Quetzel Part Quatro

Monday, March 6
Today we decided to go to a private nature reserve, Hacienda Baru, about 5 minutes drive down the highway. For $8 you could walk its 7 km. of trails and visit its butterfly and orchid gardens. It was a nice walk that produced several bird species, capuchin monkeys that seemed to be having a territorial dispute, with several racing down the dirt road after another one, and a sloth overhead that was actually moving around. We broke up the two main trails by stopping at the restaurant for cold smoothies. By the late morning it was getting hot and BIL felt we needed to reward ourselves for the walk by having another smoothie. The butterfly garden was a netted off garden with holes in it, and there were a handful of butterflies, the same ones that were flying around outside. Since they never seem to land, there were not even any photo ops. The orchid garden was being converted into an obstacle course and there were three or four orchids, not all of different variety. We were home by noon and spent the afternoon in our pool. Our baby sloth was still in the tree beside our deck. The countdown had begun, as G and BIL wind down their last week with us and our kids anticipate coming her on Sunday. It was a little frustrating that we have asked Jou, twice, and wrote to the owner, Dave, about getting us a driver for the airport runs, and no one was responding. Today we also had a brief shower at around 3PM and the forecast for the next week or more is includes rain or thunder showers every day. We can't complain however, after reading the daily complaints about snow in Vancouver.

Tuesday, March 7
This morning we drove into Dominical to look into getting a driver to pick up our kids on Sunday and drive G and BIL to the airport. We found one who would do it for $225 total. Not bad considering it is almost a 4 hour trip each way. We wanted to go for a swim at Dominical but the red flags were still out. We ended up driving to Quepos, 30 minutes away, and renting some chairs and umbrellas on the beach there. The beach was beautiful and there were lots of people there. However the beach was large enough that is was not crowded. We stayed there all day, playing in the surf. Despite putting sun block on, we all were a little toasty by dinner. The weather forecast was for afternoon showers but despite some darker clouds in the distance, we had only sun and temperatures of 33 degrees. After a dip in our own pool, showers, and of course happy hour, we went to Uvit for pizza. BIL nearly drove the car in the ditch on our way down our steep, potholed and gravel driveway and lanes. It was dark and when you come to the end of our row, you make a sharp right turn down the hill. At night it was like turning into the abyss, since you can not see anything until you straighten out and the headlights catch the road ahead. BIL slightly missed the turn and we had to stop him. Then we spun out a little trying to get traction again. All was OK but I think there was now a new pothole to negotiate. Our baby sloth, nicknamed Sid, still slept in the tree beside the deck, although we did hear him leave about 10PM, I guess to go find something to eat. Our opossum dropped by for a visit.

Wednesday, March 8
Despite the gloomy weather forecasts of rain and thunder, it was another hot, clear day with no sign of anything threatening. The excitement of the day was after breakfast finding Sid, our baby sloth, climbing up his tree. The action was riveting as he slowly and deliberately move each arm and leg and slowly pulled his way up. If you have ever seem Zootopia, Sid moved just like the sloth at the MVB. Things kind of slowed down after that. We went to the store for a few groceries and hung out at the pool because we were a little tender from our day at the beach yesterday. In honour of International Women's Day, I cooked my famous macaroni. On schedule in the evening, our opossum returned and said hi. I believe he must live in the dried fron roof of our talapa.

Thursday, March 9
After a leisurely breakfast, we packed our towels and water and headed for the beach. We ended up in Playa Hermosa, about 10 minutes down the highway. There was an inconspicuous dirt road off the highway that went under some trees to the beach. Because this beach was not mentioned in our travel book, we were surprised to see a life guard station, someone with a stand selling cool drinks, some booths with local wares and probably 15 cars, all nicely parked under the trees up to the edge of the sand. A great spot. We spent the morning playing in the surf, before heading home to eat and relax. In the evening we went to Tortilla Flats, a restaurant by the beach in Dominical. Later that evening our opossum popped in again to say high, poking down from the rafters.

Friday, March 10
Our daily routine was now in place. Get up early, around 7AM. See if Sid the sloth was still there. Grab the camera and sit outside enjoying the morning and the cacophony of bird sounds, always scanning the sky and trees for large birds. Have coffee. Eat breakfast about 9AM. Slowly get ready to go. Leave about 10AM for the beach. Return around 12:30PM, have lunch and laze away the afternoon, sorting photos on the laptop, doing crosswords, and wallowing in the pool until happy hour at about 4:30. Friday was no exception. We headed of to a beach Dave showed us on our last trip here, Hidden Beach. You turn off the highway about 10 km. from town onto an unmarked gravel road. It goes about a km. towards the water, then turns and runs under coconut palms on a sandy road, where you can park under the trees right by the beach. The beach runs for miles and is lined with the palm trees. Often there are few if any people around. On this day, we were the first ones there, but two other vehicles showed up soon afterwards. Like most beaches, there were good waves rolling in. We would play in the surf, diving through or under waves, always cautious of the double or triple waves that would smack you after you got up from the first wave and thought you were OK. We were always careful about signs of undertows and rip tides. Wildlife wise, we saw several herons and egrets along the dirt roads, and a tree with parakeets. At the pool things were quiet until happy hour. Just before sunset a whole troupe of 10 or more monkeys made their way up from below, jumping from tree to tree and coming within a few feet of our deck. We were a little concerned about Sid, since some monkey bounced within  few feet of him, but Sid stoically curled up and remained sleeping. The monkeys stayed for some time. They disturbed a pair of toucans out of a tree near us. Things settled down and sister G stated she wanted to see aracaris yet before they leave on Sunday. She turned to go in the house when I turned around, and there on a tree nearby were two aracaris. Amazing! That night, the opossum,who I now named Opie, came by and peacefully fed on the palm blossoms a few feet away from us.

Saturday, March 11
One of the first thing we do in the morning is check if Sid is there, since we were concerned that he would leave before the kids get here. At first I could not find him. Then I spotted him on a nearby palm shoot. He was moving so I got out the video camera. As I was filming, I noticed a darker blob below him. Soon it became apparent that this was a larger sloth, probably Sid's mom, who was pushing him to a spot in the tree. She then moved on across several trees before ascending and settling into another tree. Needless to say, in addition to my little video, Jo, BIL and G took perhaps a hundred photos of the event. We were excited for this new development. With one day left before G and BIL leave for Palm Springs and our kids come, Jo and I went to the grocery store in Uvita to stock up and G and BIL began packing up and preparing for their move. We spent the afternoon by the pool. Sunset brought a flurry of activity with toucans and aracaris paying a visit. G got very mad when their camera stopped working unexplainably. Poor BIL is always at fault. For dinner G and BIL treated us at a newer restaurant, el Fuego, a bar and grill. It had modern décor with beautiful wooden beams and other features. There were many beach bum type people there who seemed to know each other well. Dogs lay on the floor. The menu was rather limited and heavy on seafood. I went with the sliders and Jo had some skewers and onion rings, which looked rather weird.

Sunday, March 12
Transition day. This morning Sid was found up in a different leafy tree, but by mid morning we could not find him or his mom. G was up at 5:30, anxious to get some aracari photos and other shots. When I got up at 6:45, she had seen nothing. Within 10 minutes a toucan showed up and posed for us, hanging around for close to an hour. Later, two aracaris arrived and then another, and eventually G got the photos she wanted. We had arranged for house cleaning and spent the morning outside waiting for them to finish. The kids were to be picked up at the airport when the arrived at about 8AM, and driven into Dominical, where they would send us a message to pick them up. G and BIL would use this same driver to go to their hotel in San Jose for their flight the next morning. Apparently the driver was a little wild and crazy, speeding past everyone. The trip which could take up to 4 hours was done in 3. G and BIL reported later that their ride to San Jose was hair-raising, with this guy struggling to stay awake, he had been on the road for almost 11 hours, crossing the centre line, etc. They were grateful to still be alive by the time they reached their destination. Jo and I were both ecstatic to have our daughters and son-in-law here with us. We spent the afternoon in the pool and later found first one and then the other sloth up in two different trees. Bird sightings were uneventful, but Opie did come to visit that night, freaking out the kids who were not warned about him. We also went in the pool for the first time at night. The kids, despite a lack of sleep from their overnight travels, managed to stay up until about 10:30. A good day.

Monday, March 13
We visited Dominical after breakfast, but the waves were quite high and few people were on the beach. There were no chairs and umbrellas for rent. We decided to just look around the booths and get a fruit smoothie before heading to Playa Hermosa. We had fun there playing in the surf. We had a late lunch and then headed for our own pool. Nothing spectacular to report otherwise except Sid hanging out nearby again and two toucans and an aracari made an appearance at dusk. At night some went for a swim and then we played cards. We did book a crocodile river cruise with our previous guide, Victor for the next day. He wanted to meet up at 6:30AM, but I suggested 7:30 would be better, with the 2 hr. drive we had to do to get there.

Tuesday, March 14
We were on the road at 5:30 for Tarcoles and our river tour. Randy drove. Along the way a duck committed suicide. He rose up in front of us and smacked into the driver's side mirror, closing it. He was soon a dead duck. We met up with Victor and had a private boat trip on the river, seeing many of the same things we had seen on our previous trip. Randy I think was a little disappointed. We saw a few crocodiles along the banks and a few swimming. He had expected we would be going into a crocodile "pit", with huge monsters all around us. After the tour, we drove to Jaco for some souvenir shopping. It was extremely hot. We went back to the same restaurant we went to on our previous trip so the women could have extreme margaritas with Corona beer bottles inserted. I had my usual mango smoothie. Randy had a pina colada and a quesadilla which did not sit well with him. By the time we got home at about 3PM, the early morning and food was having an effect and people were a little quiet. Happy hour was another quiet affair. Unlike the previous weeks, there was little wildlife activity. No toucans, no aracari, no monkeys, just Sid and his mom hanging out. For dinner we went to Tortilla Flats in Dominical. The food was great. It was now becoming a tradition to go in the pool after dinner until coffee time at 8:30. We played a game, but Randy bowed out early to go to bed.
Our facility woes continued. There were bees or small wasps hanging out at one corner of the pool, drinking the overflow. I hold Dave about it several days ago and he said he would get Jou on it. In Costa Rican fashion, nothing had been done about it. We were ok with that though. However, the hand held shower head in the bathroom we had used, and was now being used by Randy and Lauren, broke. The shower head fell off, hitting the floor and the seal around the outside was broken now too. The drain in the other shower was not working well, causing a pool at the bottom of the shower. The worst however was the AC on the main floor. Jo had decided that she wanted her kids to fully enjoy the place and had arranged that they got the bedrooms and she and I slept on the blow up mattress we placed in the living room. The AC was not blowing very cold air yesterday, and today stopped completely. We had slept poorly the previous night, and now it was stiflingly warm upstairs. Since I can best handle the heat, and there was a ceiling fan above the bed, I volunteered to sleep upstairs alone while Jo slept downstairs with Leah. It was becoming a little uncomfortable having to keep bringing up issues with Dave, as it felt like we were complainers, but issues kept coming up.

Wednesday, March 15
Despite the lack of AC, I was able to sleep ok last night, but was awake by 6:30. After breakfast, we went to the grocery store. Dave had dropped by at 8AM and invited us to join him and other guests of his at the hidden or "secret" beach after 11 AM. We ate a quick lunch and headed to the beach. Several families were there, including the Kelowna couple we had met when the power went out a few weeks ago, and a couple from Ontario that we met at this beach with Dave three years ago. At first it was very awkward. Everyone was sitting in little beach chairs under several umbrellas but there was no room for us. I introduced myself to a few of them but for  the most part we felt out of it. We went in the water and when we returned, Jo took an unused chair and soon was chatting with several people. I then joined four other guys for a game of beach bocci. We went for another swim and when we returned, one family had left and another was getting ready to leave. That opened up some space and soon we were under the umbrella and enjoying conversation. We had a long chat with Dave and also met the people who occupied the house next door.  Dave had invited us previously for smoked salmon directly from his trip to Alaska, but we never saw any. We were home close to 4PM, enough time for a dip. An aracari settled above the pool for a short while, until I got my camera. While Lauren went in the shower, a troop of monkeys came along, jumping from tree to tree and climbing up to a popular tree near our deck. She was called, and hurried out with shampoo still in her hair. A toucan also came by, and the large sloth, presumably Sid's mom, was hanging in the tree. At one point, we could get a photo shot of a toucan, sloth and monkey all together. Sid meantime stayed rolled up in a ball in the palm tree beside our deck. There was activity everywhere! Jo and I were so glad that the kids could experience this, as it had been quiet the last few days. Randy was in charge of dinner and made spaghetti, but he tried to put a shot of cinnamon in the sauce, unknowing that the jar was fully open instead of in sprinkle mode, and we had a bit of extra spice in our dinner. It was still good. He and Lauren drove into town for ice cream afterwards and I scored a mango smoothie! It was a hot, humid night, but everyone preferred to stay inside rather than endure the no-see-ums that nipped at our ankles and arms on the deck. We also had a few large bugs visit, as is their custom, and Randy was a little freaked out by the large praying mantis, large green grasshopper, and leaf bug that attacked him. Kind of reminded me of a friend I know. He refused to go outside.
When Dave came by to invite us to the beach, I mentioned to him that our upstairs AC was not working, and according to what I read online, when the buttons are flashing, it generally requires a professional to fix it. Dave said he would inform Jou to look at it. Like the unusable tap in the bathroom, and the wasps by the pool, it is doubtful this will be dealt with before we leave next week, meaning many hot nights and Jo sleeping downstairs with our daughter. Since our arrival in Dominical, we have not had one day where everything worked as it should in our place. And yet, it is hard not to love this place with its amazing view, beautiful pool, awesome setting in the tree and the abundance of wildlife nearby, not to mention our own baby sloth.

Thursday, March 16
Manuel Antonio day. That meant another early morning, leaving at 6:30AM. It was busy when we got to the park, and we had a little wait to get our tickets and enter the park. We were very spoiled by all the things we have seen right from our balcony, so seeing sloths high up in the trees was not as exciting as it used to be. We did also see a few vampire bats, a cool parrot and along one stretch of our walk we ran into a troop of howler monkeys, followed a few feet further by a troop of white-faced capuchin monkeys and not more than 20 feet further up the path, a troop of squirrel monkeys, the cutest of the bunch. It was a pleasant walk and we ended at the protected beach where we settled in to cool of in the warm water. It was nice to be in ocean water that did not hit you with waves several times per minute. We were soon overrun by a large group of young people with chaperons. The young girls, most appeared to be no more than 12 or so, pranced around in their little bikinis, posing for each other for photos, including having one of the young boys take pictures of them posing for sexy bum shots, with a few of the chaperone ladies joining in. Quite disturbing really. On a more entertaining note, there were many raccoons, a coati, and later both capuchin and squirrel monkeys that hung around the beach, trying to steal people's food. A pair of raccoons and a coati harassed the people next to us, finally making off with a whole loaf of bread. The man had a tug-of-war with the raccoon, but the bag ripped and the animals scurried off with the contents. They had no fear. You could shoo them or threaten them and they just stood there waiting for their opportunity. One man even hit a raccoon on it's side, but it just hissed at him. Someone had to be on guard at all times with a stick.
 By now it was only 10:30 and we had to resist the urge to eat the sandwiches we brought, since there were no food outlets in the park and it would be a long haul until we would eat again. After our swim we did a looped hike around the peninsula. We did not see much besides stairs and it was getting very hot. Jo had water oozing out from her everywhere. We returned to the other end of the beach to eat lunch and sit in the water until we left. The plan was to stop for a cold smoothie before we left the town of Quepos and we went into a restaurant by the beach. There was only one waitress and a very large group of people had come in just before us. After waiting 15 minutes without a hint that we could expect service or anything resembling drinks any time soon, we left for another corner diner across the street. We were going to have drinks and a dessert to keep up going until dinner. Things looked up where we were served right away, and within 10 minutes, Jo had her Imperial beer. Then she and Leah got their banana splits, which looked quite good. They were finished and the rest of us had nothing yet. Then drinks came around. Leah got her pina colada, Lauren her pineapple smoothie, I got my mango smoothie and after a few minute delay, the woman gave Randy his smoothie. It was sitting on a tray because she seemed confused that it was part of our order. The three of us had ordered sundaes, but they just did not come. The woman came around with a second smoothie for Randy, seemingly unaware that he had already got his, and had his empty glass cleaned away. He returned it to her. After some time Jo went to the woman and asked about our sundaes. We were not completely sure if she understood. (She did review our order with us at the beginning, so we knew she had it written down.) Finally we got our sundae, pre-made sundaes in a plastic cup, like dixie cups! They could have been served within a few minutes. Worse yet, they were gross! You could tell that the ice cream had thawed and refrozen several times. There was a thin layer of clear goo where the liquid had separated and frozen. As Leah pointed out, their banana split was made from scratch. The only difference with a sundae was a lack of banana. We should have ordered a banana spit without bananas. Very disappointing. We kept saying that one day we might laugh about this, but Lauren was not so sure as she was so looking forward to her dessert. Needless to say, there was no tipping here. At least the nacho dinner she made was great. On a sad note, Randy is extremely sensitive to the sun, burning at the mere glance it seemed. Despite slathering on the 50 block, he burned his hand of all things from bobbing in the water.
Pressure was mounting on me. We took turns making dinner. A synchronized dance routine was being developed. Each night in the pool, the person who made dinner that night had to come up with a few steps to add to the routine. Only those who participated practice in doing the developing routine, so while I have watched them go through their steps, I did not practice, and Sunday night I must complete the routine. We were going with a theme of things we saw in Costa Rica, like frigatebirds diving down and dipping their beaks into the water to drink and monkeys jumping from tree to tree. I think my steps might involve the slow and deliberate movement of a three-toed sloth.

Friday, March 17
This was designated a relaxing day where we could sleep in and eat breakfast whenever. Unfortunately, when sleeping in a living room without curtains and with loud birds outside, I was still awake by 6:45, despite my best efforts to go back to sleep I put some bacon in the oven. Apparently there was a prescribed cooking time not a "cook until you are ready to take them out". Leah was soon also up and with an aracari in one tree, and two peccaries, a new species in my animal quest, rustling around on the ground, we did manage to salvage the bacon, but just barely, and only if you wanted it crisp. After breakfast the women wanted to go to Dominical to shop and Randy was busy watching March Madness while reading on his computer. I drove them with the idea that I would have about 90 minutes to myself to update blogs, work on my photo identification, etc. However, my laptop was acting up in "waking up", and I spent most of this time working on that problem. Not much got done. Randy did go to pick everyone up. We then spent the afternoon in our pool until about 4PM, when all but Randy drove down the hill to go to our beach across the highway and explore before sunset. In the evening we went to the Roco Verde restaurant we had gone to several time. The same old band was there and despite it being St. Patrick's Day, which they acknowledged, the song selection did not change at all.

Saturday, March 18
It was a hot, sticky evening, which made sleep difficult without our AC. We were in Uvit by 7AM for our snorkel excursion to Cano Island with Bahia Aventuras. It was a wonderful day. During the 90 minute boat ride to the snorkel location, we had a school of flying fish accompany us for a short ways, we saw several spotted dolphins, and over 10 sea turtles. The snorkeling was good by Costa Rican standards. It will never rival places like Hawaii where the water is crystal clear. We spent quite a long time in the water at the first location, and even swan over a few white-tipped sharks that were resting on the bottom. There were also some stingrays and a very large school of fish that moved in unison in front of us. We followed a guide who led us for quite a long trip. Several times he took Lauren's camera and dove down to take close-ups of eels and other fish. After a time of rest we did a more relaxing snorkel where we basically let ourselves drift by the current as we watched the fish below. It was a great trip. Of course, there were some  sunburn issues and blisters from the flippers afterwards.