Cabuya and the beach

Cabuya, Nicoya Penninsula

On Monday morning, we said goodbye to Federico and Gaudy.  They invited us into their house, and we invited them to visit us in the USA.

The road to the lowlands was steep and somewhat rough.  It was marked as red on the map, but it was not paved, which says a lot about roads in Costa Rica.  The roads have numbers, which do not show up on the signs, which name the next couple of towns.  When we got to Highway 1, the road became flat and well paved. 

We drove to Puntarenas, found the ferry dock, and then went to Mariscos Don Luis for a take out lunch.  Unfortunately, the chicken in the kabobs was not well cooked, although the shrimp was tasty.   Puntarenas seemed somewhat seedy.  The passengers had to get out of the car before boarding the ferry.  The ferry ride took more than an hour, and we were among the last vehicles off the ferry in Paquera.  The drive was slow, with bad roads and heavy ferry traffic. 


Richard had begun to worry, as he had sent text messages to the daughter of the owner of the house, but had not gotten a response.  When we found the house, it was almost dark, and the gate was chained shut.   We were not sure what to do, but were thinking about a hotel room.   We looked for a restaurant, but all were closed on Monday.  We came back to the house, and then were flagged down by Gepeto, who gave Richard a hug and produced the keys.  It was evident that our host was new to vacation rentals; there was literally no toilet paper in the house, among other problems.  But we did have a place to sleep.

On Tuesday morning, the place looked better in daylight.  We drove to Cobano to shop and get cash, and Sandi and I walked out on the rock leading to Cabuya Island, which was passable due to low tide.  We also bought some fish from the fisherman there; their boats were high and dry.  We dropped off laundry at the lavandaria.  We also had some staring and relaxing time.

Wednesday morning early Richard walked to the nearby beach, and continued on to the fisherman's area.  He learned that the fisherman use longline fishing; this means up to 500 hooks, baited with pieces of mullet, on a long fishing line, supported by floats and marked by poles with flags.  They typically start fishing about 2 AM; however, no one was out that day due to rough water.  We had a very good breakfast at the Panadaria/Bakery.  We stopped by the fisherman beach, where someone told us where to park, and demanded 1000 colones for parking and security. 

We decided to drive to Santa Teresa, on the other side of the peninsula, to watch the sunset.   We drove the rough Star Mountain road, which involved fording a stream.  As we got close to the beach, the road improved, and the density of young people became very high.  We had a good dinner at Banana Beach, watched the sunset, and started the one hour drive back in the dark, on a different bad and steep road, with more traffic.  The roads are so difficult that it can take an hour to go 25 kilometers.

Thursday we ate breakfast at the house and then headed for Montezuma.  Montezuma is a tourist town full of young people, with a business district a couple of short blocks long.  We parked near the beach, and took a few photos.  We very much enjoyed drinks at the Sano Banano (Healthy Banana) restaurant.  We watched a couple of white-throated Magpie Jays, who seemed to be hoping that we would feed them something.  These are large blue and white birds with a crest.  We picked up some t-shirts, and stopped at the Selva Brewery on our way back, where we drank beer and chatted with the young lady.  We were told that the founder of the brewery was an Israeli who had lived in the area for 20 years, and founded the brewery about 6 years ago. 

We all took an afternoon nap, and then drove to the beach around sunset.  We cooked dinner on the grille, and finished off the fish we cooked the previous day, with rice and beans.

On Friday, Pam got a cooking lesson from the ladies at the Bakery and Restaurant.  This was a fun event, and Pam learned that the plantains must be mushy before you try to cook them in oil on the grille.   We also went to Cobano to mail postcards to grandkids; the stamps had a beautiful blue bird on them.

Saturday morning, Sandi and Richard walked to Cemetary Island at low tide.  The photo is of a tombstone with a carved stone fist sticking out of it, and a propeller.  Afterwords, we went to the market in Montezuma.   This was mostly a hippie craft market, but with some good food, including a very tasty lemon tart.  Sandy bought a pair of earrings from a young lady from Ontario, we bought German sourdough bread, and we bought soap from a young lady from Austria.   The vendors were young and international.  We had an excellent lunch at the bakery, and then came back and got a nap.  We bought more fish from the fisherman's association, and grilled the fish.

On Sunday morning we drove to Cobano for mass  As Dave said, just from the body language, he felt that the priest was scolding us.    Richard detected the same thing in the priest's words.   The church literally was open to the air, with no windows, and was full.  We had another good lunch at the bakery, and then had a nap.    Around 4 pm, we headed for the beach, where we watched the tide go out and the full moon come up.   We also enjoyed watching hundreds of hermit crabs scuttle on the sand.  We stayed until it got quite dark.

We ate dinner and managed to stay awake to see the blood moon and the lunar eclipse.  The beach is close to low tide.  You can see how rocky it is.

Monday was our day of adventure, thanks to Google Maps.  Google maps routed us to the Liberia airport via dirt roads.    The area was very remote, with few ranches, no other traffic, and no cell phone coverage.   Dirt roads were not a surprise, given the local road system.  What was a surprise were the five stream crossings!  Luckily the streams were low, and we had an SUV.  At the first stream crossing, we saw a family from California, in flip-flops, with a Camry, a regular passenger car.  They followed us through the first two stream crossings.  As the wife said, not getting an SUV was their first Costa Rica mistake.  It was clear that she was unhappy at best.   We waited for them at the third stream crossing, but they did not show up.  After waiting a few minutes, we concluded that they had turned around, or were having a heated discussion, and we proceeded on.  Sandi felt guilty that we had abandoned them far from civilization.   At the fifth stream crossing, we saw a partially completed bridge, probably across the Bongo River.   Progress was very slow, in terms of inches on the map.  We went through the tiny village of Rio Frio, and the road gradually improved.  The rest of the drive was uneventful.

We had a late lunch at Cafe Europa, checked into the hotel, and then went back to Cafe Europa for dinner.  Richard returned the SUV; they found a piece of trim missing on one of the wheels, but were not sure what to charge us for it.   Given the roads, a missing piece of trim was not surprising.  The Toyota Land Cruiser Prado was a diesel, got great mileage, and was comfortable even on the gravel roads.  We were very glad that we had an SUV for our trip.

Tuesday we had an uneventful trip home, changing planes in Atlanta.   Pam and Dave stayed at our house overnight, and left Wednesday morning to drive home to Nebraska.

Our general impressions of Costa Rica were favorable.   We were pleasantly surprised at the high quality of restaurant food, even in somewhat remote areas.   The roads were as bad as reported; we were surprised how much we were driving on gravel or dirt roads.   Costa Rica is a beautiful country; the Ticos are very nice people.  We had a great trip.

Monteverde and the Cloud Forest

On Thursday morning, we had a good breakfast at Cafe Europa, and then headed for Monteverde, the cloud forest. The drive started on major roads, including highway 1, the Panamerican highway.  I could not resist taking a photo of the "Pura Vida" Taco Bell.

When we turned off the major road, the road into the mountains became narrower and twistier, and finally turned to gravel.　

We stopped at El Angel restaurant and lodge to admire the view, and have something to drink. We enjoyed the Capuchin monkeys, which were almost pets. The view was spectacular. The ecotourism businesses became very frequent as we approached Santa Elena. We drove into a very busy town, bought some food, and then had Google help us find our farm, the Finca Terra Viva. This is a dairy farm with more than 100 cows. It also offers cabins, and a farm stay program. We were welcomed by Gaudy, who gave us directions to the river cabin. The directions had us turning off the gravel road into a pasture. We were glad that we had an SUV with 4WD.

We went to watch the milking of the cows, and were lucky enough to meet Federico, the owner.

Federico is an expert on reptiles in Costa Rica; he wrote the book. He explained the dairy cooperative to us, which includes more than 1000 farms. Their brand is Dos Pinos, and they have more than 600 stock keeping units in products in stores. Sandi and Pam got to bottle feed the new calves.

　

We had the river cabin, which is away from the other farm buildings. In order to get there, we drove back to the road, went a short distance, and entered another gate. At some point, we turned off the gravel and took a hard left, driving across the pasture. Luckily we had 4WD and good clearance.

 The cabin has one bathroom, two bedrooms, and a front common area with lots of windows, and a view of the pastures.  It is not called a cloud forest for nothing, as you can see in the photo.
Curiously, the kitchen and bathroom sinks do not have hot water; the only hot water is the shower, powered by solar. The pipes sometimes make a lot of noise. We are told that the water here is pure spring water, with lots of minerals. It was very drinkable, cold and clear

　

On Friday morning, we watched the mist come in, and had breakfast at the lodge. Gaudy discussed the alternatives in terms of activities and restaurants. We decided to head for the Casem women's cooperative, where we bought an embroidered wall hanging and several souvenir gifts. We enjoyed coffee at Monteverde cafe, where the young lady explained how to make an authentic cup of Costa Rican cofee, using the drip method.

　

Resplendant Quetzal in flight

We next went to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, owned by a foundation. We learned that there is almost no public land in the Monteverde area. We paid around $40 each for admission and a guide. We watched hummingbirds while we waited for our guide, John, 23 years old. He spotted for us a pair of resplendent quetzals, a yellowish flycatcher, and a sloth. For a two hour tour, we saw surprisingly few birds. He told us a lot about the plants.

We walked out on the suspension bridge, and got a view of the canopy from above. We enjoyed this tour very much; it helped that the weather was sunny. We had an early dinner at Stella's, and left with some baked goods.

　

On Saturday morning at breakfast we chatted with Federico, who educated us on why Costa Rica has a different sense of the environment. In 1978 the country created a system of national parks. Scientists and students came to Costa Rica to study because Costa Rica was stable politically. The cloud forest is one of the most ecologically diverse places on earth. Many of the species are epihphytes, such as orchids, which live on other plants, but are not parasites. A single tree could have as many as 70 species of epiphytes living on it!

　

We drove to Santa Elena, and Rafa and his van took us to the coffee tour of El Cafetal in San Luis. The farm is organic; Luis does his own roasting. The coffee tour included demonstrations of how the coffee was produced and roasted in the old days, as well showing the current machinery. The beans are air dried in a greenhouse. Gaby explained to us the various varieties of coffee plants. Since this is an organic producer, fungus is a big issue; plants that become covered in fungus are cut back to regrow. They plant fruit trees for the shade that the coffee plants need; one of the ladies on the tour was hit by a falling grapefruit. At the end of a tour we tasted the coffee, and bought some.

　

We had lunch at Stellas, saw a Leeson's motmot, and watched the monkey steal the banannas. Then we parked in Santa Elena, visited the ATM, and walked around the triangular center of town. Like most tourist towns, every other storefront is booking tours. We saw many hostals, and many European young people.

　

We came back to our cabin in Finca Terra Viva, and Sandi and I walked over to the milking barn. Federico explained to us in detail the functioning of the milking machinery, including how it is cleaned automatically. We also discussed in additional detail the functioning of the agricultural cooperative. Federico was on the board of the coop, and feels some ownership of the coop. The coop exports about 1/3 of their products to Nicaragua, Panama, and other countries. The coop imports corn from the US or Argentina, grinds it, adds some minerals, and sells it to the farmers. Sandi was particularly interested, since she has been working with a farm coop in Fort Collins.

　

On Sunday we ate breakfast at Terra Viva, and chatted a little with the French people there. We all went to mass in Santa Elena, and admired their nativity scene. We had lunch at Stellas, and then drove to the Santa Elena Reserve. We found it to be quite different from Monteverde; it seemed wetter, with more ferns and more moss. What looked like a short hike turned out to be a project, due to elevation gain, hundreds of steps, and a muddy bypass around a construction project.

Dave kissing the ground after reaching the paved trail.

 We did enjoy our view of Arenal volcano; the top was covered in clouds. We headed for Morpho's Restaurant, and we all ate "casados", a Costa Rican dish composed largely of rice and beans. We also admired the sunset, the view of the Bay of Nicoya, and the Nicoya penninsula, where we will be tomorrow.

　

　

　

　

　

Off to Costa Rica

Our friends Pam and Dave drove from Nebraska to our home in Colorado on Sunday.   Due to our very early flight on Tuesday morning, we decided to stay at an airport hotel on Monday evening.  We ate Pho at a place in Green Valley Ranch, near the airport.

Tuesday morning we left the hotel about 4 AM, for a 6 AM flight.  We parked at the Parking Spot, where we had a good coupon.   The airport was not super-busy.  Our flight to Atlanta was on time; we settled in for a long layover at the Delta Sky Club.   Pam and Dave were new to the advantages of a Skyclub.   We headed for the gate for our flight to Liberia, only to be told that we needed to go to a gate at a different terminal.  We rushed to the new gate, and only left a little late.   We arrived at the Liberia airport about 9:40 PM, and got right through customs.  We took the shuttle to the Hilton Garden Inn at the airport, and agreed not to get up early, since it had been a long day.

Breakfast at the hotel restaurant was the usual hotel buffet.  Richard headed for the airport to pick up the rental SUV, which was an almost new Toyota Prado diesel.   He stopped to get a SIM card for his phone, and then we headed for Hermosa Beach.   Hermosa beach was a typical third world beach town.    We had a nice lunch at Robertos on the beach, and soaked up some relaxation.   We headed back to the hotel, and headed out later for a light dinner at Cafe Europa, which was good and inexpensive.  It is a bakery and a patio restaurant, founded by a German couple.  We resolved to come back for breakfast  and stock up on baked goods.