Costa Rica 2014

Feb 25
Only a few days left before our four week excursion to Costa Rica.   Clothes, assorted cameras, multi-chargers and other wiring, backpack, snorkel masks, bird books, etc. are strewn all over our spare bedroom, ready for packing.  It is amazing how much electronic equipment we pack these days, replacing what used to be one film camera and several rolls of film.  All week it has been a countdown of every event.  One more trip to the gym, two more regular sleeps, last council related meeting, etc.  who's excited.  The last three days of snow only add to our desire to go.  The DVR is set so we won't miss out on any episodes of our favourite TV show.  okay, I think I am ready, although Jo still has too many pant and tops set out.  The fun begins with a very short night on Thursday because we leave the house around 2:45AM for our 6AM flight.  Stay tuned.

Feb 28 - Sleep, what sleep?
I am not sure if leaving the house at 2:45AM constitutes a late night or an early morning.  Rather than going to bed, I lied down on the sofa, and promptly had a nice, one hour nap, followed by a long period of awakeness.  The flight to San Francisco went smoothly and we bought some food to take along for lunch.  Our flight to Houston was delayed, after we boarded, by almost an hour.  Supposedly there was a computer glitch.  We did get a free movie, Las Vegas, the same one I downloaded to watch on my ipad.  We were one pressed for time and had to rush in order to catch our connection to Liberia, Costa Rica.  So much for our plan to pick up some dinner.  We were one of the last to board and there was a slight delay to get our luggage on board.  We arrived in Liberia on time but alas, no opportunity to buy dinner.  I guess I will have to catch up another day.
One of our suite cases was difficult to find, so we ended up being the last to leave the luggage area and pass through customs.  We had arranged with Javy Hotel to have a taxi waiting for us.  manager Javier assured me that everything was OK.  So when we got outside at about 10pm, there was no one waiting.  Other taxi drivers were very good about giving assistance, and one lent me his cell phone to call the hotel. Of course I called and got a message, a woman rattling off in Spanish who knows what,
 and no beep for a message.  We got one of the other cabs, but with all our luggage, one of the bags had to be tied onto the roof.  The drive was longer than I imagined and we went through a pretty seedy looking town. Our hotel had a ten foot cement wall around it, topped with razor wire and a locked gate.  We we're let in and introduced to the owner/manager(?). She did not speak any English, but it was clear that she could not find our reservation for two rooms, and did not have them available.  We were left hanging, while she left for who knows where trying to figure out what to do.  The hotel felt a little sketchy, and we had no idea what was going to happen.  Another couple with two teenage daughters came over.  They had also arrived from our flight and just checked in.  They offered to give up one of their two rooms for us.  There was a lot of confusion before the manager, Isabelle, came and motioned us to follow her.  She directed us to two rooms.  There was no registration process or talk of cost.  Isabelle was very friendly and we laughed as we tried to communicate.  We discovered that one of our rooms did belong to the other family, so we gave them a bottle of wine.  I told Jo that they must be Canadian to be so helpful.  Sure enough, they were from New Brunswick.  After a long day and one hour sleep, you would think sleep would come easy, but
not so.  We were kept awake for a while because of the sound of fireworks, and band music.  Then early in the morning, we were serenaded by many loud birds and people talking at 7am.  It turned out that Liberia was having a rodeo that weekend.  A couple we met at the free breakfast ( large fruit plate per person, rice and beans, scrambled eggs and plantains) explained that like the rituals in Spain, crowds entered the local arena where a bull would be let loose.  People showed their bravery, stupidity and sadism by taunting the bull, patting it or pulling its tail, as well as throwing garbage at it, to rile it.  It would charge people, and many were hauled away injured.  I just read about this same behaviour in my brother's new book about the running of the bulls in Pamplona.  Isabelle was a super friendly woman, and the hotel soon took on the feel of a cozy community.  We even got big hugs when we left.  The cost for a two bed room plus breakfast was only $50, a great deal.  We felt a lot better despite the opening impressions.

Saturday, March 1 Cool, man
We had arranged to be picked up at 11am to go to Tamarindo, a good 90 minute drive.  After being stood up at the airport, we were a little worried, but the driver came through.  Driving through Liberia, we came across many ticos (local) coming into town on horseback.  There was even a place where horses were hitched and watered.  It was interesting to see the most of the time the horses trotted with a high stepping gait.  Our driver spoke very, very little English.  There was very little small taking for most of the trip, but when the air conditioner started acting up, it seemed very important for me to  understand the cause of the problem, and he rambled on at length in Spanish.  I nodded my understanding, even though most of the time I had no idea what he was talking about.  I even had to get out of the van at a gas station so he could show me how the lines were freezing up, and had to be thawed with water.  Something about letting the freon shoot through I believe.  I just kept nodding at him.  The temperature was in the high 30's Celsius so AC was very important.
Our condo in Tamarindo, Monte Perla, was beautiful, especially compared to Javy Hotel.  It was up the hill from the Main Street and beach along pot-holed, dusty dirt roads.  The walk down to town took only about 10 minutes, but the walk back included a fairly steep stretch that was made more challenging with the heat.  We had a magnificent view.  For $12, we arranged for a taxi to drive us to the major grocery store, a 5 minute drive, and wait for us while we shopped, and bring us back.  A bargain price.  In the evening, enjoying the warm night air on our balcony, we heard the sound of howler monkeys.

Sunday, March 2 A howling time
I woke early to the cacophony of many loud birds.  I got up at 7am, a ridiculous time to get up, I know, and stood on our bedroom balcony to observe and photograph the many different birds, including Hoffman's woodpecker (do they speak Dutch?), tropical kingbirds, kiskadees, grackles, doves, wrens, turkey vultures, and a black hawk.  After breakfast we walked down the hill to town to visit the office and report that we had no wifi. Along the way we found a tree with a family of howler
monkeys, which provided a good photo op.  We also stopped to enjoy our first Imperial
 beer on a beach veranda. We enjoyed our second beer as well.  In the afternoon we had the swimming pool to ourselves, as the condo complex was more than half empty.  The water was warm by my standards, which means it was hot by some other people's standards.  We enjoyed another evening of sitting outside I shorts all night.  Daytime temperatures reached into the high 30's, and night time temperatures dropped to about 20c.

Monday, March 3 Saw saw a motmot!
Another beautiful day! After breakfast we again walked to town. This required following a dirt, pot-filled road down a hill.  Along the way there were a few open fields with trees which were great bid spotting locations.  Each walk was an adventure to see what we might see.  We liked to return up the hill during the heat of the day, thereby maximizing the effect of the steep last block up.  Today we spotted a gorgeous motmot.  This is a very exotic looking tropical bird with two long skinny tail feathers and beautiful colouring.  I admit I was pretty excited to find one of these for the first time!  We were going to the office in town to see about doing an excursion, and start to plan how we might get to Dominical, a 7 hour drive, on Saturday.  I spotted a sign saying you could buy Gray Line bus
tickets down a long driveway, so we thought we would check it out.  It turned out to be an old, but well kept motel.  We talked to the owner, a former university professor who took great pride I her country.  She suggested we hire a driver instead, so we could stop whenever we wanted and enjoy the trip.  We agreed to a price and she made arrangements for the driver, Henry, to pick us upon Saturday.  We were assured that Henry spoke English.  She never took down our name, no agreement was signed and no deposit was made.  Everything operated on trust.  She even said she would call Henry Friday to confirm.  She then took us on a tour of her motel, which was not on the internet and therefore relied onward of mouth for advertising.  She showed us how cashews grew, and explained that cashew nuts were covered in a toxic oil that could burn you lips.  After showing us fruit trees and grafted flowering bushes, we had to come inside while she took juice out of the pod attached to the cashew nuts and made us sample it.  We also sampled Tamarindo beans, which had a spicy
marmalade flavour and was good for quenching thirst.  She was very interesting and we assured
 her we would recommend her motel if ask.  After the woman did some window shopping while BIL and I found some shade, we found a beach bar that had cocktail specials and Jo and I enjoyed a Sea Breeze.
Overhead, we found a monkey in a tree.  After a walk along the beach, we stopped for fruit smoothies as our lunch, and returned home for a swim.  By late afternoon we had internet, and it was like a bunch of starved people as we rushed to update emails, check Facebook and play Candy Crush before dinner.

Tuesday, March 4. I hate Apple, I hate Apple, I hateApple!
I hate Apple. Today was a lousy day in paradise.  It started out cloudy and the temperature plummeted to about 26 degrees.  Nevertheless, we went down to the beach where Jo bargained some poor guy down to renting us four chairs and two umbrellas for the day for $20.  We settled in to turn down coconut vendors, wooden bowl vendors, serving bowl vendors, jewelry vendors, coconut vendors and beer vendors every hour or so.  The water was wonderful. I even beat Jo into the water.  We were in the surfing stretch of the beach and had to watch for big waves and careless surfers, but all was good. Pura Vida!  BIL offered to buy us a beer, and went to the bar to get some.  He returned to our umbrellas carrying a pitcher of beer and four plastic glasses. I have never been served beer like this on a beach!  We got some coupons for taco Tuesday at one of the local restaurants so after walking back up the hill, photographing green parakeets along the way, enjoying a shower and happy hour we ventured back to tow before dark.  We enjoyed fish and chicken tacos and half priced margaritas.  After some shopping we took a taxi home.  Checking our sporadic internet, I discovered that the last two day blog I had written disappeared, I think. Working on an ipad is much more annoying than a Microsoft based laptop!  Also, every time I open up my blog post, only the top part is visible.  The rest is hidden behind the keyboard and can not be scrolled up.  I have to go to the bottom of the visible entry, insert a space or two, and more suddenly appears.  I then have to go back and delete the spaces I created.  This is an incredible waste of time and is insane!  Did I say that I
hate Apple?  I was up until 12:30am fixing this blog, and we need to be up and ready to leave in the morning at 7:30am.  That is insane too.

Wednesday, March 5 up the river
We arranged for a cruise up the Temisque River, and were picked up at 7:30.  This was arranged through our office, and the same Spanish-only speaking driver and his rickety van that picked us up from Liberia, showed up.  It was a good two hour drive, much of it down narrow, dusty roads through sugar cane and melon fields.  We bumped along right past a caracara, a large vulture like bird, and two coatimundis that I would have loved to photograph.  The 90 minute river ride was very nice, with sightings of giant iguanas, several crocodiles, howler monkeys and white-faced capuchin monkeys as well as various birds.  We got very little info out of our driver due to the language barrier, although he did find out we were returning to Tamarindo in a few weeks and would need to get back to the airport.  Suddenly, he made more of an effort to communicate, even stopping by a sugar cane field to chop down a stock and let us sample it.  The $100 price we paid to get here was quickly reduced down to $60, although granted the ride back to the airport would be about 20 minutes less than from the town of Liberia to here.  We decided to hold off, hoping to meet a more English friendly driver with a van where the seat cushions are not worn out.  Due to the heat, we spent the afternoon inside, reading, fixing this blog, napping, and taking a dip. Actually, BIL and I took the dip outside. By the way, did I mention that I hate Apple?  We played games in the evening and Jo complained that her feet were getting cold.  She walks around at home in bare feet, and here the temperature dips to 24 degrees and she is cold. I doubt she will get much sympathy!

Thursday, March 6. Feast or Famine
Today we decided to get up really, really early again, 7:10am, so we could walk on the beach before breakfast.  As we made our trek down the hill at 7:30, the sun was already beating down.  The beach was gorgeous and still relatively quiet, although the surf was so high, we decided to abandon our
original plan to return after breakfast to swim in the ocean.  We walked a good hour to get to the
 south end of the beach, although sister G and Jo were so busy collecting sea shells that progress was
slow.  We returned for coffee and breakfast, and laundry.  It was also time for just relaxing around the condo and taking a dip in the pool before heading back down the hill for a few purchases before dark.  This was the first time most of us had the time, or inclination, to open a book.

Joanie commented today that our pictures seemed to indicate that we were vacationing in a bird sanctuary.  I think she meant it in a derogatory way, but I of course do not understand that kind of sarcasm, so I agreed that it was great to be in a place that seemed like a sanctuary without being one.  With wildlife, it is feast or famine.  On past trips to Costa Rica and Belize, we saw howler monkeys twice, both times high up in the trees. Here, we hear the every day, and have seen them close up several times.  Last night we even saw a group going from tree to tree across the street.  I was so excited to see a green parakeet the other day, only the second time ever.  Since then, we have seen flocks of them almost every time we walk down the hill.   The same is true of the motmot bird.  I have to sort through scores of pictures of them.  In fact, I can no longer download photos to my ipad to view in a larger size, because I ran out of room.  It sucks to be one of our friends, because you will be very busy looking at pictures when we get back!

After dinner, which incidentally has not been at the"Meyer hour", but often after 6:30pm, the women folk decided we needed restock our water and wine resources, but, because it was dark, and they were concerned not so much for our safety than that we did not get our feet dusty and sweat too much in our freshly launder shirts, they wanted us to tack a taxi back from the store.  BIL and i agreed, and we walked to the store.  Of course we agreed as soon as we got outside that a taxi was not going to happen. Tamarindo is actually quite quiet at night and lots of others from the nearby condos walk the dusty road to town, so it would be unmanly to need a taxi for an 8 minute walk!  It was still quite
warm at night, so it was hard to convince the women we had taken a taxi with sweat running down our foreheads and wet backs.

Some might think vacations are all fun and games, but not so.  They can be dangerous.  In many ways
 I am held hostage.  My sister eats like a bird, and does not appreciate what it takes to keep a body like mine functioning properly.  My wife on the other hand has shown a greater interest in my life  insurance  policy.  Meals are served here pre-scooped. There are no second helpings.  While I can't say I am starving, I also do not know the sensation of being full.  Its not easy being me.  I may ask the airlines for a discount on my return flight because I am sure I will only need half a seat.  I can't even talk to anyone about my dire sutuation because they just don't understand.  Most people are not as sensitive as I am, or they mistake my body shape as not being from malnutrition.

By the way, I had to re-edit today's post four times, inserting and then deleting spaces to be able to scroll down to the end, so, beginning in Dominical, our next stop, I will create separate posts every few days rather than one long one.  Did I mention that I hate Apple?

Friday, March 7
Last day in Tamarindo for now.  It was very hot today.  We walked into town and soon Jo was dripping in moisture, (women don't sweat apparently), and not feeling well.  I think it was the combination of heat and lack of food.  We therefore found a restaurant on the beach for a cold drink and lunch.  I think in the hour or so we were there we were hustled at least ten times, sometmes by the same person.  The beach area, including outdoor restaurants and bars are constantly patrolled by hustlers selling Costa Rican pottery, bird whistles, jewelry, sun glasses, etc., much like Mexico.  One guy even came into the restaurant to try and sell bottles of honey and homemade muffins.  We never experienced this the ladt time we were here, and it is very tiring.  Every ten minutes or so on the beach someone is trying to sell you something, even if you say you already have one.  They also peddle coconut milk and cold beer.  After lunch we walked the beach and then played in the water.  The ocean was so warm that it was like bath water.  I could walk right in.  The waves were high and you had to be careful not to be thrown about like a rag doll or caught in the undertow.  When we left our condo, I had foolishly decided I probably had seen all the birds this area had to offer, and eould take my small camera rather than my Nikon.  My sanity returned just before we left and I took thr big lens.  Sure enough, in our usual place along the road, we found a new exotic bird, the magpie-jay.  Also, as usual, when we had lunch, far from this field, we spotted another obe of these in the trees overhead.  Ob the way home, we ran into a group of monkeys lazing in one of the big trees.  Never, never assume you will not see something with on any outing!  For dinner we again went into town and enjoyed fantastic pizza.  It was thin crust, and I resisted the temptation to order the grande rather than regular size.  A foolish mistake.  I might have been full for the first time. The chocolate dessert helped though.

Funny Not So Funny

I know I am getting old but has the next generation lost its sense of humour?  If you are over 45 years old, I challenge you to watch Saturday Night Live and find one skit that makes you laugh, or even smile for that matter.  Okay, there may be a few of you that might laugh, but you are probably also the ones who love America's Funniest Home Videos and can't get enough of guys getting beaned in the crotch, or can laugh for years about a poor husband that smashes his head inside a camper van and lies dying on the floor.  But seriously, where is the humour?  I look at the comic strips and wonder how the cartoonists managed to produce a strip at all.  It seems there is so little in their heads that it is a wonder they even know how to get out of bed in the morning.  I exclude those who choose cartoons to make a political statement rather than to make us laugh.  Look at our sitcoms on TV.  Hollywood is convinced that there are only two sources of humour, sex and crudeness.  So that is what they feed our children, and it isn't very funny.  And they are supposedly holding back.  Go see your favourite comedian doing a stand-up routine live and you will learn more about sex than you ever wanted to know, as well as the many literary uses of the "f" bomb.  That''s not funny, its just sad.

Speaking of which, yesterday I watched the Canadian women beat the American women for gold at the Sochi Olympics.  Was there ever a more dour looking group of silver medalists?  I understand the disappointment of losing, but the IOC ought to confiscate their silver medals because they clearly do not want them.  What was more disturbing was that for the next day, one of the top hash tags used on Twitter was #F***Canada.  With friends like this, who needs enemies?  The anti-Canadian venom was disgusting.  But, perhaps the women's team can take comfort in knowing they fairly represented their country in their reaction.  Its a game folks, have a beer and get over it!  Maybe the comics who peddle their sex and crude language really are touching the people where they are at.  But, is it funny?

Even my two favourite sitcoms are no exception.  Modern Family is getting a little long in the tooth, and while it has a family setting, with a gay couple of course to represent the modern norm, I do not believe Gloria was cast because of her exceptional acting abilities.  This show does still make me smile the odd time, but I long for a good belly laugh.  The Big Bang Theory is very innovative and I love some of the characters, but most of them are completely consumed with coitus, as Sheldon would say.  (Actually, coitus is second only to superheroes.)  Some of the sexual innuendos and situations, particularly with Howard, have no place in a family show.  If you argue that they are adult comedies and not family comedies, get real.  They are totally geared to reaching young teens and up.

Can anyone please come up with something that is funny and makes you laugh out loud without needing to cover the ears of your 13 year old?  Laughter is a great medicine.  I think we were created to laugh and have fun.  Even God likes to laugh.  That's why he created kookaburras, hyenas and platypus's.  I am not a prude, but please, try a little harder!  A cartoon that shows a girl wrapping her scarf around a birdhouse because it is winter and birdhouses don't have good insulation is not funny!  Stupid, yes.  Funny, no.  A cartoon about a phone app for recipes that shows the key ingredient for a quick and easy dinner being the phone number of the local pizza delivery joint is an attempt at humour, but with little effort.  The cartoonist should get a job with Hallmark writing "funny" birthday cards.

I am starting to rant now so I will stop, because it is not even funny any more.