So after I got all that off my chest last night, typing in a dark room and putting mental blocks on all the nooks and crannies in that shack, and exhausted from lack of peaceful sleep and being lulled closer into slumber land by Franks gentle snoring..... I joined him in an attempt to get some rest. We had that extra fan right next to the head of the bed, which drowned out some of the rattling of the roof fan and made a good difference in the temperature in that shack, and somehow I drifted off too. It was lightening outside way in the distance and was lovely the way the outlines of the trees lit up with each distant strike and the frogs all over seemed to come alive and chirrup even louder as the sky lit up. We were much more relaxed the second night there, caring less about where we were and all - maybe we were just plain exhausted or relieved to know that we were leaving the next day. So we slept for a while - all the way till the sky spit wide open with one absolutely indescribable crack of lightening right next to our shack!
I think both Frank and I woke up when we were a good 6 inches off the bed! What a storm that was....... it lasted all night long and the lightening danced around us, so close and so brilliantly and so continuously that everything was like daylight at times. The roof fan sucked in the rain through the holy screen up near the roof and sprayed us with a cool mist all night till Frank turned it off, and one of the holes in the roof collected a good dollop of water before dropping it squarely into Franks bellybutton. Yes, I laughed! I got up a few times to make sure that the laptop and cameras were not getting wet and to go to the loo - it really was very eerie softly pattering around there wondering what creatures had slunk in out of the rain. This morning Carlos told us that his sister was nearly bitten as she walked around their house, by a Ferdilance (sp?) - a very very poisonous viper, and when I told him that we had been getting up at night, he kinda went very quiet. Hmmmmm. Anyway, we are all ok, and it really was interesting to listen to that incredible downpour of rain, the thunder that literally rattled the tin roof and the absolute brilliance of the lightening. We both said this morning that we were a bit worried about one of the huge trees around there, toppling over, but there was nothing our thoughts could have changed, so.
But the storm put any chance of a drive across the peninsula to see new things on our way out of there, firmly out the window. All roads were flooded, all streams overflowing, so Carlos had organised a ride for us back to the beach, a boat ride and a free taxi into Palma Sur. His English is not that great and our Spanish just is not functional yet at all, so we were hoping that this was what he said as he bade us goodbye..... And so, down the muddy road we went, over the hanging foot bridge again where we waited for a good while watching the water that ran over the road rise up even further. Then along came someone who signaled for us to get in, we did, and off we bounced across roads that were now seriously compromised with deep ruts still getting deeper with the water washing down them. It was a very interesting ride. While we were waiting on the beach, we watched as three little doglets went rushing after the big black birds that were at least double their size! And they even flushed out an iguana and a scarlet Macaw for me - bonus day!! :)
We piled into this 16 seater little boat with half a roof and took off into the waves again, with more dark grey clouds threatening on the horizon, but to my surprise, we headed to the left - wrong way! Uh oh....... we just laughed, not able to understand anyone else on that boat and frankly not really caring, we just enjoyed the ride. The swells were not too high and the ride down the coast was beautiful. Every now and again the boat would hit the water hard and a glorious spray of white water would blank out the world for a second.... I really enjoyed it. We picked up some more people at three other lodges along the coast and I recognised two of them from when I had been researching places to stay. No matter which one we picked, we would be leaving today anyway. It all looks so awesome on the internet, and in reality its still amazing, but ...... well.......... After about half an hour going in the one direction, us now kinda interested in where we were going to end up, they turned the boat around, kicked it in high gear and zoomed back up the coast in the 'right' direction I have to admit to a bit of disappointment - somewhere new would have been good. And remember those mean jagged black rocks I told you about on the way out there? Well, this guy just waited for a few seconds for a big enough wave and then drove us straight through the middle of the two meanest rocks and we surfed through that gap like professionals! I almost clapped :)
At Sierpe boat dock we were met by a very enthusiastic taxi driver, but we had been warned against them, so continuously shrugged him off. But he stuck like glue and was rediculously insistant that we go with him, so eventually I found someone that could speak a smattering of both English and Spanish and finally it came out that this was the driver that Carlos had told to drive us to Palma Sur for free. Phew - great relief all around, and off we went with him. Evidently he was going to take us to Palma whether we liked it or not - Carlos had told him to! The bus stop and small town of Palma was totally deviod of any English speakers or understanders, so after pointing at the map, scribbling of dollar amounts, scratching out and scribbling lower numbers the taxi man scored and we once again piled our stuff into his truck and headed up the road for about two and a half hours to a little place south of San Jose, called San Isidro. The drive was beautiful and hot, his air conditioner did not work, but we literally felt cooler with every extra mile between the Osa Peninsula and us. We drove on roads that we have not yet been on, some pretty good and others tiny ribbons winding around the mountain side with the engine screaming and wheels barely turning much of the time. The driver was a fair sized guy who really flung himself enthusiastically into those corners, nearly ending up on my lap at times as the tires screamed around the corners, but again, the scenery and passing miles made up for it.
And so we were dropped off at a hotel in the middle of town, just about to pay for it when I heard the word "fan". Uh Uh - NO way!! Airconditioning or nothing! So, I yanked back my passport and money and we headed out the door, now with the wheels of our luggage squealing in protest, in search of a taxi to take us to another close by hotel. And now we are here, somewhere in the Talamanca Mountains where everything feels much calmer and is definitely cooler. Its somewhere. Its somewhere with airconditioning and not a single bug in the room so far! The bathroom is so small that you can only change your mind halfway at a time, and the room is really sparse - but its almost paradise to us for right now.
We are going to explore San Isidro tomorrow a bit, I think - it sounds like an interesting town. Its been raining here ever since we arrived and if its going to be wet again tomorrow, we might just head out here to somewhere else again. I have found a neat little place further to the north east of here that we can go and see what's there. Time is running short now and strangely enough we are almost ready to head home again. Almost. It's coming up fast.
I laughed at all the email reactions to my last update - our reasons for doing all that? Well, because we could! And if we had not, we would always wonder what it was like, now we know. It was rather like driving up to the end of the road in Quebec Canada - all the way to a tiny little town right up against James Bay......Chisasibi was its name and it took us three days of driving from the US border, straight north, to get there, only to discover, well, nothing! LOL. But now we know. And so it is with Osa - its beautiful, rugged, loved by many and at least a small part of it was seen by us - even though it was through foggy glasses. Now we know.
The airconditioner has kicked in - bliss! Frank is gently snoring and even though there is no early morning planned, tis time to bring today to a close.
Till .....whenever.
love light and laughter - lots of it
Annie
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