Zippy Day

 Yup, we did the obligatory zip line experience in Costa Rica.  Did you know that the current type of ziplining started right here in Monteverde in the 1990's?! This mode of transportation was originated many years ago to address needed travel between hard to reach areas, including in Costa Rica. 

The Turk and I chose Sky Trek for our experience and we recommend it. Professionally done and the guys were great.
9 ziplines including 2 tandam runs - which the Turk liked because he got to wrap his legs around my waist and tell me to keep still - kept us busy all morning.  A full 1.7 miles of zipping, lines ranging from 328ft to the longest at 2460 ft (over half a mile).  It was very windy and I thought - no way are they going to allow ziplining today.  Alas, they cancel only when winds are over 74 mph.  Remember, 75 mpg = hurricane!

What is Missy getting me into

Suited up

Trip up to the top

Incoming!

Within the canopy, seeing the ecosystem of just 1 tree

This is FUN

Zippy Turk

Zipping over the canopy

One more zip to go and I'll be done

View on our trip back to Atenas

We hopped back into our miniature 4 wheeler and headed back to Atenas. The views along the way were beautiful, despite it being dry season below the rain forest and much of what we saw was brown. We stopped along with way for a picnic, complete with fresh bread from Stella's bakery and cheese - both local from Monteverde.

Cloudy With Animals

 Monteverde is one of the cloud forests located in north central CR, south of Lake Arenal.  It became 'known' in 1983 when National Geographic did a feature article on this unique area and the observation that this was a key location to see the 'resplendent quetzal'. (a bird). And my family has that issue, I know they do. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve has over 100 species of mammals, over 400 of birds, 120 of amphibians and reptiles, over 3000 of plants including the largest variety of orchids in the world - over 500 species.!

Quetzal - you cant see the looong blue tail.

The Turk and I jumped in our travelmobile and headed northwest. We had been warned, as is everyone, that the last hour of the drive to Monteverde is over unpaved, rugged, windy road that will jar your brain.  The rental car companies especially love this road because that  is how they rent their 4 wheel drives.

The 3 1/2 hr trip took longer than that of course. The dirt (or as one website says 'dirty' road) was torturous. Mark handled it well but noted that his left arm was sore from holding the steering wheel to maneuver around the holes/rocks/dips.

We are doing pretty well with the major roads, but once we get to the location and need to find the: hotel, office, park, etc. we circle like drunk sailors. And this of course happened when we tried to find our hotel.  Not sure this is a real teachable moment because I seem to be missing the directional cells in my brain. And this must be contagious because the Turk has developed the same deficiency.  Be assured, we did not sleep on the street and finally got to our hotel. One look at us and Jose, the owner had us sit down to relax. He brought out coffee and tea and talked gently until our rattled nerves were calmed. Thank you Jose!

Notice the varieties of wood in ceiling and wall and door of our room. The woods of Costa Rica are beautiful and used extensively

This is why its called 'Cloud Forest'

Hiking along

unusual rain forest creature

The cloud forest area was settled by Quakers, from ALABAMA, during the Korean War.  As religious pacifists, they were initially jailed for refusing the draft. Once they were released, they gathered family and friends and drove...yes drove back in 1949 with those roads, to Costa Rica. Monteverde specifically.  They set up dairy farms and settled the area.  Then they started to realize the importance of their location and they began to preserve the land in the cloud forests.  And that is why we have them today.  The country of Cost Rica has added more preserved areas and today, more than half of Costa Rica land is preserved. 

Our first objective?  Find animals.  Our guide Christian grew up in the cloud forests and learned what plants he could eat, how the animals behaved (when we wasnt shooting them with his slingshot), and how the forest behaved.  He made sure we got photos of the key birds we saw on our hike. I dont remember all the names - but they were quite colorful!  We also saw the Costa Rican version of raccoon called a coati.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-nosed_Coati   And one of our favorite things - hummingbirds - were everywhere.  We even got to have hummingbirds land on our fingers. They tickle because they are flapping their wings so fast.

Some kind of Tanager

Mark gets tickeled

 

2 legged visitor critters

Giants next to giant tree

Old growth tree covered in fig tree

  After hiking for 5 hours, we decided we should get back into town and have some local ice cream.  Remember those Quakers had dairy farms, and with dairy farms comes.....ICE CREAM.  So we tried the Monteverde brand at the local ice cream shop and it was quite delicious.  I didnt even try chocolate because I wanted to taste the cream - and taste I did. YUM!  

Then we had to check out the Don Juan cafe.  Don Juan is a Costa Rican company that processes coffees and ...chocolate!   I found half kilo packages of chocolate but none said the level of cocoa.  I saw numbers like 117, 118, 111 and thought these might be important. Indeed they are.  I found out that the lower the number means darker chocolate.  I asked the clerk for the darkest and found out that was 100.   I want 100!  Alas, no 100.  So, the clerk kindly called the local office (on top of the rain forest mind you) and they sent a deliveryman with my dark chocolate 'bar'.  Yes he thought I was a little crazy, but kindly posed for this pic.  Costa Ricans (ticos) are so nice.

Don Juan delivery man

We rested up to be ready for our Night Walk in another cloud forest.  What can you see at night? Not much unless you have a guide with a really strong flashlight and knowledge of where the animals and insects might be.  There is a whole different thing going on at night and we got a glimpse of it.  We saw a two toed sloth hanging upside down from a tree branch. Found out that he was scratching himself because sloths are home to thousands of bugs, including some that live ONLY on sloths. Dont want a pet sloth.   Also seen: 2 varieties of toucans - hide their heads when they sleep, a giant bright green viper wrapped around and hanging from a branch, red kneed tarantula that our guide teased out of its hole, golden beetle that is worth $200 in the insect market because it looks like gold...really.  My good camera had a dead battery, so I was able to capture only a couple of critters in pictures.

Golden beatle

Leaf bug

Colorful Day in Sarchi

Sarchi is considered the artisan center of Costa Rica and is known especially for its colorfully painted oxcarts.  In the past, the oxcarts carried the coffee beans to market and were painted to represent the design of the region. So you would know which region the coffee was from.  One of the spots we visited has craftsmen still making the oxcarts including forging metal for the wheels and hinges. We also found numerous shops selling handmade furniture from the beautiful hardwoods of the country.

The world's largest oxcart is here, in Sarchi. Who knew! To get an idea of the size, see the children are walking around under it

I loved the detailed paintings of wildlife found on many of the buildings. Not sure I'll get to see the real-life versions, so I captured these guys on the walls!

Frogs

Near Sarchi is the town of Grecia that has an interesting, and beautiful church,  Cathedral de la Mercedes. The gothic-style church is constructed of brick-red metal panes, built in Belgium and shipped to Costa Rica in 1987. The panes were shipped as individual slabs to the port city of Limon where they were carried by oxcart, piece by piece, to Grecia.

Traveling is not complete without the discovery of something odd.  I spotted this tree on the side of the road and wondered what was hanging from it.  The turk turned the car around - quite a challenging task in the narrow, windy, hilly road with a stickshift car with no power.  Upon a closer view, I saw bicycles, car parts, a Christmas reindeer and other assorted items hanging from this tree.   

Art Tree!

To the Beach!

The Pacific called, so we hopped in our rental Tieros (4 wheel drive) to answer the call.  We could put the GPS, the car and our instincts to the test.  The trip over the hills, across the bridges and through the forests was good because we were on the toll highway which is largely 4 lane, with surprise lane disappearances to cross bridges and narrow openings between hills.  There was the obligatory stop at Crocodile Bridge, named for the creatures lounging below.   

Some of the crocs sunning themselves. They must be well fed - they didnt move much

This one was smiling for me

The Carara National Park was next, but we wanted water - so we continued on to Playa Herradura.  We parked on the sand in an area that resembled a parking area and we were met by an older man who offered to watch our car.  Note that CR is very clear to tourists that they should leave nothing in their car, should not carry expensive items.  Our house has an alarm that is armed when we are away, and when we sleep. and we have a large metal gate at the front of our driveway.  So, it is not unusual to have someone offer to watch your vehicle.  He was wearing a special vest which we have started to see worn by older men who help businesses with their customers' parking.

Off we went to hike the beach.  It has a rustic walkway along the beach, covered with tree branches for shade.  The beach was huge and covered in brown sand and natural gravel. It was a hike just to get to the water.  The Turk hates water that is even slightly cool, and this water passed the turk test of being warm enough to swim in.  Shuttle boats were moving people to and from anchors boats used for fishing and diving trips. There is a Marriott resort off one side of this cover area.

Nice breeze kept things cooler - but it was 10am.

Hanging out

Facing the water are small restaurants/bars where one could be quite comfortable spending the day.

But we wanted to see more. So off to Jaco we went - just down the road a few minutes.  Jaco is the epicenter for surfers and tourists.  It reminded us of any popular tourist beach area full of bars, inexpensive places to eat and souvenir shops.  There is no denying that the beach is beautiful.  But I didnt see any trees and that is now one of my requirements.


It was starting to get quite warm, so we headed back for Atenas - home.  Along the way,  we stopped for fish soup and fish tacos.  The CR food is not known for being especially tasty or adventurous and these dishes stayed true to that understanding.

Feeling brave and wanting a bit more adventure (ok, it was me, not the turk who felt this way), we didnt take the toll road back.  We found another 'main' road on the map and decided to follow it to Atenas.  Road 707 was on our GPS, was a main road on our map, and was mostly 1 lane and dirt!  But hey, we have a 4WD, so we should be fine.

Where we started 707, we confirmed with a local that the road went to Atenas. Remember this is in spanish, not english.  So off we went and were immediately facing a partially washed-out road. But hey, we have a 4WD, so we are ok.  The road continued as dirt, some gravel, and even sometimes a short stretch of pavement.  We passed coffee farms, cattle ranches, Tico (local) neighborhoods, and then a walled area of high-end homes probably owned by americans and europeans.  These were all on this bumpy, dusty, windy, steep road.  After about 45 mins, we turned a sharp corner while hugging the side of a hill and I realized, we were facing our driveway!  Our house is on this 707 road!
How long is 707 to Atenas?  4 kilometers!
When i mentioned it was great that we had 4WD, the Turk said 'oh'.  Apparently, he had not used that function yet.  We now know where the 4WD button is and will use it next time.

main road 707 to our house

Scenery along the way

Home in Atenas!

Pura Vida - and its for a month!

Finally! The Turk and I are in Costa Rica. This trip was planned for last year, but the knee surgery took priority. We picked Atenas as our home base because it is central, is known for having the best climate, and because we found a great house to rent for a month.  We got here and found out - all true!

View from living room window into valley

We've only been here a day, so have spent it foraging for food and drink of course.  And we've started with our house duties, like cleaning the pool and picking fresh lemons. We drove to the big grocery store and had to enter through a gate where we were given a card, and no explanation - not that we would understand if given.  After our shopping, which focused on beer, beans, and bread we drove out through the gate and had to give them back the card.  Curious...  so we asked our landlord.  Apparently the magic card prevents your car from getting stolen.  If someone steals your car, they wont have the magic card to show the gate person and supposedly won't be able to take your car.  ok....

the Turk playing 'pool boy'

We decided this morning to hike into town so that we could see everything along the way. We walked the sidewalk down our hilltop into town - a 30 minute hike. Along the way, the Turk talked non-stop. What did he say? It was nonstop chatter about which fruits were hanging from the trees. And that I should watch out because something was sure to drop on my head.
In addition to low hanging fruit, we saw orchids, Lenten crosses, interesting signs and met really nice people who smiled when the Turk tried out his turk-span-speak.  We walked the whole town and discovered great places to buy fresh fish, meats, breads.  We found a beautiful tree shaded park in the center of town across the street from the church (the hub of the town). And several restaurants we will try. But tonight, the turk will grill chicken, with beans and rice.  And we'll drink Costa Rican rum!

Watermelons in waiting area, not sure what they are waiting for

orchids hanging from tree in a yard

fresh papaya, strawberries for our Refrescos

our fruit smoothy chef

now i'm really confused. where am I?

Pupusas for lunch!

the turk patiently waits for his pupusa

Its Lent, so we see crosses with purple draping everywhere, even in restaurants

Cross in front yard

Probably a type of honeysuckle