Costa Rica in Second Gear

The third time is a charm. Every trip to Costa Rica, which in Spanish means “poor road signage,” has been so different. Our first time we almost cancelled the trip due to a travel book that was extremely negative — very bad roads, planned car accidents, little English spoken, theft. Sandy and I went anyway, but cancelled the rental car. As soon as we arrived at our hotel just outside of San José, I booked four bus tours from the hotel — which is not our style. Our style is to rent a car and explore.

Our second trip was with Kathy & Charles of Albuquerque. We knew our way around a little by then, and had discovered that the roads were fine, almost everyone spoke English and were incredibly friendly. Costa Rica is only the size of West Virginia. The roads are single-lane and narrow, and at almost all bridges only one direction can pass at a time, which keeps it interesting. It is extremely mountainous with rain forests and cloud preserves.

Our third trip was with Tom & Eileen. At Hertz Rent-a-Car we asked for directions to the Peace Lodge at La Paz waterfalls in Heredia. The representative said, “Do you know how to get to Alajuela?”

I said, “Si.”

He said, “When you get there, ask someone for directions.”

Signage in Costa Rica (rich coast) is awful. Roads just end or turn into one-ways. On our way to the Peace Lodge we bought strawberries from roadside vendors while chasing a rainbow to its very end. Slowly we climbed up to the lodge at 4,000 feet, and then it started to rain. It rained for the whole three days, and I mean it rained. We were issued a giant golf umbrella and used it.

The first time we saw La Paz waterfalls was on a tour. We went there because of the mariposas. Sandy loves butterflies. We took note that they were building rooms and decided then on a return trip. The rooms there are the best we have ever stayed in. Large and spacious, built of the beautiful woods of the country. There is a king size bed with mosquito netting, tile floors, a volcanic stone fireplace, a jacuzzi on outside deck with the hammica and rocking chair. The bathroom is huge with a jacuzzi and a waterfall shower and two Mexican tiled sinks. Just beautiful!

Tom and Eileen’s jaws dropped when we opened the door at Peace Lodge. Tom brought a digital camera this time and made a 30-second video with narration, which is awesome. The photos he took on this vacation are incredible. I guess he’s always been an excellent photographer — this time I took notice.

The Peace Lodge has expanded. It now has 14 habitacions with 35 people to serve you. It has frog exhibits — the one during the day is with the poisonous ones. They are the size of dimes and bright green or bright red or bright orange. They are only poisonous because of the type of ants they eat. Colors are incredible. Here there are 24 varieties of hummingbirds in the wild, from our one-inch -long ones of the United States to hummingbirds the size of blue birds. They have also added a serpentaria featuring all the snakes of this country — the colors are remarkable.

The hotel is built under the Paos volcano, and in between are five spectacular waterfalls. Also added is another swimming pool with manmade waterfalls that lead to a trout pond where you can fish for trout that the kitchen will cook for you. On the way to the waterfalls is Tico House, built like they did it 100 years ago. They used no modern tools to construct it. Oh yeah, the Costa Ricans call themselves Ticos. They are really warm and friendly. The women dress very sensually with very tight clothes and very open blouses. They walk arm-in-arm and do the side kissing thing, but not both cheeks. You seldom see a Costa Rican with a cigarette. They do make fine cigars.

Now we are on our way to the Arenal volcano. We have rented a white Land Rover with 4-wheel drive. It is large and takes all of our luggage and is really comfortable, but third gear and fourth and fifth are not powerful enough for the mountain roads. So we are mostly driving in second gear and even a lot of the time in first.

The second time we were in Arenal, the Ticos had not seen the top of the volcano for two months. I was standing in the volcano-heated pool with a fresh margarita and happened to look up and suddenly it was clear and I could see the top. This trip it teased us but we never saw the top. On our way to dinner one night something caught our eye. The volcano through the clouds was spewing red-hot lava in blasts like fireworks. It was exciting to see but also scary.

In 1968, the Arenal volcano erupted. It killed 600 people, of which only eight bodies were ever found. It wiped out two villages, Arenal and Fortuna, with ash and lava and poisonous gas. It killed 44,000 cows. Do you think of Costa Rica with cows and horses? Well there are thousands. The cows are Brahmas and Holsteins from Madison, Wisconsin. The horses are for transportation and for the horseback tours of which there are many. In the small village of Palenque, Mexico, a friend saw horses every day tied to palm trees and asked to rent one. But it was how the Chiapas people got themselves to work every day. There are no taxis in Palenque.

At one point I said to Eileen, who is a great baker, “Why do the bakery goods here taste so wonderful?”

She said, “Well . . . fresh butter, sugar cane, fresh fruit, fresh milk, fresh eggs, pure rain forest water.”

Coffee, coffee, coffee. When you think of Costa Rica do you think of coffee? Of course! There is a great book out called “Uncommon Grounds,” all about coffee. I caught a show with the author on BookTV/C-Span. Coffee originally came only from Ethiopia. Costa Rica, Brazil, and Jamaica were the last countries to get it. Café Britt is huge in this country. The Café Britt coffee tour has the second highest attendance of the many tours in the country. They sell Costa Rican rocking chairs, coffee, candy, coffee, chocolate, coffee, t-shirts, coffee, jewelry, and coffee. The company supports a lot of Ticos and is probably the biggest employer in Costa Rica. The owner is from the Bronx, New York. Go figure. The truth vs. fiction thing again.

Eileen & Tom have decided to do one of the Zip Line tours. Basically you are attached to a single cable in a harness with gloves and you ride, 300 or so feet above the trees, above the rain forest and waterfalls, at speeds up to 45 mph. Eileen has willed me the beautiful red and black Navajo rug that she bought on our last trip at the Hubbell Trading Post in Arizona. Sandy & I go on an equally dangerous trip while they go zip-lining. We go shopping in La Fortuna.

Driving around Arenal Lake, we are heading to Monteverde. It is on the west side of the Arenal volcano. Monteverde (green mountain), believe it or not, was founded by 44 Alabama Quakers who objected to the Korean War and left the country with their cows. Costa Rica has no standing army.

It is a 3-hour switchback dirt road in first and second gear to reach the village. The Quakers purposely don’t fix the roads in order to discourage visitors. It is truly heaven up there once you finally reach the top. El Panchan was paradise in Mayan. If you go, try the pineapple pie made in a pizza pan. We bought fresh pineapples on the road, ten pineapples for $1 US. I don’t remember what it was in colones.

Last destination on the trip is south to Quepos, near the Manuel Antono National Park. It is on the Pacific Ocean, at a restaurant on the Playa of Jaco, that our waiter asks “Where are you heading?”

“To Quepos,” we answer. He says,

“It is hot in Quepos.”

We pass over the Rio Tarcolas and know enough to stop and walk to the center of the bridge. This time we count 44 crocodiles sunning and swimming in the low muddy river. Tom takes a photograph of one shoe in the mud near the crocodiles. Story at 5.

The ride along the Pacific is similar to the California coast. Same color water, although the beaches are black sand like Hawaii. A lot of pelicanos and frigates and vultures. Mostly the whole way is lined with banana palm trees and sugar cane fields.

e arrive at Quepos and it is hot. We needed fleece and a hot stove in our room at the top of the mountain in Monteverde. We pass through the centro and up the small mountain that overlooks the Pacifico. We check out the Contra airplane that never made it to Nicaragua and became a restaurant instead. We all decide we will just stay in Makanda-by-the-Sea, our hotel in Quepos, because of the heat.

Makanda-by-the-Sea — our second favorite hotel in the world. There are only 11 rooms. All face the sea. All are private. The pool/restaurant has a negative edge (where the water flows over the beam). The white face monkeys and the howler monkeys put on quite a show with their babies on their backs. Even the waiters who feed them bananas seem never to tire of the show — the leaping, the vine swinging, the howling. Howler monkeys are fairly small but produce a sound that you would think comes from a gorilla. Ask to see Tom’s video — it is hilarious.

On our second trip to Makanda there was an earthquake. Kathy awoke to an unusually silent rainforest. One or two seconds later, the earth shook. Things in the room moved. A 4.1-scale earthquake had woken us up.

Have I mentioned the birds yet? Noisy macaws, with bright yellow beaks, black feathers, green and red eyes. The small birds, wow. The colors — turquoise, red, black and yellow, green and purple. Many of them eat bananas. My favorite could be the yellow, black, and white Kiskadees.

Our mantra for this trip is something overheard spoken by an unhappy five-year old, arms crossed, to his mother, on the white sandy beach of a Mexican island. “I don’t care what you say, I am not going to like it here.”

Tonight at dinner maybe we will order Red Snapper in Sorrel and Carambola Sauce, or maybe Pacific Coast Lobster with Saffron Garlic Dipping Sauce and that Chilean Cabernet. Oh boy! Of course all meals at Makanda start with the cold red tomato soup, gazpacho. That’s why we are here, for the gazpacho — and because it’s hot here in Quepos.

We have to catch our plane and it is a five-hour drive back to the capital, San José. San José has one and a half million people. It is three times the population of Boston. We are going for the museums, the coffee and the Tico food — rice and beans — and the strolls through the parks. We enjoy the rain forest and cloud preserve more, but we like a little city with it.

Dan Hicks of the band Hot Kicks said it best: How can I miss you if you won’t go away?

by Bob Bacon
January 2007