The trip back to Texas

Four fifteen is a really early time to leave the hotel for the airport. The hotel provided box breakfasts, consisting of yogurt, an apple, a small muffin, and a box of juice. Coffee was available. Folks leaving early (not everyone was) were in the lobby by 4 to get the sumptuous breakfast, get our bags loaded on the bus and go. We thought we’d seen the last of Sama (Federico) our wonderful bus driver, but he was there to drive us to the airport. I’m guessing he broke some bus driver laws, cuz they have to have a day off every so often and he hadn’t. Perhaps he was the only one available to drive the big honkin’ bus.

On arriving in the airport we “cued” up, (or is that w/ a q?) to pay our exit fee. A visitor to Costa Rica must pay $26 (or 13,000 colones) to leave the country.

Going thru security, the zippers on my pants pockets beeped, so I was “wanded” and went on my way. It is interesting how different all the settings on the metal detectors are. Same pants didn’t get any response from the machines in either DFW or Atlanta. Oh, Well we were soon to discover how security conscious Costa Rica is. We found our gate and waited a little while. We were sitting in zone 4, so when that was called, we got in line to enter the plane. Nope, not yet. Our carry on bags and purses were searched --some more thoroughly than others. The lady looking through my bag TOOK EVERYTHING OUT and patted down the bag itself. She felt around the sides and bottom of the bag. When she was convinced that I wasn’t smuggling anything out, she put everything back. I had a wad of money, some underwear, snacks, book, all sorts of things. When she grabbed my sack of banana chips and started squeezing, I told her to look in—I didn’t want them crushed. Do I need to mention that this lady was more thorough than some. N said his inspector just unzipped and looked in, didn’t touch anything. I guess I look suspicious.

As we were finally sitting on the plane, we noticed out the plane window that there were people on the tarmac “wanding” airport employees. I guess we should feel more safe than normal.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, no huge delays. Things were tight getting thru the customs stuff in Atlanta, we we made it with a minute or two to spare for a bathroom break. Thank you, E, for shipping the chairs.

We sat and read and napped and finally we were in DFW and my two favorite girls were waiting for us at baggage claim. I should have taken a picture because Lily was entranced by the sound of the baggage mover.

We were also grateful that we were home and the rest of the Bwd group still had a 3+ hour drive home.

Additional information

One of the items about which I had to do a little research was the Pan American Highway. I had heard of it before, but didn't know exactly what and where it was/is.
We traveled on this "famous" highway which is dubbed the "world's longest motor-able road". This road extends from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina, with a 54 mile rain forest gap in Panama. The road/s were built during WWII, to facilitate the sending of products down this particular part of the Americas. Discussion has been entertained concerning paving the rain forest gap, but for several reasons it hasn't (and probably won't) be done.

We were warned to keep cameras and electronics in zip lock/plastic bags at all times and we thought Jose was kidding, but we learned different. We had a cheap set of binoculars that got water inside them and were not very effective looking through fog.

We enjoyed listening to and watching the folks from England. A quote that I got seems awkward to us, but perfectly normal to them. "We resolved the query about which market is amalgamated with WalMart" This means we figured out which company merged with Walmart. There were at least 2 and maybe more of the folks from England whose use of eating utensils was "unusual" to me. I thought turning a fork upside down was peculiar. And one woman whiled away the hours on the bus by playing an imaginary piano. Interesting! I know someone who practiced her typing with no typewriter when she was in high school.

These last bits of info just didn't seem to fit elsewhere, or I forgot them at the time. STILL IN PROGRESS

SOME LOVELY PICTURES-- enjoy

Wednesday- bus travel to San Jose

Wednesday- travel

Last day in Costa Rica. We had a little more time to get ready this morning as bags didn’t have to be out til 9am and we left at 10. Time for looking around, time for seeing the birds and flowers.



I walked by the Mariposario (butterfly farm), but it wasn’t open yet, And we saw a man sweeping with a palm frond. Sorry the picture is so blurry, but he was really doing a good job.


We received a bit of medical information about Costa Rica this morning on our ride to lunch. Costa Rica has socialized medicine, which means that emergencies are taken care of speedily and with efficiency, however NON-emergencies take a long time, sometimes a month and occasionally up to six months. Jose told us that many people from the US come to Costa Rica for plastic surgery, eye surgery and dental work. At supper last night he mentioned that his son had thought about going into medicine, but felt that there were too many doctors for all to make a living.

We also were told that the country is refurbishing the Railroad system that was built in 1910. It was abandoned when people preferred to travel in their own cars, but with the price of gasoline, the country is trying to find a private company to take over the RR system.

He saw someone on the street selling yucca blooms and he said that people eat them with scrambled eggs at Easter.

We stopped for lunch at a very interesting large open-air sort of place. N and I ordered tortas de queso (which I would call quesadillas) and horchata (a drink we enjoyed in Spain, made of pine nuts, I think.)

Our next stop was in the town of Sarche where a 90-year-old oxcart factory has become a monster souvenir shop. We saw how the wheels for oxcarts were still made the old way with a forge and straps of iron around each wheel. There was a water wheel moving the machinery to 30 rpm and the metal ring was heated to 800 degrees Celsius before being placed on the wooden wheel and cooled.

We loaded the bus and headed for our last night’s stay in San Jose.

The group from Bwd has a flight leaving for Atlanta at 7:15 am, so we catch a shuttle for the airport at 4:15 AM. And breakfast? Who knows or really cares at that hour.

Let me tell you there will be lots of sleeping on the plane. We have an hour and a half in Atlanta to get our luggage, go thru customs, recheck our bags and find our gate to DFW. If we’re late getting home, you’ll know why.

And we’re all really excited that the person who bought 2 large wooden rocking chairs and planned to schlep them thru the airport, changed her mind and has shipped them home.

We spent about an hour or so and some $$$ in this shop.

The Beach

We went to breakfast at 7 this morning and were supposed to leave at 7:30 on the bus to travel about an hour and a half to the Manuel Antonio National Park (Beach). As we were leaving the property, some workmen were cutting the bamboo, which had fallen on the road because of the heavy rain last night. The bamboo canes had filled with water and were sagging over the roadway, so the bus couldn’t pass through. The finished their harvesting and we were on our way. We were warned that there was a walk of about a mile to get from the town to the National Park and I was soo glad I hadn’t worn my sandals. The road was gravel interspersed with various sizes of smooth river rock—not really easy to walk on.

We finally arrived, I got changed and N and I enjoyed the warm Pacific water.




There were many monkeys chattering in the trees and one bold little guy hopped out of the tree, stole a person’s sack on his towel and hopped back into the tree. He took whatever was in the sack, dropped the sack and headed for a high limb to check out his treasure. N got some really cute monkey pictures- up close and personal.




While we were in the water, we looked at the shore where we had left my bag with clothes, etc and N’s camera bag. A trio of raccoons was rummaging in our stuff. Luckily I had zipped everything up nice and tight and one of our neighbors shooed them off. We remembered later that we had each squirreled away a banana from breakfast and they must have smelled them.

Anyway they went away empty pawed and we had nothing missing.

It is really difficult to get sand and salt off skin and out of hair. I felt so much better when we got back to the room and showered. The rest of the day we were on our own. While walking around, we saw some scarlet Macaws playing and screaming. He got pictures, but they aren’t as good as he hoped.



Once during supper tonite the electricity totally went out in the hotel’s restaurant. We did have little table candles already lit, but it was still quite dark. The power was restored and we finished the meal—and by the way I had tenderloin and it was the best meat I’ve had in a very long time. On getting to our room, a neighbor told us that all the lights were out everywhere. I’m surprised that our key cards worked, but they did. We sat in the dark for awhile when I remembered a candle on the table. I opened the computer, which gave enough light to see the candle and found the matches right beside it. Bingo we had light. About 10 minutes later, the power was restored in the room and N is very happy that the a/c is working. He gets VERY grumpy without a fan or something while he sleeps. And Oh, yeah, he got lots more sun than he thought. We're both pretty pink, with tight tender skin in places.

We leave tomorrow to return to San Jose by way of an artisan center and yep, souvenir shops. Haven't bought a great deal so far (shirts, gee-gaws,a monkey, headband) but that may change.
Don’t leave til 10, so we can take our time in the morning. Only 2 more days of blog.

Souvenirs and Crocodiles

Iguana


little white tree toad

Monday morning-
We sat out on our private veranda watching the clouds move away from the top of the Arenal volcano. Up to this time, the mountain has been obscured, but we got a good view and some nice pictures.


At breakfast, the serving crew must have been diminished since the weekend; we had a difficult time getting juice and hot drinks, which up to now have been served very promptly. I’m guessing most guests leave on Sunday, so the management has a short staff for Monday.

We are headed today to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and will stop for breaks and lunch.

We crossed over the Continental Divide and drove on the Pan American Highway—more about that later.

We stopped at a huge enormous souvenir shop connected to a cafeteria, where the predominant food is---you guessed it—rice and beans mixed with either veggies or meat.
The store had all sorts of wooden items (belts, purses, jewelry, placemats, bowls, etc), all kinds of embroidered items and macramé and as always, caps and t-shirts. One of our group bought two leather and wood rocking chairs to haul back on the airplane.

We were told that the Caribbean side of the country has rain 13 months a year and the Pacific side has seasons—rainy and dry. We are on the cusp of the rainy and the vegetation on the side of the road looks a little brown and dry, which will change in the coming months.

Almost to the hotel, we were taken on a side trip to the Crocodile and bird watching Safari.

We all loaded up in a covered boat and headed out to see critters. The guide gave each of us a brochure, which showed 58 bird pictures with their names and then he proceeded to point to birds and say their number in the brochure.







By the end, we had seen 35 of the 58, with 4 “bonus” birds (not in the brochure). Our guide, Hansel, pointed out Basilisk Lizards who are also called Jesus Christ Lizards because they seem to walk on water. He explained that their back legs move 22 times a second, which propels them across the water.

We saw multitudes of crocodiles, both large and small



and we saw iguanas.


We were in a tidal river in which the depth changes with the tides, daily. There is a mixture of salt and fresh water. The salt water is heavier and sinks to the bottom. We went into a Mangrove swamp where the mangrove trees “process” the salt, filtering it and leaving blotches of it on its bark.

One of my favorite new fruits is a guanavana. We saw one finally and it is the shape of a strawberry, but much larger (think soccer ball) and was really green with little seeds like a strawberry. I’ve had the juice and it is very yummy. Didn't see this fruit growing, but we did see mangos and papayas.




We finally got to our hotel, which is a part of a private club with a really large amount of land. There are security cameras everywhere, security guards, a private beach and private homes.
It is a lovely place as all of our hotels have been, but this room is quite a bit smaller than the others and N and I have been running into each other. There is barely enough room for suitcases and us.

About the time we got back to our room from supper, a huge thunderstorm hit, giving us a perfect score so far. No days without rain. We lost power in the room for a few seconds and then we began to hear drip, drip, drip. We discovered a puddle in the floor by the door and sopped it up.

It’s been a long travel day, more tomorrow. This trek is coming to a close. Tomorrow, the visit to Manuel Antonio National Park—the Pacific Beach. Nitey nite

Hanging Bridges hike

Sunday

We went to the reception area to use WiFi and Nick tried to get on his Facebook page. Since he signed in from a “public” computer in the lobby, he was quizzed (by facebook) about whether he was really who he said he was. They gave him pictures of some of his friends, and he had to put names to the pictures—something an imposter might have trouble doing. He had several of these “tests” before the rulers of facebook finally let him on his page.

We were surprised today when the maid had finished with the room, that she (or someone) left a flower arrangement of bird of paradise and ginger flowers. Absolutely breathtaking—and the arrangement had NO water in it.

We have learned that these flowers absorb their water from the air. This is why they don’t do well in Texas, air not wet enough.

We had the morning to relax, so we walked around and enjoyed the garden like surroundings.






We drove on the bus to the town of Fortuna for lunch and shopping. Got NT and BT each a little something. We had lunch at the Gecko Gourmet


and ice cream at a little place where the ice cream was so hard the young lady working there couldn’t scoop what I wanted. I had to change flavors.

After the trip to town we picked up other folks at the hotel and headed to the Hanging Bridges tour. Our guide, Jose, had continuously mentioned that this was a difficult walk and those who didn’t feel up to it should stay at the hotel. Several did. HE WAS RIGHT! N and I are in fairly decent shape, exercising almost every day when we are home, and it was hard on us. Some of the folks had an even harder time than we did. It was almost 2 miles and some of the trail had a more than 30 degree incline. The entire path was paved with a waffle looking cinder block having 4-inch square openings that made footing precarious. There were six hanging suspension bridges, which shook and wiggled and were really high above the trees. I think this should be an optional activity for this tour rather than a part of the Collette package for everyone and the difficulty should be stressed. The description in our travel booklet makes NO mention of the strenuous effort needed to complete this activity. The fact that we were walking into a rain forest was very interesting, but we saw almost no wildlife.

Immediately from the Hanging bridges trek, we were taken to our second optional activity. We had signed up for the Hot Springs visit before we knew that the pool at our hotel was fed by a hot spring. I think the difference between the hotel pool and the place where we were taken (Ecotermales) was the setting and the ambiance. It was like a large public swimming pool with 4 different pools with water of 4 different temperatures. From warm to HOT. And there was a waterfall that felt like it was directly out of the Arenal volcano. It was a great way to unwind from the long trek and the setting was lovely. The pool was surrounded with jungle vegetation and there was an “honor” bar. Order all the drinks you want and pay when you leave. We spent a relaxing hour and a half there, then dressed and waited with the others in the tour for the bus to pick us up for supper. So ends day 7 of our adventure.

ZIP LINE adventure

Sky Trek aka Zip Line Adventure

After seeing an episode of the new Hawaii 50 a month or two ago, I wondered if I really wanted to zip line. Don’t get me wrong, I WANTED to do it, but heights are really not my comfort zone. The t.v. show made my anxiety a bit worse, because a father and daughter were having a wonderful zipline experience in a Hawaiian jungle and some really bad guys set a charge on one of the cables and the daughter plunged to her death. Now that I’ve done it, I have some other questions that weren’t answered. How did they get the rest of the people down without the cable? How did they find her body so quickly? But that is tv and a really morbid bunch of questions. On to our adventure.

We arrived at the zip line area early, so our tour guide arranged for us to go to a butterfly exhibit which was interesting.




Then it was finally our time to go.


We had to sign a waiver saying we were physically fit enough to do the zip line (at least I think that is what it said) and then we were put into our harnesses and handed a metal device that was very heavy on which we would later zip . We were rigged out with helmets and given heavy duty work gloves, which didn’t fit, but no matter. We waited –lots of this experience was wait, wait, wait, since only one person can be on the cable at a time and we were a group of 25.We ascended the mountain in a metal cage with seats, I’m guessing it is a ski lift thing, but never having skied, who knows. It wasn’t the ski lift I see on the phone commercial, but this was called a ski lift, so that’s good enough for me.



The trip up the mountain was very quiet (all the sounds of civilization were below us) and lovely and oh, yes, have I mentioned rainy. We brought rain gear as instructed, but the weather when we “suited up” was hot and clear, so we put our gear in the lockets provided. Both a good and bad thing.

At the top of the mountain, we waited for our group to assemble. We had 16 from our tour, but were joined by two families with children of various ages. This made our group 25 people. As in most tourist places here, we were given juice before beginning. And it was, as usual, yummy (Of all the juice we’ve been served, there has only been one I haven’t liked.)

We waited till all our “helpers” Juan, Juan Carlos, Ricardo and Katy were assembled and ready to go. This particular zip line is made up of 8 “legs”. The first two are short, and not particularly fast and are labeled as practice runs. The others are long and fast, more about that later.

We were given instructions what to expect, how to position ourselves, how to slow down, why not to slow down. Not nearly enough information for me, but I listened very intently.

One of the families had young boys who were not heavy enough to go alone. Think of your physics, if something heavy zips down a line it will go fast. Something light might not have enough weight to make it all the way. The youngest boy was about 8 and wanted to go alone, but one of the crew went with him most of the time.. The teenage girl was terrified and someone went with her almost each time.

The practice runs were okay and exciting. When we got to the long runs (1440 ft, and 1550 ft) the fog came down, as did the pouring rain. Do they call the ballgame on account of rain? In this country if things stopped because of rain, nothing would ever happen. We went on. The most terrifying part of this was zipping into fog so thick that I couldn’t see where the cable was going. I could see the cable I was on, but only for about 2 feet, then it was like flying into a cotton ball. Since we couldn’t see, the crew at the next platform, shook the cable when they heard/felt you coming and that was the signal to uncurl your body to make stopping easier. As you slammed onto the platform, the crew had ropes to slow you down and stop you. After the fact, some of our tour group who hadn’t zip lined asked about brakes on the zip line. Trust me there were NO brakes. The zip liner can spread out his legs to slow a bit and if he has the presence of mind, can juggle the mechanism that he is holding on to, but that is not recommended. If a person tries to slow down, their momentum might not carry them to the next platform. This happened to a person in our group. And this was covered in our beginning instructions. There is a way to rescue yourself, but it didn’t sound pleasant and was rather physically taxing. Anyway, No BRAKES.

After two runs into the abyss (fog), not knowing where you are going or how soon you’ll get the the platform, or just what will fall out of the sky on you, or if you’ll hit a tree (the last two --not going to happen, but hard to convince your brain of that), the fog lifted somewhat. Also we were getting lower, down below the cloud cover. The rain stopped, but we were soaked to the skin, so the rain stopping was of no concern. We were already drenched. I might mention when you are zipping in a pelting rain, if the clouds had allowed me to see, I couldn’t have because my glasses were smeared with rain.

I'm adding a video from the company that runs Sky Trek Arenal. THESE FOLKS in the video ARE NOT FROM OUR GROUP, BUT IT APPROXIMATES WHAT WE DID, except that we had thick fog. Enjoy!




When we could see, the experience was not so much frightening as thrilling and exciting. On the fastest leg of the run, the brochure says, we were going 50 mph (N was probably going faster because of his weight) On the others, from 40-45 mph)

The last zip was a short one where each person’s picture was taken. We “un-geared” and went to collect our stiff out of the lockers—nice warm dry jackets felt sooo good.

Would I do this again? Doubtful Am I glad I did it? Absolutely!
Would I encourage others? Depends on the person.
I’ve been there, done that, and I wish I’d gotten the t shirt. We did get pictures, tho.