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Published: January 7th 2013
More than two cans!
We saw 6 Tucans in this tree one morning on a walk.Whew ! Made it through the holidays. Hope everyone else did too. Christmas was a quiet day mostly spent laying about on the hammocks and skyping with family and friends. Christmas Eve we were invited to the owners place for a lovely dinner with a few of the other guests. Her place was located almost at the top of a local mountain and the view was spectacular. As I think we have mentioned before, the Tico's love their fireworks and the entire 19 days we were there we enjoyed fireworks every night. Christmas Eve was no exception and it was very cool to look down into the valley, watching fireworks throughout. New Year's Eve day was spent exploring in our rental car so when we returned that evening we were quite exhausted. We had a beer and watched fireworks all around us. At midnight we were awoken to what one could describe as the sounds of an air bomb attack. The fireworks were going off everywhere, crackles and pops and and booms and bangs and the church bells dinging constantly for about 15 minutes. After that things settled down and the last POP I heard was at 535 am....no doubt a
Gated community - Atenas
The guard let us in to this gated community on the outskirts of Atenas
straggler leaving a party who found one more fire cracker n his pocket!
The last 3 days we were there we rented a little 4x4 and toured about. We have had so many adventures, even picking up the truck was an adventure! Ian had reserved the truck online a few days prior to us wanting it as it was over the holidays, and even received a confirmation and a reminder about picking it up at noon on Sunday. Off we go on the chicken bus...actually that's not fair, they do not have chicken buses in Costa Rica. The government has a nice supply of new buses and a very efficient, affordable and reliable service. Anyway, off we go into San Jose to pick up he car. We follow the directions that Ian printed off from the address they emailed to us. We jumped off at the bus stop and walked the few blocks...only to find an abandoned lot. Found a pay phone and Ian called Alamo to inquire as to their new location that they forgot to tell us about. Well weren't we surprised to find out that they did NOT have a reservation in our name and that
Gated Community
This mountain and a number of others were all part of a gated community. Amazing views of the central valley. Rich folk only! they did not have any cars to rent either anyway...sorry...pura VIDA ! Hmmm, Alamo has dropped the ball on this one, no car and no address. We went walking and noticed some other car rental places, to find out that nobody had any cars to rent, it was the holidays after all! When what do our wondering eyes should appear but an Alamo sign and 8 tiny reindeer...(ok there wasn't any reindeer but I could not think of anything else that would rhyme) Ian was a little fired up about the whole non car existence so we Decided a little visit into their office would be in order. As we entered we saw a little truck parked out front, exactly the kind that we had requested. Ian walked up to the counter and decided to start fresh and simply stated that he was here to pick up his reserved vehicle, to which the guy at the desk ( and Ian says was the same guy he spoke with over the phone 20 minutes before) jumped up, pulled the reservation off the bulletin board and proceeded to fill out he paper work.... Huh? We both shot each other a look while
The view from the top
Looking down at the town below waiting to be told that we're being punked. But Ashton Cutchner didn't pop out from behind a 2 way mirror, and we happily jumped into our rental and started out to a national park up in the mountains......but alas, more adventures were about to unfold.....
Along comes the nicest taxi driver you could ever want.... Here we are, Ian at the wheel, map stretched out across my lap being the good swamper wife that I am, following the directions that the guy at the car rental place gave us to make it through the city of San Jose and onto the highway . We were off the Caribbean coast! We had almost made it to the freeway entrance when we stopped at a red light, a jolly looking taxi driver drove up beside us and told us through the few Spanish words we knew and sign language that the free way entrance is closed ahead, follow him and he will help us. What do we know? Everyone in Costa Rica has been so helpful thus far, off we go! He took us down back alleys, around parks, and at times if felt we were going in circles ( in
Papaya tree
On a walk. So many trees bearing fruit. Almonds, star fruit, coconuts, bananas, etc hindsight we probably were)
After 10-15 minutes of this we made it to the freeway entrance. As we were following him, Ian and I decided we would give him a few bucks for his kindness and his troubles. We pulled over behind him when he pulled over and he ran back to us and suddenly became Ian's new best friend. Slapping him on the shoulder, reaching in and turning on his headlights etc. So Ian opens his wallet to offer him a few colones and Mr. Super Friendly runs to his car to " look" at his meter and comes back and tells us we owe "Trente cinco "We're stilling struggling with Spanish but it sounds like 35. We look at each other, 35 what? Cents? colones? what? Ian counts out 350 colones which is about 70 cents. Mr. Friendly shakes his head "non non" Hmmm, he must mean 3500 colones which is about $7. More than we intended to give him, but maybe that's what the meter says....but alas, offer was refused again. "Mas mas" ( more more) Mr. Friendly retorts. We look at each other, the next 35 would be 35000, which means $70. Ian looked at
him and said "dude that's $70 freaking dollars" . Now Mr. Not So Friendly Anymore says " I don't know dollars....just colones and you owe me 35000" Ian looks at him and says "bullshit" as he puts the car in reverse and starts to back up to pull away. At this, Mr. Angry starts dialing on his phone, telling us he's calling the policia. Go right ahead! He starts to stomp to his car then turns around and comes back and now wants the previous offer of 3500. Now we're not here to rip anyone off and he did give us a scenic albeit fast tour of the city so Ian hands it over. As Mr. I Cant Speak English stomps off he turns back around, looks Ian square in the eye and says " San of a Beech!" Ok now were off to the Caribbean coast.
We quickly climb up into the mountains and drive to an amazing volcano called Poas. It was very cool there, we brought our "sweeters" along, which was a good thing because we defiantly needed them. It was drizzly and over cast. We hiked into see inside the crater but couldnt see it
Sidewalks
This is a typical sidewalk. It will start and then if your not careful......The danger tape is an unusual feature. for the fog. Went for a nice hike, and returned to the crater to see in again, but the visibility was still only a few feet. Finally we threatened to leave the volcano when suddenly the wind shifted and clouds lifted and we saw the most amazing view of the crater with a lake and steam rising from it. It's still an active volcano and if you want to see more click
http://www.anywherecostarica.com/attractions/national-park/poas-volcano
to read up on it. We headed back down the mountain to the coast and the port city of Limon. All the way down we drove past acres and acres of banana plantation. As far as the eye can see. Here's a little bit of info for you at your next trivia game.... Banana trees will grow to maturity within 12-15 months. At this time they will produce a big ol' flower and a whole bunch of baby bananas....probably about 50 to a bunch. This tree will not flower again, they cut them down and the mother tree sends off a bunch of baby shoots, thus the process starts all over again.
Once we got to Limon, we were not to impressed, it
Zarcero
Very cool church and gardens in this mountain town was quite a dirty city. We were there on Jan 2, most things were closed, so we got out of the truck walked around for 15 minutes and jumped back in and headed home. We went on a few more day trips, up through the central valley and into some amazing little mountain towns. When you're on a road trip here, there isn't such things like public washrooms. Your only real hope is, use the washroom at the restaurant, and failing that, it's the jungle. Soooo one day when we werent near a restaurant, Ian pulled over onto a little side road and drove in about 20 feet. As I was looking at the "flowers" at the back of the car I noticed butterflys. I'm talking everywhere! There were big ones small ones, orange, yellow, striped, even a huge blue morph, with a wing span of about 3-4 inches across. Who needs a butterfly farm? They were truly beautiful to see. We stayed and enjoyed them for a good while.
Eventually we had to turn in our truck and stayed over night in San Jose. Nothing eventful really happened there, but the hotel we stayed in was very old
In the back room
This was in the back room of the church and stylish. It must have been 3 old houses and they bought them all up and joined them with covered walkways and paths.
After that we booked a shuttle to take us to Boca del Toro in Panama!
Will speak to THAT adventure in a new blog !
Until next time amigos!
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Rose
non-member comment
Fantastico!
I am incredulous!