Day 15

Caño Island
Headed out for a day of snorkeling today with a mixed group of snorkelers and divers . We got talking to a woman from Philly who was a zookeeper. She gave us lots of monkey tips--such as watch out if a monkey “smiles” at you. He is about to attack. We have had such bad luck at snorkeling in Costa Rica that we were astonished at how good it was on Cano Island. The clarity was unbelievable--like a swimming pool. We saw a big sea turtle, a spotted eagle ray, sergeant major fish, angel fish, parrot fish, and many others I don’t know the names of. There was a school of grey fish that swirled around like a tornado and a school of barracuda passed very close by us.  The guide  showed us garden eels that stuck up out of the water like little sticks and when he approached them, they pulled themselves down under the ground. We passed a group of dolphins on our way to the island. We spent almost 2 hours in the water with a break in between. Fantastic!
-Heidi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTQrE4NuSJA
not our video but it looked like this.

Day 13 & 14

Two travel days so John is allowing me to write about them. Since nothing dramatic happened, he thinks my work will look boring and his work will look better.

We got the bus to San Jose with incident. Our hotel was perfectly fine except of course for the train that roared by blasting its horn twice an hour. We went to t he Gold museum which according to tripadvisor  is the number one thing to do in San Jose. The preColumbian gold in Costa Rica can’t compare to Peru or Mexico but the museum was nicely done--lots of video and interactivity. John’s knowledge gained in his anthropology class was quite useful. Who would think that anthropology could be useful!

I bought a new pair of sunglasses for $4--craftily bargaining a street vendor down from $8. I lost my Job Lot glasses somewhere.

Sunset at Drake's Bay

We got the 6:30 am bus to Palmar Norte and surprising arrived in time for the 11:30 boat. There are no roads open to Drake Bay so the only way in is by boat or plane. The boat ride was through a mangrove swamp and then out into the open ocean--Very exciting. Our hotel is cheap but there was someone waiting for us when we waded ashore. (There is no dock) After we settled in we took a walk along a path with the rain forest on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. As usual we acquired a dog guide. She accompanied us for a couple of hours. When she left us, John wanted to give him a tip but I said no. On the walk we saw a palm tree so big that it would take five people to circle it. There was a sorts of exotic fruit fallen from the trees and we saw spider monkeys as usual. Monkeys are becoming such a bore. (not really)
I like this place better than any of the others. It’s authentic. I think we will have a good time here. Even the dinner was interesting. We had whole fish, eyes and all. John said the eyes didn’t taste like anything but you will just have to take his word on that.

Day 11

Not much to report today.  We spent the day surfing, relaxing by the beach, and collecting energy for the long trip to San Jose tomorrow.  The most interesting part of the day was at the beach during sunset, when a drunk/crazy/homeless guy tried to get us to touch his hands.  When we didn't comply he threw sand at us, called my Mom a whore, and threw a rock at me (he missed).  I guess this town is a bit disorderly.
-Juan

Day 9

This is a horse.

This is one horse in the sunset.

 We departed Montezuma today, and headed for Santa Teresa, a nearby surfing town.  The bus from Cobano (a travel hub in the peninsula we’re in) to St. Teresa was the slowest motorized vehicle I’ve ever traveled in. Children on tricycles flew past us as we slowly drove down the road.  After finally getting there, we found our hotel and settled in.  We relaxed for a bit we decided to take a long walk on the beach. Honestly, I don’t really like long walks on the beach.  Sand is a terrible surface to walk on, the scenery is repetitive, and you have to walk back exactly the way you came.
Several kilometers of walking later, we decided to head back to the hotel.  We turned around and started walking back (exactly the same way we had come of course), and suddenly we were practically knocked over by some dogs aggressively playing with each other.  There were three dogs in total, a Rhodesian Ridgeback (the first purebred, and also castrated dog I’ve seen here), a smaller, brown, energetic mutt, and an old black dog. I named them Rhody, Humper (he constantly humped Rhody), and Old Blackie (which sounds vaguely racist in retrospect).  They started following us, which we thought was kind of cute, but then they never stopped.  Kilometer after kilometer, down the beach, down the road, into a restaurant, they never stopped following us.
We sat down in a mostly empty soda.  Rhody and Humper started playing in between the tables.  Old Blackie had fallen behind kilometers ago, due to his feeble, old body. The owner/cook/waitress of the restaurant gave us our menus, and took our orders. Our food arrived and we began eating.  Humper was incessantly living up to his name, and my Mom began to theorize why.  She began loudly talking about how Rhody probably looked like a female to Humper even though he was male.  All this loud discussion of gender and apparent gender was making me uncomfortable because the soda owner was a very obvious transvestite, and I feared she would think we were talking about her/him.
We returned to our hotel, dogs in tow, and talked to the owner.  In about ten seconds he somehow managed to send the dogs off packing.  We rested and headed out to the beach again for sunset.  A group of horses was walking along the beach, which we happily photographed.  Luckily they didn’t decide to follow us home.

This is three horses in the sunset.

Day 8

John has been doing all the blogging so I am giving him the night off. He has also been hogging the computer leaving me to do emails on a hand-me-down Andoid. If you have received strange emails from me referring to Cosa Ricardo--it’s the Android’s fault.
What I have loved most about Costa Rica are the small unexpected treasures--the sounds of the howler monkeys, bright green lizards, magnificent spider webs, and plants that fold up when you touch them. The people are unexpected surprises too. Today Costa Rica won a game in the World Cup. You should have heard the shouts of joy. We were in a small town Cabuyo that consists of one dirt road and three soda (restaurants). I heard shouts of “Goal! Goal! Goal!” from all the televisions in the town turned to the same game. For the next hour everyone was on the street hugging, shouting, singing, beeping horns. Costa Rica beat Brazil 3 to 1!
Our trip today was to Cabuyo island that is only accessible at low tide. It is the town’s cemetery and is reputed to be haunted.. We didn’t see any ghosts but the buzzards hanging around the graves did creep us out a bit. We snorkeled at the coral next to the island but we had to be sure to get off by high tide.
We walked 2 k to the Capo Blanco National park nearby and saw lots of lizards, spider monkeys, and an agouti which looks like a beaver with pig legs. Nice hike but as usual we sweat so much we looked like we  had taken a shower with our clothes on. I didn’t know the human body could hold so much water.
We planned to return to Montezuma on the same bus we took in the morning. We thought we had missed the bus so we started walking the 7k back. Then we saw them--the howler monkeys. We had heard them every day since we arrived in Montezuma and finally caught sight of them. They were huge. John does a great howler monkey imitation but I made him stop because they were getting too interested. Then the bus came and we bumped and rattled down the dirt road along the ocean with the driver shouting at motorcyclists Quieres que te mato? ( Do you want me to kill you?) We ended the day with a evening picnic at the beach and some coconut ice cream. Montezuma is a nice little town but it’s Saturday night and I understand why they nickname it MonteFUMA and I have seen more dreadlocks than I have ever seen in my life. Tomorrow we leave the"hippies" of Montezuma to find the "surfer dudes" in Santa Theresa. Pura vida!

Cabuyo Ilsand low tide

Cabuyo Island high tide

buzzards

Cemetary

Spider web

Howler monkeys

Day 7

Spider monkey.

We began our day with a complementary breakfast from the hotel.  The blue jays that pestered us yesterday at breakfast have returned with a vengeance.  They almost exclusively steal sugar packets. Invading the restaurant appears to be the only way for them to fuel their massive sugar addiction.  We headed out for another day at the beach.  After swimming and relaxing on  the shore we had lunch.  We said goodbye to Chris and Kelly as they departed on their voyage to San Jose, and ultimately home.  

Overcoming my fears of hidden leaches/crocodiles.

I'm the one in green pants, front and center.

As we returned to the hotel, we encountered a pack of spider monkeys.  They clambered through the trees surrounding our room, and even scampered over the roof.  After watching them for a while we left for a hike up to a nearby waterfall.  A local guy guided us (we didn’t ask for it, but he insisted), and when we got there he showed me where I could jump from, and how to climb behind the waterfall.  Afterwards, we ate dinner at a nice soda (small, simple restaurant), and retired for the day.
-Juan

Crouching

Day 6

The beach through the trees.

People boarding a boat to Tortuga Island.

Our first day in Montezuma was one for relaxation, exploration, and fun in the sun.  In retrospect I wish I had less fun in the sun, as I now have a fairly serious sunburn on my shoulders despite liberal application of sunscreen.  Our day began at around five in the morning when a pack of howler monkeys decided to serenade us through our open (permanently, unfortunately) window.  Howler monkeys are something I’d rather see (I still haven’t really), not hear.  After returning to sleep we had a light breakfast at the hotel and walked along a road past several beaches.  We eventually stopped at one that supposedly had good snorkeling and settled down.  The waves were fairly rough and there was a strong riptide but we persevered.  Unfortunately, besides a few Sergeant Major fish there really wasn’t much to see because of the murky water.  I spent much of my time on that beach trying to smash into a coconut to get its sweet, sweet milk.  Much to my dismay, the rock I was using broke in half on the husk, but I eventually managed to break into it. Coconut water is far less refreshing than Tom Hanks in Castaway made it seem. Regardless, the day was very pleasant, and we got to enjoy good food and drink from a couple of the restaurants in Montezuma  later on.  With that final note, the blog is finally up to date.  Hooray!!
-Juan

Day 5

Today was a long day of travel.  We went from La Fortuna to Montezuma.  Overall it was a twelve hour stretch of traveling by bus, boat, and a little walking at the end.  The early bus rides were fairly uneventful.  Most of the countryside was obscured by clouds and fog.  The boat ride was fairly scenic as the bay we were in was surrounded on all sides by mountains, and the sun was setting as we crossed to the far peninsula.  By the time the boat arrived back on land, it was dark.  Our bus quickly departed and began winding through long country roads. The bus was completely dark for most  of the ride, and we admired the landscape by moonlight.  We passed through jungle, pastures, and small, quiet villages.  Fireflies winked in the distance as we passed sleepy cattle and humming forests.  The bus unfortunately (or fortunately) broke down about 100 meters from town.  We walked to our hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and retired.

Arenal finally made an appearance before our departure to say goodbye. 

A passing boat at sunset.

I feel like its appropriate at this point to give my impressions/thoughts/ramblings on Costa Rica as of yet.  Feel free to skip. Several months ago I read Heart of Darkness, and although these are obviously very different places, and even different continents, the imagery still remained in the back of my mind.  Conrad’s description of a journey up the Congo as some kind of anxious nightmare; an oppressive, unsettling dream intruding on you sleep during a hot, still summers night when you’re tangled up in your own bed sheets.  My experience in this jungle at least, has been completely the opposite.  It definitely seems like a dream, but more similar to something imagined while taking a nap in your hammock on a breezy summer day.  Everything seems indistinct and in some ways unreal.  I feel that when I look back on this trip it will be a pleasant, hazy blur, not because what we’re doing isn’t memorable, but because the atmosphere of this place makes things less defined.  I understand why magic realism is so prevalent in Latin American literature.  Here almost anything seems possible.  Then again, all these philosophical meanderings be all some sort of heat induced delirium.

-Juan

Day 4

This guy kept staring at us.  Toucan play at that game.

  This was my favorite day up to date.  Often when I travel, I swear I’ve never sweated more in my life.  I will make that claim yet again.  We began our day walking to Cerro Chura, an extinct volcano next to the famous Arenal volcano.  The walk to the mountain took a great deal longer than we anticipated, and the temperature was hotter than its been since our arrival.  Despite the blistering weather we enjoyed the presence of some of the local wildlife.  A dog, who I took the liberty of naming, decided to act as our guide for a long stretch of the journey.  Unfortunately Sr. Perro was chased off by a hostile pack of his fellow dogs before he could show us the entire way.  Once we arrived at the hiking trail, the magnitude of our endeavor became evident.  It was incredibly hot, dirty, sweaty work.  The trail was in shambles.  The heat problem was further exasperated by the 100 percent humidity at the top third of the mountain, which was encased in a searing hot cloud of moisture.  Mom was clearly having difficulty, and between wheezing gasps she told me to go on without her.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t only up against the heat, time was against me as well.  We had to descend the mountain in an hour and a half if we hoped to get to our next activity.  I had to make it to the top not only for myself, but also for all those left behind.  Finally after much straining and difficulty I found myself at the summit.  The summit wasn’t enough, I had to experience for myself, the lagoon cradled within the mountain many feet below.

The lake inside the volcanoes crater at the top of the mountain.

We thought the trail up was bad.  This one seemed to have been gouged out by an angry, tumbling boulder.  There was one stretch where rock/dirt/root climbing was the only way to descend.  One section required you to crudely rappel down a length of crusty rope.  Finally after arriving at the lagoon, I cooled myself off, ate an apple and returned the way I came (time was ticking after all).  The journey back was naturally many times more difficult.  20 feet from the summit I heard my Mom’s voice.  Horray! She had made it! We quickly rejoiced.  We sat on some wooden benches and enjoyed the view (just kidding, as previously stated we were encased in clouds, and could therefore see nothing).  We descended the mountain in record time, with great deals of fatigue to our knees and calves, and made it back to the house in time for the next activity.

The view on the way down.

After a brief lunch and rest, we set off for canyoning.  I really had no idea what was ahead.  We began with a brief demonstration of how to rappel, which was a major part of the tour.  After that we set off (with another family doing the tour), for our adventure.  We rappelled down small waterfalls, clambered through streams, and zip lined down the mountain.  The scenery was absolutely spectacular.  It was the best I’ve ever seen.  Towards the end of the tour it began to rain, and the lighting became soft yet dramatic.  We rappelled down a 150 foot waterfall.and admired the scenery around us.  It looked like a CGI from some adventure movie.  It was absolutely surreal. With that event, we ended day four.  Hopefully I’ll have some Gopro footage to show how spectacular it was soon.

-Juan

Day 3

Today was the first day with a full schedule of activities. We awoke to an absolute monsoon.  The rain fluctuated in intensity, but really never stopped.  We all nervously made jokes about how appropriate this weather was for the rainforest while desperately hoping to ourselves that it would pass.  Despite the weather, we headed out on our first adventure; mountain biking through the rainforest.  The rain lifted about a quarter of the way into our trek, and it was nice for the remainder of the ride.  The pace was fairly slow, so we really got to admire the views of the lake and the foliage of the rainforest.  Unfortunately we didn’t see much wildlife besides a couple of toucans.  At the end of the trip, me, our guide, and a girl from another family all raced to the end.  Hancel (our guide) said it was a tie but I’m pretty sure I won.  After refreshments, we returned to our little cabina for lunch and rest.
Ziplining was the second activity scheduled for the day.  Promptly after we returned home the downpour returned with a vengeance.  We all prayed that we wouldn’t have to hurdle over the rainforest at 50 mph with a thousand little droplets of rain smashing into our body.  We must have done something to please the local rain god because, yet again, the rain stopped as we headed out the door.  We arrived at the zip lining facility and after a brief set of instructions we were loaded onto a truck and began a rough, bumpy journey up the mountain.  Ziplining was pleasant and uneventful.  Halfway through we were given the option to do the “Tarzan Swing” which was essentially a 120 foot rope swing through the jungle.  We were all encouraged to do our best Tarzan Scream.  I was the one loser who didn’t scream.  It didn’t come naturally and I didn’t want to force it, so I was quiet.  The entire activity was scenic and pleasant if it wasn’t heart pounding.  That night we ate out in town and enjoyed cervasas in the pool.
Editors note: Apologies for the lack of pictures, but I’m currently unable to upload from my waterproof camera (which I used all day).  Hopefully they’ll be up soon, (and maybe some GoPro footage too?). I'm trying to keep up to date on posts, but with poor internet connections and technical difficulties I'm still a few days behind.  Please find it in your generous hearts to forgive me.

-Juan

Day 10

Bigfoot quality image of me surfing.

Many things happened today, both good and bad.  We bought our breakfast at the supermarket.  Mom made me finish off an almost entirely full one liter bottle of liquefied yogurt because the refrigerator here is broken.  Today was the day we decide to teach ourselves to surf. The hotel owner, a German surfer dude, gave us a few pointers before we headed out.
We tossed our backpacks behind a log on the beach and admired the waves.  It was fairly obvious Mom was stricken with terror.  Eventually she mustered up the courage to get in, with some goading from me.  The first ten minutes in the water caused my confidence to plummet. The waves seemed too rough, and it seemed unlikely that I’d ever catch a wave, let alone stand up.  Eventually, certain strategies for passing through the waves with less resistance became obvious.  After that I was ready to start riding them.  My second attempt at standing up was a complete success.  I was taken aback slightly as I had heard that standing up could take hours, or even days for some people.  I can only assume my exceptional strength, agility and balance made me such a quick learner.

Coming back in.

Mom had caught a few waves, but she didn’t have the strength to raise her body off the board. After accidentally hitting Mom in the face with my surfboard (I’ll discuss how I redeemed myself later), we got out.  We tried to return to our stuff, but we failed.  Why, you may ask.  Because our stuff had been stolen of course!  While we had been flopping around in the water, someone had snuck in, grabbed our back packs, and scurried off into the woods. They kindly left us our shoes and towels though. Mom began, understandably, spewing obscenities.  She had lost her camera, bag, and worst of all, her contacts.  My mother is essentially legally blind without them, and all she had back at the hotel room was her glasses (which make her look like an owl from the 80s), and a single contact.  They were heavy  duty, prescription contacts as well, so the local pharmacy wouldn‘t carry them.
We set off in hopes of finding our bags rummaged through but with worthless items, such as her contacts, intact.  Unfortunately our search didn’t seem to be going anywhere.  Everyone we spoke with said the same thing, “No we didn’t see anyone with two backpacks.  The bags are probably lost forever, but there is a pharmacy down the street if you want to buy new contacts.”  We refused to take this advice.  We searched and searched, and finally found ourselves in the woods again, assuming the culprit might not want to walk around the streets with two touristy looking backpacks.
As I was walking through a trail, I spotted a backpack underneath a tarp.  Was it ours!!?!?

I'd steal them too.

No.  However, I began to think perhaps this was an area where the culprit stashed his stolen bags.  There was a riverbed a couple dozen feet away.  I walked over and scrutinized the area closely.  I spotted our hotel key and compass lying at the base of the tree.  I left them there (so I couldn’t forget the exact location), and got Mom.  After inspecting the tree base closely I noticed an unusual bulge of leaves.  I began sweeping them away and uncovered Mom’s pack, with everything except the camera still present!  I crossed the river and looked some more, and quickly uncovered my own pack.  We had some celebratory drinks at the hotel, and eventually returned to the beach for more surfing.  This time we left the bags back at home.

Day 2

The Road to La Fortuan often passed through clouds.

Scenery from the bus

 We woke up early (we went to bed at nine) and sat out in our little courtyard for a lovely complimentary breakfast.  Our main task for the day was to get from Alajuela (near San Jose) to La Fortuna, near some of Costa Rica’s famous volcanoes.  We would be traveling by bus for around 5 hours.  The bus far exceeded my expectations.  There was a distinct lack of goats, chickens, and even wailing babies.  It was extremely comfortable for most of the ride, and was only packed with people for the last 15 minutes of the journey. Our tripped passed through cloud submerged mountains, over little rivers, and small villages.  We  explored the town upon arrival.  It appears to primarily be a tourist town with silly little shops, restaurants, and aggressive taxi drivers.  We settled into our cabina about half a mile from town and took a brief dip in our somewhat small, but highly refreshing pool.  Even though this place is probably 20 degrees hotter and 60% more humid, its absolutely gorgeous.
-Juan

The view from our cabina.

A  sad horse near our cabgina. :(

DAY ONE!!!

I stole this picture of Alejuela's church from the internet because
of technical problems.  Sorry.

Our courtyard at night.

We’re in Costa Rica! Our flight from Boston to Panama City went by without a hitch.  I had a moment of slight disappointment on our flight from Panama to  San Jose went I thought the stewardess offered me a Cherry Pie, which turned out to be a charipa, or hot dog.  Not bad, but still disappointing.   We took a taxi to our hotel in Alajuela.  I’ve never been to Latin America, but I’m already charmed by this city’s atmosphere and people.  Some of the finer elements of American culture can be found throughout the city.  We saw a large, well maintained Hooters for example.  We wandered the city for most the afternoon, exploring parks, markets, and a church.  I went for a walk this evening by myself.  It gets dark unreasonably early here.  I left for my stroll at around 8 (it was already pitch black), and first passed through a park.  It was absolutely chocked full of young couples.  Never have I seen so many adolescent couples making out at once.  Latin passion maybe?  Anyway, after admiring the park, I popped into a supermarket and bought some water and peanuts.  After purchasing my goods, I stepped out of the store and over a sleeping homeless man.   The evening ended with me getting somewhat lost, finding my way again, and returning back to the hotel with more water than I began with, so overall, it was a definite success.
-Juan