We just returned from our Summer Trip to Costa Rica. It gets capital letters because it's the first time out of the U.S. for Crys and I in quite a long time and the first time ever for Autum. I made notes each day, and I'll transfer them in here with pics, so it'll be a long post.
JULY 13
Today we traveled from Denver to San Jose. We left home at 4:30 AM, drove to Denver and parked at Pablo's house. He took us to DIA. Flights and everything went fine and we even got through customs in San Jose going into Costa Rica just fine.
It helped having a little guide online that we'd saved in our phones before we left. Then we wandered out and found our ride to the rental car outfit. We used Adobe Rent a Car, and they were great. Renting a car in Costa Rica is expensive but well worth it for our first Air B&B spot. The only problem was it was darker than well diggers bum hole and raining like it was about to float the Arc. On the advice of the rental car guy, we found a near by hotel for the night, had our usual "destination arrival meal" of pizza and got to bed.
It was still raining.
July 14
Monteverde/Los Tornos: day 2 of vacation.
Today we went from San Jose, Costa Rica to .... well..... all over the damned place. We started out thinking we had everything all mapped and set up nicely for a delightful morning drive to our Air B&B around Los Tornos. We had the GPS on the rental car, the address we were going to, a backup set of directions in google maps.... and then reality set in.
The google back up was gone. The GPS doesn’t include Los Tornos in it’s list of towns with directions and somehow all of it left out the bolder strewn single track dirt road that climbed up into the cloud forest.
Basically, the usual on a vacation. :D
Crys kept me level, Autum was fine and we made it to our spot before noon. We ended up at a breakfast place called “Stella’s” near the Rain Forest Preserve. (Stella Wallace BTW).
At this spot the nice lady on duty served us a delicious breakfast and let us know we were “a long way” from where we wanted to go. A couple Air B&B messages hooked us up with our hosts daughters hubby who got maps loaded, and us on the right path. It wasn’t “a long way” at all. :D
So we found the place and got mostly settled in when our host, Hermida, showed up. she’d left fruit on the table along with eggs on the counter already. This time she brought some fry breads that we used for dinner along with the eggs. We munched the delectable bananas all afternoon. Hermida was a delight (probably still is). She told us about fun things to do, places to see and how to explore her coffee and fruit plantation. We were admonished to NOT purchase fruit, coffee, milk or eggs anywhere. She’d be happy to bring all we wished. Thus far, we’ve met nothing but nice folks, including customs and immigration here.
The rest of the day, we chilled, and took a long walk in the big up and down hills. We’re still planning what we’ll do while here but it’s pretty sure a zip line through the cloud forest is on the list. Between walks we found a liquor store (yes, we’re still US you doofus) and explored a bit in the car. This evenings walk included a nice drizzle of rain.
It’s nice here. And there’s property for sale.....
July 15
Finca Lluvia de Gloria de Ermida
(Rains of Glory Farm of Ermida)
This morning we slept in for as long as the rains and the roosters would allow :D. Crys and I both slept over 10 hours, Autum got more. Then we made coffee that Ermida had left for us. This, by the way, is coffee she grew, dried and roasted herself. We used the really cool coffee maker they use here. It’s a stand with a coffee sock in the top. You put the coffee in, then pour water through it into the collector cup below (a big one so you can share). It was fabulous.
After that we walked the nature trail on the farm here. We saw some birds but no other critters, apparently one needs to go out after dark for that. We’ll try it again tonight with my little flashlight. On the walk we saw some fruits we’re allowed to pick: avocados; passion fruit; several kinds of bananas; plantains and Chayote squash. We ended up at Ermida’s home at the end of the walk. There she showed us how to make passion fruit juice. And we set up to have dinner with she and her family tomorrow night. They offer this for a small fee (it’s a deal). On the way out she gave us a big old bowl of various fruits and veggies to make at home. Manzanilla Bananas, which are an “apple banana”. Those things rock. She also leaves eggs here for us. This Air B&B is like the deal of the century.
Soon we will leave to go visit a “Soda” which is a quick eatery in the ultra affordable range where the locals usually munch. Then we’ll try the longest zip line in South America before we come home to make dinner from all our fresh stuff and perhaps have a beer or two.
CONT......
Finca Lluvia de Gloria de Emerida day 2 continued
We just got back from the zip line adventure thingy. It was pretty darned fun. This joint had 9 zip lines, 3 bridges, a rappelling bit, a Tarzan swing and 2 Superman runs. They claim to be the longest zip line in South America. The Tarzan swing was pretty butt clenching. you basically step off this platform and fall 30 feet before the swing starts to catch you. SUPER butt clench. The rest was fun, some was fast, some was slow and some were long. The Superman one was fun, and REALLY high up. Way over the canopy.
We also shopped and lunched in town at a local Soda and various stores. After the zip line we looked for an advertised bar and it was a L O N G way from the sing, and then not so interesting as to entice us in. Now we’re making dinner with the fresh stuff Ermida gave us this morning. And it’s raining it’s ass off. :D
Pura Vida. Tomorrow is another day.
July 16
Day 3 at Los Tornos.
We have chosen today as chill day here in the Monteverde area. We slept in, had a banana for breakfast along with some fresh blendered mango juice. Then we all took a turn at the shower.
The shower is an odd thing. One doesn’t see these where we come from, though the idea is kinda cool. The shower head has an on/off position, a “warm” position and a “hot” position on a slider knob on the upper part of the shower head. 120 volts runs right into the shower head. Yes. Power runs right into the shower head that the water runs through. Here, you choose hot, then adjust the water flow down to just barely running and you get a delightful hot shower. I’m guessing if the wiring here were better it would be possible to have a hot shower with more flow, and even given that? It’s pretty nice.
Power here is odd. The main lines are quite good, on concrete poles which is common in this area of the world. The secondary is quite another thing. At our place, the meters are all out by the road, and the triplex runs overhead for hundreds of feet, strung through the trees, laid on the ground, wrapped around the next wire rather than a nice squeeze with oxide inhibitor like I’m used to. I might hit up our host, exchange some power work for a free place to stay....
Hey it’s worth a try!
We’ll leave here for a little town just north of San Jose (the airport town) tomorrow morning. Then we’ll spend a few days there.
Today’s walk was nice, just a good little jaunt down the dirt road through a less traveled neighborhood. There are a lot of dogs, and they stay in their yards and barely bark at you. Not many cats. We wonder why.
CONT.....
Dinner with Ermida
Tonight was “Dinner with Hermida”. All over the Air B&B site folks would write in that you should not miss dinner with our host, Ermida. So Crys set it up for tonight. It was a complete delight.
Ermida met us and welcomed us into her home where she was already cooking. We started with meal with a creamed squash soup, rich and delicious. Following that were patacones tortillas. (Plantains, twice fried and at the end in the shape of a tortilla). We ate those with some of her homemade mango salsa and refried black beans. The beans carried through the meal. Following that was a plate of tamales. Tamales in Costa Rica are different than the ones you buy in the U. S. This is more like a loaf tamale, wrapped in banana leaf and tied before baking. Then at dinner you unwrap the loaf and fry the slices of tamale. These were egg and bean, where the eggs were sliced hard eggs, and black beans. Delicious, also with some of the refried black beans and a bit of salsa. The next course was turmeric rice (with fresh turmeric from her farm) along with a chayote squash/white corn medley. You mixed that with a little black beans as well. A salad accompanied that on basil leaves so big they’d cover a dinner plate. It was seasoned with not cilantro but culantro. Similar but different. Throughout the meal was drank passion fruit aqua fresco. Ermida made that as well.
Throughout the meal, we practiced our Spanish. Crys’ is not bad, mine is an embarrassment, while Ermida told us tales of the property and her life on it. We ended the evening by purchasing various flavors of the coffee she grows, roasts and sells from her home farm. As a final delight, she shared some of the places home grown Cacao. She has one tree. We found an odd tree on our walk, big giant ugly fruits that I thought must be Durian, but when chatting we figured it was JackFruit. She snuck a seed of one out of a restaurant in San Jose, Costa Rica and planted it on her farm.
When we come back, Crystal is supposed to share the ways she learns to cook JackFruit.
Darn. We’ll have to come back.
July 17
Day 5. Going to Santa Barbara
Today we went from Los Tornos to Santa Barbara. It was a few hours drive. Along the way we went to a beach because Autum really really wanted to see a beach along the way.
We arrived in Santa Barbara, and luckily our host drove up at the same time we did to let us into our Air B&B because otherwise we’d a been screwed.
There were monkey's at the beach:
We got our stuff settled then Crys and I took the rental car back to Adobe Rent a Car. That went well. Traffic and roads in Santa Barbara are insane. They’re like just one traffic lane wide and right of way seems to go to he who has the biggest balls.
I win.
We returned the rental car, and no problems, they’re now officially recommended. They asked if we needed a cab. We replied, “no we’re gonna walk” at which point the 3 guys there shared a “crazy-mother-fuckers” look. OK, it was 5 klicks, and uphill, and hot..... but we stopped at the grocery store on the way home. Autum chilled at home waiting for us.
It’s a pretty luxurious place for us. All fancy. Deck, view of the city lights. As usual, first night in a new place, we ordered pizza. we had to wait at the entrance gate for the moped delivery dude. I think he’s still laughing. Now we’re just chilling. Warm showers, no bugs, it’s nice, and yet not the nice, weird, real place we left.
Tomorrow we’ll chill out here. Look for things to do the rest of the time, like go to the Arnenal Volvano. ]
Or perhaps we’ll just chill and visit.
Life is good.
Pura Vida.
July 18
Day 6. Chillin like a villain.
We’re still trying to decide what we want to do with ourselves here in Santa Barbara. Most “fun” stuff is kinda far, or kinda expensive. Today, we got up and got started late. Bummed around and did nothing for a good while. Then we went to town for some groceries, and ended up getting a lift back with our host because she stopped and asked if we wanted a ride. Good thing, Autum had a GIANT bottle of soda. No one wanted to schlep that big old thing up the hill.
It’s a bit of a hill to our residence. Think, “no way in hell am I walking up that steep bastard in this heat and humidity” and you have it right in your head. So we came home, walked around outside for a bit. Shook a few mangos off the trees, grabbed a downed banana or 3 and went back in.
Later on, Crys made some guacamole and fried some of the tortillas from our last place to make chips. I think that’s dinner today. :D
I might go to sleep early. It’s a good place for that.
July 19
Day 7, It isn’t old yet.
This is the middle of the rainy season which is considered winter here. Oddly enough we managed to time our visit for the 2 weeks during the rainy season that is referred to as “little summer”. That’s when the sun comes out much more often for 2 weeks and keeps the locals from killing themselves and everyone around them due to the incessant rain.
We win.
That said, we had a delightful downpour yesterday afternoon. That was rain like we never get at home. We kinda love it. It was sleep inducing, and we went to bed early. As is usual for me, going to bed early means getting up early. Today I got up and made coffee, read and chilled till Crys got up. We looked around us and found some stuff to do so that we get to see a bit more while we’re here at this Air B&B in Santa Barbara. It’s a really nice place to relax, not necessarily the easiest place to go see other stuff from. We did that for a while, then walked to town to swap out some money at the bank, grab a late breakfast at a Soda (that’s what they call little restaurants )
and stop at the grocery store (Super Viquez) and the Fruterea for some squash for tonight’s dinner.
The rest of the day we read, and sat and planned out tomorrow and Saturday. Tomorrow we’ll catch an Uber to San Jose and walk around a bit, and on Saturday we’ll grab another Uber to go for a Jeep ride and hike around Barva Volcano in a park. It’s right up our alley, little visited and a a bit of a hike. Autum, who slept in today, will go along.
All that remains of today is to drink a bit, make dinner and go to bed. Might even take a shower just for a bit of excitement.
July 20
Day 8, hiking for coffee
We changed up our plan for today, a local coffee company named Britt has an outlet store just on the other side of the town we’ve been hiking to for groceries and to visit a Soda. We got up, had our morning coffee and took off in the light rain for Santa Barbara and then a couple of Km to Jesus. We stopped at our little Soda we’ve been visiting, Olandra, for a nice big breakfast. It was good as usual, Crys and I had the gallo pinto with an egg or two. Autum had a couple tortillas with home made sour cream for dipping it into. We all shared of course. The girls had hot chocolate, I had Tamarind juice. We all decided that was a hit.
Then we wandered on toward Jesus town. That still makes me laugh. To see the Britt coffee outlet. What we most want is to get the local coffee maker, a chorreador. It’s a stand with a coffee sock. It’s much like a pour-over coffee maker.... just better. They had them at the local store in Santa Elena but we waited to purchase one and so are now looking.
None at Britt Outlet in Jesus.
The local coffee plantation/restaurant/inn was about another Km up the hill so we went there next.
None there either.
So we wandered home, stopping at the grocery for a couple things and getting home about 1 PM. From there we’re just chilling, Crys is making dinner. It’s a quiet calm day.
And tomorrow we go for a Jeep ride to an old volcano.
July 21
Day 9. The Volcano Adventure Trip
Today we went to the Barva Volcano and took a hike. This should satisfy all our friends that are always wanting to tell us to go take a hike. :D
We set up for an Uber ride at 7 AM so we could get to Heredia by 8 to meet our Jeep crew, Eduardo and Diego. This would have been better if this weren’t our first time trying to use Uber. We didn’t get the pick up address in correctly and missed our first ride. Crystal did figure it out in time for us to correctly do stuff and get a second ride to make it there with 10 minutes to spare. Guess we should have called Glen. He could have made it all work flawlessly.
At 8 our Jeep tour guy, Eduardo picked us up. His fellow Jeeper, Diego, had a bit of trouble getting his rig going and he met us up the road a ways. Then we took the twisting, turning rocky road up to the seldom visited Barva Volcano. It’s sleeping for the last 200 years Diego told us. This leaves everything there in a delightful selection of every green you could think of since it’s a rain forest. It’s seldom visited because the tour buses can’t make it up the road. At the parking lot to the national park there were 3 other cars. We paid our entrance fee and shared the fruit snacks Eduardo had brought for us, then we hiked up to the top by way of Eduardo’s favorite trail. Those two guys are a delight. They love 4 wheeling, they love exploring the volcano and they love showing it to new people.
The walk was wet, rainy a good bit of the way, muddy in a number of spots. One nice lady from Belgium walked it with a hole in her shoe and the older gal from Chicago struggled but wouldn’t give up. It was a good, fun, steep walk. After a goodly hike we got the the little viewing shed that overlooks the lake that sits in the old caldera. They guys say it’s 8 meters deep and one of them “almost” tried a drunken dive into it on his August birthday last year. That would have been on hell of a dive!
After the viewing shed you hike up another 17 floors to the “overlook”. It’s pretty cool, you watch the fog drift in and out, the wet wind blows over you and it’s just pretty darned cool.
Then we hiked down. That was easier than up. :D When we got to the bottom we push started Diego’s Jeep. (The ride Crys, Autum and I were in). Then we bounced our way down to a restaurant the fellas take folks to after the hike. The food there was delicious. We had beer and food and folks at the table shared with each other so it was just a delightful meal.
Afterward, in the driving rain, with no cover, Diego’s Jeep wouldn’t start. We all worked together and tried a number of times which moved us a few kilometers down the hill but to no avail.
No Start.
By then I was soaked to the bone even through my rain coat. Part way down Crys and Autum were in Eduardo’s Jeep. Finally Diego gave up and stayed behind with his Jeep to call for the hook.
I rode down on the back of Eduardo’s Jeep, holding onto the roof. Bracing my feet on the spare and a bracket, ducking my face out of the rain and bouncing with the pot holes. Crys kept looking at me like I was nuts through the back window of Eduardo’s Jeep which was packed full of 3 folks with no room for any more. Autum had a drip over her head, but didn’t care because she was inside. She says she’d have loved to ride on the back.
Maybe next time.
After we got dropped in town we went into a municipal building where some art was and a nice lady was singing really loudly to a small group of people.
They had open bathrooms. WE WIN!!!!!!
Then we wandered a bit. Had a cup of coffee and a doughnut to warm up since I was soaked to the bone from head to toe. OK, I embellish, I had a dry spot on the middle of my chest. Every where else it just ran off. And I was a bit chilly. I lobbied for us visiting a souvenir store I saw on my map so that we could just totally chill tomorrow, the girls went along.
That store had EVERYTHING! It was an EXTRAVAGANZA!!!! We all found the little bits we needed. Then we caught an Uber home and I got a warm shower.
No.
A WARM shower, not a golden one.
It was a delightful adventure of a day. Couldn’t have been better.
July 22
We decided that today would be a relax at home day since we travel home tomorrow. Crys and I got up pretty early and had coffee. Then we walked down to Santa Barbara do a little bit of grocery shopping. It was a pretty nice walk and I'm happy to say we've gotten used to the hills here.
The rest of the day we chilled out. Read, slept, relaxed and ate up the stuff we had laying around. Packed up slowly and got organized for the trip home.
July 23
Travel home day. We got up at 4:30 AM to get up, dressed and meet our Uber. He was right on time and the trip to the airport was a breeze. We also flew through security and were at our gate early which left time for snacking and shopping. :D Crys and I got some duty free booze to bring home, Autum got a thing or two and the girls bought me a "thank you" T-shirt.
The flight left on time and got to Houston just like it was supposed to. We were the first one at the customs desk and the Mobile Passport App took us through there in nothing flat. Our flight to Denver was delayed an hour so we got plenty of time to chill and grab some lunch and even a beer.
That's about the time we found out that the flight delay was due to weather in Denver. The story gets long from there. We took off at 4:20 PM instead of the 3:45 PM original time and were on our way to Denver. Part way there the place started making circles in the air above the San Luis Valley. :D (IF we'd only had a parachute......)
And the arrival time kept going up.......
Later, we redirected to Albuquerque for fuel and sat there for a while. The big mistake was the airline letting people get off the plane. It took forever to get them back, some didn't come back, and then they kept losing count of passengers. They checked ID's 3 times looking for some jack ass that disappeared. The end of this story is that we got to Denver at 11:45 PM instead of the original 5:30 PM. Pablo was gonna give us a ride but he had to work the next day so we caught a Lyft ride to his home where we'd parked the car. I decided I really just wanted to be home, so we drove home. I took a little nap just past South Park when I started seeing shit, and we got home at 5:15 AM.
It was a GREAT trip!
