Back to life, back to reality
What is a vacation? Can you have a true vacation while still at home? I think not. I think vacations are getting away from all the daily things in your life; work , meetings, appointments, clubs, practices, and work. The problem with vacations is that they end. It is impossible to have a never ending vacation, because at some point it becomes your “reality” or your “life”.
Now we will admit, we missed our kids and we missed our friends, but if we could’ve found a way to bring them all back to us, we would have. You could’ve all lived in our vacation for a while, and much like a tootise pop, we would see how long it takes a vacation to turn into life. My guess, when the money runs out.
To close out our trip, I thought I would just post some of our favorite shots of our trip. People seem to like the pics ( or really resent them Scott L.!) and I will work on getting another video together. Shoot, last time it only took me a year, and then it will be time for another vacation.
Well I went ahead and did a quick photo video, it was easier. I apologize for the quality, but it was a quick video just so for your enjoyment. The second video, well that is for all the doubters; those that doubt a 41 year, stocky Alaskan can surf. You can hear the cheers from the hot female in the background.
Like a troubled bridge over waters
We had planned well, up early, sit by the pool for an hour or two, eat a little breakfast, say our goodbyes, then on the road to San Jose no later than 11 am. Plans are made to be altered.
Everything was on schedule, and as we were on phase three, heading out to breakfast, we heard a frantic knock at the door. It was Jane bearing news. The road to San Jose was closed, the only road to San Jose was closed. Yesterday two tankers had collided and exploded and blew up the road making it impassible to all traffic. The only other route was an additional 3 hours, for which we had not budgeted. So now we had a vital decision, eat breakfast or start looking for alternate plans, of course we chose breakfast, the most important meal of the day. During breakfast I was able to confirm that indeed the road was likely to be closed all day today. Not good. We ate quickly, not the way I prefer to enjoy my last Costa Rican meal. Then hurried to say goodbye to the Daniels.
As soon as we got back to the Casita , I frantically began skyping and typing to figure out another route or another flight. All avenues lead to a dead end, there were no other options or alternatives. During all this Tra was stuffing our bags full of all loose items strewn about the Casita. I noticed that I was drenched in sweat, even though we were sitting comfy in our AC casita.
Finally, we decided we would take the plunge and just pray it was not the portion of road we needed to cross. We quickly loaded up the gold Vitara, and pounded on the main door hoping to say our goodbyes. Alas, the only one home was Ara, no Josh nor Jane or Mia. But we could not wait, we were already behind schedule and now if there was any delay it could prove to be the fatal blow to our departure. We gave Ara all our love and remorsefully, we departed.Now I won’t say I was speeding or driving recklessly, but let’s just say even the locals were impressed with my ability to find the small openings in traffic and take advantage of them. Tracy, not so much. We figured our only hope was the new toll road that had just opened connecting Caldera to Escazu. After 37 years that road opened the Wed. prior to our depature, and it was reported to be much faster.
The first three hours went better than planned, I was in the zone, finding the passing lanes and becoming one with the road. The weather was perfect, like always, and the whole route was paved. Even the GPS seemed to be working a little more efficiently.
Knowing the wreck was on a bridge, but not which bridge Tracy pulled out the map and started counting possible bridges. One by one we passed bridge after bridge, and with each one our hopes rose. And then it happened, we started seeing a slowing of traffic and a slew of semis, seemingly stopped in the road, and they were.
It was 1:15 pm, our flight left at 6:20,we were told by the airlines that you must check in 2 hrs. prior to international flights. The problem was, we did not know how far ahead the broken bridge was, we did not know if it was open, we did not know how long the new route would take. We tried to remain calm, as we sat watching the minutes tick away. We spoke encouraging words to each other, or perhaps to ourselves , but inside we were panicked.
One very long hour later we sensed movement and slowly began creeping forward. The bridge, it turned out was only about 1 mile from us, and it was a mess. There was one lane open, the skeleton of the two tankers sat on trailers across the bridge. there were ambulances, policia and construction workers all over the place. The right side of the bridge was burned, bent, and mangled, yet semi after semi crossed, as did we.
It was now nearly three and we still did not know how far we had to go. I knew passing was futile , but I passed anyway, it made me feel better. Now if we could only find that new road.
Blindly we drove toward Caldera, expecting signs, perhaps even fireworks marking such a significant event. There were none. Yet we drove on trusting that our GPS. The problem with that, new roads don’t show up on the GPS. Even worse, when you put in a destination and your GPS thinks you are driving over meadows, pastures and mountains it gets really mad at you. By God’s grace we found our brand new toll road. As advertised, it was much faster. One small issue, where do we get off? Tra, using her instincts and an old-fashioned map made an educated guess which we took. After winding our way down a mountain and through several small towns we emerged in the midst of San Jose rush hour. By now we were really sweating the clock, and I still had to find a gas station. Finally, after several near misses on left turns, and the kindness of a couple of fellow Tico drivers, we pulled into the rental station, time; 4:45.
After an amazing ride put on by our shuttle driver, we pulled into the airport at 5:05, no way they would let us on the plane. But they did, shoot we even had time to get a couple pieces of Church’s Chicken, and a minute for the sweat to dry and my heart to calm down. We made it safely to Miami but you’ll have to wait to read about our misadventures there.
Written on my iPhone while driving to San Jose, so forgive the typos. Just kidding it’s from an airport somewhere.
Where the heck is Junquillal ( hoonk-a-lawl)?
As much as I love having the GPS, it is definitely not infallible. For instance, last week we wanted to check out a place called Junquillal. Junquillal is a nice little beach town south of Playa Flamingo. So we punch it in the GPS and off we go on another adventure. Little did we know the true adventure it would be. You see our GPS always looks for the “shortest” route, as that is the way I have programmed it. What the GPS does not take into consideration is the condition of the road. In this case, the shortest route was along the beach on a series of “roads” that appeared as a series of dashes on our old-fashioned map.
shells as far as the eye can see
shells, shells and more shells
a casa on the beach
It turns out these “roads” would be a challenge for an ATV, much less our Suzuki SUV. There were rivers and dips, and ruts, and trees and iguanas, and occasionally a dirt bike. Our top speeds were in the 25 kilometer range, and my patience was running very short. Every once in a while there was a small “road” that turned off from our “road” and towards the beach, and through the dust and jarred teeth, I was often tempted to turn down one to take a break and change the shocks out. After about 45 minutes, our GPS told me to turn right, and since I had blindly been following it for over and hour I listened.
Tra in beachcombers heaven
A bad day of fishing in Costa Rica, beats a lot of things.
Well apparently some things are not so much different here in Costa Rica than back home. Say for instance the fishing. We took a small charter out this morning to do a little fishing for, well for pretty much anything. Although the methods were slightly different, the weather was way different, the results were vaguely familiar; we caught nothing. I saw more variety of fish than I have ever seen outside an aquarium. They were jumping, diving, swimming and schooling all over the place, they just wouldn’t bite. Maybe it was too hot for them to eat.
our chariot awaiting us
our trusty skipper William
Jason ready to reel
first mate
The trip was not a total loss, as I said before I saw more variety of fish than I have ever seen. My favorite was the giant Manta Ray. As I have detailed in this blog in the past, we have caught many skates over the years, and I thought Manta Rays were similar. I was way off. They look similar, but it is like comparing a Piper Super Cub to a Boeing 747. The giant manta rays were amazing to watch, gliding through the water, barley moving their wings. Eventually each tip of each wing breaking the surface of the water, as two shark fins moving in unison. Then slowly gliding back down like a hand glider returning to earth. A couple off them were several feet wider than our boat, and one looked to be as big as our 21 foot fishing boat. I can only imagine the giant shadow they must cast on the bottom of the ocean.
Jrew checking the lines
pre-fishing pose
father and son
We also saw some turtles, jumping skates, and about a dozen fish of which I was told the name of, but could not understand what William the skipper called them through his thick spanglish accent. I just nodded my head and smiled, that seemed to do the trick. Finally we saw some sea snakes and some of the beautiful deserted beaches. Shoot, I even managed to get a little snooze in. It was a nice boat ride without any nasty, dirty fish to clean. Back home we would say ” all I caught was a cold”, here “all I caught was a burn, sunburn”.
like father, like son
fishing, boat riding fools
Ex-Pats Partying
Socializing together is very important for ex-pats in Costa Rica, as has become apparent to us this trip. In one week we have gone to two well attended fund-raisers. The first was here in Flamingo for a local private school. There we met many people from the community, people from the church, from the school, and just the area in general.
Dinner night at Angelina's
our transportation to many social events, Jane is a crazy driver though.
The night scene at the Haiti benefit
Tonight we went to another fund-raiser in Tamarindo, this time it was for Haiti. Again, all aspects of the community showed up for the concert, buffalo wings and company. The best thing about these get togethers is that they have great turnouts, they are cheap, and they are outside. It is a great way to meet people and feel part of the area. There is a tight-knit community here, and they take advantage of outings such as these.
Haiti benefit
They even had kids activities, including the Pinata
post sunset listening to the live music ( I can never open my eyes in a self portrait)
more scenes from the concer
Oh, and we found time to go surfing once again, without instructors. This time we hit Playa Grande, where the people are fewer the waves are bigger and the surfing is better. But, the surfing is only better for better surfers, not so much us. I am happy to report that I truly really surfed a couple waves. I mean stand up, ride the wave jump off surfing. And even though I suffered many minor injuries, I believe I will surf again, dude!
I am a monkey, and I am going to get that coconut!
look out dude!
making it happen
Tracy and her friend Arenal, the same guy from last year
the obligatory sunset with a Guancaste tree in the foreground
Things we learned:
It takes more than one day for surf wounds to heal.
12 passenger rental buses can catch air if driven at high speeds over a large speed bump.
It only costs about $2 to fix a flat tire, it only costs another $2 to fix that same flat again….
There are a lot of Americans living in Costa Rica, and they seek out other Americans.
Merry surfing to me
I am a legendary body surfer and well known boogie boarder, at least in my family. However, I cannot say that it has always been my dream to be a surfer. This past Christmas, knowing we would be in Costa Rica together, Jason bought me surf lessons. In his words, so he would not look foolish alone.
Glenn trying to hang ten
two grown men fighting for the same wave
Now I have watched hundreds upon hundreds of people surf, big waves, small waves, big boards, small boards, and for the most part it looks pretty easy. Catch a wave, jump up, balance and ride to the shore. Sure I knew it would likely take 2 or 3 times before I got the knack of it, but I am old and that is expected.
Jason getting ready to make some magic
just like the pros
ending his ride in style
It was a gusty day on Tamarindo beach, blowing along the shore line perpendicular to the surf. The sun was hot, the spray was pelting and the flying sand stung those stuck on shore. Tracy stood by on the beach guarding our things and armed with a multitude of cameras. There were several schools of surf, all identified by their color of surfing shirt and their very close proximity to the shore, like me, Jason, Jrew and Jace, in our awesome surfer blue shirts. Further out, in the big surf breaking out 100 feet past us were the pros, with their wooden short boards, wild hairdos, dark skin, long shorts, taking turns catching the big waves. I knew soon, very soon we would be out there with them.
Jason getting ready to make it happen
Jrew showing all of us how it is done
After our repetitive on shore session learning how to jump up onto the board, we were ready to hit the waves. Our teacher, Cairo, a thin tall dark Tico lead us out into the beginner surf and was soon holding our boards and shoving us one by one into the onslaught of waves. Now some of us were much quicker to grasp the concept of balance and foot position, unfortunately I was not one of them. Eventually though, I was able to stand up, and I think I actually surfed. Most of the time, by the time I was standing the ride was already over, but it still looked good in a quick photo.
ready to catch the big kahuana
almost there
Jace really seemed to get the hang of it, riding several waves all the way into the shore. Jrew also caught some great waves, and he even did a couple tricks, unintentionally, but they still looked cool. Jason caught a couple nice ones, but he injured his hip early on ( during the on shore session) and was suffering throughout the class. Yet he pressed on, and kept his word accompanying me in looking foolish. Me, well I can’t say that I became “one with the waves” but I can say that I became “one with the ocean bottom” several times. I never did make it out deep with the pros, but I was content to hang in the shallow surf with the other blue shirters, attempting to catch wave after wave. Will I ever surf again? Let’s just say I bought a brand new surf shirt today, but you won’t see me in Cook Inlet anytime soon.
two surf daddy's in one picture
emerging victorious
What we learned:
The reason you wear a surf shirt is not for warmth,or to look excessively cool, but to prevent rashes, of which I now have many.
Not only is surfing much harder than it looks, sitting on the board is harder than it looks, swimming on the board is harder than it looks, and getting to the surf is harder than it looks.
Balance is key, and it is not a given.
If you surf once, you will almost always surf again.
Pretty much anyone can look cool holding a surfboard on the beach.
My wife can take some awesome surf pictures.
the unicycle dude, after this he decided to run for an hour at sunset
I have conquered the surf
reflection ( not the one off my head, a deeper much more meaningful reflection)
Vacations can be exhausting
Being on the beach has brought a lot more activity into our lives. We have met up with Jason and Angie and their kids, met up with our friend from last year, Jane; met a whole bunch of new people out outings ranging from a beach party at a nice condo resort, to a fund raiser for a local school. In between, we have found some time to hit the beach, and more importantly, time for my noggin to heal.
finding a minute to relax
We met the Daniels at a beach right in front of our house. They pretty much already look like Ticos, dark hair, dark skin the works. Their espanol is a little rough, but getting mucho mejor. While hanging at the beach, Me, Jason and the boys were showing off our boogie boarding / body surfing prowess, and I must say, it was very impressive, at least to us. The water down here is fantastic, extremely warm, clear and calm. It is easy to spend the whole day in it, forgetting that the sun is beating down upon your head every second.
me catching a wave as Jason looks on in awe.
Olivia showing us all how to hang ten
Me, being the wise man that I am, put my dew rag on; and me, being that wise man that I am, forget that I had it on when I tried to body surf the big Kahuana. Needless to say, after two somersaults, shorts full of sand, and salt water throughout my whole sinus cavity, I emerged without my trusty dew rag. So, uh, Schemanskis, I know you are in Hawaii, keep on eye out for a black dew rag, there is a handsome reward for its return.
we stayed in the water well past sunset.
We also made a road trip down to Tamarindo in the Daniels Dream Wagon. It fit all 10 of us. Along the way we stopped at a great coffee shop called Cafe Cafe, and the coffee was fantastic. The guy working the counter was great, a true surfer named Daniel. He also attends the church we attend while here in Flamingo.
Photo by Jace, in front of Beach Community Church
fun bridge for the hijos outside the church
We hit the board work and did some tourisimo shopping and then hit the local Auto Mercado grocery store. Tracy and I managed to spend about 44,000 colones for our shopping efforts, or about $80 in Alaskan money. I didn’t dare ask Jason and Angie what they spent, but let’s just say the dream wagon was squatting quite a bit on the way home. We have noticed that cheese and peanut butter are very expensive, while fruit and veggies are very reasonable, to down right cheap at times.
the men talking things over during lunch
We did get to see some Congo monkeys on the drive back, after stopping for some true Italian style ice cream. It was a full day topped of with a fund-raiser for a local school where we met another 300 english speaking friends. Man, vacations can be exhausting!
one of the many Congo monkeys in a tree by the road
What we learned:
A great way to inject salt water into every orifice of your body is to body-surf.
A great way to inject sand into every part of your body is to body-surf.
A great way to have the experience of being in a washing machine is to body-surf.
These people know how to put on a potluck!
The monkeys that bark like dogs are called congos, not manos, and they travel in families and the big one is the dominant male. Thanks shirtless, extremely overweight man smoking a cigarette and interrupting our wildlife viewing experience for your un-wanted and un-requested monkey facts.
sigh, another sunset
and another
another
last one
Tank Tops and Flip Flops ( and dew rags for one of us)
Home sweet home. We are back in Playa Flamingo, and it feels like coming home, the beach, the surf, the heat, the sun, the pool,the flip-flops and tank tops, and the peeling head, it is all so familiar and welcome. The drive down from San Jose took about 5 hours, with one stop for lunch along the way. It was a very pretty drive and much tamer than San Jose, although traffic laws are still mere suggestions, and mostly after thoughts.
some new scenes from out bananluna casita
A new papaya tree now prominent and just about ripe
The roads are filled with switchbacks and sodas. The switchbacks, gorgeous scenery and beautiful weather, combined with a 5-speed make me feel like I am in a T.V. commercial for a high-speed Mercedes. And, if I do say so myself, I drove like it, at times, at least in my mind. The sodas are local, very small outdoor restaurants, usually run out of someone’s house, and they litter the roadside. As you drive by you usually see 2-3 dark-skinned Ticos in jeans or cutoff shorts, and dimly colored shirts sitting at a table or bar eating what is likely to be pollo, rice and beans. If the soda is empty, than the owner / cook is usually sitting in a lounge chair in the front waiting for a patron.
scenes from Playa Flamingo beach
this one didn't make it.
We ended up back in Casita Bananluna, the same place we stayed last year, and it felt like walking back into home. Josh, Jane, Ara, and Mia were all on hand to great us. Little 3 year old Mia took to Tracy right away and hearing her talk made us miss our kids badly.
night scenes
another sunset
We spent the night walking the beach and watching the sunset, then sitting out by the pool watching the stars and the blood red moon set. As we watched the stars, two things occurred to me. I rarely ever get to just sit and look at the stars. Back home, when it is warm enough to watch the stars, they usually come out so late, that I cannot keep my old eyes open long enough to just gaze at them. In the winter, they are often out, and I usually pause walking into the house from the car to look at them. But then my ears turn into rock hard ice blocks after 30 seconds so I have to go inside. The second; I don’t think I have ever seen a moon set, and it was an exceptional sight. I hope to see many, many more of them.
the moon reflecting in the spa
Get a Garmin, Get Around. No Garmin, No Go!
Today our GPS took us to a little town called Sarchi. It is known as an “artsy” type of place. I don’t know if I would call it artsy, but they sure do sell a lot of furniture. All the furniture is Cost Rican wood, and all the furniture is handmade, which I would call an art. It was beautiful hardwood and very affordable, about 1/3 of what it would cost back home. It seemed that every little house had some furniture for sale. The town is set in what I would call the definition of rolling hills. It was clean, quaint, friendly, beautiful and we really liked it. We had lunch there at a local little cafe, run by small family of four.
typical mid-day traffic Alajuela
rolling hills of Sarchi
one of the multitude of furniture stores in the Sarchi
Again, the Church was absolutely gorgeous and in the center of the town. It also had a giant brightly decorated ox cart in the town square. The area is famous for its ox carts, and it shows. It as an area we would love to visit again, even if it is just so I can drive like a maniac through 90 & 180 degree turns, the one lane bridges and countless hills. Great times, especially in a five speed!
Normal size ox cart
Giant ox cart. The ox, big enough to feed my family for the week.
Sarchi church
Inside Sarchi church. Note the wood work on the ceiling.
Then somehow, our GPS led us to another mall, one right across from our hotel, and another one. I wonder who is running the show here. But that was our goal, to explore and to learn what we like in this area. We like, Grecia and we like Sarchi, we do not like Alajuela, San Jose, parts of Escazu and Sana Ana. We do not like the traffic, which continues to be insane. It has made me a much more aggressive driver, which I am not sure is a good thing. Tomorrow morning we head off to Playa Flamingo, an are we know we like because we went there last year. I know one thing for sure, even though our GPS keeps taking us to malls, I would never, ever attempt to drive in this area without. Shoot, even with the darn thing I have to do about 13 U-turns a day.
stubborn residue left over from one of our lessons learned.
Things we learned today:
There’s a reason the big beautiful tree right in front of the mall always has open parking. The reason, the birds use that tree as an outhouse with your car as the bottom of hole.
Thank God for GPS, and I mean it, but she absolutely cannot pronounce Spanish words.
Do you know your way in San Jose?
In less than a year, we have returned to Costa Rica. This time we are in the central valley, last time we were in the Guancaste region. We did not experience this region last time, and we wanted to broaden our horizons, and in one day, we have broadened them. San José is a tale of two, no a tale of ten cities. It is, by far, the biggest city in all of Costa Rica with a population of about 1.5 million people in the regional area.
ahh, peaceful no traffic heading into the valley
There are parts of San José that are reminiscence of the poorest parts of any large city in America, except that there are no building codes, so you can throw up whatever you want and call it a home. They build these homes right on the road, and although they cannot afford much, they can afford fences and barbed wire, oh and a big flat screen T.V.
even the drive- throughs are tricky
The traffic is the worst I have ever been in, including cities like Vancouver, St. Louis etc. This is not normal traffic, nor is it normal driving. Last year I was intimated early on in our trip, driving from the big city of Liberia to Playa Flamingo, child’s play compared to this. Instead of a two second rule, there is a hand rule, you should try to be at least two hand widths away from the car in front of you, and that is at 80 km per hour. Further, if you really want to go fast, drive a motorcycle. It is readily apparent that motorcycles do not have to adhere to traffic laws,( all right, everyone pretty much ignores them, but the motorcycles are far more brazen). They pass in between cars, on the divider line ( where this is a divider line) they zoom in and out of cars, pass on the right, pass on the left, pass in between cars going the wrong way, completely ignore red lights, and often don’t wear helmets, yet the usually have a passenger. All this on four lane roads with no lines,no shoulders, pedestrians on the road, cars parked on the road, and the width about 1/2 of an USA highway. It reminds me of the video game Tron, except much faster. I am confident Evil Knevil wouldn’t attempt to drive a motorcycle in this town. My favorite was the motorcycle driver speeding, passing 4 cars into oncoming traffic and texting at the same time. Unfortunately, we were unable to get pics because I was 100 % focused on not dying, and Tracy’s hands were dug into the dash. I hope our insurance covers dash damage.
our first lunch place this time
Just a few kilometers, or several hours aways, are slightly more sane areas. In fact the area of Escazu is pretty much like being in Amercia. It is much cleaner, wider roads, actual lines on the road, and even a few legible road signs. As you drive you see Applebee’s, Outback, Subways, and yes even McDonald’s. Funny thing is that they have some of their local flavor, and the local flavor is chicken, rice and beans. You can get them just about anywhere. The mall in that area is impressive, with many of the American stores, mixed in with some local selections. The prices seemed similar to Alaska prices, not that great.
Just a snippet of little america
They're everywhere!!
Chicken is everywhere, even KFC
We did manage to take a drive out to Grecia, a farm town in the hills of Central Valley. It was a great, quaint little town with very few english speaking people. As with most towns here, it had a huge Catholic church as the town center. We enjoyed visiting the area, and even had lunch at Pollo Crispy, which was very reasonable and tasty.
The church in Grecia
All in all, much like Anchorage, it seems to be a great place to visit, shop, and eat, but I don’t think I would want to live here. Too much traffic, too much stress, too many people, not enough beaches.
Things we learned today:
A month of pre-tanning does not prevent an hour sunburn.
Street signs are about the size of postage stamps, dirty illegible postage stamps.
A stop light combined with a stop sign is a common traffic sight, and just as commonly ignored.
Fumar o no fumar, still a vital question in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica Pura Vida le segunda parte ( part two)
I think I got the video issues worked out, finally. Now I must pre-worn you, if you don’t like monkey’s, you probably won’t like part two. For some reason, when I was making this, I went particularly heavy on the monkeys. I like monkeys. I call my kids monkeys. So I am not apologizing for the amount of monkeys, I am just warning that you will see quite a few monkeys. There are also some sunsets, sailboats, beaches and all that stuff. I was also able to upload the whole video in its entirety onto Dailymotion, so I have included that on here as well. So sit back relax and allow yourself to be swept away to the land of beaches, sun, rain forests and monkeys, lots of monkeys.
This is part two from the previous post
This is the whole video, both parts 1 and 2 combined.
PURA VIDA
Pura Vida
In honor of our upcoming trip back to the land of pura vida, I have finally uploaded a video montage of our last trip. Truthfully this project has been mostly done for months. My biggest issue is that Youtube always blocks the music content, so I am trying to find the right music, etc. etc. etc. In fact, I uploaded two videos, and this first one they found okay, the second one they tagged. So now I am going to try to get that fixed.
Anyway, this is the first video. There were thousands of photos I could have used. I could have probably made the video 40 minutes long from the photos we (Tracy) took. None of the animals were in zoos, but the crocs were in the Tempisque River, a park. I gotta say, these minus 10 days are making it very hard to wait for our trip.
Holiday Roads
Traveling is always a chore with a large family. Shoot, it takes us 25 minutes to figure out how we are getting to church every Sunday, and we go every Sunday! Are we taking the van or two cars? Do you need to be there early? Do we have any extra kids? Who is riding with dad? Are you getting a coffee? No, you can’t all ride with mom! No you can’t all go in later! Where are we going to eat? Where did all these extra kids come from?
Now imagine trying to take a vacation. Just finding 10 seats is daunting, but then try and use your handy-dandy super simple companion fare in combination with you Alaska Airlines miles and find the cheapest fare. This always leads to a conversation with a ticket agent ( yes they still exist, near extinction, but those still alive have managed to maintain the skills their ancestors have passed down to them)explaining my fate and frustration of attempting to bring it all together. The result is always at least two separate flights. Two long separate flights arriving several hours apart, and arriving late, always.
Traveling is definitely a chore for a family our size, but it is almost always worth it. Our last family trip was to Orlando, and the end result was great, even though it did involve two travel teams changing planes twice each way and going through different cities and arriving at different times. I think it must be somewhat like childbirth. You forget the crying, the vomiting ( in the aisle of the plane), the nasty smells ( usually sitting by the bathroom) and the kicking and screaming in desire of breaking free from captivity, and then you have worry about the kids too. But alas, all that goes away as soon as you lay your head on the lounge chair by the pool.
I write this as we get ready to head to Anchorage for Thanksgiving, our yearly tradition. The kids love staying with Nana, going to the shootout, shopping, hitting up old Charles E. Fromage, and maybe even making an appearance at H2Oasis, a great place for a hairy old overweight man like myself to hang out. Alas, I have to keep this short because we are getting ready to leave and I need to open an Excel spreadsheet to figure out who is going to ride with who and who gets to bring what laptop, and who gets to sit in what seat, and where we will stop and potty, and where Tracy will want to stop and take some pictures…… oops we were suppose to leave an hour ago.
Have a great Thanksgiving weekend, and don’t forget to whom you are thankful.
Her blood runs strong
So we had a great surprise today, my Grandma stopped in for a quick visit on her way to Homer. Let me tell you a little something about my Grandma. You see, I grew up commercial fishing in the summers, literally I grew up on boats. I started with my Grandpa and Grandma, 3-4 months out of the year on a 42 foot boat with them for the summer. I have already explained how influential my Grandpa was, but all along Grandma was there right by his side. I thought she was old back then, of course everyone is old when you are pre-teen. But there she was stacking seine gear, pitching fish, scrubbing decks, cleaning salmon, digging clams, hiking mountains to pick berries amongst the legendary Kodiak Brown Bear, cooking for all of us and living on a boat with 3-4 guys. She was the Deadliest Catch before there was a Deadliest Catch. And she did this for decades. That, my blogging audience, is a true Alaskan woman. My Grandma was born and raised here, emerging a strong Christian woman from the small village of Ouzinkie on Kodiak Island. I remember her stories of WW II alarms and drills as a child. Stories of her sisters, cousins and more. She grew up in a tough time, and she emerged as a tough woman raising four kids along the way.
Grandma mixing it up with the Kodiak buffalo
Grandma taking care of Ben's fishing needs
I share this with you because of her latest escapade that she shared with us today, laughing her patented chortle the whole time. As you all know, my grandfather recently passed away and for the first time in, um I don’t know, probably at least 60 years, my Grandma is somewhat alone. So what do Grandmas do then? Sit and knit, rock and talk, move to a home? Not my Grandma. I don’t know how old she is, but she is darn close to 80 if not past. She decided that she needed to go to Menominee Wisconsin to visit some relatives. So she hops on a plane, by herself, from Anchorage bound to Missouri to visit some friends, and then decides that she should take a bus to Wisconsin. Well she has never taken a bus before, and especially not from downtown St. Louis. So here is Grandma at the bus station in St. Louis. Now, I have been to that bus station, and all I remember is me and my buddies, strong strapping college men, hiding all our jewelry ( yes we had a lot of jewelry in college, it was the 80s) and banding together in case we had to “throw down’. The bus ride itself was near torturous, the smells, the stares, coughing, hacking, cussing, music, babies crying and pit stops at the truck stops, which are a whole story unto themselves. It was an adventure fit for a college guy. Now picture the same thing with an 80-year-old woman by herself, not only in a strange town, but in a strange state. Sitting on a bench, by herself, luggage close by, patiently waiting for her bus to arrive and eyeballing those around her. I would not be surprised if she was knitting or crocheting while she waited. That’s my Grandma. Not only did she do it, she had to spend a night in Chicago by herself, something she did not know when she boarded the bus. She was quickly able to discern which people who wanted to be her “friends” were not the right kind of friends, and she was able to befriend a couple of genuinely nice gentlemen to aid her along the way. She ended up spending over 8 hours at the bus depots, a good time for adventurer, and slightly stressful for Grandma. And here she sits laughing her head off relaying the story to us.
She made it safe and sound to Menominee, and had a great visit, and for some reason decided to skip the Greyhound for Jet on the return trip. But I share this with you because I am proud that my bloodline runs through a woman like that. A true pioneer of this state and a true blue tried and tested Alaskan woman, who decided she was up for a bus ride from Missouri to Wisconsin. Shoot, my kids don’t even like taking the bus to school ( and I can’t say that I blame them). I have seen her strength in my mother and my sisters and I can only pray that I get a taste of her strength to pass on to my kids.
A mountain of a trip, and a mountain of pictures
Kodiak, an Island of the southwest coast of Alaska was home to me. I will always have a fond place in my heart for “the rock” as it is known by those of us who frequent it. I know people who love it and I know people who hate it, but I don’t think I have ever heard any say “meh, it’s Okay”. Some people cannot stand the thought of the rain, remoteness and the possibility of being stranded days beyond your intended stay. I have been there. There are only two ways to Kodiak, the ferry and the air. I remember once when I was commercial fishing, waiting five days, five full days to get off that Island and go home to my wife. That was a time when I hated the rock. That was long before internet and cell phones, the days before lattes, facebook posts and twitter. So we just sat, sat , sat in the airport, me, my crew and about 200 other unwashed, stinking commercial fisherman, waiting for one day of decent, not good, just decent weather.
The view from our hosts, the Mortenson's
Mort , Sonya & Olivia, some of my favorite people.
Mom & Dad reliving some old memories at Fort Abercrombie
hanging on the old cannon at Abercrombie
old bunker at Abercrombie
The woods at Abercrombie
Ben picking salmonberries
Finally found something that quieted him up for a minute
posing in the Abercrombie woods
fences mean nothing to this family
mom & dad still reminiscing
But even that could not sour me on Kodiak. It is nearly impossible to beat Kodiak when the weather is nice; those three days are awesome! I know when we last lived there we loved it. We loved the pace of life, the beauty, the fishing and hunting, and our church. Shoot, we even got a Wal-Mart. It was a good life.
hey, I wanted a turn!
who let Jeremy drive?
Ensign?
My ladies
The newest attraction, 120 ft. blades on these bad boys. That'll keep you cool on them hot summer days.
view from the top of Pillar Mountain.
More Pillar Mt.
boyz on the Mt.
This time we were just going back for a visit. You see my dad was born and raised in Kodiak, and he went on to become Commissioner of the Dept. of Public Safety. He was very involved in native issues and did quite a bit for the native community. He was the first Alaska Native Commissioner and proud to be so. He died a few years ago, and since then a few of the native corporations made a move to name a Mountain after him, one in a bay where he and mom spent there last time together. So our trip was part of the celebration of the naming of this mountain. I, unfortunately, was on the committee planning this thing out. Had I the foresight to know what that would entail, I likely would’ve excused myself.
on the road to Pasagshak
Nana talking to her friends the seals. Alli learning the ways of her crazy elders.
Indiana Godfrey and his bullwhip of death. Don' t believe me, ask Ben where his left ear is.
One of us has a little less hair than the last time we were here.
she still likes me!
Notice the famous rocket launch tower in the background
scenes from the beach
more beach scenes
even more
Part of the committee job was travel, travel to get the family to and from Kodiak. Things were falling into place a little nicely and I should have known a curve ball, nay a sinking slider was upon us. The day they were supposed to arrive, our air transportation was cancelled. coincidently, this was the day prior to the event. Ahhh Kodiak you got me again! Myself and my family, understanding how this hearty island worked, we were there a week early on the ferry, so we were good to go. It was the other 18 people with which I had to deal with. Frantically, as fast as my fingers could pound the flat screen of my iphone, I was sending emails, making phone calls, and reading emails. Finally after hours and hours of heartache, indigestion, anxiety, stress and a little fear, we were able to make arrangements to get the family to the Island with hope, just hope of getting them home ( I of course did not tell them that). But I knew once I got them there, the rest would depend on the Island.
some of the buffalo
getting an early start on fine arts
watch out Jake!
Nana, Grandma and us
Dorian doing what he loves the most
nana doing her best at Lake Rose Tead
the kids? wading
Dorian may like fishing, but he don't like wading
here comes a big one
A scene from Baywatch!
run for your lives! or at least for your socks
cleaning up Papa's grave
I don’t want it to appear that the whole time was a stressful mess, just a few days of the trip. The rest of the time we explored the rock as if it was our first time. We hit up our favorite beaches, sites and mountains. Visited spots where Tra and I had dates, ate at new places and old, visited great friends and had a genuine good time. The first day of the ceremony went well, for most of it was indoors. The second day of the ceremony, well….. it didn’t happen. It was to involve a boat trip to the mountain to place a plaque. But when the weather is blowing Northeast 45, no one is too skippy to take a boat trip anywhere, especially the skippers of the boat. None-the-less, we made a day of it, again hitting the beaches, all 30 of us.
the most popular drummer
One of the dancers
The traditional mask that was built to be burnt.
The fire to burn the mask those logs are about 8 feet long
The beach we chose that day was Pasagshak, a beautiful forty minute drive through three Kodiak wind swept bays and over the mountains. There were horses, buffalo, salmon, bald eagles, deer and more spread along the way. After several stops, we arrived at the end of the road, our beach of choice.Upon unloading the crew, and doing a little beach combing, I sat on the beach, watching my kids playing in the surf, looking for fossils, exploring the WW II bunkers, and climbing every hill in sight; I breathed in the salt air, listened to the massive surf pound the beach, and felt the wind pressing against the back of my jacket, and I was in the moment in one of God’s greatest creations. Just then, a small, but fast raindrop pelted against my nose, and caused me to look up into the sky. I didn’t have to look up much, and I saw the low dark clouds hovering in a haze of foggy rain, and I realized that I had to figure how to get all these people home. At that moment I knew, the Island had got me once again. How many days this time Kodiak? Some things never change.
leaving scenes
Jake reflecting
Jake Reflecting
Nana, Grandma and their 20 grandkids and counting, color coded of course
Labor Day Weekend Part II. The long awaited sequel to Labor Day weekend part I
The next day we again ventured out into the briny sea, this time with the whole family in tow. Early to the high tide, the fishing was not nearly as productive, but everyone managed to catch something. Unfortunately, something more often than not, was a 50 pound skate or a feisty little dogfish shark. Somehow, I don’t think the little ones minded too much, except for dad who had to wrangle each and every one of them off the circle hooks. I made a bit of an art of it after a dozen or so attempts, and a few cuts, and a few crushed fingers from those blasted skates.
A shark.....
... a skate........
.....my hot date!
To the little ones, a picture with a shark or skate was much more exciting than a stinking halibut anyway. Although before the trip was over, Alli landed a 30 lb. prize, followed by Jeremy and his 50 pounder, added to the halibut of day one, we ended up with enough meat for even our family.
I have no clue.
Shyla on the boat doing the same thing she does at home
Alli on the boat doing the same thing she does at home.
While fishing, the fog come upon us without warning and we had to rely on our old fashioned navigation, the gps. It guided us right back to spit. After a vessel and fish cleaning session, we grabbed some pizza at Starvin Marvin’s and headed back to home sweet home. That night, cuddled up and cramped, we ate some home made popcorn and played games while sitting on top of each other.
that's a rod bender there.
more bow poses
Jake chillin
kids kissin
dad drivin
Jeremy fishin
dad gaffin
Jeremy posin
Instant Foggin
That night the kids retreated to their exclusive loft, which managed to sleep each and every one of them. The downfall, the loft was right above our room, so every shift of weight, walk to the bathroom, or acrobatic bed jump, flexed the roof above our bed and sounded as if Dorian’s halibut from the day prior was flopping around on top of us.
our humble abode
our view
their loft
We finished our mini vacation to the south with some stream fishing on the way home. There wasn’t much in the way of catching, just fishing and bug fighting but opportunity for lots of pictures and hopefully some memories. The trip ended with unpacking of twice as much stuff as we packed. I still don’t get how that happens. Every trip, every time, even when we do no shopping and eat everything we packed, we come back with at least twice as much stuff. I equate that to the mystery of missing laundry socks.
Anchor River fishing
jakey working the Nemo pole
Ben fishing?
Alli in B&W
Kachemak Bay
still working that Nemo pole and mohawk
looking for fish, not catching, just looking
All things considered, the trip was a lot of fun for a mini vacation 90 minutes from home. Next time though, we won’t pack as much stuff.
Jake found a ride home
A Clammy Memorial Day
For Memorial Day 2009 we decided to take advantage of the tides coinciding with the holiday to go to Clam Gulch and dig us some clams. After all a man has to be the hunter gatherer for his family. After loading up the van, we headed s0uth with a brief stop at Freddy’s for some last minute supplies, including another clam shovel and clam gun. I feared we were running a little late, for tide waits for no man, and tide protects the elusive razor clam. But alas, my fears were unfounded as we showed up to a nearly empty beach void of water and fantastic sunny weather. Now I am a man of few clams, meaning I don’t like cleaning em, but I do like digging em, so I limit me and boys to around 40 clams total. The limit is 60 per person, and we never breach that.
Unpacking, and ready for action
Dad's not starting that fire right is he?
Our camp
For those of you that have not done it, clamming is hard work, especially when you are not good at it like us. In fact the last time we went we clammed for hours and I think we almost had 50. As hard as digging em is, cleaning is even more so, especially on an old man’s back. So I have learned from my past ways and have limited our take. This time I wanted only 40. After about 90 minutes I figured we were there. I was very impressed at the increased clam digging prowess of the boys, they were up to their armpits in the sand battling those little mollusks to the bitter end. Even though the razors were out weighed by well over 200 pounds, they still had home-court advantage, and they knew how to use it. They would tease us, just leaving a little portion of their shell or neck out so that we could feel it with our frozen fingertips, but not enough to grip them and break the bionic suction that their size 13 foot was able to create. But persistence often paid off and we were all able to contribute to the pot.
Heading out to the digging fields
the hunter gatherers in action
going for all the clams
check out those great looking toes
So while the girls sat by the campfire cooking and relaxing, the men battled for every morsel, encrusting sand in every nook of our hands, arms, and even teeth. When we were dripping with sweat, with back spasms and sliced up hands we felt we had enough. As we trudged up to the campsite, I glanced into the buckets and I surmised we had about 60 clams, a little more than I wanted to clean, but they were small so I was happy. At camp we started rinsing out the razors and I began counting, when I stopped I had said 100, yes 100. That is quite a few more than I wanted, and way more than I anticipated. I started to sweat again anticipating the work ahead. Fortunately, when we got home and I started to clean, the boys were eager to join in, and with knives in hand they began to slicing and chopping with the skill of a Samurai, a two year old Samurai. Eventually they got the hang of it and between the four of us and our cleaning chain, we got the task done in about 2 hours. So ultimate victory against the great razor was ours. We came, we dug, we rinsed, we cleaned and we conquered. It was a great day. The only way it could have been better is if 1. You had been there. 2. You had cleaned all the clams for us. But even as it was, it was an awesome family day, with some world class smores on display at the campfire.
Jerms and Alii on the rock
bluff climbing, this is not dangerous at all
Wading in Alaska glacier water... that's our kids
Ben & jake in action
Jake paying Ben back for making him look like a sissy in the last picture
Missing Jo, but the rest of the crew on the rock.
P.S. Although I thought we conquered the raucous razors, as I sit and write this and feel the cuts on my hands, the pain under my finger nails, and the aches throughout my body, I am not sure who had the last laugh. Perhaps I will feel better after some chowder and fritters.
The smaller rock, and the smaller crew
the cleaning crew doing what they do
Our prize trophies. Olivia wanted to keep em as pets, go figure.
No coat required.
Having been home for four days now, you would think we would have readjusted back into the real world; got into our groove, our schedule, enjoyed the ever warming weather. If only it was true. We still cannot get our minds off of Costa Rica. Maybe it was the adventure, going to a new country, entering into the unknown, just the two of us. Maybe it was the weather, a warm dry heat, not overwhelming but crisp, perfect sunsets and great night weather. Maybe it was the beaches, soft golden sand, surf or surfless, nearly empty and clean. Or maybe it was the escape, no schedule, no school, no work, no stress. Whatever it was, we cannot get it out of our mind.
Returning home, donning a coat for the first time in 18 days, was analogic of our journey. When we left, we took the coats of stress, of every day life off, and did not put them back on again until we arrived in Anchorage. At that moment, when our right hands went into the sleeve, the weight of life was back our backs.The schedules, the bills, the job, they were all right back where we left them.
It was awesome, needed, and refreshing to be coatless and shoeless for a while. It made me think about home. What is home? Is it where you live? If that is true, then I have had over 15 homes in my life. I think it is more than that, I think home is where your family, friends, and in many cases, your church are. That is home. In our case, we are fortunate to have all three blend together as one. So that makes our home mobile, and if our home is mobile, then it can move to a place where coats are no longer required.
Costa Rica Last Full Day Sailing take me away…… Christopher Cross
For those of you that know me very well, you would know that the above is my all time favorite song. Funny thing, I have never sailed in my life. Much like the horses, if it doesn’t require a key, I don’t usually drive / ride it. So today’s experience was a new one for me. Sailing , reminded me of the horseback riding, because without the sound of an engine, you can actually hear things. Things such as birds, the ocean slapping the hull, the whipping of the sails, and the captain say lunch time. Important things.
View of our house from the boat
We finally had our great cruise. But it was not without trepidation. With 5 minutes before we got underway, we loaded up the car to go. As I backed up, my keen sense of senselessness, alerted me that there was a slight problem with our Corolla. I jumped out, fearing a flat tire, and my fear was quickly realized. But I immediately saw a beautiful sight, only 4 lug nuts. I could whip this out quickly, and with Tra’s help we had it done in about 5 minutes. We threw everything in the trunk, and drove like a lifelong Ticos to get to the launch sight. As we pulled up, I saw our skiff pulling away, loaded. Once again we had missed our cruise! Was it not meant to be?
I saw a couple of Ticos and asked if they knew about the Lazy Lizard, our vessel of choice, and they said he was coming back to drop off one of his guys. It was true, and soon we were off on another adventure.
Newlyweds, or newly refreshed enroute to paradise.
On board we met our other 4 travelers, 2 from Minnesota and 2 from Ohio. The ride over to the snorkeling grounds was wonderful. Under sail, no engine, the wind whipping us to our destination. Once there, we eagerly jumped in to see what would await us in the water. The visibility was poor, maybe 5 feet, but the sea life was abundant. I used every picture in my disposable water proof camera on wrasse, puffers, octopus, electric blue , striped fish and more. I had no idea what I was taking pics of , but they were pretty fish, and I am sure a couple of them were edible.
So how long do I have to hold this????
As Tra explored the near by private and secluded beach, I continued to snorkel, stopping only to kayak with her, and catch my breath on the beach. I did encounter one angry jelly fish, and he gave me a nice stinger on my arm to let me know I was in his house.
Tra kayaking back to the Lizard for some grub
whale!!!
We finished the cruise watching the sunset from the Lazy Lizard, right out in front of our house. We completed the day with a nice meal at our new friends house, discussing the merits of living in Costa Rica.
It was a great great ending to a trip of a lifetime and we are so happy we got to share it with all of you. We are very excited to see our kids, but not too excited to see the snow. I will have a summary blog on the whole trip coming soon, until then…
Just a dream and the wind to carry me and soon I will be free…….
Costa Rica Day 11 The boogie man!
Today was a day for boogie boarding. So back to Playa Grande we went, for the surf on our beach is nearly non-existent, great for swimming, not surfing. Picture a surf town you would see in a movie, very small buildings, very small community, lots of small bars and hostels, and some small surf type eateries except with 75% percent of the people habla espanol, y solomente espanol, and that is Playa Grande. Once there, we rented a boogie board, because you are never too old to boogie. I would have preferred more of an offshore wind, but I made do.
Tra showing me how it is done
Now remember I have already conquered ( or survived) my guacho time. I have become a wildlife expert, so it is time for me to join the surf community, except I think I will do it on a boogie board. It’s basically the same thing right? You know, skis vs. snowboard, they both bring you down the mountain, they both bring you in on the surf. One small miscalculation, I am 41 years old, and my body doesn’t twist and turn like it used to. Therefore, when the power of the ocean wants my top to move one way and my bottom to move the other, well there’s a bit of a problem there.
Tra working the surf
I did manage to get a few good boogies ( pretty sure that is the technical term) in before I pulled my left leg out of socket and bent it over my ear. At least that is what it felt like. Tra then hit the water and showed me how it was done, catching three waves in row. Maybe she should be giving the lessons at the local surf shop, Frijoles Loco. It was very fun day, with many hours spent in the sun, a fantastic sunset (again), two hours cleaning our sand from every inch of our bodies,and a great dinner at Angelina’s here in Playa Flamingo. A nice simple day in paradise.
time to head out and catch another one
Catching the big Kahuna.
View back from the water on the packed beach
Packed beach
our dinner spot, it was very nice, great night breeze
We had the whole beach pretty much to ourselves, figuring hard partying surfers don’t get up till after noon sometime (actually they get up at 5 am to catch the best waves), until a couple of local guys came to the beach with a blue soccer ball. Within 10 minutes , there were nearly 20 guys right in front of us playing a full fledged soccer game. Within the group I heard some Spanish, Italian, and possibly some French, or that could have been cursing. It was amazing what one little ball could do to an otherwise peaceful beach. Not that we minded, but we found it interesting that we had a 1 mile long beach with hardly anyone there, and the soccer game broke out right in front of our spot. Maybe I’m just upset they didn’t ask me to play, after all once I got my leg back into place I could have sat in goal.
Costa Rica Day 10 The end is near
For those of you that keep track, remember last Sunday we went to Liberia and got lost amidst a city wide celebration, and the way we escaped was to put Church’s Chicken in the GPS. Well we promised to be in church today, and we were. We went to the Beachfront Community Church. Now it wasn’t beach front and, like many public buildings here, it did not have walls. It was quite breezy, so that made service a lot of fun, but they were ready and it did not faze them a bit. Me, I was sweating throughout the service, and no it was not because I was convicted, it was because I was hot and the breeze, well it too was hot. The winds are called Papygao, and they are seasonal.
Pre-Service
The outside of our church
After Church we did something we had not done since we have been here, we ate inside a place with actual air conditioning and walls. While inside, Tra spotted a friend of hers, a little boy that had been wandering the area trying to sell things, and when he met us, Tra loaded up with his wares. Ever since then, every time we see him he waves emphatically. So Tra ordered him a mango smoothie and while I paid the bill she ran it over to him. He was very excited and drank it quickly. I think we have another amigo in the area.
Tra's new best friend
Another interesting tidbit, apparently the dry season is the burn season. Yeh, I know, it makes no sense to me either. But we noticed fires all over the place and so we asked what was the deal, and the deal is they don’t care about wild fires. They flat don’t care. The fires burn slow, and the houses are not built out of wood, so they don’t care. Apparently the Papygao winds end the end of this month and then everybody really burns like crazy, along with the hillsides. Every once in a while they take out a power pole, but hey who cares?
Fires across the way
More fires, they are everywhere
Finally we have hit several grocery stores here, the main ones are called Super Compro, Super Mercado, Auto Mercoda and Double Massai. The most American one is the one in Playa Del Coco, which we have shopped once. Most of the time, they look like the pictures below.
Small grocery store items, typical items.
We ended the day returning to one of our favorite restuarants, or first re-eatery, and it again was wonderful, El Coconut in Tamarindo. There
we ended the night looking at the sunset and reflecting on the fact that we have passed the half way point of our great adventure, and like the pastor said this morning, the end is near.
the moon has been fantastic lately
Tamarindo sunset
This little fella greeted us when we came home. You can't see it in this pic, but they are very colorful, and mean, much meaner than dungeness, the meanest Alaska crab.
What we learned:
1. A church without walls, and wind, can add empasis to the message if timed right.
2. A church without walls can make you sweat, which isn’t always bad.
3. Fires in Costa Rica, just like the people, burn slower.
4. The markets closest to the tourist areas are by far the most expensive.
5. The kids here work hard, and they appreciate a mango smoothie.
Costa Rica Day 9 A monkey in the hand is worth 20 crocs in the river
And we got both. After sunning ourselves all day yesterday, to the verge of crimson, we decided to take today to try something a little different. After a little research and a lot anticipation, we decided to try a little river trip down a big river and hoped to see some more wildlife, especially some crocs. We didn’t want to see zoo crocs, we wanted to see crocs in the wild, and we got more than we bargained, or paid for.
One of the many iguanas that thought they owned the road on the way to Bolson
The main form of transportation in Bolson
The day started without a reservation or a clue as to where to go. A little googling and I found a river that fit the bill perfectly, the Tempisque River in the Palo Verde Reserve. I noticed that most of the tours started from Playa Del Coco with a bus ride to the starting point Bolson. So we decided to skip the middle man and go straight to Bolson. Can you say adventure, we had no clue where we were going, how to book trip or what to expect. What we did not expect was a 30 minute drive down a dirt road littered with farms and iguanas who think they own the road.
Flat billed heron
One of many crocs
Several times we thought for sure we were lost, I mean whatever comes at the end of a rough dirt road with no houses, stores, stops, nada nothing but farms. But, we had no agenda, no time frame, so on we drove, a car rattled so hard my teeth hurt and our bladders were ready to burst, but on we drove. Finally, with all faith in our GPS we arrived in Bolson, our journey thus far causing us to have guarded hearts of muted anticipation. We were not incorrect, the town, if you can call it that, was about 13 houses and crackled paved basketball court in the middle. We were the only car we had seen for miles, and every Tico stared us down, “what are those expats doing here?”.
We decided to turn around, and drove up and down the 3 roads and there we saw it, a colorful sign promising a boat tour on a house aspiring to be 1000 square feet. We sat outside, “could this be the place? This can’t be the place, it is just a little tiny casa.” Just then a car drives bar and gives a little honk and a four foot chica in shorts and a tank runs out and motions me in. I indulge.
Blue heron
She does not speak a lick of English, but I point to the picture and between my pocito espanol and her little English, I manage to determine that Guillermo was coming to take me to Pedro. I ask the ever present “cuanto cuesta?” she indicates Pedro has all the answers. Needless to say I was a little nervours. Here we are in a foreign country, in the smallest town I have ever seen waiting for Guillermo to take me somewhere to see Pedro. While we waited, she told me it was muy calor, which made me feel good, becuase I thought I was just a heat wuss. The house had no air, no breeze, nada just dead air. She pointed out pictures on the wall showing me Pedro and some crocs he had wrastled. They were huge. I asked about crocs and manos and she shook her head promising us mucho manos and crocs.
bats, snoozing in the day
Macaws, pretty bird, pretty bird
Guillermo showed up on his bike as promised and he spoke excellent English for a young teen boy. We introduced and he told me he was to ride with us in our car, unusual but I obliged and off we went. After paying for the Park fee, $6 each, we continued on the dusty hot rocky windy road, dodging iguanas the whole way. We were introduced to our captain Pedro, he was a jolly Costa Rican, and he already had two elderly couples on board waiting for us, so off we went.
The river was breezy and nice, about 10 degrees cooler in the covered boat, so it was in the 80s. Immediately as we pulled out we saw a croc, and he swam away, no worries we were promised as there were many more to come. They were not lying. We saw many many crocs, too many to keep track of; birds of many kinds;more iguanas of several types than I knew existed; and much more.
Green iguana, big one chilling or heating as it may be
close up of males face
they call these Jesus lizards, they walk on water
The highlight of the trip was the monos, we saw three different species and they were fantastic. Our favorites were the white face. The white face came to the boat and ate, not just from the boat, but from our hands and it was an experience to say the least. Tracy was overcome with joy at the cuteness of these monos, they were like little kids begging for our bananas, and we gave them freely. They ate bananas like me eating baby back ribs, it was not pretty, but very efficient.
Tracy's monos taking bananas from here
More banana please
It took him a minute to get confident enough to take the bananas, but once they did, it was non-stop.
The river trip could have been the highlight of our trip. Half way through he dropped the elders off the boat and it was just me Tra and Pedro, and we had a great time. Him grilling me about Alaska and telling us his life story, how he left home at 15 and what he did, it was a bonus and by the end of the trip we had a new amigo. I cannot say enough how incredible it was to see the things we saw and the conversations we had. At the end as we disembarked, I told Pedro we had not paid. He seemed surprised, so again I asked “cuanto cuesta” he asked what his wife had told me and I replied $5 dollars, and then punched him in the arm. He laughed and said how about $50 for both of you. For a nearly three hour river trip with all that we saw, I thought that was a fantastic bargain, and I tipped him the same. He hugged us both and as we left Tracy was still beaming with joy, for a monkey in the hand……..
This is fun
Eeeeeeeehhhhh, crocs
Costa Rica Days 6-7 The grass is greener
You may have noticed that we have been missing in action for the last couple days. Well we made a bit of a road trip inland to Arenal, home of an active volcano. I guess we figured since redoubt didn’t blow, that maybe we would get to see one here in action. We had no internet access in the abyss, I apologize. So this will be a long one.
Tree on the way to Arenal
The road to Arenal, view of the lake
Lots of wind equals wind power
Bamboo next to the road
The first thing we noticed, the farther inland you go the greener it gets. It also gets quite chilly, I mean we had to put up with temperatures in the low to mid 70s, it was quite torturous for Playa Flamingo residents such as ourselves. The drive itself was about 70 miles and 4 hours. You drive much slower here, and the last 1/2 of the drive was through windy roads with about a dozen one way bridges, similar to the road to Hana in Maui.
Begging critters, they wait for cars to show and mob em for food
they are called Coati, thanks to Joe K. for that. The locals have another name for them, but i forgot what it was.
We had a great time there and stayed in a place recommended by our host, known for its hot springs, Arenal Parasio. It was a full fledged resort based on the volcano Arenal, with a myriad of activities available to all. We chose to participate in three, the mineral hot springs, the canopy tour, and little horseback riding.
Volcano Arenal from our room
Me relaxing in the rocking chair waiting for volcano to blow
Wet bar in mineral spring
We started with some time in the hot springs, and that was extremely relaxing. There were about 15 different springs you can sit in, and the farther up you went, the hotter they got. They are said to offer healing and rejuvanation to the skin, and I think they greatly helped progress the healing of my scarred noggin. We enjoyed they peace and quiet and view of the volcanoe, and they piped in music to each spring. There were very few people and we had each spring to ourselves.
working the hot springs
Oh where is my hubby?
enjoying one of the pools
These were some hot springs, shower like
Enjoying the springs
You can see the water is darker thatn normal water, but revitalizing
The next morning I scheduled a canopy tour, which to expatriats, is a zip line through the jungle. Unfortunately it rained all night long, the first moisture we have seen since we have been here, and it rained hard. So we cancelled our early tour and scheduled a later one. The one we did had 11 zip lines. We were in a group of 6 tourists. It was funny, I noticed as we walked up to the staging area, gear on, the line was very quiet and somber, almost like a funeral. By the end, we were all buddies, laughing and goofing off, funny what a life experience will do to a group.
getting ready for my first zip
views from the zip platforms
More zip views
me zipping along
zipping right into the greenery
The zip line was breathtaking, literally, it took your breath away. I had visions of a nice slow leisurely tour above the jungle, looking at beautiful scenery and taking pics. Alas, I was greatly mistaken. Zip means fast, very very fast, and yours truly was first up. I should have had a clue when 3/4 of our 10 minute safety briefing was spent on how to stop and “never stop with you feet, I don’t ever want you to use your feet to stop, you could get hurt, don’t use your feet”.
Mamma smiling, she is getting used to it.
Needless to say, it was an expierence of a life time . Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to hold a camera during the trip, but I tried. Prior to going they load you up with equipment including a beautiful hard leather glove, again for stopping. One side effect of the glove, when it is wet out, they leak and they leak all over you and your face, nothing like a leather juice to add to the experience. That made the whole experience exciting, the rain and fog dripping, and smacking you in the face at mach 3. Oh another thing about stopping, you are suppose to start stopping when you see the signal from one of your two guides, the trick is you have to see the signal. Some of the zips were so long and through so much greenery and rain and fog, that you may not see him until it was too late, then you were in panic mode applying the brakes. It was exhilarating. Tracy was very scared, but she did awesome and even had enough courage to keep her eyes all the way open by the last 1/2 of the trip. I even saw her smile several times.
After cleaning up and having a bite, we decided it was Tra’s turn to pick, she picked a horseback ride up the volcano. Now in my mind I pictured a nice easy horse ride, where the guide pretty much does everything and I just have to sit in the saddle. Tra loves horses and riding, me not so much. If it doesn’t have a key to start it, then it is not my thing. I have never really ridden a horse, nor have I desired so. Well I cannot say that anymore. Now let me make something clear, before each activity we sing a statement saying that we know this is dangerous and that we could die, but I have done that in the states as well. So I assumed they we would extremely safe like in the states, harnesses, pre-fabricted trails, more like the mini horse ride at the fair. I could not have been farther off. Our guide gave us a 5 minute demo of how it is done in Costa vs. the U.S. Apparently there is a difference, I really couldn’t tell.
Goucho and Gouchette
Where's the gas on this thing?
The view made all the pain worth it.
The ride was fantastic, hard but fantastic. We went down some steep valleys, and up some steep valleys, we galloped and trotted and rode, In fact a couple times Tra and I went the wrong way, our guide had to call for us. So there was no close watching or tracking. We had complete control. You could tell the horses knew where to go, but they also had their own minds and would do what we told them to do. My horse loved to eat, and he ate the whole way, and got ticked at me when I told him to move. I also had to learn on my own that when you gallop, you should put some weight on your feet, if not, they go flying out of the stirrups, just like mine did.
Beauty and the beast
Half way through the ride, stopped at volcano view
Momma and her sexy poncho
Another of the endless views
By the end I was a full fledged goucho, and I now know why gouchos walk bow legged. After the ride, we were both in pain, especially in our horseback riding regions. I apparently have a little saddle rash, not sure what that is, but I know I don’t like it. It sure would have been nice to sit in a hot spring, but we had already checked out and had to head home.
Steep hill, no problems for us pros
Elusive white hawk
Muchos Gracias Senor
this is just about right for me.
the Coati started climbing up my leg, reminded me of the critters from Galaxy Quest. they had sharp claws and viscous teeth.
What we learned:
1. Bring long pants for horse rides
2. Bring a light rain jacket for Arenal.
3. Take your time and enjoy the view.
4. Never trust sugar free ice tea.
5. Mineral springs rejuvinate the skin.
6. It is awesome to explore.
7. Sometimes, the grass is greener.
There is so much more I could write about, but this one is becoming much too long. We are still alive and loving it, and just trying to figure out how to get all the kids here with us. Here is a video of a copule of zip lines. Pura Vida!
Costa Rica Day 5 Hanging at the hood.
Today we decided to do nada and hang out at the house all day, after all we did pay for this view so we ought to get some use of it. We did start the day with our morning jog on the beach, along with several other ex patriots, most of em much older than us. They are all very friendly and say hi every day. I realized we had not posted many pics from our beach, so Tra brought the camera and got a few, and some of our house as well. It was a very relaxing day, but I can only sit out in the sun for about 15 minutes before I start to boil, then I have to hit the pool . I think we spend more time in the pool than out of it.
We saw lots of critters this morning, a couple iguanas at the top of tree fighting, a cool lizard that was black and white with spots, a squirrel or monkey, not sure which, jumping from tree to tree, and a huge fish like creature, possibly a marlin thrashing the water right in front of our house. I was ready to get out my Russian River fly and see if I could get em to “bite”.
another view of our beach
Found a natural hot spring on the beach, but some call it a tide-pool.
- Our house on the hill, the middle one.
Front of our house
another view of the house, we stay in an apartment on this side.
Tra goofing around in the pool
Both of us posing in the pool, look how dark my melon got.
Still deep in love, being dorks just for Niki.
Flora and fauna from the patio
We love this thorny tree right beneath our deck
Iguana chilling on a tree beneath us, he went to top of tree then fought with another iguana, I didn't know they climbed trees.
We see sail boats every night for sunset cruises.
We try to talk to the kids often, we miss them badly. So we use oovoo to video chat with them and show them what we are up to. Thanks OOVOO.
For dinner we went to a highly recommended restaurant right next door, about 200 feet from our house, Mar Y Sol, sea and sun. It is french style, usually not my thing, but this restaurant was pretty amazing, and I am sure we will return. The prices were decent, atmosphere great, food awesome, view fantastic, what’s not to like.
Appertizers
main courses, snook and mahi mahi
I planned on closing my eyes for this shot.
View from our restaurant just prior to sunset.
All in all a very relaxing day, what did we learn?
1. It is very painful when your head finally peels.
2. You don’t always have to go far to find great food.
3. Black do-rags absorb the heat.
4. Iguanas climb trees, all the way to the top!
5. French food can be pretty great.
