Oh boy - I missed one day's typing and bam, now I feel like I need to page back weeks ago to remember all we have done.........Our days are so full and busy even though we were going to take it easy on this trip.. Suuuuure - that is not working :)
Ok - I left off when we were still in Tortuguero National Park and heading for a beer on the river banks after packing up and getting ready to head out for new adventures. And we did. Early the next morning we dragged out bags to the boat that would take us out of the canals and up to Arenal Volcano and the town of La Fortuna. The ride on the boat was glorious, we screamed up a different canal than the one used to get us in there and hit trees and branches under the water many times. That is a horrible sound - the motor bounces upwards, dies and then we all look around to see where we were going to land up. A few times it was really close or we would have found ourselves tangled up in dead tree branches. There was quite a flow to the river, even if it was really shallow in many places. We saw a good few birds, Basilisk but mostly the scenery is what got to me on this trip. The trees stretch skywards and then spread out like huge umbrellas in the sky, the toucans fly as if their bodies are too heavy for them and its as if they bob across the sky in a wavy pattern. We created a good sized wake that rushed up on us at times when we had to slow down suddenly and also flushed out some interesting looking birds.
And then we came around a corner and there was Interbus.... the shuttle bus service of Costa Rica - ready to take us on our next leg. The countryside is really green and lush and green bright with those living fences holding in small herds of what looks like Brahma bulls and cows. There are pawpaw trees everywhere, heavily laden with ripening fruit that made my mouth water. We drove through pineapple plantations, fern growing farms where the gauze is stretched for miles over a gazillion ferns - it big business here by the looks of it. Holland is the biggest importer of decorative plants from Costa Rica. And then back through little towns. The poverty both draws and repels me. I find my camera jumping up at almost every shack, in almost morbid fascination at how people actually live like this. There are many shanties - houses made out of sheets of corregated iron. Many of these are painted and some even have huge fences around them!
Many of the roads through the smaller towns here are not good at all and the concept of sidewalks has not reached this country yet. There is a lot of trash around, but somehow the real life of it all is more noticeable than the trash........ Kids playing outside, people walking, talking and sitting outside in huge gatherings just enjoying their Sunday afternoon. Even with all the fences, there is no 'fear factor' at all and everything feels quite peaceful and calm and totally safe. There are a gazillion bicycles everywhere and at one place of business, there was an area where the bikes were hung up while their owners put in a days work. Water barrells are everywhere, catching the rain water in most places, washing hangs outside almost every house and sometimes even on the fences alongside the road.
I have learned not to look out of the front windown when riding in this country too. The drivers seem to race around one car, only to set out at high speed to find another car that he can tailgate for a mile or so, around tight corners, on narrow bumpy roads where there is not chance of overtaking....And then when he flings us around that car, I could almost feel the hunt beginning again.. A row of cars ahead made us all break out in a sweat at one time.
There are many dead trees around the place, but they have become the hosts for many plants to attache themselves too, creep up or twine themselves around - making that dead tree stump all alive and green looking again.... It seems that all the greenery is either rotting and thereby feeding other plants or animals, or hooking themselves on something that is dead of rotting to start the circle all over again.
All along the way in the towns along the way, are speed bumps which have become an opportunity for casual sellers of fruit and vegetables to set up and try to make a dollar or two. Unfortunately our driver did not want to stop and let us buy some - he was on a schedule. In San Jose on the way from the airport, there was a wreck along the road and the police had just arrived - waaaaay after the vendors who were already out and about selling fruit, veggies, candies and water to the cars that were backed up for a good long way along the road.
We dont have a really good map, and trying to find out where we are gets interesting at times. Looking at the names on the signs along the way, we are never quite sure whether they are advertising something or whether its the name of the town! So we gave up and just enjoyed the ride. I knew the road we were on, and that was enough.
At aroudn 4pm we were deposited at the Arenal Paraiso hotel and shown to our room that has a beautiful view of the volcano - that if the clouds will ever clear! It has rained heavily ever since we arrived - so hard that we were both aware of it all night last night. After dropping of our luggage, we headed off to find out about the different things to see and do around here - and we now have two full days booked. We start off with the hanging bridges through the treetops, then off to the Arenal Waterfall, which is quite a walk down many steps.. Then we will come back here for lunch and head out again in the afternoon for a hike on the volcano. And then on Tuesday we are off on a boat trip up the river.... Cano Negro - into Nicarauga (sp?)
And then we ended the evening with a good old soaking in the volcano heated mineral hot springs in the grounds of the hotel. It was just glorious! There we lay in this warm water, totally silent all around, stars bright in the sky and a frog or two chirruping somewhere in the plants around us. We have a little porch outside just for ourselves too, which leads into a garden with some beautiful flowers and again, a promise of a volcano view. Maybe tomorrow.
It's been another long, lovely day..
Till tomorrow
love light and laughter
Annie
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