Monthly Archives: July 2010

More osa

another late post../. done offline so may not be correct with pictures

Day 4.. or is it 5 of our vacation.. I think it’s a good
sign I don’t know which..

We woke early after about 10 hours of sleep.. Diane made banana
crepes..for breakfast.. Yum !!!!

The kids got surfboards and headed off to the beach while
diane and I headed off for a long leisurely explore…

We
passed our friend William hacking at stuff with his machete.. which seems to be
the national pastime.. I’m pretty sure it’s very satisfying to do ..

Once again.. we were surrounded by sights and sounds of the
jungle…

The trees in one part of the trail were covered with this beautiful
vine..

Then we ducked into the forest and hiked to King Louie Falls. 100 feet tall !

Check out the size of this bug !!!!!!

We hiked all the way down to the tip of the peninsula where

the gulf meets the pacific.. here’s the tip.. with Panama in the background ..

By the time we got back the kids were home too.. The four of
us  spent about 4 hours just hanging on the porch..   it was heavenly..

Gabe and I took a break from our break to go build a man on
the beach.. Hey.. that’s what burners do..


We saw SO many monkeys today.. Here are a few pics… I can
just watch them for hours !


These guys are Capuchins.. so cute !!!

OK.. now it’s pouring.. and were heading to the farmers
market.. more later…

Nite all.. nite Sam

-me

Casa Linda

Another delayed post.. still haven’t found my way to the
phone or internet.. and my motivation to do so is fading fast

Another beautiful day n paradise here. It’s amazing.. it’s
like living in a zoo.. monkeys everywhere, flocks of brightly colored Macaws ,

And insects the size of birds…   What’s even more amazing is
that its only been raining at night.. , there are no mosquitoes or other biting
bugs

(except sand fleas) and it’s not too hot !

I woke today to find all of our shoes neatly washed and
waiting for us.. (Diane ?).. we get many comments on our

Five fingers… they’re turning out to be great jungle and
beach wear.

I heard Howler monkeys outside at just before  am.. and went
out to investigate.. We’re all up and around

by 6.. with the sunrise.. because we’re going to bed around
8:30

I ran into this wild turkey pecking around our food scraps.

Gabe rigged his video camera to a stick to get up close and
personal with one of the face sized spiders that

lives in our yard..

Diane went off with our host Lyn for a Yoga class

While Max, Gabe and I went for an explore/run down the
‘road’ to some of the the other  beaches..

(more like a ditch !)

There were monekys everywhere we looked.. Howlers and Spider
monekeys mostly.. they hung out in the trees near the beach.


Ahh.. two can play that game !

The beach was rocky and the water a blue green murk. I think
it would be clear if it weren’t for the tons of rocks and shells it stirs

up with every wave..

Gabe and Max found some cool stuff among the rocks.. like
these fossils.

And this amazing hawk

The most amazing thing to see around our house and the
beaches are the huge flocks of

Scarlet Macaws. They’re everywhere.. they’ry are so
beautiful.. and noisy !.. it’s amazing to see when a wole flock of them takes
off.

They are huge birds !!


Though.. they’re not the only colorful  thing around here…
style=’font-family:Wingdings’>J

There are many other kinds of birds.. we saw these black
hawks .. this one was staring at us in our kitchen.. we even saw Tucans later
in the day

Late in the day we took a nature walk with William. The
groundskeeper guy here.. He doesn’t speak English..

So it was a test of my Spanish to keep translating .. he’s
very knowledgeable. He introduced us to this

Fruit.. (saporito ? ).. it gave me wicked cotton mouth.. but
no one else.. strange !

As we walked for 32.5 hours we saw a ton of cool bugs, Plants…

And best of all… two waterfalls.. We stuck Samstones in

both. ! One flowed between two rivers.. the other had this cool water cave and

a

Hole like a window cut through the rock by the water.  Max

amanaged to lob the SamStone right through the hole..


It was a long, wonderful day.. we went home and made beans
and rise, looked at some of our pictures.. and drifted off to bed around 8L30…

Now it’s Friday and time to do it all again.. I can’t wait !

More tomorrow..
Hasta la vista ya’ll .. hasta la vista Sam..

-me

Pds. Unloaded the other camera last night.. found these two
good pics Diane took of us on the Zipline..

Dominical to Osa

(Delayed posting.. just got internet.. back in civilization .. Aug, 2)

OK.. so it turns out we have no internet or phone down here
in southern Osa.. no wonder on that.. there aren’t many humans down here. I can’t
say that I’m disappointed.. I’ll just have to blog  offline and uploaded it
later.. It’s kind of nice to be off-line completely again. ..

So where was I .. literally ?

Ahh.. Domincal.. We woke today at Costa Pariso.. a really
nice place about 2km south of Dominical.. a favorite surfer destination.. The
grounds were beautiful .. and it was right on the Pacific..   We all went out
for a morning swim

Diane and I went for a run up and down the deserted 2KM
beach..

On the beach we came across a flock of vultures drying
themselves after yesterdays rain…


We admired how the mangroves came right out to the sea.. you
could see them vying

For the best beach placement..


Diane and I headed back and woke the kids for breakfast..

The folks at the hotel were quiet and nice.. which was a funny
contrast to the Surfer ethos the place gave off

We had fruit smoothies while w contemplated our day.. I
found I’d picked up a hitchhiker..

We  decided our first order of business was to plant a
SamStone on the highest point

Of the rocks in the water.. There was a little island (at
high tide) with trees on top. Sam would have been up there in a minute.. so… we
would be too.


It was a little freeky.. high steep and crumbly.. with huge
crashing waves on the cliff facing the ocean..

Max placed the stone… we all sat there with our thoughts for
a bit.. We’d been to Costa Rica  twice with the three boys    It felt both good
and sad to be here now.. We all miss Sam.. he’s very much along for the trip in
our hearts.

We had another long drive ahead of us so we decided to spend
a few hours at the bech. The surf was great.. and the water was warm..
paradise..

We met a sweet beach dog

We went back to the hotel, checked out and headed south.. Right
away we saw this anteater crossing the road.. a good sign (why did the
anteater cross the road ? !,. because his Aunt lived on the other side)

The first half of the drive was easy.. good paved roads.. We
stopped for lunch

At the turn off to Osa.. A nice place… we had Casada.. (which
means ’married’).. it’s rice, beans, plantains  and something else.. this time
the something else was eggs.

I couldn’t help laughing when I noticed the motif for their
restrooms..

Pretty sure that Frosty never makes it down this way

The last 70 KM  (42 miles) took about 3 hours to drive.. We
had rickety bridges,

Huge potholes, dirt roads.. wow..
Even 6 small rivers to cross… some almost came up to the
doors of the car !


We sent Gabe out to check the depth on one..

S we got near our destination we started to see more
animals, Vultures, Parrots

And finally.. we were here !!!!

We’re at Casa Linda, the newer cousin of Casa Bambu. They’re
both made out of Bambu, up on stilts.. Thy have solar power, well water, real
bathrooms..and a 2 way radio.. All the windows are open.. no screens.. you don’
treally need them (though there is a bird in the house now..


We began our unpacking.. and exploring

I almost ran into a spider the size of my hand as I looked around
under the house..

The boys and I headed to the beach about 30 yards from the

house.. it was getting dark.. but we could see how beautiful it is !

It was getting dark so we headed back home to see Diane and

start making dinner..

Cooking dinner was a family affair.. We’d stopped at Puerto

Jimenz and filled every nook and cranny of our packed car with groceries.. A

guy there sold us some fish he’d caught that morning.. So.. Dinner was fried

fish tacos, Max’s mango salsa, Gabe’s guacamole and home fries..

We used cornchips, potatoe chips and even prongles to bread

the fish.. Yum !!

It was so good !!!!!

We spent about a half hour looking at Gabe’s movies from the

zipline.. then we realized we were all tired.. it wasn’t even 9 oclock .. we

all went to bed and slept great !

The beds have mosquito netting.. but I don’t think we need

them.. It was penty cool enough to sleep..

More tomorrow !

Nite all , Nite Sam !

-me

Tuesday night – Roaches !!!!

It’s 10 o’clock at night.. i’m sitting under a shelter looking at the pacific ocean in the middle of an amazing storm.. driving rain thunder and lightening. We’re here in Dominical after a VERY long day of driving. We started in the very nice Biuena Vista Hotel in the mountains above San Jose.. it’s a cool old colonial style place..

(It’s a great place.. but hey need to work on their wireless security..They had a password to log in, but  they like many folks they had left default passwords on their wireless router..  took me seconds to get in ..  a hackers dream..   )

We went for a run around 6 am (we’re near the equator – the sun rises before six AM and sets before 6 PM) The near mile high elevation made for interesting running !

The view of the two neighboring volcanoes was stunning.. here’s Poas.. the one we visited later in the day..

We ran through coffee plantations.. the buds were still gren. but tasted of coffee if youbit into them.. which I couldn’t resist.

Every house had a dog it seemed.. they all gave us a friendly-ish  greeting..

We woke the boys up for breakfast in the hopes of getting on the road early.. breakfast was delicious tropical fruit. .

We were on the road at 7:30 !!! (when has that EVER happened ? ) // First stop was a zipline canopy tour near Poas..

The streets were narrow, rutted and windy.. very beutifull..

The zipline place was idylic.. in a valley.. with a new fish pond. and wonderful gardens

The guides.. (jason.. and ????) got us geared up with helmets, gloves and harnesses.  The zipline thing was AMAZING !.. They had 8 runs.. over deep canyons with waterfalls running beneath. the longest was 600 meters.. you went over 50 KPH on it.. totally mind blowing.. !  We had so much fun flying through the treetops..  

From there we drove the short 15km to the Poas volcano.. We’ve seen Arenal, the bigger vactive colcano in Costa Rica.. but we’ve only seen poas from afar.. It was worth the trip. The drive up to the park was stepp an empty.. we hiked up to teh caldren.. it was really, really coo !.

The boys created a diversion to distract the guard sodiane could through a SamStone into the pit.. I think we’d be forgivien if they heard our story.. I hope so , at least.

We then hiked back a mile to the car in the most amazing nature trail .. no real animals.. but some imagined ones.. like this stump which looked like a pig..

and a stick that looked like a snake !

We saw an older extinct crater which is now a lake.

Then it was time for our drive down south.. We stopped at a market and bought what we though
t was food..

 not all of it was edible.. liek this.. uh..m milk candy thing.. don’t ask..

Here’s Max gagging on it.

One of the porudest moments came minutes later..we have a nice stereo in the rental car.. it has and audio in port for things like ipods.. unfortunately.. it had a different input jack than we were expecting.. no prob!.. We stopped a t a local everythign store ( a Kmart !.. ina  village of about 100 people). and bought 2 2 dollar earphones.. 
Max cut them appart and wired th e two ends together as we drove to link the ipod to the car stereo.. and voila.. we had weird techno music for all or driving.. A great cohn on the fly invention moment.. )I’m so proud of these boys making ability !!!!)

The drive.. well.. it was tough.. about 6 hours of unimaginably tangled and twisty roads.. top speeds of 30 MPH.. rain, fog, pot holes.. and THIS was the Panamaerican highway that links North and South America.. t was greuling.. but fun.. we were all good passengers.. we stopped often.. laughed alot and made it here safe !.

here we are gettign passed on a curve by a truck full of horses.. they passed the gasoline truck in front of us at the same time.. Oy Vey !!!

The road truly looked like someones knotted intestines.. and  at this point. I feel like I went through those intestines.. if you get my drift..

We got to our hotel around 8.. tired bu happy.. We’re right on the pacific.. here’s the view from where I sit.. .. we’ll explore more tomorrow..

Moments after checkign in , I heard three screams .. I rushed out to find Max, Gabe and Diane all up on charis and counters.. they’d seen a HUGE roach !!!.. This place is full of life.. not all of it gorgious.. We were all lauging so hard !

There was no food open.. so we improvised.. we made nachos in the microwave.. and drank warm beeer.. Fit for the g-ds !.. Really. it

tasted so good !

OK.. that’s it for tonight.. gotta sleep.. More tomorrow..

Pura Vida everyone.. Pura Vida Sam.. !

-me

ps. Hope folks caught the premier of The COlony Season II tonight !.. I didn’t get to see it !.. Hope to find it onliine !!!!  If you saw it.. what did you think ?