Costa Rica - Day 6

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Today began with (you guessed it!) sunshine and twittering birds. Breakfast was a stale leftover cinnamon roll, on which I gave up about halfway through. So, we drove into town to mail a postcard and stopped by the panaderia. Bri got some kind of jelly-filled cookie (breakfast of champions) and I got a slice of what looked like marble pound cake. Both of us were surprised by what we considered to be a dearth of sugar, so we made it through about half of those before giving up and deciding to wait for lunchtime to roll around.

We piled back into the car and set out for the lake Coter hanging bridges. On the way, we stopped at the Panoramic View for a look around. One thing I ought to mention about many roads (whether dirt, gravel, or the occasional paved) is that oftentimes, they are only one lane wide. My theory is that this way, they keep you on your toes.

So here we were, at the peak of this narrow, windy road, about to get back in the car and head down, when a car rolls up at the foot of the hill and stops by the entrance. Bri and I held our breath, waiting to see if they were going to come up, since there would only be room enough for one car.

The car sat at the entrance for a good 5 or 10 minutes, so we eventually had to stop holding our breath.

Finally, it drove off, we heaved a sigh of relief, and I started up the engine in order to head down the mountain before any other vehicles decided to head up.

Another odd thing about the Panoramic View. There were landscapers at work when we pulled in, and there are several signs on both sides of the road giving directions to the place. However, there was no entrance fee or even so much as a tip jar at the top where the parking area and picnic tables were. So who pays for all that??

We got back on the road and headed to the Hanging Bridges, where I apparently also got the Costa Rican discount. (At the time, I naively thought that the prices had gone down since the time our welcome packet was printed.)

The hiking trail here was amazing, and absolutely gorgeous. The bridges were narrow, swaying things hundreds of feet across, from which we were rewarded with the most breathtaking views of the volcano, the mountains, the countryside, the rain forest, and a waterfall.

We saw lots of different birds, butterflies, insects, and lizards. We also grabbed lunch when we finished the hike, and man was it ever tasty. Bri got a chicken burrito that seemed to have been grilled (it reminded him of a pressed Cuban, although to me it looked like a grilled burrito). I got rice and vegetables, which sounded plain but was actually delicious. It came with a giant heap of stir-fried rice and veggies, surrounded by seasoned potato wedges. Mmm.

Thus fortified, we climbed back in the car and made our way back to the Villa in time for another beautiful sunset.

Once again, we tried (and failed) to figure out the outdoor hot tub. Upon failing in this endeavor, we turned our concentration to the indoor jacuzzi. It, too, was willing to fill with water and bubbles but unwilling to heat up.

I broke down and called the caretaker (we didn't want to be problem guests) and he came over and tried to fix it. Deciding it was an electrical issue - and not wishing to electrify himself - he called up a neighbor.

Bri and I were seated on stools around the island kitchen table when the neighbor arrived.

"May I borrow this bag?" he asked, pointing to the high-class Walmart bag I had artfully laid on the table.

"Sure," Bri and I answer in unison, surprised and grateful that he would bother to come over late at night to lend a hand.

We watched in silence as he opened our freezer and dumped all of our ice into the Wal-Mart bag, tied a quick knot, and tossed it back into the freezer before shutting the door.

Now, I'm not the world's foremost expert in hot-tub-fixing, but I totally did not get the connection. Something must have shown in our confused expressions, because he grinned and said, "There's a fiesta tomorrow and I wanted to borrow some ice."

Hilarious!

Afterwards, he went outside where he tinkered around the breaker box awhile, then proclaimed the problem fixed. He came back inside, filled up the tub, twisted the timer to 30 minutes and said it should heat up in 15. He showed us the breakers, tipped his hat, and was on his way.

Great, we said, shook his hand, and waved good-bye to them both. 15 minutes later, lots of water, none of it hot. 30 minutes, same thing. An hour goes by, still no dice. An hour and a half, and we give up.

We shut off the water and the timer, but weren't sure what to do about the breakers. Had he shown them to us for educational purposes, or were we supposed to do something with them? We decided to err on the side of caution and not overheat the pump, so Bri went outside and flipped the hot tub breakers off. Little did we know how much excitement that small act would cause for us the next morning.

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