That's All Folks

Well, after leaving the Rio Pacaure, I journeyed back over the mountains to the San Jose Airport and the CoronaVirus.  It was a relaxing trip at night along twisting mountain roads in a fog with the usual  motor bikes and crazy Costa Rica drivers, but I eventually made it, more or less in one piece.  So ended my Costa Rica sojurn, thankfully more with a whimper than a 'BANG!!' (as in a head on collision). 

As an experienced traveler, one thing I do pride myself on is never falling for cheap 'souvenirs' or tourist trinkets, baubles and such.  But then again, there is the 'sunset deal'-

You should hear the whistle from this genuine Toucan, though I can't seem to quite do it like the CR hawker who sold it to me for a great deal.

So ended my short CR journey and adventure made up of volcanoes, superman and tarzan swings, screeching monkeys, 10m jumps, lost car keys, flat tires, ditches, potholes, deserted beaches, sleeping sloths, clouds, forests, golden toads, amateur surfers, pounding surf, warm water, water falls, good food, great fruit and some of the friendliest and most helpful people anywhere.

thanks for reading

"Authentic Costa Rica"; Elite Whitewater Rafting

I left the Pacific Coast and headed back into the virtually unexplored interior of Costa Rica to see if I could discover a remote and legendary wild river where, rumor had it- indigenous tribes go down wild rapids on primitive bamboo rafts lashed together with vines.  My trip took me high into the mountains where clouds frequently covered the dense forest-

The  mythical river I was seeking is called the Rio Pacuare and I had booked a primitive hut on Booking.com called the Pacuare Garden Lodge.   Armed with little more than an ancient compass printed with the obscure legend 'WAZE', I set out with the objective of arriving about 5:30 pm (according to Waze).  I had been advised- and can confirm- that driving after dark in Costa Rica can be dangerous.  So I planned to get there before nightfall (which arrives by about 6pm in CR).   

I did as planned, but on arriving on this very very rough dirt road in the middle of nowhere, I could see no lodge or sign thereof.  Confused and with my iPhone battery dead, I returned to the main path (road) and sought advice from various locals at different restaurants (there is generally a restaurant or some form of drinking establishment every 100 yards or so on most paved CR roads from what I could tell).  I could find no one who had ever heard of Pacuare Gardens or who spoke much English.  I flagged a guy down who lived by the side of the road who- with a British accent- said that he had never heard of it, but that everything in this area was called 'Pacuare something', which I did not findf particularly encouraging.  Finally, I found a young fellow who had never heard of it, though he had lived in the area his whole life, but who helpfully made a few calls which located the place and owner.   I then returned to the place that Waze had originally sent me and found this locked gate in the dark-

Just what you want to see as you drive to your appointed lodging at 7:30 at night in the dark.  No sign, locked gate, and no one who lived in the area had ever hearing of the place- an interesting marketing strategy.  As I stood stupified there in the dark wondering what to do next, suddenly a guy drove up on his motor bike with his wife and kid.  I guess they were out for passed for a family outing in this part of the country.  He then commenced trying to unlock the gate, but the lock combination he had did not work so we had to climb the gate- the 7 year old kid being the quickest- and walk the 1/4 mile to the lodge where a further fence awaited-

Somehow I never find  barbed wire that appealing at my lodgings.  With this novel marketing and entry strategy- apparently designed to test resources and climbing agility- I am sure the owner will do well in the lodging market.

The next day I set out to see if I could find the legendary Rio Pacuare and the Kontiki-like rafts and eureka!  I found these unique custom made native rafts-

Only a few of these ancient native rafts exist and only the fittest and most proud and skilled natives attempt to raft the wild waters of the Rio Pacuare-

So I did descend the mighty Rio Pacuare which National Geographic apparently rates as one of the top 5 white water experiences in the world.  While the water was a little low- it was the dry season- I will say that it might have been the prettiest and most interesting river experience I have ever had.  Regrettably, you could not take your camera because of the whitewater, but the narrow green canyon you passed through- unique and just spectacular- and the exotic birds on display made this quite the trip.

Notwithstanding the elite nature of the rafters, I could not quite believe how uncoordinated we as a rafting team appeared to be, with nobody really paddling in synch, notwithstanding the guide's constant admonitions.  Even I find 'paddle left' and 'paddle right' relatively easy commands to follow, but it appeared to be a challenge for the more 'independent' on our boat.  When I pointed how inept we appeared to be to the guide, he indicated that we actually were far better than other groups he had had recently, including a group of 70 yr old Russians.  I can only imagine that standard.....

Howling Monkeys and Sleepy Sloths

My last full day in Montezuma I went to the locally famous waterfall where you can jump off a 10 meter high rock next to the falls.  When first I saw it, I thought that looks more like 6 or 7 meters to me, but when I got to the top of the rock, I thought 'this looks more like 15 meters to me-

I left the Southern Nicoya peninsula and journeyed down the Pacific coast to the country's most famous national park, Manuel Antonio, or maybe its Antonio Manuel- I hate people with 2 first names.  As I heard it is very popular, i made sure to get there early to beat the crowd-

It is renowned for its beaches and wildlife, particularly monkeys-  4 different types- and sloths- 2 types.  Sloths evidently come in the 2 and 3 toed variety, with one being slightly more advanced in mathematics than the other (evidently a 'right brain', 'left brain' situation).  I did see some sloths in the trees and would post some photos, but they simply look like unmoving blobs in the trees (regardless of how many toes they have).  I did learn that their metabolism is so slow that they only descend to the ground to poop every 8 days or so.  Now that is slow digestion and I guess it takes weeks or maybe even months, if you are sloth, to figure out if you are constipated. 

Monkeys I both heard and saw-

 The howling monkey is really loud and well, has quite a howl.  Not sure what they are howling about, though perhaps the heat as it was a torrid day in the park today.

As I said, ,the park is also famous for its beaches, with one of them being perhaps the most famous in Costa Rica-

After hiking around the park, I longed to find a spot in the shade on the beach to cool off and get out of the blistering sun.  The beach was somewhat crowded, but then I found a nice isolated spot.  Just as I settled down and started to doze off, someone spotted a sloth in the tree above my head and a herd almost trampled me to get some photos-

So I moved down the beach and settled next to a couple that was eating their lunch.  But that drew monkeys and that again almost got me squashed in my little spot in paradise by the photographic crowd.

Still, it is quite a pretty place-

And you don't see these on every beach-

But I did have to stay almost incognito to avoid the blistering sun.  Doesn't everyone go to the beach dressed like this? 

Waterfalls and the Costa Rican Bataan Death March

From the Cloud Forest of Mondeverde-

I journeyed to the Pacific Coast and the Southern Nicoya Peninsula- for the 'beach' part of my trip (which seems appropriate for Costa Rica).   My guide book had indicated that the roads of So. Nicoya were some of the worst in CR, but it turned out that they had just paved the 60km road to Montezuma at the bottom of the peninsula.  I had to settle for this surprisingly smooth, if somewhat inauthentic, CR experience where , unusually all of  my teeth were still in place after my drive.

Montezuma- never knew the Aztecs made it this far south or were such beach bums- is a quintessential  'beach town' and surfing is big here.  Below, a couple of agile young pros getting ready to hit the 'board'-

I guess they hadn't heard of 'Car Park Surfing' which I have mastered and found far easier than the actual wet stuff.

When not goofing off as here, observed lots of Pelicans dive bombing for fish-

If deserted beaches are your thing, Montezuma could be for you-

But the surf is very strong- I got body slammed a few times swimming here-  and there many rip currents, so I realized it might be better sometimes just to do ' car park swimming'. 

If you are lucky, you may find an occasional piece of driftwood on these deserted beaches-

Amidst the natural driftwood,  you may occasionally find something useful like an old bumper or ballister washed up from parts unknown-

CR is a great place for waterfalls and there is beach a short 4 mile walk from Montezuma through the Sahara Desert where one falls into the sea-

Of course, waterfalls r us so (ala Victoria Falls) we had to dangle our feet near the edge-

Next to the ocean, which truly was like bath water in temperature, if not in temperment, the falls were delightfully refreshing, though that feeling did not last long on the scorching return. 

Some wildlife also couldn't be bothered to move far in the hot sun-

cloud forest and the legend of the golden toad

My next trip took me the Monteverde Cloud Forest which is quite high, windy, cool and near the continental divide.  How do I know part of it straddles the continental divide?  

Little gets by me on the hiking trail  

It famous for its birds and flora, though I saw few of the former.  But clouds and a forest I saw in abundance (again, not a lot gets by me on the trail).  

If roots are your thing, you could be happy here, though I would not wish to try and dig through them-

Sometimes I hear some Boston suburbs referred to as leafy but Monteverde knows leafy-

But I was quite disconcerted to read about the demise of the 'legendary golden toad', as explained to me on this sign explaining 'what is gone' (the golden toad as it turns out)-

I am ashamed to say that I had never heard of the Golden Toad or its legend until now. Not exactly sure what was legendary about it.  Maybe it was made of real gold?  But that would seem awfully heavy for a toad.  Maybe it just had (cheap) gold flecks?  So what is legendary about that?  I don't know and apparently most of humanity will never know now either. 

 According to the sign, there were thousands of this legendary toad hanging about the Cloud Forest in 1987 but by 1989 nary a single legendary toad could be found, gold plated or otherwise.  The reason according to the sign?  If you guessed climate change, you would be dead on.  The toad was an unwitting  and early victim of climate change (really fast in his case) (and no doubt the policies of the legendary Ronald Reagan).   The toad really took climate change on his golden chin apparently and now little is left of the legend but the above sign. 

Well, I mourned the toad for a few minutes, but had a ferry to catch and was worried that the line would be very long when I got there as the website indicated there were no available spaces except a few 'drive ups'  (my car is in white but the black car had preference)

But there was some nice vistas  as I descended to the Pacific Coast-

The pleasant ferry ride helped me recover some equilibrium after my despondency over the legendary toad's devastating and appalling quick ending.  

k

Superman and Mega Tarzan

They have all sorts of lodging types in Costa Rica with many having a naturalistic theme.  I am all into the natural and all that, but found this hotel a little too primitive even for me-

I am not some oversized bee.


I finished my exploration of the heretofore unknown region of Arenal and headed by well maintained roads- with pot holes only every 20' or so- to the mountainous Monteverde Cloud Forest.  Along the way, I got stuck in a ditch in my trusty Jimmy Suzuki rental car on some remote dirt road in some hilly farm country-

Costa Rica meeting New Zealand along my drive-

 Using my well honed travel skills and having seen most every type of problem while traveling, I knew I would quickly find a solution in my expedition memory.  So.... I sat down by the side of the road and mindlessly waited until someone else came along.  After 15 minutes or so in this remote location, a poor local family passed by in a donkey cart that faintly resembled a new Toyota Highlander and, like the 18th century Royal Navy, I impressed all into service, including the 4 year old who I charged with driving the stick shift as the rest of us pushed Jimmy out of the ditch.

Monteverde is known for its poor roads, which is certainly saying something in Costa Rica. By leaving at the crack of dawn to make sure I got to my 3pm zip line appointment, I just covered the roughly 60 miles in time.  I had signed up for what was advertised as Latin America's longest zip line, including a Superman line, as well as a Tarzan swing and rappel down some cliff- whatever all that stuff was.

The long (and high) zip line over the cloud forest canopy was indeed fun and was probably about 600' off the ground on average-

But then I looked up and saw the Superman line which was a few hundred feet above that-

If you look close and blow u[ the picture, you can see the speck in the sky flying head first- superman style.  Well, that was all pretty unnerving- and you had plenty of time to ponder your sins while flying hundreds/thousands of feet over the canopy- but that was all nothing compared to the terror of the Tarzan swing-

Putting my usual thought into it aforehand, I had no idea what to expect, other than some vague notion that I would be joyfully swinging with Jane and assorted monkeys like Johnny Weismuller of original Tarzan fame.  But this looked nothing like the old Tarzan movies.  You walked out some long steel plank to some cage at the end where who knew what happened.

"

I walked out to the cage like some condemned man headed to the gallows, which is pretty much how I felt as I shuffled out there.  It was 150 ft in the air according to my helpful guide (did I actually pay for this?  What was I thinking, if anything?)   When I got there, they told me to hold onto some rope and then opened the cage door.  A conversation ensued as I looked down...

Me-  What happens now?

Guide- You jump.

But it looks like I will just fall?   Straight down as it were.  It looks a long way down...

Yep.  Free fall for a while and then the rope swings you.   Hopefully.

But----

Off you go!

Not sure how I didn't have a heart attack, but I am still blogging somehow.

With no street signs and then a plethora of private signs at every junction, it is pretty difficult trying to pick out your hotel sign as you motor  along-

I will say playing Superman and Tarzan for an afternoon was something of a blast.