are going to visit someone, they are very good at giving directions that are understandable. While the system is weird at first, it does work--and, if you are going to drive in Costa Rica, you had better get used to the way the whole business works.
So, AlteCocker headed out on December 6th. She did not stop at the Aerial Tram because she has already done similar activities and all of those sorts of activities are expensive. She thought she would stop somewhere along the way, but ended up driving all the way to Puerto Viajo. The lunch stop was at the restaurant called "La Terraza" at the Hotel Los Rios in Guacimo. She had shrimp in a garlic butter sauce with 3 leches cake for dessert. For a drink she had pineapple juice. If the people in the US had juices like the ones in Costa Rica, no one would ever drink wine! They do up the juices so that there is always froth on top. While AlteCocker has tried all the juices, her all time favorite is still pineapple. Now, wise to remember, that the pineapple juice here bears no relation to the canned/boxed juice in the US. Yum.
Because she had told famous Matt and Jenn that she would be spending Wednesday and Thursday nights with them, AlteCocker did not want to bother them a day early. So, she easily booked into an inexpensive hotel in Puerto Viejo, The Lizard King Resort. Before you think that AlteCocker was really in a big time resort, think again. Her room was one of the budget rooms and only $35 a night. When Matt and Jenn asked her how far she had gotten on the drive, her reply was that "all would be revealed the next day". Matt & Jenn had recently changed housesits and there is no way she wanted to bother them before her designated time. She did not eat dinner on the 3rd but had an ice cream and bought a beach towel, as there were none that she could find at her home exchange. It was a crappy and thin towel with a toucan on it but it fit the bill (yes, toucans have bills too!) as an emergency beach towel for the beach as well.
The next morning she had breakfast and cleared out of the Lizard King and easily found Matt & Jenn's abode, which was located in Cocles--just south of Puerto Viejo. The house was a small 2 bedroom beach house that was open to the air (as with many beach homes here). The only way AlteCocker can describe it that it sort of felt like camping out with all the conveniences. You had the sensation of being outside (complete with 4:00am noises from howler monkeys, but you had a toilet, shower, washer, dryer, etc. There was a man who lives on the property who was originally from South Africa and a real character. He regaled us with a lot of unusual stories and his plans for a bar and restaurant in the area. Who knows?
The morning of the first day Matt and Jenn were consumed with strategic planning for an expedition into Panama in connection with a new book they are writing. I did suggest the title "Two Weeks in Panama" since their first book was "Two Weeks in Costa Rica". They plan to stay with an indigenous tribe for a day and then move on to 2 other locations. Of course, they will get to see the Panama Canal--which AlteCocker only got to view from the air. Sigh! After all the logistics were booked, we headed south from Cockles to a beach that had been recommended. The afternoon was basically spent on the beach either relaxing or playing in the warm Caribbean sun (eat your hearts out in the cold US). The second day Matt and Jenn did some snorkeling while AlteCocker largely read a book. The water was sort of choppy and after a few really bad tries, she gave up the ghost on snorkeling and just got on with reading her current book. It was a shame we did not try snorkeling the first day, as it was nice and calm. You never know. It was just fine for AlteCocker to be on the beach doing nothing. Doing nothing is always part of a good vacation. In fact, you have really reached the vacation high point when you don't have anywhere to go or any time to be anywhere. That did happen with Matt and Jenn. Fun. AlteCocker wishes them all the best in their new life as travel writers living in Costa Rica. Great to see young people following their dreams. Unfortunately, driving home from our second day at the beach we saw a bunch of trees chock full of howler monkeys. Why, "unfortunately"? The one time AlteCocker didn't have a camera with her. . . .
We did eat out at two restaurants: The first was Jungle Love's Garden Cafe. The second was Stashu's con Fusion. Both were excellent choices. The food at Jungle Love was more straightforward. We liked the spicy Caribbean food at Stashu's a bit better. It was also more interesting because it was different. The Caribbean side of Costa Rica has a lot more influence from islands such as Jamaica which contributed heavily to the population on the Caribbean side. Costa Rica had legal segregation until the 1920's and Blacks were not given the vote until 1949 (copying some of the worst ideas from the United States, by the way). The upside of all of this is that the community kept to itself and preserved its special culture and food. Many descendants of Caribbean immigrants still speak English at home with an island musical lilt. In the entire Puerto Viejo area, English is heavily spoken. The expensive restaurants (and when AlteCocker says "expensive" she means "expensive" by Costa Rican standards (meaning more expensive than neighborhood "sodas" (or cafes but cheaper than you would pay for a similar meal in the US. Most Costa Ricans clearly do not earn enough money to eat very often--if ever--in such places. The entire Caribbean Coast south of Limon has so far been spared the intensive development that has affected Tortuguero. The hotels are small with perhaps over the top names, but no over the top amenities. If you arrive by bus and do not have a car, most people do either rent or get bikes from their hotels to move around. It is very laid back as opposed to the big time places in Tortuguero. AlteCocker enjoyed both places.
Leaving for "home" in San Jose, AlteCocker knew she wanted to be through the mountainous bit of highway that goes through a national park before it got dark. That bit of road is very dangerous with lots of turns and enormous numbers of trucks with containerized cargo from the Port of Limon (Costa Rica's Caribbean side port). Many trucks end up at the side of the road cooling off their brakes. Add to that the fact that you have only one lane in each direction for a good part of the way and travel is very slow.
On the return journey to San Jose, AlteCocker made a stop at the Sloth Sanctuary. As you travel from Puerto Viejo to Limon, you can't miss it. It's on the right. There are tours on the hour from 8:00am to 2:00pm with exceptions. December 6, 2013, was one of those exceptions. AlteCocker drove up and the place was closed with a couple of large tour buses labeled "Holland America Line" in evidence. Uh oh. So AlteCocker parked on the road next to one of the tour buses and walked in anyway through the half open door. Could maybe they sneak a single person into the huge groups from the cruise ships? They could. Whew. No way she could have waited until 1:00pm when the sign said they would be open. And AlteCocker did not have the time to return towards Puerto Viejo to do a chocolate tour instead. So, if she had not been able to get on the tour, she would have just gone home seeing nothing. Not much fun in that.
The Sloth Sanctuary is run privately. While the government of Costa Rica gives it many damaged sloths, it provides it with no money. All money comes from the tours and some as a result of all the publicity on Animal Planet. It is clearly a labor of love. The tour begins with a chance to have your photo taken with a sloth called "Buttercup". Mind you, you do not get to hold buttercup, but to stand next to her while one of the Sloth Sanctuary employees holds her. You then view some adult sloths who were brought to the sanctuary. They have one sloth missing an arm and another who is a paraplegic as a result of a tree fall that killed its mother. Many of the sloths will be at the Sanctuary for their entire lives. Most sloth species are not endangered but the Sloth Sanctuary provides an opportunity to see them up close. When AlteCocker went to Tortuguero, she saw only one in a tree. Since sloths come to the ground only once per week to go to the bathroom (food eaten takes a month to totally digest in their 4 stomachs!), you are unlikely to see them up close in the wild. Finally, you are taken into the sloth nursery where you see the baby sloths. You do meet the "pooh lady" from the Animal Planet series. There are some films online on the Animal Planet website. More sloth films can be found here.
After the tour of the Sanctuary sloths--and lots of educational information--you are given a canoe tour in a lagoon nearby. This was great for the cruise ship people with limited time. The saw howler monkeys and a couple of sloths in trees. After all the animal watching AlteCocker did in Tortuguero, however, it wasn't so exciting. It just depends on how much animal viewing you have done before the Sloth Sanctuary makes it onto your itinerary. The last part of the tour was a walk in the jungle. It was noon, AlteCocker has done a lot of animal viewing and, in her opinion, a jungle walk is better done in the early morning. She wimped out and left after a brief visit to the gift shop and the purchase of a t-shirt that will have to be given away. AlteCocker may have bought a child's extra large rather than an adult one. It will be a gift and, anyway, the money goes to the Sloth Sanctuary. This was a worthwhile experience and AlteCocker recommends it if you are in the area (or your cruise ship docks in Limon). They charge $2 for a bottle of water at the sanctuary so, if possible, you might want to bring your own.
At that point AlteCocker hot footed it towards San Jose stopping again at the restaurant in the Hotel Los Rios where she had ceviche of local fish and then the delicious tres leches cake again. She arrived home just as the sun set at 5:00pm and spent the rest of the evening doing laundry and updating this blog.
So, AlteCocker headed out on December 6th. She did not stop at the Aerial Tram because she has already done similar activities and all of those sorts of activities are expensive. She thought she would stop somewhere along the way, but ended up driving all the way to Puerto Viajo. The lunch stop was at the restaurant called "La Terraza" at the Hotel Los Rios in Guacimo. She had shrimp in a garlic butter sauce with 3 leches cake for dessert. For a drink she had pineapple juice. If the people in the US had juices like the ones in Costa Rica, no one would ever drink wine! They do up the juices so that there is always froth on top. While AlteCocker has tried all the juices, her all time favorite is still pineapple. Now, wise to remember, that the pineapple juice here bears no relation to the canned/boxed juice in the US. Yum.
Because she had told famous Matt and Jenn that she would be spending Wednesday and Thursday nights with them, AlteCocker did not want to bother them a day early. So, she easily booked into an inexpensive hotel in Puerto Viejo, The Lizard King Resort. Before you think that AlteCocker was really in a big time resort, think again. Her room was one of the budget rooms and only $35 a night. When Matt and Jenn asked her how far she had gotten on the drive, her reply was that "all would be revealed the next day". Matt & Jenn had recently changed housesits and there is no way she wanted to bother them before her designated time. She did not eat dinner on the 3rd but had an ice cream and bought a beach towel, as there were none that she could find at her home exchange. It was a crappy and thin towel with a toucan on it but it fit the bill (yes, toucans have bills too!) as an emergency beach towel for the beach as well.
The next morning she had breakfast and cleared out of the Lizard King and easily found Matt & Jenn's abode, which was located in Cocles--just south of Puerto Viejo. The house was a small 2 bedroom beach house that was open to the air (as with many beach homes here). The only way AlteCocker can describe it that it sort of felt like camping out with all the conveniences. You had the sensation of being outside (complete with 4:00am noises from howler monkeys, but you had a toilet, shower, washer, dryer, etc. There was a man who lives on the property who was originally from South Africa and a real character. He regaled us with a lot of unusual stories and his plans for a bar and restaurant in the area. Who knows?
The morning of the first day Matt and Jenn were consumed with strategic planning for an expedition into Panama in connection with a new book they are writing. I did suggest the title "Two Weeks in Panama" since their first book was "Two Weeks in Costa Rica". They plan to stay with an indigenous tribe for a day and then move on to 2 other locations. Of course, they will get to see the Panama Canal--which AlteCocker only got to view from the air. Sigh! After all the logistics were booked, we headed south from Cockles to a beach that had been recommended. The afternoon was basically spent on the beach either relaxing or playing in the warm Caribbean sun (eat your hearts out in the cold US). The second day Matt and Jenn did some snorkeling while AlteCocker largely read a book. The water was sort of choppy and after a few really bad tries, she gave up the ghost on snorkeling and just got on with reading her current book. It was a shame we did not try snorkeling the first day, as it was nice and calm. You never know. It was just fine for AlteCocker to be on the beach doing nothing. Doing nothing is always part of a good vacation. In fact, you have really reached the vacation high point when you don't have anywhere to go or any time to be anywhere. That did happen with Matt and Jenn. Fun. AlteCocker wishes them all the best in their new life as travel writers living in Costa Rica. Great to see young people following their dreams. Unfortunately, driving home from our second day at the beach we saw a bunch of trees chock full of howler monkeys. Why, "unfortunately"? The one time AlteCocker didn't have a camera with her. . . .
We did eat out at two restaurants: The first was Jungle Love's Garden Cafe. The second was Stashu's con Fusion. Both were excellent choices. The food at Jungle Love was more straightforward. We liked the spicy Caribbean food at Stashu's a bit better. It was also more interesting because it was different. The Caribbean side of Costa Rica has a lot more influence from islands such as Jamaica which contributed heavily to the population on the Caribbean side. Costa Rica had legal segregation until the 1920's and Blacks were not given the vote until 1949 (copying some of the worst ideas from the United States, by the way). The upside of all of this is that the community kept to itself and preserved its special culture and food. Many descendants of Caribbean immigrants still speak English at home with an island musical lilt. In the entire Puerto Viejo area, English is heavily spoken. The expensive restaurants (and when AlteCocker says "expensive" she means "expensive" by Costa Rican standards (meaning more expensive than neighborhood "sodas" (or cafes but cheaper than you would pay for a similar meal in the US. Most Costa Ricans clearly do not earn enough money to eat very often--if ever--in such places. The entire Caribbean Coast south of Limon has so far been spared the intensive development that has affected Tortuguero. The hotels are small with perhaps over the top names, but no over the top amenities. If you arrive by bus and do not have a car, most people do either rent or get bikes from their hotels to move around. It is very laid back as opposed to the big time places in Tortuguero. AlteCocker enjoyed both places.
Leaving for "home" in San Jose, AlteCocker knew she wanted to be through the mountainous bit of highway that goes through a national park before it got dark. That bit of road is very dangerous with lots of turns and enormous numbers of trucks with containerized cargo from the Port of Limon (Costa Rica's Caribbean side port). Many trucks end up at the side of the road cooling off their brakes. Add to that the fact that you have only one lane in each direction for a good part of the way and travel is very slow.
On the return journey to San Jose, AlteCocker made a stop at the Sloth Sanctuary. As you travel from Puerto Viejo to Limon, you can't miss it. It's on the right. There are tours on the hour from 8:00am to 2:00pm with exceptions. December 6, 2013, was one of those exceptions. AlteCocker drove up and the place was closed with a couple of large tour buses labeled "Holland America Line" in evidence. Uh oh. So AlteCocker parked on the road next to one of the tour buses and walked in anyway through the half open door. Could maybe they sneak a single person into the huge groups from the cruise ships? They could. Whew. No way she could have waited until 1:00pm when the sign said they would be open. And AlteCocker did not have the time to return towards Puerto Viejo to do a chocolate tour instead. So, if she had not been able to get on the tour, she would have just gone home seeing nothing. Not much fun in that.
The Sloth Sanctuary is run privately. While the government of Costa Rica gives it many damaged sloths, it provides it with no money. All money comes from the tours and some as a result of all the publicity on Animal Planet. It is clearly a labor of love. The tour begins with a chance to have your photo taken with a sloth called "Buttercup". Mind you, you do not get to hold buttercup, but to stand next to her while one of the Sloth Sanctuary employees holds her. You then view some adult sloths who were brought to the sanctuary. They have one sloth missing an arm and another who is a paraplegic as a result of a tree fall that killed its mother. Many of the sloths will be at the Sanctuary for their entire lives. Most sloth species are not endangered but the Sloth Sanctuary provides an opportunity to see them up close. When AlteCocker went to Tortuguero, she saw only one in a tree. Since sloths come to the ground only once per week to go to the bathroom (food eaten takes a month to totally digest in their 4 stomachs!), you are unlikely to see them up close in the wild. Finally, you are taken into the sloth nursery where you see the baby sloths. You do meet the "pooh lady" from the Animal Planet series. There are some films online on the Animal Planet website. More sloth films can be found here.
After the tour of the Sanctuary sloths--and lots of educational information--you are given a canoe tour in a lagoon nearby. This was great for the cruise ship people with limited time. The saw howler monkeys and a couple of sloths in trees. After all the animal watching AlteCocker did in Tortuguero, however, it wasn't so exciting. It just depends on how much animal viewing you have done before the Sloth Sanctuary makes it onto your itinerary. The last part of the tour was a walk in the jungle. It was noon, AlteCocker has done a lot of animal viewing and, in her opinion, a jungle walk is better done in the early morning. She wimped out and left after a brief visit to the gift shop and the purchase of a t-shirt that will have to be given away. AlteCocker may have bought a child's extra large rather than an adult one. It will be a gift and, anyway, the money goes to the Sloth Sanctuary. This was a worthwhile experience and AlteCocker recommends it if you are in the area (or your cruise ship docks in Limon). They charge $2 for a bottle of water at the sanctuary so, if possible, you might want to bring your own.
At that point AlteCocker hot footed it towards San Jose stopping again at the restaurant in the Hotel Los Rios where she had ceviche of local fish and then the delicious tres leches cake again. She arrived home just as the sun set at 5:00pm and spent the rest of the evening doing laundry and updating this blog.
December 7, 2013, Sarchi
There is only one reason to go to Sarchi and that reason is shopping. AlteCocker hasn't bought anything aside from t-shirts and some coffee she shipped back after the coffee tour. She has, however, been eyeing these Costa Rican wooden rocking chairs that fold up for shipping. She had an uncomfortable bent wood rocker in her living room that fell apart several years ago and was never replaced (Yes, that is an excuse, but better to have one than not). So she went up to Sarchi to look at the chairs and see if she could possibly afford ones.
There are tons of furniture places in Sarchi and the surrounding area. Sarchi is also known for the manufacture of the painted ox carts that are sort of a signature item in Costa Rica. While people don't generally buy them anymore for the oxen (except for parades and to decorate hotels, etc.), they manufacture items such as bars in the shape of ox carts, etc. Sarchi has the largest painted cart ever produced in the town square. Of course it's a photo op. The garbage cans, benches, etc., sport the painted designs as well.
The first furniture places had gorgeous furniture--all hand made. One bed she looked at cost more than a car. The rockers were over $1,000. Now, AlteCocker liked the chairs, but not that much. So she poked around and soon arrived at the company that manufactured the oversize ox cart in the Sarchi square--Fabrica de Carretas Joaquin Chaverri. They had rockers that were mass produced for a reasonable price. So, one was purchased and shipped back to AlteCocker's abode. While AlteCocker does possess a receipt with a contact email from them, they do not appear to have their own website. If you google "Joaquin Chaverri", however, there is plenty about them online. Having made her purchase, AlteCocker took a few photos (including one of a workman painting a wheel) and then headed for home. You can go in the back and see the workshop, but only one guy was working--probably because it was a Saturday.
One thing about driving anywhere in Costa Rica: If you are staying anywhere in San Jose, you first have to get out of San Jose. Then you have to get back into San Jose to go "home". Double the driving times in the books and you might be right. The number of kilometers means nothing if you can't go anywhere. Add to that, the Christmas shopping this time of year and you should get the general idea.
There are tons of furniture places in Sarchi and the surrounding area. Sarchi is also known for the manufacture of the painted ox carts that are sort of a signature item in Costa Rica. While people don't generally buy them anymore for the oxen (except for parades and to decorate hotels, etc.), they manufacture items such as bars in the shape of ox carts, etc. Sarchi has the largest painted cart ever produced in the town square. Of course it's a photo op. The garbage cans, benches, etc., sport the painted designs as well.
The first furniture places had gorgeous furniture--all hand made. One bed she looked at cost more than a car. The rockers were over $1,000. Now, AlteCocker liked the chairs, but not that much. So she poked around and soon arrived at the company that manufactured the oversize ox cart in the Sarchi square--Fabrica de Carretas Joaquin Chaverri. They had rockers that were mass produced for a reasonable price. So, one was purchased and shipped back to AlteCocker's abode. While AlteCocker does possess a receipt with a contact email from them, they do not appear to have their own website. If you google "Joaquin Chaverri", however, there is plenty about them online. Having made her purchase, AlteCocker took a few photos (including one of a workman painting a wheel) and then headed for home. You can go in the back and see the workshop, but only one guy was working--probably because it was a Saturday.
One thing about driving anywhere in Costa Rica: If you are staying anywhere in San Jose, you first have to get out of San Jose. Then you have to get back into San Jose to go "home". Double the driving times in the books and you might be right. The number of kilometers means nothing if you can't go anywhere. Add to that, the Christmas shopping this time of year and you should get the general idea.
December 8-11, 2013, Manuel Antonio
On December 8, 2013, AlteCocker took off for another one of her driving schleps--this time to the Pacific Coast to Manuel Antonio. Manuel Antonio National Park is the smallest and most visited of the national parks in Costa Rica--perhaps because it is (a) easily accessible from San Jose and (b) small and easily navigated on well groomed trails. Indeed the trails were in better shape than some of the roads AlteCocker has been on in Costa Rica.
It never occurred to AlteCocker that the national parks close any day of the week, but Manuel Antonio is closed on Mondays. When did AlteCocker arrive? Sunday night. Duh. Alternative plan needed. AlteCocker went kayaking. More on that later. She went to the park on Tuesday after the day off.
The drive out was the usual confusion getting out of San Jose. There is a very good toll road that goes to the Pacific Coast from San Jose. Tourism is the major industry in Costa Rica and no doubt the road was built to make things easier for tourists--and it does. It does create some confusion when you think you've left your map home (AlteCocker found it later). AlteCocker thought she would end up on the road she had taken to La Fortuna, but, no, the toll road is shorter and, despite ups and downs in the mountains, much quicker.
On the way out, AlteCocker stopped just past Jaco at The Blue Grass Cafe. It advertised itself as an American Bakery. AlteCocker really just stopped to take a break--and for badly needed coffee. The owner is an expat and has this business to support his surfing habit. The cafe has a facebook page but no website. The owner said he had the best cinnamon rolls in the world and AlteCocker did sample one. While she has not canvassed the world in a taste test, the cinnamon rolls were pretty good (and not too drenched in icing--which AlteCocker does not like. AlteCocker stayed for awhile after a Sunday afternoon bluegrass jam got started, but soon it was time to move on down the road and find a place to stay in Manuel Antonio. Famous Matt & Jenn had recommended Casa Buena Vista, but AlteCocker did not see it. She ended up at the Hotel Manuel Antonio at the very end of the road to Manuel Antonio. It is surrounded by the National Park. It was very convenient although other hotels at higher elevations had more comfortable conditions out of doors. The Hotel Manuel Antonio is also opposite a public beach. To get to the national park, AlteCocker simply walked for 5 minutes.
Any thought of a beautiful sunset was doomed by a torrential rainforest downpour that largely went on most of the night.
On the first day, as previously noted, the National Park was closed. What to do? AlteCocker went on a kayak tour of a mangrove swamp just northwest of Quepos. Quepos, the main town in the area, is northwest of Manuel Antonio. This tour involved AlteCocker being picked up at her hotel and taken to the place for the start of the tour. It was not a place she would have found on her own and, in fact, the driver even made a wrong turn. There are a number of kayak/tour boat operators. AlteCocker went with Adventuras Tropicales. As with so many small tour operators, there is a facebook page, but no website. The tour operator was recommended by the hotel and the hotel arranged everything. It turned out to be a very good choice. William Delgado, the owner, can be reached at [email protected]. The tour leaves from his home and we got a delicious breakfast afterward (the best breakfast AlteCocker had in Costa Rica). AlteCocker rode in the kayak with Delgado and didn't even have to paddle. She got the best monkey photos (white faced capuchins) of the entire trip. The kayak trip does leave at different times depending on the tides, as the mangrove swap is a mud flat at low tide.
After the early morning tour, AlteCocker spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading a book and wasting time. Dinner was at a restaurant called "El Avion". The reason for the name is obvious because the restaurant is built around one of Oliver North/Iran-Contra planes that crashed in the jungle. It was recycled! Food at the restaurant is very good--the sunset was just OK as there were lots of clouds. Fortunately no torrential downpours. AlteCocker ate fish, of course, being at the beach.
On the last full day in Manuel Antonio, AlteCocker went into the National Park and hiked through it (It's a tiny park, so not so intimidating). One of the beaches was closed due to a crocodile citing. There was one beach open, but the abundant monkeys appeared to have taken a hike while AlteCocker was there. She was told they reappeared later when the people opened their lunches. Racoons and monkeys in the park are adept at stealing lunches. In my opinion, the problem would be solved if the National Park simply banned food. No matter how much people protect their lunches, the animals steal some. One person told me that she lost her Pringles to a monkey who neatly popped the plastic top and enjoyed her chips. There have even been some stolen cameras. AlteCocker did observe a raccoon actually trying to open someone's day pack by playing with the zipper. These animals are living by scavenging and it is not good for their health and for their ability to live in the wild. AlteCocker was very happy not to have brought food.
Guides are available at the entrance to the park. AlteCocker went guideless. What she was overhearing was similar to what she had been told by other guides in Costa Rica. While she did not see monkeys, she did see other animals including an agouti (another scavenging animal out for tourist lunches). There was a mother sloth in a tree who had just given birth. Some claimed to have watched it. Even with binoculars, sloths are so high up in the trees that you can't see much. AlteCocker walked by the sloth birth watchers. Lunch was ceviche on the beach at Cafe del Mar. She also had a coco loco--some alcoholic drink concoction with coconut milk.
After another lazy day, AlteCocker had dinner at Ronny's, a restaurant recommended by famous Matt & Jenn that receives high marks from Lonely Planet as well. She had fish again with a blackberry margarita (there are a lot of luscious tropical drinks here). The meal was also notable because AlteCocker did not have tres leches cake. It wasn't on the menu. She had banana cake instead.
By 10:00am on December 11, 2013, AlteCocker had cleared out of the hotel and was on her way home. She stopped in Jaco for fish tacos at the Taco Bar. She had 2: One with wahoo (a fish similar to mahi mahi) and another with snapper. She had one with some spicy stuff and another with coconut. Once you get them, you go over to the taco bar and load them up with condiments, salad items, etc. Turned out AlteCocker was sitting next to some folks who saw the sloth birth on the previous day. You sit at the bar on swings. Pretty cool and the food was good.
Some other tourists had tipped AlteCocker off about a bridge where you could see crocodiles. She was told to just look for the one with mobs of people on the road back to San Jose. She found it easily. The big guys apparently hang out there every day and the area has souvenir shops with shills who try to get you into the shops to buy wooden crocodiles, etc. AlteCocker snapped a few photos and did not partake in the wooden crocodile buying opportunity. For the two kids up the street, she already has stuffed sloths bought from a souvenir stand in Manuel Antonio. Enough is enough.
No big traffic tie ups in San Jose made the trip speedier than normal (with fewer wrong turns). A stop was made a cash machine and at the grocery store before arriving home at about 4:00pm.
It never occurred to AlteCocker that the national parks close any day of the week, but Manuel Antonio is closed on Mondays. When did AlteCocker arrive? Sunday night. Duh. Alternative plan needed. AlteCocker went kayaking. More on that later. She went to the park on Tuesday after the day off.
The drive out was the usual confusion getting out of San Jose. There is a very good toll road that goes to the Pacific Coast from San Jose. Tourism is the major industry in Costa Rica and no doubt the road was built to make things easier for tourists--and it does. It does create some confusion when you think you've left your map home (AlteCocker found it later). AlteCocker thought she would end up on the road she had taken to La Fortuna, but, no, the toll road is shorter and, despite ups and downs in the mountains, much quicker.
On the way out, AlteCocker stopped just past Jaco at The Blue Grass Cafe. It advertised itself as an American Bakery. AlteCocker really just stopped to take a break--and for badly needed coffee. The owner is an expat and has this business to support his surfing habit. The cafe has a facebook page but no website. The owner said he had the best cinnamon rolls in the world and AlteCocker did sample one. While she has not canvassed the world in a taste test, the cinnamon rolls were pretty good (and not too drenched in icing--which AlteCocker does not like. AlteCocker stayed for awhile after a Sunday afternoon bluegrass jam got started, but soon it was time to move on down the road and find a place to stay in Manuel Antonio. Famous Matt & Jenn had recommended Casa Buena Vista, but AlteCocker did not see it. She ended up at the Hotel Manuel Antonio at the very end of the road to Manuel Antonio. It is surrounded by the National Park. It was very convenient although other hotels at higher elevations had more comfortable conditions out of doors. The Hotel Manuel Antonio is also opposite a public beach. To get to the national park, AlteCocker simply walked for 5 minutes.
Any thought of a beautiful sunset was doomed by a torrential rainforest downpour that largely went on most of the night.
On the first day, as previously noted, the National Park was closed. What to do? AlteCocker went on a kayak tour of a mangrove swamp just northwest of Quepos. Quepos, the main town in the area, is northwest of Manuel Antonio. This tour involved AlteCocker being picked up at her hotel and taken to the place for the start of the tour. It was not a place she would have found on her own and, in fact, the driver even made a wrong turn. There are a number of kayak/tour boat operators. AlteCocker went with Adventuras Tropicales. As with so many small tour operators, there is a facebook page, but no website. The tour operator was recommended by the hotel and the hotel arranged everything. It turned out to be a very good choice. William Delgado, the owner, can be reached at [email protected]. The tour leaves from his home and we got a delicious breakfast afterward (the best breakfast AlteCocker had in Costa Rica). AlteCocker rode in the kayak with Delgado and didn't even have to paddle. She got the best monkey photos (white faced capuchins) of the entire trip. The kayak trip does leave at different times depending on the tides, as the mangrove swap is a mud flat at low tide.
After the early morning tour, AlteCocker spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading a book and wasting time. Dinner was at a restaurant called "El Avion". The reason for the name is obvious because the restaurant is built around one of Oliver North/Iran-Contra planes that crashed in the jungle. It was recycled! Food at the restaurant is very good--the sunset was just OK as there were lots of clouds. Fortunately no torrential downpours. AlteCocker ate fish, of course, being at the beach.
On the last full day in Manuel Antonio, AlteCocker went into the National Park and hiked through it (It's a tiny park, so not so intimidating). One of the beaches was closed due to a crocodile citing. There was one beach open, but the abundant monkeys appeared to have taken a hike while AlteCocker was there. She was told they reappeared later when the people opened their lunches. Racoons and monkeys in the park are adept at stealing lunches. In my opinion, the problem would be solved if the National Park simply banned food. No matter how much people protect their lunches, the animals steal some. One person told me that she lost her Pringles to a monkey who neatly popped the plastic top and enjoyed her chips. There have even been some stolen cameras. AlteCocker did observe a raccoon actually trying to open someone's day pack by playing with the zipper. These animals are living by scavenging and it is not good for their health and for their ability to live in the wild. AlteCocker was very happy not to have brought food.
Guides are available at the entrance to the park. AlteCocker went guideless. What she was overhearing was similar to what she had been told by other guides in Costa Rica. While she did not see monkeys, she did see other animals including an agouti (another scavenging animal out for tourist lunches). There was a mother sloth in a tree who had just given birth. Some claimed to have watched it. Even with binoculars, sloths are so high up in the trees that you can't see much. AlteCocker walked by the sloth birth watchers. Lunch was ceviche on the beach at Cafe del Mar. She also had a coco loco--some alcoholic drink concoction with coconut milk.
After another lazy day, AlteCocker had dinner at Ronny's, a restaurant recommended by famous Matt & Jenn that receives high marks from Lonely Planet as well. She had fish again with a blackberry margarita (there are a lot of luscious tropical drinks here). The meal was also notable because AlteCocker did not have tres leches cake. It wasn't on the menu. She had banana cake instead.
By 10:00am on December 11, 2013, AlteCocker had cleared out of the hotel and was on her way home. She stopped in Jaco for fish tacos at the Taco Bar. She had 2: One with wahoo (a fish similar to mahi mahi) and another with snapper. She had one with some spicy stuff and another with coconut. Once you get them, you go over to the taco bar and load them up with condiments, salad items, etc. Turned out AlteCocker was sitting next to some folks who saw the sloth birth on the previous day. You sit at the bar on swings. Pretty cool and the food was good.
Some other tourists had tipped AlteCocker off about a bridge where you could see crocodiles. She was told to just look for the one with mobs of people on the road back to San Jose. She found it easily. The big guys apparently hang out there every day and the area has souvenir shops with shills who try to get you into the shops to buy wooden crocodiles, etc. AlteCocker snapped a few photos and did not partake in the wooden crocodile buying opportunity. For the two kids up the street, she already has stuffed sloths bought from a souvenir stand in Manuel Antonio. Enough is enough.
No big traffic tie ups in San Jose made the trip speedier than normal (with fewer wrong turns). A stop was made a cash machine and at the grocery store before arriving home at about 4:00pm.
December 12, 2013, Irazu Volcano
There are a lot of volcanoes in Central America--both active and dormant. AlteCocker couldn't leave without viewing at least one of them. So today she drove the Irazu "highway" to Volcan Irazu. To call that road a "highway"--well, maybe by Costa Rican standards it is a highway, but, while it is paved, it was quite challenging in the standard shift car AlteCocker was driving. Nevertheless she made it and lived to tell the tale. It was much easier going down than up (lots of shifting from 2nd to 3rd and back and forth). Fortunately, AlteCocker learned to drive a shift car as a kid in the Late Middle Ages when we all had Volkswagen Beetles. It is a skill you never forget.
The Irazu volcano is often covered in haze, but, if you wait long enough, you will get some good photos. AlteCocker almost left in frustration but, of course, she finally got some at least half way decent shots of the main crater. It used to be filled with water similar to Crater Lake in Oregon, but now has dried up. The volcano last erupted in the 1960's and is classified as "active". No evidence of any action when AlteCocker was on top.
Predictably, there were foraging animales near the concession stand where people buy coffees and snacks. This time it was coatis instead of monkeys and raccoons. People feed them under the sign that asks them not to. The park asks you not to take food nearer to the volcano crater, but, quite frankly, if you want to eat your chips in peace, you certainly cannot do it near the concession stand where the coatis hang out. The are very aggressive and will even try and get the baby food that you brought for your baby. Same deal as the raccoons in Manuel Antonio.
After spending enough time to get some photos, AlteCocker started on the 'highway" down and found a cowboy themed restaurant "La Casona de Cartago" where she had a steak, vegetables and potatoes for lunch followed by an unneeded piece of lemon pie for dessert. Cost was $35 and the food was excellent. AlteCocker will not need dinner.
During lunch the rainy season returned, so it was good that AlteCocker was on her way "home". Only 2 days left.
The Irazu volcano is often covered in haze, but, if you wait long enough, you will get some good photos. AlteCocker almost left in frustration but, of course, she finally got some at least half way decent shots of the main crater. It used to be filled with water similar to Crater Lake in Oregon, but now has dried up. The volcano last erupted in the 1960's and is classified as "active". No evidence of any action when AlteCocker was on top.
Predictably, there were foraging animales near the concession stand where people buy coffees and snacks. This time it was coatis instead of monkeys and raccoons. People feed them under the sign that asks them not to. The park asks you not to take food nearer to the volcano crater, but, quite frankly, if you want to eat your chips in peace, you certainly cannot do it near the concession stand where the coatis hang out. The are very aggressive and will even try and get the baby food that you brought for your baby. Same deal as the raccoons in Manuel Antonio.
After spending enough time to get some photos, AlteCocker started on the 'highway" down and found a cowboy themed restaurant "La Casona de Cartago" where she had a steak, vegetables and potatoes for lunch followed by an unneeded piece of lemon pie for dessert. Cost was $35 and the food was excellent. AlteCocker will not need dinner.
During lunch the rainy season returned, so it was good that AlteCocker was on her way "home". Only 2 days left.
December 13, 2013 Lankester Botanical Garden
As the vacation ends, no more big trips are planned. Having figured out how to drive to the nearby city of Cartago, AlteCocker headed off in that direction for the Lankester Botanical Garden. It is run by the University of Costa Rica and AlteCocker found it in the Lonely Planet guide. It was a good choice even if AlteCocker had to go through downtown Cartago to get there. The Cartago downtown chaos was a slightly less chaotic (with emphasis on "slightly") version of San Jose. Cars parked where they shouldn't be, slow buses and trucks holding up traffic and motorcycles weaving in and out and cutting off cars, etc. The Garden is located down an unpaved road (very common in Costa Rica). Such fun to drive those! Costa Rican unpaved roads is the one thing AlteCocker will NOT miss back in the US.
The Garden was a really nice way to spend an hour or so. There is a nice Japanese garden and tea house (but no tea being served) but the stars of the show are the flowers. AlteCocker took a lot of photos of the various flowers and jungle plants. She bought a t-shirt and a CD of Costa Rican music in the shop. A CD is a nice thing to bring back as it sort of brings the trip back with you. It also is not a problem to stuff in the suitcase.
After leaving the Garden, AlteCocker had scoped out a restaurant, but, after having a long wait to make a left turn at the corner coming out of the unpaved road, AlteCocker bagged it. It was on the wrong side of the street. She would have had to make a left turn to get to the restaurant and then another to go home. No thanks. Too difficult.
AlteCocker's original plan was to stop at Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles ("Los Angeles" means "The Angels" and has nothing to do with the town of the same name in California. The Basilica is the most famous church in Costa Rica. Driving by it on the way to Lankester, AlteCocker noticed that there was parking. No parking coming back, so AlteCocker just drove by it and straight into a massive traffic jam. The route drove right by the Central Market and there was even more chaos than on the way to Lankester (roads in central cities in Costa Rica are usually one way, so the routes going and coming were not identical). Outside the Central Market there were vendor stands in front and in front of those people selling lottery tickets one after another. AlteCocker has no idea how anyone can sell lottery tickets with all the competition. Perhaps the fact that it was Friday and just before Christmas added to the madness. People were certainly shopping for Santa Claus big time.
Just after liberating herself from the traffic mess in Cartago, there it was: A shopping mall. It was small--nothing like Tysons Corner in Virginia. It was also not very busy. AlteCocker guesses they were all at the Central Market shouting and, if driving cars, pretending to be in bumping cars in the amusement park. After partaking of a chicken sandwich and a chocolate covered banana (only $1 for the latter, but, then, Costa Rica has a lot of bananas), AlteCocker headed for home. Before getting there, she filled the tank in the car--wherein a crazed motorcyclist cut her off at the pump and she slightly tapped him (fortunately no damage, but annoying). Could have been a lot worse--and a lousy way to end a trip.
Plans for the evening is to do the Last Laundry in Costa Rica and to work on finishing "Lawrence in Arabia", a book she is reading from the collection in the house. If she doesn't finish it, she will have to--horrors--buy it. Tomorrow nothing special is planned except to get ready to go home. Probably one more update before this home exchange trip is history.
Gotta go discuss the gigantic spider that AlteCocker has seen in her bedroom a couple of times with Afredo, the caretaker here. Looks like its from the tarantula family (most are harmless, but it is BIG). Everything is bigger in the tropics.
The Garden was a really nice way to spend an hour or so. There is a nice Japanese garden and tea house (but no tea being served) but the stars of the show are the flowers. AlteCocker took a lot of photos of the various flowers and jungle plants. She bought a t-shirt and a CD of Costa Rican music in the shop. A CD is a nice thing to bring back as it sort of brings the trip back with you. It also is not a problem to stuff in the suitcase.
After leaving the Garden, AlteCocker had scoped out a restaurant, but, after having a long wait to make a left turn at the corner coming out of the unpaved road, AlteCocker bagged it. It was on the wrong side of the street. She would have had to make a left turn to get to the restaurant and then another to go home. No thanks. Too difficult.
AlteCocker's original plan was to stop at Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles ("Los Angeles" means "The Angels" and has nothing to do with the town of the same name in California. The Basilica is the most famous church in Costa Rica. Driving by it on the way to Lankester, AlteCocker noticed that there was parking. No parking coming back, so AlteCocker just drove by it and straight into a massive traffic jam. The route drove right by the Central Market and there was even more chaos than on the way to Lankester (roads in central cities in Costa Rica are usually one way, so the routes going and coming were not identical). Outside the Central Market there were vendor stands in front and in front of those people selling lottery tickets one after another. AlteCocker has no idea how anyone can sell lottery tickets with all the competition. Perhaps the fact that it was Friday and just before Christmas added to the madness. People were certainly shopping for Santa Claus big time.
Just after liberating herself from the traffic mess in Cartago, there it was: A shopping mall. It was small--nothing like Tysons Corner in Virginia. It was also not very busy. AlteCocker guesses they were all at the Central Market shouting and, if driving cars, pretending to be in bumping cars in the amusement park. After partaking of a chicken sandwich and a chocolate covered banana (only $1 for the latter, but, then, Costa Rica has a lot of bananas), AlteCocker headed for home. Before getting there, she filled the tank in the car--wherein a crazed motorcyclist cut her off at the pump and she slightly tapped him (fortunately no damage, but annoying). Could have been a lot worse--and a lousy way to end a trip.
Plans for the evening is to do the Last Laundry in Costa Rica and to work on finishing "Lawrence in Arabia", a book she is reading from the collection in the house. If she doesn't finish it, she will have to--horrors--buy it. Tomorrow nothing special is planned except to get ready to go home. Probably one more update before this home exchange trip is history.
Gotta go discuss the gigantic spider that AlteCocker has seen in her bedroom a couple of times with Afredo, the caretaker here. Looks like its from the tarantula family (most are harmless, but it is BIG). Everything is bigger in the tropics.
December 14-16, 2013, Summing up
On the last full day of a home exchange trip, AlteCocker is often busy cleaning up. This home exchange required little because the caretaker, Alfredo, was in charge of that (nice, huh?). On the 14th AlteCocker mostly applied herself to finishing a book borrowed from her home exchangers' extensive library: "Lawrence in Arabia." Then there was packing--not much of a problem as AlteCocker doesn't buy or bring much. The biggest problem was arranging things so that two stuffed sloths for the kids next door (who AlteCocker calls her "surrogate grandchildren" fit in. Not a problem and still plenty of room in the suitcase.
December 15, 2013, was devoted to the last details of packing, frantic emails from my exchangers who had locked the house and then left some cheese behind (they apparently found a fine cheese shop and fine cheese can be difficult/expensive to find in Costa Rica), and a madcap ride to the San Jose Airport in a taxi in the midst of a tropical downpour. Flights home went off without a hitch, although AlteCocker could have used less line cutting in the line to check in/check baggage--which no one appeared to police. People would just brazen it out and come up, sometimes totally without luggage, to discuss their problems. Fortunately, AlteCocker left plenty of time to check in. There was, of course, a last attempt to sell Costa Rican products at the airport (heavy on the coffee---which AlteCocker had already purchased and shipped at the Britt Coffee Tour). There was only a one hour layover in Panama this time (with a predictable attempt to sell Panamanian stuff). The development in Panama is amazing and it may be the next big tourist destination/refuge for Americans trying to have an upscale vacation condo at a rock bottom price; it is also a destination for medical tourism. See this article for the details.
The flight to Washington included a view of the Panama Canal and Miami at night. The flight got back early, the line at Immigration (in honor of AlteCocker's arrival) was longer for US citizens than for noncitizens. She helped some people who did not speak English line up on the correct side. Bag was already at the baggage claim and friend was ready to pick AlteCocker up (with AlteCocker's coat) when she emerged from Customs. House is still intact except for a broken cheap umbrella (which my exchangers offered to pay for; money refused). Home exchange 55 has ended.
December 15, 2013, was devoted to the last details of packing, frantic emails from my exchangers who had locked the house and then left some cheese behind (they apparently found a fine cheese shop and fine cheese can be difficult/expensive to find in Costa Rica), and a madcap ride to the San Jose Airport in a taxi in the midst of a tropical downpour. Flights home went off without a hitch, although AlteCocker could have used less line cutting in the line to check in/check baggage--which no one appeared to police. People would just brazen it out and come up, sometimes totally without luggage, to discuss their problems. Fortunately, AlteCocker left plenty of time to check in. There was, of course, a last attempt to sell Costa Rican products at the airport (heavy on the coffee---which AlteCocker had already purchased and shipped at the Britt Coffee Tour). There was only a one hour layover in Panama this time (with a predictable attempt to sell Panamanian stuff). The development in Panama is amazing and it may be the next big tourist destination/refuge for Americans trying to have an upscale vacation condo at a rock bottom price; it is also a destination for medical tourism. See this article for the details.
The flight to Washington included a view of the Panama Canal and Miami at night. The flight got back early, the line at Immigration (in honor of AlteCocker's arrival) was longer for US citizens than for noncitizens. She helped some people who did not speak English line up on the correct side. Bag was already at the baggage claim and friend was ready to pick AlteCocker up (with AlteCocker's coat) when she emerged from Customs. House is still intact except for a broken cheap umbrella (which my exchangers offered to pay for; money refused). Home exchange 55 has ended.