What a lovely sound....... the rain pounding down outside for hours this morning before daylight - well, it felt like hours. And then it stopped and the birds, bees, chickens, frogs, monkeys and everything else that lives screamed at us to get up! It was 6.15am. Sheesh... no wonder there is no need for wake up calls around here! Today was a day when we had absolutely nothing planned, well other than a beach walk, a walk through the forest, a drink or three and lounging in the pool....
But first we had to make the travel arrangements to get out of here, transfer to a different bus half way back to San Jose so that we could head up to the Arenal Volcano for a few days. The guide we had gave us a number to call for the shuttlebus and we made the reservations, and as I confirmed our 'delivery address', I realised that we had better check to see if there was space available at that hotel. But yes, no problemo - that would have been fun. All is set and we leave here at 9am on Sunday morning and will probably be at Arenal Paraiso Hotel at around 4pm. A long long day.
And this is also why we decided to take a bit of a break today and just soak in the scenery at a slower and quieter pace. There was almost no one around the Lodge again today, and those that were booked in here were all out on day tours... so it was almost deserted and just fantasic. After making our bookings, we headed for the beach, but once there realised that it was way too hot for a walk on the sand. You see, its black sand, from the volcano and the heat soaks it up and holds it tight, just ready for tender feet to wander out on it. It was also really humid and we looked at the waves rushing in, the coconuts and palm fronds laying around and decided to do the forest walk..... gotta be cooler, right? Not by much.
But it was at least in the shade. We wandered along tiny little paths, ducking under huge leaves and branches, finding funky spiders, mostly small, and catipillars, other creepy crawlies, frog eggs, but no frogs. Ten million mosquitos found us though. The guide had shown us some natural insect repellant and I decided not to use any chemical stuff, but pick the natural ones leaf, wipe it on as he showed and then if we did find a frog, I could pick it up without worrying about any chemicals on my hands. The natural stuff did not work. Frank had sprayed his legs, but I could almost hear the mozzies on their loudspeakers calling all the others that I had two unprotected legs to feast on! And boy, did they! By the time we decided to leave there, about an hour after heading into the forest, my legs were knobbly from huge bites and itching like hell and back again.
But it was great - we also saw a few more of those Jesus lizards and I even remembered their correct name - Basalisk, or is it Basilisk? Anyway..... they really are weird creatures and remind me of Star Wars for some reason.
And so we came home, grabbed our swim suits and headed to the pool to cool off and ease the itches. What bliss. There we wallowed in the water with the sound of the breakers on one side and the river on the other, toucans flying overhead, the blue morpho butterflies and a good many others too, flitting around all over the place, competing for airspace with a huge variety of other birds. We stayed quite still in the water and after a few minutes it was as if the birds all forgot we were there. It was so quiet too, no humans in sight at all. Right before we got all seriously wrinkled up, we headed to the river bank for a margarita. Oh boy... I swear that bartended tripled up on whatever he put in there, but it was not long before Frank's silly face reflected in mine and we realised that we were blotto! And that was us for the afternoon. We had lunch and went to sleep. It was very hot and humid but we managed to sleep for about three hours!
Back to the river to try to find a breeze, dinner, and then to the other pool, where we lay like beached whales soaking in the lights across the river, the sounds and smells of the waves and the stars - oh they are glorious out here! All bright and twinkly and millions of them can be seen! There was a huge bird walking gracefully along the grass, back and forth, as if he was keeping watch over us. We did go and hunt some more Red Eyed Green Tree Frogs and found a few - they are really cute!
Now we are all packed up and ready to head out in the morning. This is a really beautiful place but its time to go and find some other things. We have been really fortunate in how much wildlife we have been able to see in such a short space of time. I promise to put up some pictures in the near future - the internet here is just not going to handle uploading them - hopefully the hotel at Arenal will.
One of the things that always strikes me in these third world countries and feels so good, is that it is assumed that one will use common sense. There are no signs that say 'be careful of this or that', nothing that protects one if you do something stupid. Not even a 'do not dive' sign in the pool.. Its really good to see that common sense and watching out for others around one, is really big out here. Just dont jump in the water with the alligators - I am sure not many would jump in to save you!
Its beautiful, its rich in so many things here, tourism is the main income for this country and its very obvious here when you go to the village....... but out in the forest and along the shoreline - its just magic, quiet, peaceful and beautiful.
A happy mothers day to all you Mothers/Mama's/Mom's....... and U3 - I know you miss me on Mothers Day - I miss you and I love you too - LOTSA!
Now to catch some sleep.
love light and laughter
Annie
xxxx
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