Travel Adventures with Wil

Costa Rica July 13 - 19, 2016

Wow. Where to begin? I'll start with:

SCENERY

This is at the top of Rainmaker Park, northwest of Quepos, looking south toward the Pacific ocean, which is the white space at the top of the photo beyond all those trees. It rains in Rainmaker, and it poured on us.

Where is Tarzan? I kept expecting him to swing by. The hillsides are incredibly lush.

Actually, pretty much everywhere we looked was lush and green. This is from the front porch of our villa at

Karahe Beach Hotel in Manuel Antonio.

Most of the water in Costa Rica comes from underground springs.

This is virgin water in Rainmaker Park.

The Pacific Ocean looks much like it does in Oregon, but it is WARM!

These shots are in Manuel Antonio National Park at two of the four beaches. The trees go right down to the sand.

I also kept expecting to see Peter Pan fly around the corner.

My favorite view on the whole trip was at a little soda on the upper outskirts of Naranjo, in the central valley. This is looking out the open window - or actually wall - on the back balcony which had glass walls on three sides. Magnificent. I could have looked at this view for hours.

(If you want to see the video of this view, email me and I'll send it to you.)

GETTING THERE

Nature Air flies to all the little airports in Costa Rica. It was either a 20 minute flight or a 4 hour bus ride on windy roads - bad for my stomach and Wil's bottom. So, I braved the flight leaving more time for fun.

The views from the plane were incredible.

If I could use only one word to describe the appearance of Costa Rica, I would use "green."

"Welcome to the jungle, baby."

The first words to enter my mind upon stepping out of the plane were "it's hot."

The Quepos Airport. We were so excited about being there we left our suitcases on the luggage cart. Everyone was friendly with no stress, so they let us back in the gate and an airport employee - there were six - was just standing by our bags looking around for us to return.

FOOD

My favorite drink was mixto frutas - always delicious and refreshing in the heat. Wil's favorite was a margarita with patron. Apparently, that's why our dinner bills were so high.

First shock: the cost of airport food. That total says $22.97, just for what you see.
I think those little balls might be guavabana.

Second shock: restaurants in Manuel Antonio are expensive. The open air dining and exquisite view of the evening thunderstorms were splendid, though. This is at Emilio's Cafe. We tried an octopus appetizer, fresh sea bass with shrimp which we shared, our two favorite drinks, excellent Costa Rican coffee and one piece of caramel cheese cake for ...gulp...$63.
Darn nice view, though.

The best food was prepared by local cooks in small family sodas. This was a typical lunch at Rainmaker Cafe. Costa Rican sauces and flavors are tasty but not overpowering. Again, open air. Many of the buildings did not have walls or doors.

The best food we tasted: meatball soup at the place with the 3 walls of windows.

Also there, fried, mashed plantains with bean dip.

Another favorite: Soda Lil' Angel's in Manuel Antonio. That's the street behind Wil. It was dark by 6pm. Two mixed frutas, casada with mahi mahi, and chicken fajitas for right around $20.

Soda Sanchez in Quepos. Casado with chicken; casado with beef and 2 bottles of water for $9. Definitely the way to go. Quepos is off the tourist path. That's why, coming straight from the beach on the bus, I looked like a dodo tourist in my sarong and long sleeved water shirt.
Oh well, at least neither of us were sunburned.

PEOPLE AND LIFE

Naranjo in the central valley. Poor, middle class and fancy homes are mixed together. Many were made of tin. Only the fanciest had swimming pools. Most had laundry hanging out to dry. Electricity in an average home is $35 a month, but the average household monthly income is $500.

The houses near the soda with the three walls of glass had a bit more space. People try to be self sufficient; whenever anyone has some land, they plant things they can eat.

The traffic and number of people in the towns was greater than I expected, but their pace and demeanor is relaxed. This is Quepos.

Wilson, the owner and our guide from Coati Tours, provided us with an excellent day touring the central valley. The traffic was heavy but not urgent. The short little horn beeps heard often are friendly honks either to someone the driver knows or to thank another driver. When stuck behind a truck trying to turn around in a narrow street (they are all narrow) Wilson simply backed up and went a different way. No honking or cursing or yelling. We saw no crashes but Wilson says motorcycle drivers in Costa Rica are called organ donors.

Wilson places God, family and work as his priorities, in that order. If you do that, he said, you'll be alright. This is a church in Sarchi.

Ninety percent of Costa Ricans are catholic, but the other ten percent is comprised of many different religions and all are welcome. This is a church in Naranjo.

A church in San Ramon. Each town has a huge religious celebration that lasts for days. They carry the statues of their Saints through the streets in a parade.

The market in Naranjo was teeming with color. Wilson said you don't bargain on the prices here - only with vendors on the street.

Wilson said each vendor is inspected every week and the sanitation requirements are strictly followed. If anyone sees any blood or flies or uncleanliness, they are supposed to call 9-1-1.

Most Costa Rican's want to learn English so they can obtain better jobs. Most tourism jobs now require the ability to speak English. Wilson wanted me to practice with this woman, who paid to go to school to learn English.

Wil couldn't resist taking this guy's picture. He seemed to be the parking attendant at a small cafe on a narrow street. Some older people away from the tourist areas did not speak English. However, most everyone we met in a tourist job was at least learning English.

Ronnie, our tour guide on the coffee tour, spoke fluent English. All the tours are given by bilingual guides. Which leads me to ...

AGRICULTURE AND ART

Our Espiritu Santo Coffee Tour in Naranjo showed us the process of making "real" coffee.

Ronnie taught the proper way to drink coffee - three little sips to take away the bitterness - then drink for enjoyment.

Ronnie prefers medium roast, just made stronger. He feels dark roast beans are burnt.

Coffee pickers fill these 25 pound baskets with tiny little coffee beans and are paid $2 a basket. A good picker can pick 15 to 20 baskets a day. At the most, that's $40 in wages a day.
Feel the Bern. urrrgh!
Free housing (in what resembles shacks) for pickers is provided by the farm or government, while farm owners live in the hills in big, fancy houses with swimming pools.

Banana's were once the biggest crop in Costa Rica. A tree grows in 9 months and is cut down every year. Banana's are planted around coffee and cacao crops so the animals eat the bananas rather than the precious crops.

The market in Naranjo had loads of fruits.

To eat these you bit into the peel to make an opening to tear off the peel, then you ate the white flesh inside, which was a bit like a pear/grape. I packed some all the way through customs so family at home could eat them, but I forgot them in the fridge at the Portland Airport hotel.

A tour at The Chocolate Farm in Alajuela taught us history, tradition and the process of making chocolate. Wil is holding chocolate bars we made - and ate. There is an art to eating chocolate - savor it, don't chew it, and taste all the different ingredients as they move through your mouth. Costa Rican chocolate does not contain all the stuff and sugar Americano's have become used to in our Hershey bars. It took a bit of savoring before I appreciated the flavor.

Sarchi is home of the arts - colorful painting and intricate wood working.

Oxcarts were used in old times to haul crops. Now they are works of art.

I loved the wooden inlay pieces. This is Guido, whose grandfather founded this wood working factory. It is still in it's original condition as it is protected and cannot be changed.

Artists along the patio below the factory paint various wooden pieces.

The churches contained impressive carvings.

ADVENTURE

Ziplining at San Luis Canopy Adventure. The highest line was 347 feet; the longest was 1800 feet. We enjoyed a one hour private adventure in the rain on 11 lines with fun guides. I thought I'd be too scared to do the Tarzan swing but it was just like childhood. The Superman/Wonder Woman swing was emotional: look where I am and am I really supposed to be here?

Wil did not follow instructions and did not put out his arms to slow down upon landing.

Parasailing with Aguas Azules in Manuel Antonio. That's not us but that's what we did. Three steps on the beach and we were up into the air for 15 minutes of quiet ocean gazing, then a splash down into the ocean. Yippee! The hardest part was pulling ourselves out of the ocean onto a jet ski. "You need to stand up" said the strong, agile, young attendant.

The rain was an adventure in itself. Thunder and lightning and pouring rain for hours - but warm.

We called this the wave pool - Manuel Antonio Beach in the park.

It was so much fun to just bob around in the soft, rolling waves.

The hanging bridges in Rainmaker Park provided fantastic views of the streams and canyons and vegetation.

The walking was bouncy. Look - no hands!

Mario was our Rainmaker guide, and the owner of

Jade Tours. He knew everything about the animals and plants of his country. "Do you know the difference between a poisonous and a venomous animal? Here, look at this one I'm holding in my hand."

RELAXATION

Karahe Beach Hotel: the rooms were simple, clean and comfy. No phones, no tv.

We had to climb 88 stairs to get to our villa. What a calf workout.

The beach had a 50 foot buffer zone where no development could occur for the benefit of the animals. A hotel employee raked the beach in this area each morning.

The shade of the trees kept us cool. We adjusted to the temperature by the third day. The humidity in Costa Rica actually felt more comfortably than the extreme, dry heat of Pendleton. Of course, the ocean breeze and coolness from the vegetation made it feel cooler. As long as we weren't on concrete, we were comfortable.