Up To Date At Last

At last, my journal has caught up with the date.  Most of the time, I have been too busy to make entries in my journal, too tired to write.  I  had  hoped to keep this journal in real time, but found it hard to drive and blog at the same time.  Perhaps we should have hired a driver, or paid for escorted transfers between hotels.  Rather we preferred the freedom from other people’s schedules, not to be hurried when we wanted to linger (even if foolhardy) and to be able to skip faster at other times.

This morning, we lingered.  We had to wait for a replacement car to come from San Jose to replace the rental car which turned out to have a dead battery.  I lingered over coffee and sat on the hotel veranda looking out at the clouds and the rain forest.  The temperature was cool and refreshing after the hot jungles of Arenal.  We lingered for what seemed like ages — until 9:30 AM.  At last, the driver arrived and we switched vehicles.

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Sweet Nectar For Some – Sugar Water for Others

We awoke in the mist at 5:30 and put on a pot of Cafe Britt coffee.  We were leaving on a 6:00 am bird watching tour. Guess what? It was raining again, a cool wet rain and mist that you can feel in your bones, in your clothes, and everywhere.  Our perky young guide warned us that the birds didn’t like to fly in the rain, but she was nevertheless hopeful.  I knew why.  She had stacked the deck.

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Every road seems to come back to the Pan American Highway eventually.  Our trip from Flamingo Beach to Villa Blanca Cloud Reserve and Hotel was no different.  We checked out early, as the drive was over 4 hours.  We decided to take it straight with no stops.

Not All Costa Rican Food Is Good

We stopped for fresh pipas frio (cold coconut) and were on our way.  The road was fairly straight,  going through meadows and pastures where the real costa Ricans work.  At one turn in the road we saw a line of tables by the side of the highway with baked goods.  The patrons appeared to be of darker skin, likely native indians (indigininos).  While I filled up with gas for the push into the mountains, Rose purchased a sampling of bread and pastries.

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Sunset at the Beach

As resorts go, Flaming  Beach Resort and Spa was beautiful.  It had the large pool, the pool bar, the spacious rooms with balconies and the long sand beach with views of the Catalina Islands.  It was the type of resort you would expect in the Carribean, although we were on the Pacific Ocean.  There were palm trees and cococut trees (we have fresh pipas from the tree picked by a local man who climbed the tree and knocked it down for us).

Breakfast continued to include fresh fruit, to which was added bread baked on premises and a new twist — an omelette station – Yum

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Sleeping at the base of an active volcano would seem to be a hair- raising experience only for the foolhardy and strong of heart. After spending three days at Arenal Volcano i can safely say it is certainly one for the strong of heart.  In this place only the fit survive. Every walk, even the short walk involves a steep climb or even a precipitous descent. What leads down (and most interesting paths to visit waterfalls do) must eventually lead back up. After 3 days, we certainly felt it.

And so, we came to appreciate the  agua calientes or hot springs at our hotel. Behind the dining hall, previously pictured, there are a series of pools, descending from the mountain in decreasing temperature. As you climbed through a lush garden path there were semi-private pools of hit mineral water. The temperature decreases as the water exits from the hottest point on the top and descends to the next pool. The final pool is the coolest, followed by a clear water pool for swimming.

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