Torteguero to San Jose cont’d

Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 2004-Diversity
(photos:Where turtles come to nest,
Rainy rain forest gear,
Another flat)

Torteguero refers to the turtles (tortugo in Spanish) that nest on the beaches each year. We strolled over to the turf of the green turtles’ nesting ground. This wasn’t nesting time but our guide, Julio, painted a vivid picture of the drama. We've seen it on TV, but what I didn't know was that the location of the eggs in the nest determines the sex of the hatchlings. Those on top are males; those on the bottom in the cooler locations are females. Don't know about those in the middle.

Our first meal gave us hope for the food throughout our stay. They had asparagus soup full of garlic and deliciously rich pasta Bolognese. Other days the selections included various salads chicken, fish, & an array of fruit drinks. All meals were served buffet style.

We spent evenings at the bar listening to a Caribbean band with an affinity for Harry Belafonte oldies. We visited with other guests trying to converse in many languages. They all seemed to speak some English & we limped along in French & Spanish when necessary. One man was a professor of forestry from Spain, one was a geologist from Calgary, there were several in the computer field, & one from Italy spoke five languages. Ironically the people we talked with the first night at the bar were from Cleveland.

Blackouts weren’t uncommon & were dealt with quickly. There was only one while we were there. I don't know if they use generators or have power lines, but they surely fixed whatever it was fast. Since the doctor only visits the local clinic two days a week they have a paramedic on site at the lodge. What I originally thought was a surfboard in the gift shop was actually a body board equipped with gear to secure neck, head, & spine.

Another Rain Forest

We awakened a bit earlier than we wanted this morning to the roar of a howler monkey. It’s harder to ignore than a rooster. He sounded as if he was on our porch. We found out it’s as dangerous to stand under a tree full of monkeys as it is to stand under a flock of birds. On peed on a lady. They do it for fun & the reaction it gets. They're not intrusive in any other way because people never feed them. The rules are strict & it works to the advantage of both.

On our second day we had a morning walk through the densest rain forest yet then an afternoon boat ride in the canals. We were lucky once again in seeing toucans, poisonous red frogs, bats, & spider monkeys.

I tried a refreshing version of coconut milk after the trek on the rainforest trail. We’d slogged through mud so deep it threatened to suck our boots off our feet. We’d climbed over fallen trees & dodged raindrops falling through the foliage. My coco loco started out innocently enough. It was the usual green coconut hacked open with a machete. But to this one, at 10:30 AM, I added a generous shot of rum.

Leaving Torgeguero for San Jose, we repeated the bus-boat trip in reverse. What are the odds that we'd have another flat? We did. We killed time watching a sloth make its way ever so slowly up a tree and I took advantage of my second flat tire photo op. We had a good laugh, & I began to question our tire karma. I also began to question the durability of Costa Rican tires vs. Costa Rican rocky roads.

Our tour group of twenty-four started as strangers & ended up as friends. There was a family of five (three kids) who we were fond of & of whom we took photos. Tentative openers in an attempt to start conversations when we first met the group ended up with long good-byes. This very considerate on-time group coalesced & crossed language & cultural barriers. A French couple confided in us that they love the USA & feel safer there than in France. They fear terrorists in their country & feel more secure in L.A. Amazing. Maybe not everyone hates us?

Feb. 1, 2004-San Jose

We visited the gold museum, which is in a lower level of a bank building. The modern surroundings served as a dramatic backdrop for what archaeologists have pieced together of the early Indians. The Spanish invasion wiped out ancient artifacts and stole the majority of gold ceremonial & decorative pieces. Even the oral history was lost. Explanations of the displays were qualified and “best guess” narrations. A special exhibit detailed pre-Colombians from 300 AD. In 1500 metal work began in the region & reached Costa Rica by 500. Conquest by Europeans halted & destroyed art of working with gold & the Spanish pillaged the area. Much of the artifacts were destroyed & the history of the people is sketchy. The museum itself was done in concrete & the ever-present spectacular woods of the country. As we entered a modest cathedral, an infant was being carried out. I was amused to see the obviously Catholic family carrying the baby who wore a red ribbon tied around its wrist to ward off the devil. A definite blending of cultures.

We ate a not so grand lunch at the not so Grand Hotel & Casino. The ladies room smelled so strongly of disinfectant & camphor that my eyes teared. It may have been worth it if the smell meant that the facilities were clean, but they weren't.

Since lunch was skimpy we decided to have ice-cream from a stand. They wouldn’t take a 500 colone note saying that it had markings on it. It was pretty raggedy & did have an ink blotch. We decided they didn't need our business & had no trouble using the note at our hotel to pay for ice-cream & an iced mocha.

David tried to nap this afternoon & read in the courtyard of the hotel. When I went back to the room he was watching the Super Bowl game. I dozed for a couple of hours & hope I can sleep tonight.

This is not a great neighborhood at night. To get to the restaurants we have to skirt a park where prostitutes & "chicken hawks" hang out. There’s a visible police presence but we power walked our way through it. We had dinner once again at the News Cafe.

We haven’t gotten much exercise on this trip. The walks in the parks have been strolls & there haven't been cities to tour. We'll have to make it up when we get home only it will be in freezing weather.

Conclusions

I defined my discomfort in this country this morning. I couldn’t fully relax in our rooms outside of San Jose. I got to the point where I was longing for concrete. It isn't that San Jose is so wonderful, it’s far from that. It’s filthy, crime ridden, & has no architecture with redeeming style. But the critters in the city keep to their turf & don't invade mine. When we're outdoors I'm in their domain so I don't get out of sorts when they appear in open-air restaurants, etc. In the other locales I've had to zip & lock our luggage when we weren't using its contents. I didn't want any uninvited hitchhikers joining us in the U.S. I don't mind the occasional creepy crawly or flying insect. We get them at home. Here there was a sense that I had to be ever vigilant in the battle to keep them at bay & leave them behind in Costa Rica.

We had dinner at a complex called El Pueblo. It’s a pseudo Spanish village/shopping/dining center. It would appear that without the bar business it’s a dying place. The entrance is heavily patrolled with armed security guards frisking young men who are unaccompanied by women. David thinks that the way to smuggle arms or drugs in is to have a sexy young female carry it.

We ate at Lukas. It was a varied menu with local fare & Mexican food. The menu was bi-lingual & provided some amusement. They had "tacos elaborated with beef" & “exuberant beef steak." The food was good & the portions large as they all seem to be here.
I've noticed that there aren’t many black Africans in Costa Rica. I don't know if they've disappeared through intermarriage or if there never were that many. I would have thought the slave trade had brought them to this place.
Feb. 2, 2004-Going to Florida We met an Australian couple at breakfast this morning. It was their first day in Costa Rica and they were slightly jet-lagged but eager to learn the ropes from “pros” like us. We tried to hide our astonishment when they told us they planned to stay in the country 5-6 weeks. He was a surfer & they looked forward to a lot of beach time. I can’t imagine that surf here is better than in Oz. We figure that we stayed 3-4 days too long and we were only here sixteen days. I can’t fathom six weeks.

David & I agree that this hasn't been one of our best trips. There is little history & not a rich culture here. Most of the point of the country is that it's green & a non-military democracy in the midst of the chaos of Central America. I guess that’s achievement enough for one tiny spot on the map.

Toby

Torteguero to San Jose

Jan.29-31, 2004-Tropical Venice
(photos:Our cabin,
Classroom)

To start at the end, I want to say that I consider our trip to Costa Rica a success. My goal was not to see any snakes & I succeeded. Here they call them vipers. It sounds so much more sinister.

The trek to Torteguero consisted of a 1 1/2 hour ride to breakfast, another 1 1/2 hours to a boat, & a 2 hour boat ride to the Pachira Lodge. The guide, Julio, provided narration the entire trip making it hard to doze, but it did serve as white noise during which I slept. As it turned out he was excellent & knowledgeable when I tuned in.

We entered Torteguero National Reserve by way of a river & semi-natural canals. Semi-natural means that the original small rivers are constantly being dredged to allow larger boats to pass. It’s like a primitive Venice. The society is totally reliant on waterways for transportation. We passed the mouth of the river where it joins the Caribbean Sea & could see waves rolling in the distance. Although we didn't make an effort to spot wildlife as we sped to the hotel, we did see cayman, turtles, heron, pelicans, & crocodiles. The water level was low & we did get stuck. The "captain" had to un-mire the engine from the weeds at one point. I thought he might have to dive into the water to do it, but he was able to do it from the boat.

There were twenty-four tourists in our group & all were very considerate. We were from different countries. The narration was in English & Spanish only. Everyone was polite & quiet when the other language was being used to explain things. A tourist from Italy was fluent in German, Spanish, French, English, & Italian. He helped translate for those whose English was rusty.

Lodging

We were wait-listed for the Pachira Lodge & I think they’d just finished building our room. Our closet was incomplete & they were still roofing the bridge to our section. The Lodge is built into the jungle. Each building houses four guest rooms. The cabins are constructed primarily of wood, are on stilts sunk into mud, & are connected by a series of thatch-covered bridges & walkways also on stilts sunk into mud. The operational words are stilts & mud. The name of the game was staying out of the mud. It pours every day. Luckily for us it rained at night. The lodge is prepared for rain & provides sturdy ponchos, high rubber boots, & golf umbrellas when needed. Rooms have cross ventilation & ceiling fans but no A/C. There's no concern about opening windows since there are only screens. The walls between the rooms reach almost to the ceiling. It wouldn’t be a good place for a honeymoon. On the other hand it’s spectacularly beautiful. The landscaping is lush & butterflies abound. Monkey & sloth sightings are frequent as well as the occasional toad in the swimming pool & iguana on the path. There’s a common dining hall, bar, & pavilion that follow the style of the rest of the buildings. These are all on the canal. We were lulled to sleep by the sound of the Caribbean located on the other side of a narrow strip of land beyond the canal.

We floated across the canal to the town of Torteguero. It exists only to support the tourist trade. It’s ramshackle & littered. What passes for a high school has a leaky roof, moldy books, & bars on the unscreened/unglazed windows. The colorful houses in green, turquoise, yellow, & coral punctuate the squalor.

Toby

Manuel Antonio to San Jose

Jan. 28, 2004- Pros & Cons
(photos:Howler monkeys,
Interbus glitch)

We learned a very important Spanish word:jubilation, or something similar. It means retired. It is apt. I’m trying to keep in mind that I should be jubilant in between scratching bug bites & sleeping on rough nubby sheets. David said the sheets just make it easier to scratch. We spray but the mosquitoes find a way around it.

We have a sneaking suspicion that as we walk the park trails, animals are watching us. They must alternate days when they take turns crossing the paths so tourists can spot them. We continue to have extraordinary luck in sitings & skilled guides.

While we were waiting for our last interbus to whisk us away to San Jose from Manual Antonio we eavesdropped on a howler monkey squabble. I wouldn’t want to be in the middle of it. There were three distinct voices at different locations all yelling & screeching. It sounds like lions roaring at times & at other times it has the sound of heavy furniture being moved across a wood floor.

In retrospect, the monkey spat wasn’t an auspicious beginning. One couple was late for pick-up & our interbus driver decided not to wait beyond the twenty minutes we had. They later called on his cell phone to tell him they were in a taxi chasing down the bus & asked him to wait for them. He & we did. Then we had a tire that was losing air. When we stopped to have it checked they decided it would be ok for the five hour drive to San Jose. It wasn't . Fortunately we’d gotten through the remote areas without incident. An hour out of the city we had to have the tire changed. I took photos. One passenger was ticked off & I told her it was just part of the adventure. We all walked over to a supermercado & amused ourselves looking at the unfamiliar products. One I particularly liked were sanitary napkins whose brand name was Saba. That's what our grandkids call David. It's Hebrew for grandpa.

Our five hour trip turned out to be 6 1/2six and a half hours. We checked into Hotel Don Carlos once again & headed for the Balcone Europa Restaurant. It was suggested by the hotel but was pretty bad. I only ordered black bean soup. It’s customary to make it with hard boiled eggs but the ones floating in my soup had distended & reminded me of bull testicles. It was tasteless as well as gross.

A major difference between Costa Rica & Mexico is that there’s little bargaining here & none in stores. They also don't seem to have a tradition of paying bribes to officials to gain favors or just to get things done. Refreshing.

We leave for Torteguero tomorrow at 7:30 AM. We'll really be out of touch. It's in the Northeast corner of Costa Rica near Guatemala.

Toby