Day 27: Tamarindo Beach

Day 27:  Monday, March 14

     Great day of walking the beach two times....first with Larry and then by myself. It was nice to see the catch of the day to be brought into shore, a huge basket of red snappers all over a foot long. Returned home for a dip in the pool before lunch and again before dinner. What a great day!

Day 26: Rincon de Volcan

Day 26:  Saturday,  March 12

     Left the Oaks around 9:00am to drive to Rincon de Volcan. We stopped in Liberia  at a bank to  get Nicaraguan money and found out that the banks are not open on Saturday. Journeyed on to the gas station. They give you great service at the gas pumps. An attendent always puts the gas in for you and washes your windshield with soapy water and hose it down with a water. Gas is about $3.75 a gallon, but they sell it in liters.

                                             Getting directions to the Ricon National Park    
      We drove a few kilometers north of Liberia and turned right down another rugged dirt and gravel road. The sign said it was 20 kilometers  to the park. This road was much better because we could drive in second gear. We had to drive through a gated area where a gentleman collected 700 colones each for passing through his property($2.80).We got a few kilometers from the park and decided to find the hot springs first. While drivng about an hour down this road we passed a geothermal electrical plant. They were using the hot waters from the volcano to power electricity. There were many men working on the construction of this site.
     We arrived at the   Rio Negro Hot Springs. Paid the attendent $5.00 each and walked a little less than a kilometer to the pools. There were three different  families there when we arrived. One older lady from Boston had traveled here by herself by cab. One family was from Portugal. Another couple sat in the hotest pools...we don't know how they stood it for so long.

                                 This hot, hot pool shows the cold stream that runs right by it.

                                                The bridge over the river to the hotter pools.

     After about an hour of enjoying the springs, we drove into the National Park. Lots of cars and tourist buses were parked.

After talking with a gentleman from Minnesota, we headed for a hike to the Oropendola  Waterfall. It was about a 20 minute hike through a field and into the forest. During our hike we came across a colony of ants that were scurring both ways across the trail, over huge rocks, and back across the path again. Hundreds of them were following the same route in a straight line and it was fascinating to watch.  We continued down the trail and going down many tall rocky steps, and a set of wooden steps, finally coming to a stream. Looking further up the stream, we spotted another set of wooden steps going up over the hill.  So we balanced across a fallen tree and hopped many rocks to get to the steps. After climbing the steps and following another  short path we arrived at a beautiful waterfall and a nice aqua pool of clear water. The pictures just don't capture the beauty of it all.

Rocks we climbed over to get to the falls.

     After returning to the car, we met a couple from Montreal who needed a ride to the lodge. We enjoyed talking with them as we took them a few kilometers down the road. They had hiked to the top of the mountain....the whole trip started at 8:00 am and they had just returned at 4:00. They shared their pictures saying that it had rained on them and was cold on top.  There were no views off the mountain because the clouds were so thick and foggy. They said the last 2 kilometers were quite rugged and they were glad to be down and have a ride back to the lodge. They had visited some friends in Nicoya during the week and were heading back to cold Montreal in the morning.

     We dropped them off and  headed back down the same rugged road in second gear. An hour later we stopped in Liberia to get another card for the camera. Larry enjoyed making the  purchase, having to go upstairs to pay for it, and then showing the receipt to the guard at the door. On the ride home we passed through several villages that had carnivals, ball games, and other activities going on. Many, many Costa Ricans were out in the road walking to the events...causing another night of watching the road nervously for the unexpected pedestrian. We arrived back at the Oaks around 8:00 pm thinking about our great day in the hot springs and at the waterfall.

Day 24 and 25 Tamarindo Beach

Day 24 and 25: Thursday and Friday,  March 10 and 11

Began both days by walking on the beach for an hour. Picked up unusual shells. Enjoyed sitting in the shaded spots and watching the surfers.Practiced Spanish on the vendors that passed by. Lunch, dip in the pool, nap, dinner, watched a movie, off to bed for the night. What a perfect day!

We enjoyed it so much that we repeated it the following day : )

Was planning to meet Tatiana and Carlos in Santa Cruz, but there were tsunamia warnings out from 3:00 -6:00 pm so they canceled coming....the highway runs too close to the Pacific Ocean. They were planning to take us to the local school where their honey farm is located for a fund raiser.

We ended up going to Flamingo Beach and watching another gorgeous sunset.

Day 22 and 23: Trip to Monteverde National Park

Day 22 and 23: Tuesday and Wednesday,  March 8 and 9

     The casas (homes) in Costa Rica are very colorful. They are usually behind bars or a fence....many have a grand entrance with huge gates and columns. Below are some of the picture of homes that we took along the way on our trip today.

     We drove to Filadelphia (just like Philidelphia) turning right on route 21 south. Continued on to the town of Santa Cruz and stopped to go into a bank to exchange some US dollars to colones. What an experience! When we entered the bank we went through a metal detector that had glass doors that closed behind and in front of you. Larry and I entered the building one at a time. We had to take a number and sit down to wait our turn. While waiting, the guard ushered us to sit by another American who was from Montana. I thought it was kind of the guard who only spoke Spanish to introduce us to each other with his body language. She was wanting to use an ATM machine and couldn't find one....we saw the machine on the exterior of the bank. Anyway she  and her husband ran a touring business in West Yellowstone and were coming from Monteverde. It was good to hear her thoughts on the area since we were heading that way. They had been camping and were ready for a Costa Rica Cabina (hotel) and some air conditioning. They were not ready for the hot air of the Guanacaste Region and said that Monteverde was a delightful mountain climate. Anyway while chatting another American approached us to  speak. He had married a Costa Rican girl and had driven a car from the states here. Said the police stopped him 47 times driving here from the US to Costa Rica. He was a nice 30 year old young man who had come here as a missionary and fell in love with the area. His wife was expecting her 8th child. Both people were great entertainment while waiting for our turn at the bank. By the way, all the tellers were men (6 of them)  and they all wore suits and ties. Larry finally got his colones ($) and then we went to the store to try to get batteries for the camera...NO Luck, but we did see these kingsized grasshoppers in the window of the store....they were amazing!

                                                                      Santa Cruz
     Journeying on we stopped for gas in Limonal and then arrived at the town of Las Juntas around 3:30. Following the road, it turned to dirt and gravel, we continued on for 15 minutes. No traffic, the road was not too bad, and we were just enjoying the riverbed and the scenery that slipped by us. A couple on a fourwheeler drove up to us and waved us down. They spoke only Spanish but somehow communicated that we were going to wrong way....how they knew is beyond us. ....other than the guy picking up a small rock and pointing ahead saying "Grande".  He said a whole lot of other things too, but we said "Gracias" and turned around. Got a few more directions in town and noticed that someone had spray painted over the arrows pointing in the direction of Monteverde. We bet a lot of other people have gone the wrong way too.

Monteverde means green mountain

     So up, up, up the mountain road we went and it did turn to rock and dirt....it has to be the bumpiest, rockiest, roughest, unbelieveable road that we have ever been on....this road made the road to Hannah, Maui look like a walk in a park. We were in first gear 95% of the time. The hugh tourist buses, the Costa Rica public transportation buses, the little tourismo vans, four wheel drive cars, motorcycles, passed our little Yaris over and over. For 2 and 1/2 hours we made our way up this road and finally arrived at the town of Saint Elena on the top of the moutain. It  was a larger town than Tamarando. The roads in the town were all paved. The sun was setting so we quickly found the hotel that Larry had called on the way.  We took a nice walk around the town and ate dinner.
     The next morning after breakfast we headed up to Monteverde National Park....another ride up a muddy, rough road. There was a water truck  wetting the road to keep the dust down. We passed many back packers walking up the road. After about a half and hour we arrived at Monteverde National Park, one of the most visited areas of  Costa Rica and known as one of the world's finest examples of a rain cloud forest. Actually Saint Elena is also a rain cloud forest area with a slightly higher elevation than Monteverde.We paid a $34 dollar entrance fee, got a map, and took off for a two hour hike through a jungle of thick vines and huge trees.  One tree alone can be the home to over 70 varieties of plants. Many had warned us that it rained here a lot. There was misty rain the night that we arrived in Saint Elena. Luckily, we got to enjoy the whole day in clouds and sun, but no rain. During our two hour hike we enjoyed seeing several hummingbirds, delicate flowers, towering trees, a swinging bridge, and beautiful views of the valley below with clouds covering the views one minute and opening up to the green (verde)  lands below. After climbing and decending hundreds of steps through the forest we relaxed in the cool mountian air and ate a picnic lunch....Larry's favorite, peanut butter and jelly.

     We headed back to Saint Elena to get a candy bar and  found very few choices....Larry settled for a Cadberry. We started back down the mountain toward Las Juntas  around 3:00. Larry had planned to go a different way on another unpaved road, but was told that it would take an additional hour to travel  to the pavement so we decided to travel down the same bumpy, rocky, rough road as the day before.  We arrived home around 7:00pm really glad to see our Oaks Condo at Tamarindo Beach.

So long to the rain cloud forest.

Day 21: Waterfall and Liberia

Day 21: Monday, March 7
    
Enjoyed an afternoon at the waterfall, Cataratas de Cortes, that was South of Liberia and 2  kilometers down a rugged dirt road. It was beautiful! The pictures tell it all.

     On the way back to Tamarindo, we went into Liberia and went shopping. It was fun trying to talk with the store owners. They all wanted us to buy rechargable batteries or the regular alkiline batteries. We managed to visit about five different stores, with each owner sending us to the next store that they recommended. Occasionally the shoppers who spoke English, wanted to practice their English on us by carrying on a casual conversation and translating what we were looking for.We left the town without new batteries for our camera. We are hoping to find the lithium ones on our way to Laguna de Arenal, a big lake and volcano, west of  Las Carias tomorrow.

Day 20: Playa Grande

Day 20: Sunday, March 6

                                             A crescent moon at Playa Grande
      We rode out to a new area called Playa Grande. This beach extends as far as the eye can see and each year hundreds of turtles return here to lay their eggs in late August and September. Scientists have put radio receivers on some of the turtles to track them. They will actually swim out to the Pacific Ocean and eventually swim back to this same beach year after year to lay their eggs. I would love to see these little turtles hatch and make their way back to the ocean.

     We arrived at the beach just before the sunset and were surprised to find that  there were huge waves and lots of surfers. It was amazing to watch these young guys ride the waves while the sunset in a distance. Lots of people had gathered with their cameras to capture the moment. We found a log and sat for a long while just watching the colors of the sun change.  The sunsets seem to continue on and on with different hues of orange and red and pink. Costa Rica has the most picturesque sunsets that I have ever seen.

The waves were the largest that we have ever seen in Costa Rica.

Day 17 and 18: West Coast Beaches

Day 17 and 18:  Thursday and Friday, March 3 and 4

Plenty of white sand....

Kay is getting ready to snorkle.

This is tree trunk that is carved into a seat...perfect for watching,

 well you know what guys like to watch.

Doesn't this look like paradise?

Larry is always looking for a shady tree...and this coast has plenty.

Sunset on Hermosa Playa

Lava rocks and waves

What a gorgeous looking couple of snowbirds!

Larry always manages to find a good motorcycle road...

with pleny of curves and views of the Pacific. This makes us miss our bike.

Foreground is a historic ruin and

background is a volcano that you could actually see the steam smoking out of.

     We headed north both mornings to explore the many beaches that dot the coastline. We visited Playa Langosta and Playa Punta Medero the day before while at the Marriot and another development. We had read in our guide that the best snorkling place was Playa El Ocotal so we headed there. I had brought my own snorkeling gear and was anixous to give it a try. Unfortunately, after snorkeling near the Great Barrier Reef two years ago, this just was no comparison. The water was cloudy and the only thing that I could see was black lava rocks. The deeper that I went, the foggier the water got. Oh well, the oean water was refreshing. The sand here was unusual. It was all black in some areas and zebra striped....black and white in others. This was noticable while snorkeling as well. 

     We also visited Playa (beach) De Coco...which was a bustling little beach town that the locals use. It was much bigger than Tamarindo and it had lots of shopping.... many, many more open air markets. Our Canadian friends told us that it was the  best shopping around. We were more into the sand and salt for the day so we will have to come back for a shopping experience. We also went to Playa Hermosa, Playa Buena, and Playa Panama. We enjoyed the drive around Playa Panama because it had senic views of the Pacific and  of Volcan Riconde la Vieja which was still smoking after erupting in 2002 and Volcan Miaravalles. You could also see the clouds around Volcan Ternorio.

     After watching the sun set, we stopped for a couple of ginger ales on the ride home....costing 1300 colones about $2.50 . We were about an hour from home. At 6:00 it was dark and an unbelieveable experience. People were still walking on the road and riding their bikes with no florescent markings, lights or flashers....most were wearing dark apparral. It makes us wonder if any are ever hit by the cars or trucks that zoom by us. 

     Anyway, we had two more fantastic days.