Our Last Fun Day

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Club Fred. Fresh fruits and cereal and great coffee. We hung out for the longest time not wanting to leave and hoping to see a macaw or 2. I was talking with Ely when I heard them! I have a macaw and can recognize that scream no matter what country they are in. They flew in over the river, yelling like only macaws can and looking like they were having a blast. Mary shot a bunch of pictures,, but they look like little red dots. And then they were gone, but wow they were beautiful. To see them flying wild is something I will never forget.

We opted to drive the Costanera up to Manuel Antonio. I was nervous (of course) to go over the rickety bridges, but again Mary's sense of adventure prevailed and off we went. It turns out I was nervous for nothing. The road is being paved and for the most part is flat and easy to travel. It is only underlayment, no asphalt so it is really dusty, but way less scary than the mountain roads. We were able to go along at a decent clip until you hit construction. Which was the oddest thing, there seemed to be little rhyme or reason to where you would hit construction. We kind of thought that you would start at the both ends and pave to the middle, but it seemed that they were working closer to the middle and then sporadically out to the ends of the road. Anyway, most of the bridges are done, nice wide bridges. We only had to pass over one that looked like the ones you see on youtube.

As we went North, I liked it less and less because it looked more and more like here. There are developments with bigger homes and more traffic. Jaco had a really big multi-story hotel that loomed out of place in the Costa Rica we had come to love. Fittingly right after Jaco we got stopped by the police. There was a little guard house and the officer saw our shining white faces and blonde hair and motioned us to stop. Ugh. Stupidly, I spoke to him in spanish, in retrospect I should have played dumb and not understood what he said. Anyway he informed me that they strongly enforced the seatbelt laws in Costa Rica and we were not wearing ours. We would be issued 2 tickets at 15,000 colones each ( a little more than $26.00). I told him that I did not have colones, all I had was $20 would he take it? He was thinking for a second when helpful Mary - understanding part of the conversation - piped in with "Wait! I have colones!" lol you could see the dollar signs in his eyes. Well Mary had 20,000 colones which he accepted in addition to my $20. Of course we got no paperwork, no receipt, nothing. He invited us back to Costa Rica though!

Poorer and no wiser we sped off, seatbelts on, to Manuel Antonio. Thank God we had the belts on! As we were discussing the things we coulda, shoulda, woulda, the road ran out. Now there may have been signs, we weren't really paying attention, but all of a sudden on this wide road there were cement baracades and we were barrelling towards them at 50 miles an hour. I don't know how Mary managed to stop the car, but she put it sideways and didn't hit anything! Whew heart pounding moment!

We arrived in Manuel Antonio after that. We ate in a restaurant made out of one of the planes from the Iran Contra Affair. It was pretty cool. The bar was in the plane and you walk under the wings to get into the restaurant. The food was excellent and so was the view. We went to the national park after that. Manuel Antonio was a let down after our experiences in Hacienda Baru. As you drive around town people shout to you from every parking lot, AMIGA AMIGA park here. We finally parked right next to the entrance and the guy said it would be 2 dollars and he would watch our car and make sure nothing happened to it. Of course I was convinced we would come back to no car, especially when he told us to pay when we returned. There were tons of tour operators at the gate trying to convince you to take a tour. We opted not to. We went into the park and followed behind a tour. Everytime they stopped we could see what they were looking at so it was the poor gals tour lol.

We heard tons of howlers but didn't see any. Oh it costs $10 per person to get into the park. It is worth it because the park is really beautiful. The beaches were more crowded than Hacienda Baru (ok so we were the only ones on the beach there so 1 more person would have made it crowded lol). We walked the shorter trail and saw an iguana and this really silly racoon. Then it started to pour so we headed on out. Unfortunately we wound up on the other side of the park so we had quite the hike to get back. All was not lost though cause we bought a pipa from a local vendor on the beach and wound up in the street vendor section. I got a few dresses and shirts there for the folks back home.

On the road to the car we finally saw our monkeys! There were all these white faced cappuchins in the trees outside of the park. lol We apid and didn't see them in the park and here they were for free laughing at us. We watched them for a while, it's incredible how they go from tree to tree without falling, even the little guys!

We finally found the car and sure enough the guy had kept it safe! Somethings are so surprising lol. From there we went to look for a hotel close to the airport. I really don't recommend driving at night. I was soooo scared, the roads are curvy and dark and of course it was misting so they were wet and visibility was poor. Mary drove really slowly, but I was in tears coming down the mountain. It's not like they would see you dive off of the cliff, who knows when you would be found. But we made it. We drove all around Alajuela looking for a hotel. Boy I loved that GPS program, I am going to have to buy it before we move.

The hotels were really expensive in comparison to what we were used to paying. we finally opted for the Hotel Aeropuerto at $90 a night. Well sort of $90, see they quote the price in dollars, then they convert it to colones using a higher rate and charge that to your credit card, which then converts it back to dollars. So you wind up paying like $95 dollars. Anyway we were exhausted, there was a shower, TV!!, and internet so we coughed up the money and had a great night.

Sadly, we left for home the next day. Boy I miss Costa Rica. Can't wait to go back!

Day 5 The tour and Club Fred

Day 5:

Ok it's been a month since we were in Costa Rica and I still haven't finished the blog, sorry!

So we broke down and coughed up $20 a piece to do a tour on our last day at Hacienda Baru. Well worth it! We should have done more than one. We had two wonderful guides, Nicholas and Christian. Both were fluent in English (and really cute). We went trekking through the forest with them and they would stop, point up to nothing it seemed, set up the telescope and low and behold there was a sloth, or a toucan, or monkeys, I never did see any of it with the naked eye (except the monkeys), but it was really cool looking through the scope at them.

Christian would grab my crappy camera and take pictures through the telescope that were nicer than the ones I took straight on. That's why all the pictures you are seeing here are from Mary's collection. Anyway it was lots of fun and very informative.

After the tours we went back to the cabin to pack up and leave. We were really sad to be leaving such a wonderful place and were thinking about our poor Sammy, when poof there he was. It was like he came to say goodbye! We had never seen him during daylight hours. We figured he was afraid of the other Baru dogs and stuck to night, but he came said goodbye, got some last loving and left. Too cute!

So on the road we went, we stopped again in Dominical but not for long, and then continued on the way to Club Fred. We had wanted to get lunch, and got a taste of Costa Rican culture instead lol. It was probably 10:30, and we were trying to get this humus sandwich we had seen on our last trip in, We found the restaurant, but it was closed. I went to the tour place in the next shop and asked when they opened. The guy says 11 and comes out screaming for the café owner lol. She's not around so Mary and I decide to go shop for a bit and come back. We come back at 11:15 but still no owner. Now we were too hungry to wait, resigned ourselves to not having the hummus and went on our way.

We stopped at a beach in Bellena and it was really cool. Instead of sand there were all these rocks which made the waves reverberate. The view, like everywhere was really spectacular.

We made the climb to Club Fred, Mary got really good at 4 wheelin', and we checked in. Fred and Ely's kids were doing their homework. What an incredible way to grow up, living in paradise. We chatted with them for a while and decided to go find a waterfall to swim in. We were looking for a waterfall called Vagina since it was formed by a split in the rocks and apparently a large rock jammed its way in and it looks somewhat like a woman's private part.

We didn't find it, but we did find a place called Cascada. I was starving and they had a sign for Tilapia. So we go in, and when I say in, it's not really inside, it seems there are no real structures in Costa Rica when it comes to bars, restaurants, etc. The weather is so wonderful; it's more like a roof over a floor. This teeny woman comes out with a few dogs and says we can walk to the waterfalls but it's a little dangerous, she calls for her husband to come help us old biddies out but he is not around. We order tilapia, it's all that is on the menu, and decide to set out for the falls. Oh wait, the woman wanted to know if we preferred to catch our own dinner. There were these little ponds where the tilapia live and apparently you have the option to fish for dinner. Not being real fisherwoman, lol, we opted to let them provide the fish.

The falls were pretty, not like we had expected though, more long than high. You couldn't swim since it was rainy season and the water was running fast and deep. When we got back we had a great dinner. We were a little surprised when she served it, being the connoisseurs we are we figured tilapia = filets, not so, we had little fishy eyes staring up from the plate at us. It was really good though! Mary the vegetarian tried to get every bit of meat off of the bones (avoiding looking the poor lil fish in the eyes of course). I don't know what spices she used but it was the best fish ever! They had a little parrot named Paco who tried to eat Mary, and various dogs came in and out while we were there. The neighbor from up the road came with 2 more dogs to visit, a very colorful place. Oh yeah and there were chickens everywhere too, but they stayed out on the grass. I talked with the husband, who finally showed up and he told me he was selling off 1 acre lots and I should tell all my gringo friends. He is selling them at $100,000 a piece and doesn't know why they aren't selling. So my fellow gringos, make sure to look him up if you are in town!

We got back to Club Fred right when the rain hit. WOW what a storm!! The rain came down in buckets and there was tons of lightning! Fred and Ely decided to go out to dinner and left during the storm. Wow I couldn't do that, the road is really step to get to the hotel and it is clay and stone. To them I guess it's an everyday occurrence but I was nervous for them. Lol they are so laid back, as they are leaving they tell us there is another guest who has no key, make sure to let him in when he comes. We told him we would try to rent out the other rooms as well. So about a half hour into the storm here comes, Ed I think his name is, his son and a California surfer-dude named Rama. We chatted with Ed til he went upstairs to pass out. Rama stayed downstairs with us, he was a nice guy, and when Ely and Fred came back he made us all Rama Bamas from the fruit and liquor in the fridge. I think we drank everything poor Fred and Ely had.

Oh during the storm we were out on the porch with the lights on. Yes it attracted tons of bugs, but after the bugs come the geckos and the frogs to feast. Who needs TV? Mary got some cool shots of the frogs hanging out in Ely's flower vase on the shelf lol. I really recommend staying at Club Fred we had a blast. It was a nice homey atmosphere and views to die for. I got to talk at length with Ely about relocating to Costa Rica. She has a group of local woman who are trying to preserve the area which is really great. I will tell you about the North of Costa Rica later but it is sad. I think that the Ticos have an opportunity to make a lot of money on their properties because foreigners would like to come in and live, but they are plowing up the land to put in developments with little regard to the wildlife around them. Ely's group is working to develop in a more eco-friendly manner, and it's so cool that it is woman doing it. I wish her luck!