Day 10-11: Vanilla and Traffic; a flight home

Our last full day in Costa Rica started with an early wake-up and check-out of the hotel.  On the way out of town we stopped at Villa Vanilla (LINK), an organic spice/herb/vanilla farm.  Our guide Joyce gave us a terrific tour, showing us aspects of growth and harvest of vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, hibiscus, coffee, passionfruit, cardamom, ginger, kefir lime, chocolate, clove, and turmeric. Some toucans came to visit and snack on bananas.  We saw a big blue morpho resting on a leaf, and when we had our cameras ready, Joyce approached it to try to get it to open its wings.  It did, but it flew right into Joyce’s face before fluttering away!  Towards the end of the tour, we saw a mama hummingbird sitting in her nest protecting two eggs. We also tasted traditional bitter chocolate drinks, ice cream flavored with spices from the farm, and we got to taste a cacao seed.  The sun stayed mostly hidden behind clouds, so it wasn’t as hot as it could have been.

Vanilla beans drying in the open air

Cinnamon bark drying

mama hummingbird

Blue morpho butterfly

Peppercorn!  We got to try one. They were hot!

After that, things went downhill fast.  

At 11.30am, we got in the car to drive to the airport hotel (which had been estimated at a 3 hour drive), the GPS told us that it was suddenly four hours.  Not a big deal, since we had read about how you have to build delays into your car trips in Costa Rica.  So, we left the farm and turned left on the road out of town.  In about a mile, the road became unpaved.  No big deal – we had driven on lots of unpaved roads in our car, and we had 4WD and full insurance coverage.  But, what we expected to be a few km of unpaved roads turned into about 20, including deep mud, crossing creeks, steep climbs and drops, tight switchbacks, huge ruts, narrow lanes and steep drops.  It was 90 minutes of white knuckle driving, and by the end of it, the muffler was dangling 3 inches off the ground.  Every time we hit a speed bump, we’d hear it scrape.  Drivers would honk at us and gesture to let us know that we had a problem.  Once we were on the pavement, we tried to find a mechanic to tie the muffler back to the chassis, but it took us two towns and four attempts before we found someone who could do it.  

Back on the road and mostly complete, we immediately ran into a 30-minutes standstill on the highway, where traffic was clamped down to one lane (alternating directions) while workers repaired a section that had washed out in the rains.  After that, we stopped at a restaurant to eat and use the restroom.  By this point, it was about 4pm, and we were still 2 hours from the hotel.  So, we canceled our dinner reservations in San Jose, called the rental car company to let them know that because we’d be arriving so late, we’d have to return the car in-person (they offered hotel pick-up if we arrived before 5), and buckled in for the last leg.

As we got into San Jose, the traffic got gnarly.  Costa Rican driving is messy and chaotic everywhere, with cars weaving on the road to avoid potholes, motorcycles zipping every which way, and pedestrians and bicycles that are both on the road and not wearing reflective gear.  But, when you add to that the congestion of the city, it gets terrifying.  Not nearly as bad as the 25+k off-road experience, but close.  We finally got to the airport hotel, and I helped S & H get our stuff into the room.  Then, I jumped back in the car to drive the 3k to the car rental office. 

When I was about .5k from their offices, I got into an accident.  A motorcycle and my car collided, and the rider flipped over my car into the street.  Per Costa Rican law, we left both vehicles in the street where everything happened and got to the side of the road.  The motorcyclist (Rick) was very lucky – had had some abrasions on one shin and a cut on his thumb, but was otherwise fine.  He was a nice guy, and we chatted while we waited for an insurance officer, the transit police, and some agents from the rental car company to come down and inspect.  I had to fill out reports for each of those groups, and 2.5 hours later, I was able to leave the scene.  I followed the rental car folks back to the office, where I turned the car in and caught a shuttle back to the hotel.  By the time I got to the hotel, H was already asleep.  I showered, calmed down chatting with S, and then knocked off myself.

Wednesday morning brought a 5am wake-up.  We caught a 6am shuttle to the airport and got to our plane on time.  I’m writing all of this from the plane, flying back to LAX, where the fires are very scary!

LATER:  As we were flying into LAX and getting ready for landing, S grabbed my arm and told me that some of our dear friends lost their home in the LA fires.  So, instead of having a calm afternoon settling back in, doing laundry, etc., we quickly unpacked our bags and then went to where they were staying, giving them some support in their time of need.  We got home later than we wanted, got H to sleep, and then collapsed in bed ourselves.  I slept well for about four hours, but then anxiety dreams woke me.   So, I’m up!

We're home, kind of unpacked, terrified and heartbroken for our friends, but we're safe.

Day 9: Parasailing, teaching, and another night hike

Today was hot and sunny, perfect weather for this morning's adventure: parasailing!  We started with breakfast on the beach and then a walk down the shore to the parasailing company, Aguas Azules.  

We met them at their pop-up on the beach, where they were running a pretty efficient operation.  Melanie and her husband were the owner operators, and they had three parachutes and boats that they could run at a time.  Each boat had a crew, plus there was a beach crew that got passengers kitted up, a crew that ran everyone through what to expect and helped us launch, and a guy on a jetski who retrieved us after we splashed down.  H and I went up together and got a tour around Puente Catedral.  It was really amazing.  We both felt totally safe.

After getting back to shore, we hung at the beach for an hour before I had to go to teach and have appointments.  Today's the first day of classes, so while I was teaching, S and H had fun on a zip coaster and at the pool.  

When the afternoon was winding down, we all reconnected, got cleaned up, and headed into Quepos (the town just north of Manuel Antonio) for dinner and yet another stupid beautiful sunset.

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One of the things that I'm missing in Costa Rica is an inventive and culturally rich culinary culture.  The tropical fruit here is outstanding - everything is five times better than what you can get in the states, but outside of every restaurant doing a version of Gallo Pinto (Costa Rica's rice and beans dish) and more ceviche than you can shake a stick at, there's not really much to the food culture.  Even the 'nice' restaurants we've gone to have been just ok, food wise.  We've had some amazing bites (tortillas, here, grilled octopus there, and Manuel Antonio's cocktail scene is on point), but nothing that lives up to hype. We've enjoyed what we ate, but I think that Costa Rican restaurants are graded on a curve.

After the dinner (another highly-rated restaurant that served food that was 'fine,' we met our guide Kevin at Biophilia Natural Reserve for another jungle night hike.  Unlike the one that we did in La Fortuna where we were part of a group of around 12 people, and our group was one of 4 wandering the grounds, we were the only group in the reserve and we Kevin all to ourselves.  He showed us a bunch of great animals, and we were all three astounded at his eye. He could pick out tiny animals at such a distance!

The first two photos are mine.  The others are ones that Kevin took with his iphone mounted against his nature scope.

Croc.

This little guy was the size of a quarter, and H found him!

Wandering Spider eating a cockroach. Good riddance.

Don't be sad for the bug-covered sloth.  Kevin says this is a symbiotic relationship.

Apparently it is rare to see the Camron climbing salamander.

Beautiful half-moon!

After we said goodnight to Kevin, we came home to pack a bit and go to bed.  We've got one more sweaty adventure tomorrow!

S and I both feel like we're ready for this trip to be done.  It's been a packed adventure, but we're ready to get home and resume our lives, sleep in our beds, etc. 

Day 8: KSTR volunteer day

Monkeys at breakfast today!  They were crawling all over the restaurant, and each table had a water bottle we could use to deter their approach.  This little guy was hanging out in the rafters.

Today's activities in Costa Rica were a total surprise for H.  We've been referring to it as 'H's special surprise day,' and last night she hypothesized that it was either something to do with butterflies or with sloths.  So, she was excited if not entirely surprised when we drove up to the facilities at the Kids Save the Rainforest program for a full-day volunteer experience.  We met up with two other families (the Bostonians and the New Yorkers each had two girls) and our guide Dorian to start the day with a tour of the facilities, which includes the kitchen area, enclosures, and nursery.  

Dorian quizzing us on skulls.

The kitchen also had perscriptions for the animals who needed medication.

We spent most of our day caring for the animals that were in enclosures ('jail,' as Dorian liked to say).  These animals all had some sort of extenuating circumstances that meant that they couldn't live in the wild.  One bird couldn't fly, a few animals were missing limbs, a few had paralysis, etc.  The organization mostly does rehab and sanctuary work.  We didn't get to work with the rehabbing animals, but we did get a lot of time with the sanctuary animals.

Voldi (short for Voldemort) lost a fight and came to the sanctuary missing a lot of blood and half his face.

After the tour we prepped medicine and snacks for the animals.  Quite a few had regular medication needs, and we needed to find ways both to give the their medicine (such as grinding up a pill, mixing it with peanut butter, and spreading the slurry on a banana) and also to make sure that the unmedicated animals didn't get jealous (which typically meant that they also got a snack).  The snacks were often presented in a way that challenged the animal to get some exercise.

Chopping fruit for animal snack!

H giving medicine (mixed with watermelon juice) to Gummy the marmoset. 

The docents wove grass into cricket shapes and then hid sunflower seeds inside.

After our lunch, we headed back to the enclosures to give the animals their big meal.  We helped the keepers place the food in the enclosures.  Sometimes, that meant placing the food in a secure area and then using an airlock-like system to give the animals access (we did this for monkeys, marmosets, and cuati).  

H tying up a food snack while whitefaced monkeys look on expectantly.

Sometimes, we could enter the enclosure with the keeper and the animal (birds and sloths).  

H and Dorian feed a snack to Señor Donna, a two-toed sloth paralyzed from the waist down.

After we fed the animals, we helped do a bit of tidying and were released. All told, we worked from 9-3, which a short snack and an hour for lunch.  H was overjoyed and couldn't stop talking about the different animals.  She bought a stuffed sloth and named is Señor Donna, pretended to be her in the pool, and is in general bowled over by the experience.  What a hit!

This toucan came to hang out at lunch.

After the volunteer experience, we took a dip in the pool, got cleaned up, and had dinner at Rico Tico Jungle Grill, which was not what I was expecting.  With a name like that, I was expecting a happening bar with live music and a happening vibe.  Instead, the restaurant was quiet and tasteful.  Excellent food and service.  And another sunset view!

Day 7: Manuel Antonio National Park

S was up at 6 this morning to make our morning meeting with the naturalist in Manuel Antonio National Park.  H was still feeling crummy (stuffy, sore throat), so I volunteered to stay back at the bungalow with her.  I caught up on some work email and read some magazines while H texted with her Grandpa and facetimed with cousin O.  

The view from our veranda.

After a few hours, she started to feel better, so we got dressed to start our day. We hadn't eaten anything in over 14 hours, so I was pretty hangry.  We took a cab to the entrance of the park and ate at a little tourist cafe called 'Restaurante Donde Alex.'  It was entirely sufficient, though I suspect the cheez whiz topping on my burrito was meant to add a certain 'American flair' and H dismissed her spaghetti as 'not as good as daddy's.'  The mango smoothie, however, was excellent, and H enjoyed it while texting her Grandpa back in the states.

After breakfast/lunch, we walked into the park and caught up with S, who had a great experience on the naturalist tour and was eager to do some more exploring with us.  We started by walking down to the beaches along an elevated trail system that ran over marches crawling with tiny crabs.

The beaches were crowded with sunbathers of all ages and nationalities.  We hung out for a bit, dipping our feet in the water (bathwater warm!) before heading across a tiny isthmus to Punta Catedral (Cathedral Point), for a fairly strenuous hike that took us to a bunch of look-outs over the water and also let us see some monkeys!

Back on the mainland, we headed back to the car through a mangrove swamp, where this little friend was showing off for us.

We got back to the hotel in a rainstorm, took a quick dip in the pool (in the rainstorm), got cleaned up and then headed to El Avion for dinner.  The restaurant is built around a Reagan-era contra plane, and it has some exquisite views of the water and the sunset.  We were at the best table in the house, as evidenced by the throng of people standing around us with their phones while the sun set.

The main fuselage is now a bar, and the cockpit is open for visitations.

After dinner, we swung by a grocery store for fruit, snacks, water, and beer.  Then, home to bed so that we can rest up for tomorrow's adventure, which is a total surprise for H.  She says that she's feeling much better, and I'm convinced that she wasn't really sick as much as over-tired from a few days of hyper stimulation and not enough sleep.