Day 4 - the Borucan Village

It's incredible how early we wake up here. I don't know if it's the time difference or just being glad to be here. We decided to stay here another night because we love it so much. Mary wants to go to Ojochal to see some hotels there this morning so we are off for another road trip.

The trip is incredible. The intercoastal winds along the ocean and you are up pretty high so you overlook the some beautiful scenery. We stopped at a hotel, well cabinas, there really aren't a lot of US traditional hotels here. The climb was too much for these old legs and although at one point there may have been a view it was overgrown now and you couldn't see much.

We wound up at Club Fred. What a wonderful place. The pictures of the river and ocean are taken from the patio outside our room. Fred and Elly were great, very laid back. We decided to stay there for our 5th night.

We ate at this cute little restaurant called Exotica in Ojochal. The food was great and Mary was able to have something without cauliflower and broccoli! I had ceviche and she had a dish called the seashell. It was a shell covered in mashed potatoes, containing shrimp and a creamy cheese sauce, deliciosa! We stopped in this little line of stores and found a shop where the woman made the clothes. They have these serapes made of what I think is rayon, very light and soft material. She makes dresses, shirts and pants from it. Mary and I are both large women, me being larger, but she found a shirt and it didn't quite fit right. The woman said she could alter it and also make pants to match by the next day! So Mary ordered it, I think it was less than $30 in total for the outfit and it was handmade and fitted. The woman did not speak English, she was French, and so we communicated in Spanish, what a country lol.

From there we decided to visit the Borucan reservation. In almost all the shops in Dominical and San Isidro you can find these woven purses and painted (or unpainted) masks. The Borucans make these in their village. We had been told not to go there in the rain because the road is clay and steep. It was nice so we headed off. Steep is not really sufficient of a word, maybe straight up is better? The road was clay with gullies from the previous rains and of course rocks of various sizes. It was a mountain so it was curvy and you couldn't see what was coming down at you. With that type of road who would be coming down right? Well apparently everybody! And quickly too.

But we made it up the mountain and it was well worth it. What a view!

We felt like we were on top of the world. As we were climbing the road we kept seeing a dirt road up higher and guess what - that's where we were heading! There was not much to see at the village, we met a few nice people, chatted a while and bought some masks and stuff at the same price they charged in the hotel. Then it started to thunder so I got scared and we left.

 On the way down we passed a little bull calf that had strayed outside the fence. What a cutie! We also saw cows grazing wayyyyyy up high on the mountainside. We barely made it down the mountain when it began to rain. It seems to be a nightly occurrence during the rainy season, but our days were filed with sunshine! We headed back to Hacienda Baru and started hearing a horrible noise from the car. It sounded like giant cicadas. I tried calling 4x4 Rentals but I couldn't figure out how to dial locally in Costa Rica from my cell from the states while I was in Costa Rica. To dial home I just called normally, 215-xxx-xxxx, and about 50% of the time it connected. I tried dialing internationally, locally, but nope didn't want to connect. I got messages in English and Spanish so God knows how much this is gonna cost me. We found that driving less than 30 mph eliminated the noise so we took a looonnnnggg leisurely drive back to the cabin. Boy did we piss off some Ticos! Luckily the intercoastal is pretty flat and they could pass.

When we got back, Jack nicely let us use the phone to call. Diego explained some complicated series of steps to disengage the hub (we had used 4 wheel drive in the mountains). Mary tried it and it worked, something like put it in 4 wheel drive, then reverse, then back up but not too far, then out of 4 wheel, you get the picture. I have no idea how she remembered the steps but we had to do it pretty much every time we used 4 wheel drive.

After another great dinner and our evening talk with Sammy we went to bed.

Day 3 - Hacienda Baru and Dominical

Our cabin at Hacienda Baru

We woke to the sound of birds. Everywhere and loud, wow what a greeting. There were hummingbirds coming to the flowers near the screened porch and black and RED, really red, tanagers flitting from tree to tree.

We went to breakfast at the café, no sign of Sam, we figured he's nocturnal. We had a delicious breakfast and trotted off to the butterfly garden.

Jack had told us there was a baby owl there; he had apparently fell out of his nest and wandered into the reserve. They are trying to make sure he can fend for himself so they can release him. He was perched on the ladder and we got really close to him. It was so tempting to try to touch him, but we knew it was not in his best interest.

The butterflies were gorgeous, there were signs telling you what was there and we found all of the ones they described.  After the butterflies we opted to walk the short path to the beach. The entrance to the park is included with your room too, what a bargain! We walked really slowly looking for monkeys and sloths and whatever else we could see. We saw nothing lol.

 

Oh we saw leaf cutter ants, everywhere. These ants travel far to find leaves, we still don't understand why since there are leaves everywhere, and cut the leaves into manageable pieces about twice their body size. They then cart the pieces back home so they look like a train of little leaves walking down the path. Cute.

The beach was indescribable. We were the only people on it for as far as you could see. The water was warm and shallow.

There were holes all over the beach like someone had poked it with a pole. If you waited quietly they exploded with a flush of red crabs until they saw you and then they dove back into their holes. There were iguanas running over the sand. Paradise. Mary took tons of pictures. I sat under the palms not burning and just enjoying the breeze and the atmosphere. We went in the water for a bit but some guys came by to clean the beach and told us that there was a strong undertow and to go up the beach to swim. We opted to wade and enjoy it where we were.

On the way back we came upon a couple staring into the trees. Mary whispered, "What do you see?" The woman whispered, "monkeys". Sure enough there were white faced capuchin monkeys jumping through the trees right above our heads! Mary got out her camera and focused. All of a sudden she grabs my arm and starts dancing all over. Lol she accidentally stood in the trail of the leaf cutter ants and they called out the guards! The guards are big black ants that have big pinchers and come at you on their hind legs. She whipped off her shoes and started beating them on the ground trying to rid her feet and shoes of biting ants. The monkeys scattered and the people looked really annoyed. I could feel my face flushed with embarrassment! I made a quick get away and Mary stayed behind. This is why I love her, she got the ants out, the monkeys came back, she got great pictures and made friends with the people. I need to learn not to feed into my emotions and go with the flow. I really regretted running off and missing the monkeys. At least we have the pictures.

When she finally emerged from the jungle, we went back to the room and decided to drive into Dominical. Dominical was disappointing. The beach is nice but crowded, very touristy. The hotels which were mostly hostels were not picturesque, they were run down and dank looking. We bought some towels and serapes from a charming Costa Rican couple at a roadside stand. Their son was there and spoke perfect English. He said he learned it from the kids that come to Dominical on vacation. Mary took pictures of the most incredible sunset on the beach. We ate at a little restaurant that had gotten good reviews online. It was OK but nothing to write home about. Poor Mary is vegetarian, apparently in Costa Rica that translates to broccoli and cauliflower. They had it in eggs, pasta, burritos, every way you could imagine, lol, she was so tired of it by day 3! We stopped in a little market and bought some supplies for the room (beer and chips). I spoke Spanish with the girl and they charged Mary double, speaking Spanish has its advantages.

When we got back to the cabin Sammy was waiting for us, we shared our chips and he hung for a while. Bedtime.

Day 2 - Mario's Family and Perez

Note: Due to the lack of internet and great times these entries are written after the fact.

The night was a noisy one! There were people in the park until the wee hours of the morning.

It was kind of cool sleeping with the noise of the city. I live in the burbs of Pa, so this may be a normal occurrence for a night in the city. The church bells also sounded marking every hour, lol I don't know why I thought they wouldn't go off in the night. We woke early and I went down to breakfast in the café. I thought that the coffee would be delicious since they grow it here, but it really was no better than the coffee we have at home. I am not really a coffee aficionado so maybe there was some subtle difference. The bacon was incredible though, I don't know what was different but it was really good. I also had pinto de gallo for the first time and I really liked it, though you need to like cilantro since that was a strong taste in the dish.

After breakfast we went to church, the church is the main feature in downtown San Isidro. Everything centers around it. It is a beautiful church and I liked that it was humble, not filled with gold. The area is not a rich area and it always bothers me to see poor people and rich churches. The church was beautiful but not ostentatious. The ceremony was really nice, they sang and prayed and there was a reallllllly long homily, and at the end all the children run up to the priest and he blesses them. Really sweet. We had me Mario's parents at the entrance to the church, they are really nice people and seemed to like me as well. What a relief! We also met his brother Juan for a few minutes. We packed up and followed them to their house in the Los Angeles suburb of San Isidro, about 15 minutes from the center of town.

The roads were fine getting to the house, paved and in no worse condition than here. The people drive pretty crazy, they pass whenever they fell like it, curves, mountainous roads, rain, whatever. Mary did great though and we made it to the house.

The house is beautiful, it's weird they tile the patios, outside. We had a great dinner that his sister made and we spent the afternoon talking and looking at the pictures we had put on the digital frame. I met his niece Tatiana, her husband, Walter, and their baby, Angelica. Mario's sister Surlai (I hope the spelling is right) and her husband were there too. We saw Mario's house, it needs repair but I know I can cute-ify it. The neighborhood was run down and definitely on the poorish-city side, not my kind of neighborhood, here or there. We are talking about living there for a short time and looking for a place more in the country.



After we visited for a while we left and went to visit Mario's sister-in-law, Marta. Her house was very beautiful too. Much more modern and americanized. She was justifiably proud of herself for fixing it up. We spent a short time with her and her family because it started to pour and we had to make it to Hacienda Baru that night. We had a great visit though and it was nice to hear her perspectives on living in Costa Rica since she is a successful single mom.

We then took off for a hair-raising ride through the mountains again. I don't know how Mary was able to drive with me gasping and whimpering in the passenger seat. The road to Dominical was paved and nice but really curvy and steep and the rain made visibility poor. We made it though! The GPS was a godsend! It got us right to the front desk at Hacienda Baru. Jack Ewing the owner greeted us much to our surprise. I don't know why I figured he was a man behind a desk in the back room but he definitely was not! He is a really nice man and makes Hacienda Baru a wonderful place to stay. He called for Maricio from the kitchen (he's one of the chefs) to escort us to our cabin, and they gave us umbrellas so we didn't get wet. The cabin was incredible! 2 bedrooms, mine had a double bed, Mary's had a double and a single.

There was a bench and a chair on the front screened in porch and a bathroom with a shower with hottish water.

Really clean and cheerfully painted. We had a sitting room and a kitchenette too. The price is really incredible for all you get and breakfast is included, not continental breakfast, real eggs and meat or a casado breakfast. Just wow.

We settled in, changed and went for dinner. As we were walking down the path we heard something behind us. We turned and this really scruffy little dog froze in his tracks. We walked, he walked, we turned, he froze, lol we were hooked. Mary named him Sam, and of course we brought some dinner back for him. 

We settled in, changed and went for dinner. The restaurant was cute, al fresco so you need bug spray. The food was good and reasonably priced. We ate well and were exhausted so we returned to our lovely cabin, sat outside with Sam for a while and then went to bed at around 10, not the wild woman vacation we had planned but really nice.

We made it!!

OMG we are here!!! I am writing in English and Spanish (badly) so my bf can read too, so skip down for English.

Hola mi vida te amo!! Estamos en Perez, en el Hotel Chirripo, gracias para decirme sobre este lugar. Es barato y enfrente del parque y la iglesia. Estoy nerviosa por hoy porque voy a conocer sus padres por la primera vez! Ojala les caiga bien. Yo gano porque manejemos aquí anoche sin problemas. Yo se que estuviste muy preoccupado pero hacemos bien. La gente puede entender mi español entonces no tenemos problemas hasta ahora. El carro es bastante bien, un poquito viejo y chocado pero corre y eso es que es importante. El país es increíble! Tan bonito! Me gusta muchisimo! Adiós y cuidate.

I won’t bore you with the flight details, although one is worth mentioning. As we flew into CR we passed over 2 volcanoes, wow what a beautiful sight! I am putting up pictures but they don’t do it justice. Actually none of the pictures do CR justice, what a beautiful country!

We landed in San Jose, the entry process is really easy. A travel tip, bring a pen on the plane, there are forms to fill out and Continental would not lend pens. Anyway, we breezed through customs and quickly had our luggage. We forgot to get colones (the money here) so I ran back into the airport to exchange some. Bring your passport everywhere you go! I needed it to get back in and to exchange the money. I went downstairs first and the were giving $515 per dollar, $516 if you change $130. lol big discount! Luckily I needed a passport so I couldn’t do the exchange because I ran into a guy outside who directed me to the bank upstairs that gave the current rate of $570.

Gustavo from 4 x 4 Rentals was right at the door as promised. He was really nice (and cute) and went through everything involved with the car. The car is OK, it’s a slightly beat up 4 x 4 Tracker. We went for cheap so it’s nothing to look at and runs a little rough, but it made it from San Jose to Perez with no problem. It was a little scary coming up the mountain because it wouldn’t accelerate quickly, but a lot of people had that problem.

 Our Car

The drive to Perez is breathtaking. The valleys with the clouds in them , the plants with leaves as big as a table, the lush greenery, just WOW!

We used the GPS to get out of San Jose and come here; it was a godsend. I figured we would need it to get out of the airport, but once on the Intercontinental it would be useless because you stay on the one road. Mary referred to it constantly since it showed the curves in the road and we could anticipate what was coming. The road was fine, not anything like everyone described, we thought maybe it’s been repaved? Yes you need to watch the curves and people pass you on them, but it was not bad at all.

It took about 3 hours to get here with rain, slow trucks and cow crossings included. We are at the Hotel Chirripo in the center of Perez Zeledon (San Isidro del General on all maps). The guy at the desk here is fantastic, and speaks perfect English. The room is tiny and musty, but has a balcony that overlooks the park and church. The church bells ring for every hour and people were partying in the park until the wee hours of the morning, but it is still a great place to stay. Cost: $27 for a room with 2 single beds and a private bath.

Less than a week to go! (previously posted on 6/23/2009)

Less than a week to go! Boy has the time dragged! I haven't updated 'cause there's nothing to tell yet. I will be sending the link out today or tomorrow to friends and family so they can stay "in touch" while we are away. What's new? well I bought or rather rented I guess a GPS map of Costa Rica from a company called navsat. You can get a 10 day trial and then if you decide to buy it you only have to pay the difference in price. I think this is good because when I researched the maps they started at $25.00 and went way higher. What I found was some of them are just electronic maps that can track where you are, while others are actual GPS units that can guide you to your destination. This one is the GPS kind. It should be interesting to see how this works in Costa Rica since my understanding is there are no addresses, you live like 100 meters from the church going south or some such reference. So I have no idea how we are going to use the GPS. At least it will help going from San Jose to Perez (I hope). So anyway the deal is that you pay, tell them when you are going, give the serial number to your GPS unit (which took me 3 go rounds, who knew it was the numbers on the UPC bar?) and they send you the program to install on your GPS a few days before you leave. It is good for 10 days and then deactivates. I like the idea because I get to try it while we are vacationing and if I like it I can buy it for when we move there, you have 6 months. If it sucks I am only out about half of the full price. I will post how it goes.

So I am going to try to post a picture of my future house now. It's not much, but it's paid for. It's one of the reasons I am going down early to see what it is like and see like if I have indoor plumbing and stuff. My Mario laughs at all my fears and my family eggs me on. Who knows what's in store in Costa Rica?

Well that's it for now! I am nervously awaiting Saturday morning and the beginning of the adventure!

This is Mario's house.

Can't wait to leave! (Previously Posted on 6/5/2009)

Wow my first blog, what a way to start a new adventure.

It's finally June, the month we leave for Costa Rica. I am starting this blog so that my friends and family (and anyone else that cares) can see where we wind up and the pics before we get home (providing my laptop makes the journey and we have internet access). I created a map of the trip up until we hit Uvita, that is as far as we have agreed on.

I am going to CR with my friend Mary. Her original mission was to point out all the bad things. I am thinking on moving there with my fiance in the near future and am petrified! She knows me though and is well aware that I tend to look at the world through rose-colored glasses prior to making a decision and then see things in a harsher light once the decision is irreversable. Neither is actually reality, so she was supposed to be my reality check. I say supposed to be because I think she is more excited about Costa Rica than I am!

Anyway, our plans are to rent a car in San Jose (we have a reservation with Rent a 4x4 in Costa Rica). They are supposed to pick us up at the airport. Mary is then going to drive us over the Cerro de la Muerte, ignoring my screaming in terror in the passenger seat, and into Perez (or San Isidro del General). We then are going to find a hotel and spend the night.

In the morning we are going to church in the center of town with my fiance's parents. Yeah I know it may be struck by lightning since I can't remember when I was in church last, but good impressions are everything and Mary wants to go.

We are then going to visit with his family at his parents' house and I will check out the house he owns where we will live when we move there. It's rented now and in need of a good paint job (at least).

After that fun-filled day we are heading off to Hacienda Baru for 2 nights and from there we dont know.

Well that's the plan - cya later!!