The Final Day in Pura Vida

7-13-11

                Today was my last morning in Costa Rica. We are heading out on the 2:35 flight back to Charlotte. I am excited and sad at the same time. I don’t want to leave CR, but I do want to seem my friends and get settled back in to my school life. We had a big breakfast at the hotel today, and had tico cheese fried on bread and lots of fruit juice. We packed up the car and were on our way to the rental shop and the airport after a quick picture break and coffee stop along the way. Rosita was in a better mood this morning so it didn’t take long to get to the rental shop to return the car, which was mercifully not a long wait (like it was for Devon, Dad and Mom the first time). A shuttle came to take us to the airport and we were at the front of the line for checking in. We made it through security relatively quickly thanks to Devon’s minor status, although in the process I lost my manicure kit.. I had put it in the wrong bag… No matter what country you’re in airport food is expensive. It’s just like amusement parks, they know that your trapped tired of waiting and you’d give your right arm for a sandwich. Luckily we were not that bad off and we managed to find some good pasta. While we were waiting we hit up the duty free shop. We had a really long boarding time because before we got on the flight we had to go through gate security. Some people were put in the wanding and bag search line and others could walk through. Guess what line I was in with my full size carry on? Yep the suspicious people line, and then after I made it through the second line of defense (getting a pass both times!) as I was about to walk on to the plane another flight attendant stops me to measure my bad. She gets down and measures it and then cheerfully tells me that my bag is 46 inches long and the rule is no bags over 45 inches (I measured the size at check in and they said it was fine). I just wanted to reply cheerfully back, “so I made it through check in and security twice and now you’re telling me to check the bag that that I have used as a carryon several times is one inch too big?” I looked enviously at the other passengers with carry-on suitcases (the same size as mine!) that were walking right past me toward freedom on the plane. But it wasn’t a huge deal and since I was almost home free with my overly large suitcase, without anyone stopping me I got it checked for free!

                Our plane left on time and it was a pretty uneventful flight, only a little bit of turbulence and four hours later we were back in the US. We actually landed in Charlotte 30 min early and beat the rush to customs!! For some reason when we travel we always looks suspicious because when we came back through customs here we had to go thought the double check line again… but we still made it out into the warm summer night before by 9:30! My first meal when we got back to the US was going to be Chick-fil-a but they were closed, so it was Wendy’s.

                I had an amazing time in Costa Rica. I learned so many new things and my language skills are much improved and I have also grown personally in confidence and awareness. I will remember the people I met and the experiences I have had on this trip for the rest of my life.  Thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout this experience and to all of you who have read my blog! It has meant so much to me!

Back in San Jose

7-12-11

                Today was our last full day in CR. We woke up early to pack up our things to go back to San Jose, and have a traditional breakfast (gallo pinto, eggs, queso palimito, and tortillas). After breakfast we went into La Forutuna one last time to get lunch for the road and some souvenirs. We returned to the hotel to check out and pack up the car. Rosita (our GPS) was not exactly accommodating on the way out of town, so we got a bit turned around in trying to find a Bank (to pay our exit tax) and a gas station. Banks in CR are very secure. You get wandered by a security guard on your way in and everything is compartmentalized so that you can’t see past the tellers. It’s actually set up kind of like the DMV where you take a ticket and wait for your number to be called. We were able to pay the tax and did not have to wait that long (much easier than at the airport!).  On the way out I attempted to ask the guard where a gas sation was, but I didn’t know the word for gas station, I said Estacion de Petroleo but he didn’t understand. Luckily there was a man who spoke English waiting his turn and he helped us out. By the way the word is Gasolinera.. We successfully found the gas station and were on our way to San Jose by 11:30. It is a three hour drive through beautiful countryside (by Monteverde) to get the city. The roads were windy, but I made it through all right, Devon got a bit nauseous from reading in the car though.  The ride back was on small roads and mostly uneventful, we crossed at least a dozen one way bridges though, and there was a bit of road construction, but overall it was an easy trip. We got into San Jose at 2:30 but didn’t get to our hotel till 3 since we missed the highway exit and the GPS punished us for not complying with her instructions by taking us through the city center. It was raining (almost all day) and Devon, mom, and I waited in the car while dad checked us in. While we were sitting there one of the hotel attendants came out with fresh fruit drinks, this is something that hotels in the US need to start doing, it is soooo good! Once we were settled in we took a taxi into downtown to go back to the artisanal market, the National Cathedral and the flower market (to buy flowers for Mama Tica). Mama Tica had invited us over for dinner so we took a taxi to my house from San Jose. I was really excited to be able to see them one more time before I left, and to eat more of her home cooking! She prepared chicken, patacones, platanos, rice, vegetables, and jello. Everything was delicious as usual. After dinner we talked about how our weeks had gone and watched the finally of America’s Got Talent… It was a nice quiet regular evening and I loved it. It seemed as if we had to leave too soon though, and I didn’t want to leave, but we had a lot of packing and prep to do for our return trip the next day. 

Rafting Pictures

looking cool in our blue helmets 

who wants to hold the poison frog?

Mining

Dev and I taking a swim

Our traditional casado lunch

Hot Springs!!

Rafting On the Rio Balsa

7-11-11

                Today we went rafting on the Rio Balsa near Arenal. We were able to sleep in since the transportation for rafting would not pick us up till 10:15. So we had a leisurely breakfast with chocolate freezes and tropical jams. After breakfast we got our adventure clothing on and our dry clothes for the lunch afterward. We were the first ones on the bus today and we went to pick up another family before heading to the river. The other family was a dad and his two sons. One was 20 and the other was 16. The 16 year old immediately reminded me of Tony Zanghi. His family is from California, but he lives in New York and goes to an art school there. He has been in several Broadway plays. They were a really interesting group to rides with; Riley (the actor) had actually met many famous actors while he was working.  On the way we stopped by a fruit stand to get watermelon (still better in NC), pineapple and mango for our snack after rafting. The fruit stand was very interesting because it had all sorts of crazy fruits and lots of local products.

                We got to the rafting site after about a 30 min car ride and the guides set up the gear while we took pictures and found life jackets and helmets. The guides gave a little tutorial before we were divided into the boats. Each boat held 6 people. In our boat we it was the 4 of us and our guide Oscar. In the other boat were the second family and two Italian men. This river is class 3-2, smaller than the other rivers we have done, but still a fun trip. We started right away practicing our commands, get down, lean in, forward and backward. We were doing well on our synchronicity but, it was hard to hear our guide over the rush of the water. We were the second boat and had started off a ways behind the first boat; however, they were having paddle issues and managed to get suck at the bottom of the rapid just as we were coming down it. We kind of ran over them… but it wasn’t our fault! After that we passed them and they got a remedial lesson in paddling. Since we had a smoother trip than last time we got a safari on water. Our guide Oscar stopped along the way to show us different plants and animals (soap berries, anise..). He also explained what the river was used for (the river rocks for building). He stopped to show us several sloths (and explained which trees they are likely found in), iguanas and the cherry on top, a poison blue jean frog! Oscar pulled the raft over, ran up into the woods and came back holding a tiny, vibrant, poison red and blue frog. It was so tiny and cute, but I was not about to touch it when he offered to let us hold it. I’ve seen enough planet earth and Nat Geo to know not to touch brightly colored animals in the wild. Oscar had no fear though, and he didn’t seem to be badly affected by the frog.

                We spent about 2 hours rafting down the river and we didn’t fall out once. Devon and I were disappointed. We almost fell out on some of the big rapids in the beginning but managed to stay in since none of us wanted to go over the baby waterfall without the boat. At the end to compensate, Devon  and I jumped out and swam the rest of the way to shore. By the time we arrived the guides had the raft flipped over and had a spread of cut up fruit. Mango is now one of my favorite fruits. I probably ate about half of one after rafting in addition to watermelon and pineapple. We went back in to the water to splash around a bit more before we left for lunch.

                We had a traditional casado lunch at the country home of the 1948 president (the one who abolished the army).  The hacienda is an active sugar mill and they also make moonshine. We had lunch on the open porch of the old ranch house. The lunch was delicious, everything was produces using products from the farm and made on a wood burning stove. We had yucca, plantains, heart of palm, beans rice, your choice of meat and fresh juice. For desert we had a traditional Costa Rican sort of fudge/brittle made from sugar cane on the farm. We were also able to try samples of their homemade liquor de Cacao, and homemade whiskey. I liked the liquor de Cacao, but the whiskey was very strong. Once we had finished lunch the owner of the restaurant and his wife came out and played and sang some traditional music of the countryside. It was perfect.

                Once everyone was stuffed we walked around the old house to get to the antique/artisanal sugar mill. It is one of the only still operating in Costa Rica. It’s an old iron machines that’s powered by oxen and it grinds the cane juice out of the cane. That juice is strained and heated until ti becomes a molasses that you can place in a mold that hardens into sugar. This type of sugar is actually healthy and good for you (yes!).  To get the normal white sugar you must refine it even further which removes all of the good vitamins and minerals and concentrates the sucrose. After the tour (and free samples!!) we piled back into the van and returned to the hotels.

                It was about 4 when we got back, and we were all full and feeling lazy so we changed into our swim suits grabbed our books and moseyed on over to the hot springs. Since we had eaten after rafting, and had such a great lunch none of us were very hungry until much later. We spent about 3 hours swimming and reading in the spring. Finally we decided to go out to eat something lite before the restaurants closed. Since we were wandering around the town our first two places were a bust, but we decided to go to get some pizza at, of all places,  Luigi’s Pizza. Our waitress was the very energetic owner who repeatedly told us that even if it wasn’t on the menu she could make it. I’ve never had bad pizza in CR and this was no exception. We returned late and Devon and I went for one last trip to the hot springs since we were leaving Arenal in the morning. 

Arenal Pictures!

Puppies at the stable!

La Fortuna Waterfall

Mom and Dad

Dev and I swam to the other side of the falls

The view from our lodge

Arenal Day 1

7-10-11

                I love breakfast at El Silencio del Campo. As soon as you come in they bring you fresh fruit and you have 5 breakfast choices to pick from. I got the toast and eggs option. I love their crunchy toast here in CR. After breakfast we went to wait for our transportation to go horseback riding to the La Fortuna Waterfall. Right before our car came to get us we realized that we might need to pack a swimsuit and shorts to swim in the falls in addition to the riding clothes we were wearing. We were the last group to get picked up in our van and the riding stable was only 5 min down the road. This was a popular day excursion so there was a very big group, probably about 30 in all and about 5 guides. Our group ranged from ages 6- 60 so I knew we were in for an interesting ride. They were very efficient getting everyone assigned to a horse and on, it only took about 10 min to get everyone together in the paddock. It had rained earlier in the morning and the night before so the trails were a bit wet, always a fun time. About half of the trials were cutting through pastures, my favorite kind, but we also crossed several creeks and a couple steep-ish hills. I’m not going to lie, I am an arena rider and cross country hills still make me a bit nervous, but we all made it through alright. Mom had a much more relaxed horse than the last time we rode in CR and Devon and Daddy were doing well too, although Devon is not crazy about riding in general. The large number of people in our group (most of whom did not know how to ride and seemed to think steering and giving directions to your horse was optional) did make me a bit stressed out. It was much better to be in the front of the group, out of the herd. Most of the horses were gaited so by being in the front I had a lot more opportunities to pick up speed! In our group we met an Italian guy named Alex and another American family. Alex was actually a really good rider and I was a bit jealous of his horse. The grandmother of the American family, however was kind of nervous about being on a horse and but I was able to get her to calm down and breath which helped her horse calm down as well.

                My horse, Fiona, was low man on the totem pole, so when it came time to go through gates we would always get jockeyed out of place, plus several of the people in the group were not polite mergers. At one gate one of the little girls cut me off at the entrance and her horse kicked out at mine. She didn’t do any real damage however but another little boy was kicked (while riding) by the same horse when they got to close to each other. The ride out to the waterfall was about 1 hour and it didn’t really start to get steep until the very last bit. A little ways from the top we dismounted, watered the horses and left them with some of the guides to graze while we spent an hour at the waterfall. The Park entrance was close by with a short trail to the waterfall; however, the trail was a vertical one with about 400 stairs in total. I actually liked the walk down; it was really good to use my hamstrings again! On the way down I talked some more with Alex and found out that I can understand Italian! It was very exciting news for me. I learned that Alex is from Milan but that he enjoys ecotourism and has been several places in the US west; he had even been to Canyon De Chelly! I am so jealous of all of these Europeans who vacation for a month at a time during the summer…Once we got down to the waterfall Devon and I decided to go and swim in it to cool off. We had to clamber carefully a short ways over some very slippery rocks to get to the edge of the water. By the time we were at the water and ready to go in Mom and Dad showed up to enjoy the mist and the falls. Devon and I waded our way in at first, and boy was that water bracing! It was chilly but in a very good way. The water was clear with an aqua tint to it. We decided to swim to the ledge behind the waterfall just to say we had done it. The swim out was not bad; you mainly just had to be careful of the edges where the rocks were. It was pretty chilly on the ledge behind the falls because there was so much wind from the force of the falling water. Our swim back was a bit more difficult as the current kept pushing us into the rocks and made it hard to reach the other side. We finally made it out and dried off during out hike back out of the park. The hike out was much harder than on the ways in, it was uphill the whole way, but we made it! After the hike I was definitely looking forward to the ride back.

The ride back down the hill was not that bad, and on the one remaining incline we were able to give the horses their head and canter up the hill. I am definitely going to take up cross country eventing, it was just so fun! I stayed toward the front of the group again and took advantage of the open fields when I could (I didn’t want to start a stampede back to the barn...). It rained most of the way back but it didn’t really bother me since I had my rain jacket and I kind of like riding in the rain. Alex and I took turns holding our horses back and then cantering up to the lead guide. My whole family did a really good job on the trail ride, although horses are really not Devon’s thing. After the ride we played with the three baby puppies and mama at the barn. Alex and I tried to trade FB info but we couldn’t find a pen and so it didn’t really work out. I was kicking myself for this later…

Once we got back to the hotel we decided to go to Super Christian Number 4 (the local super market chain) to get some lunch. We found all my favorites, sweet bread, milk, empanada and cheesy bread. We ate on our porch while watching for the Volcano.  Afterward we went into town to do some shopping but we had to be back early for my mom’s complementary facial. Yeah, I know. I’m jealous too. Devon, Dad and I read down by the hot springs until mom was done and then we all headed into town to get some dinner (after several technological distractions). We walked around on the main street and wandered into a cute little soda. It turned out that we were on the right track since the food was good and apparently it was in the Lonely Planet book (we saw several other gringo groups there with their books too…). After another wonderful meal we drove back to the hotel for daiquiris and a soak in the hot springs before bed. I am now pleasantly drowsy and ready to sleep in and go rafting tomorrow!

** Sorry there aren't pictures, but my camera is currently fighting with my computer...

Puerto Viejo Day 3

7-9-11

Today was our last day in Puerto Viejo. We were planning to go on a cacao tour near our hotel but when we called to check the farmer said that he was not doing tours today. So with our plans thrown out of whack we decided to go and try the other chocolate tour place. After passing it once we found it by following the official looking blue signs (after we passed them twice). However upon closer inspection we found that it was an expensive tour for what you got in return, you didn’t get to make the chocolate like we would have at the first place. We decided to go back toward our hotel and look for the butterfly garden instead, but after driving up and down the road for times with a map we still couldn’t find it and gave up since we had wasted so much time. To salvage the morning we headed back into Puerto Viejo to sit walk in the tide pools while sipping agua de pipa (coconut water). It was a good way to decompress after the frustration of the morning. When we came back from the beach we packed up the car, said our goodbyes to Sonia and Pepo and headed off for the second leg of our trip. 
We spent most of the day on our drive to Arenal, which was about 5 hours, although a five hour drive in CR does not seem that long (to me at least, Devon would differ I’m sure) there’s always something interesting to see out the window and the radio stations in CR are really good.  However, when we got in to Arenal at 6 we were all ready to be out of the car. We had a little orientation (with fresh juice!) and then headed off to our room. El Silencio is just how we remember it only now they have a few more lodges. We walked around the property a bit, and checked out the hot springs before heading off to dinner in La Fortuna. We went to a local Soda with comida tipica; all got Arroz con Pollo and Devon and I got Bebidas Frescas (a fruit and ice blend) as well, Blackberry and Guyabana. Everything was delicious and just what I’ve been getting used to down here. The other patrons were ticos and they were playing the game between Colombia and CR on the TV. It was a very typical night here in CR. When we got back to the hotel we went to the hot springs for a soak. We met two other groups who are staying here as well (both from the US) and went to bed early relaxed. Tomorrow we are going to go horseback riding to a waterfall, I am so excited!!