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I had written most of this blog in March, but never got around to finishing it off and posting it. Recently, however, there was a news story that, unfortunately, gave me the impetus to get this out there. If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you probably heard about the tragedy a few weeks ago in Costa Rica. I’m not talking about Costa Rica’s embarrassing performance in the World Cup -- I’m talking about the high school kids (and their teacher who tried to rescue them) who got caught in a rip tide on a beach on the Pacific coast, and were washed out to sea and drowned.
Many beaches here are notorious for their surf - both for surfing and for their dangerous currents. Whenever we plan to go to the beach, the first thing people tell us is to be careful of the currents. It seems that everyone has a story about seeing someone caught in the surf (but fortunately, with a rescue or being able to make it back to shore). And we have our story, too.
Back in March, in between Ellie’s official birthday parties, the birthday celebration express made a trip to the
Family at Irazu
In the last blog we mentioned our trip to Volcano Irazu, but didn't include a picture of the crater -- very wide, very deep with a very green lake at the bottom. Very impressive. beach.
(Quick aside -- and this was part of the months old, not published blog -- we do have a car. Earlier in the week before Ellie’s birthday party, we did go ahead and buy a car - a nice Isuzu Trooper of 1987 vintage -- only 255,000 miles on it! It is exactly the same kind make, model and year that they had at BEST when we were in Belize 10 years ago - I keep expecting to walk into our garage and find Sarita (our co-worker who used to give us rides to work) waiting for us. While teaching her English class the night we got the car, Dara realized it is older than most of her students. Hopefully it proves more reliable, too.
Although when we came down here we thought we could get by without the most-American of conveniences, after a few trips we decided to break down and get one. The buses in Costa Rica are excellent - you can get everywhere and they are very inexpensive (we’re talking $.25 for local buses, $2.00 for intercity). Also, somewhat incredibly, in the land of Tico-time, they run on time - we’re talking about making
Above the Clouds
The top of Irazu is more than 3400 meters high (11,000 feet). We were up above the clouds.
the Swiss proud (well, only the longer routes have schedules, so those are the ones that run on-time - the local buses just run every couple minutes). And, the buses are not the stereotypical old school bus painted bright colors with frills around the windows and chickens flying about. They are just regular buses. And for our everyday life, we do not need a car. Most places - school, stores, ju-jitsu and more - are all within easy walking distance. And if need be, taxis are very inexpensive (about $2.00 to go across town), too.
The problem is the long distance trips - if you’ve only got a weekend to get away and if you’ve got two little kids, the buses are a little limiting - we want to be able to go when we want, stop on the way if necessary, make side trips, etc. So we wouldn’t have to waste a lot of time waiting for the buses and be tied to the bus’ schedule and inflexibility, we went ahead and bought the car. Now we can go when we want and where we want. And if the kids are hungry or need to go to the
This is the life
Here is Ari lounging in the pool at Playa Hermosa. Despite appearances, Ari has been eating a ton -- he wants to gain enough weight so he doesn't have to use a car seat anymore. He has a long way to go. bathroom… well you get the idea. I guess we are Americans and we love our mobility. Gas is expensive -- about $4.50 per gallon, but we figure we'll be able to sell the car for about what we paid for it.)
Now back to the story… A weekend at the beach seemed a fitting way to take advantage of our new wheels. Instead of Jaco, we headed a bit further down the coast to Playa Hermosa. Very pretty, not very built-up - just a handful of restaurants and small hotels - and, as we were warned, big waves and a strong undertow. (As I have mentioned, we live up in the Central Valley of Costa Rica and the weather there is great - it gets up into the high 70’s during the day and down to the high 60’s at night even now during the rainy season. As you leave the Central Valley and head to the coastal plain, you can feel the mercury and humidity level rise.) We only had to ask for directions twice to find our hotel, and we spent the rest of the day Saturday splashing in the pool and playing on the beach. Sure
A new friend
This other little girl lives at the hotel at the beach. Both Ari and Ellie (especially Ari) have become very good at approaching new kids and starting to play with them. enough, the waves were big -- just wading in waist deep was enough to make you feel like a sock in a washing machine (one of those industrial, front-loading models, not the little pansy ones with the agitator in the middle).
On Sunday morning, we went to breakfast in an open-air café right on the beach. As we were waiting for our breakfast, we had the scary episode I mentioned above unfold right in front of us. We were minding our own business, playing games with the kids and trying to keep them occupied (as I have mentioned before, anticipation and patience are recurring themes -- we pretty much count on it taking an hour in any restaurant). We could feel a buzz of excitement grow around us, the level of chatter strangely grew then subsided as people stood and pointed out into the water. Before we even realized what was happening, one of the locals ran out of the restaurant, grabbed his surfboard, flew down to the water and started paddling.
There were two swimmers caught in the waves, about 30 yards off shore, struggling to get back. Within seconds, an employee of the restaurant had his
A great view during breakfast
Here is where we were sitting when to commotion happened on the beach. It was pretty scary for a few minutes
flippers on and was heading out, too, followed by another guy with a surfboard. One of the struggling swimmers did manage to get himself back to the beach, but the other one was still really struggling and not making any progress beachward. It was incredible and gut wrenching to watch - we were standing at the top of the beach watching helplessly as a person flailed in the water, clearly panicking and tiring himself out, as his potential rescuer slowly made his way toward him through the pounding surf.
It was not clear at all that he could hold out until help arrived. Every time I lost sight of him for a second, I would get a big sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and all I could think was, “Oh my God, we’re going to see someone drown.” It made me feel very helpless. Luckily, the story has a happy ending - the first rescuer got to the swimmer in time and as they started toward the beach, the other guy on the surfboard reached them too and helped them to the beach.
Although it seemed to take forever, it was really over very quickly.
Our vintage car
Yes, think back to when we graduated high school (yes, high school!) and that's when this car was "born". It's not that pretty, but it gets us from A to B (well, for the most part). The kids hadn’t even understood what was going on. But we did explain it to Ari and tried to impress upon him the danger of the ocean and the importance of not panicking if he ever did get into trouble. The almost drownee was a healthy young guy and seemingly a decent swimmer. Once he realized he couldn't get back to shore and signaled for help, instead of floating or treading water, he flailed and panicked and really tired himself out. Easy for me to sit here and say it -- I've never been in a situation like his and I hope not to be.
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Barbara & Hal
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Name That Car
A classic jeep like yours should have a name. Does it/he/she? Want to hold a contest?