Floating down the river

We began Saturday and Sunday morning with a 30 minute walk that takes us to what seems to be a river flowing into the sea. It tastes salty so I'm not sure what it really is. We had walked to this point before and noticed a couple of people floating down toward the sea, then standing up, walking back and doing it all over again. Looked like fun but we weren't sure just how safe it was. Saturday morning there was a group of 16 in one part of it and  and a group of  5 closer to where we standing. They were speaking Spanish so I said Hola,( one of about 16 words I know ) and with sign language and words asked about crocodiles. They understood me and I learned a new word- cocodrillo and then realized a few minutes later as they spoke to newcomers that they were laughing at the Canadians  who thought there might be crocodiles in the water. Anyway, we walked into the cool water and cooled off after the hot walk down the beach and stayed there for the next hour. A young woman from the larger group heard us speaking and came over to talk to us. "Do you speak English?"she said. She was originally from North Carolina and is living here now and was happy to have a chance to speak her first language and we were happy to have someone who could answer some questions about the area and some customs. Her friend came over and then the friend's dad who showed us a hermit crab and was interested in us but wanted to warn us about rip tides. We assured them we aren't going that far out. I just go into the surf up to my knees as the surf frightens me and Ernie doesn't want to take the chance of getting knocked about and tearing his arm up again - so we stay safe.
We finally tore ourselves away from this beautiful spot because we still had a half hour walk back to our car and are anxious to avoid sunburn.
This morning we walked back to the spot and  we floated our morning away again, then spent some time at a restaurant facing the sea and feeling the sea breeze and swam in the community swimming pool. As I was changing in the change room, I spotted a great big frog behind the door, I was afraid to run out wearing only my birthday suit so forced myself to dress, one eye on the frog and one foot out the door.  Yikes! He kindly averted his eyes, remained in his crouched position and allowed me to leave unharmed. I much prefer the humming birds who come mornings and evenings to feed on the honeysuckle, or the bats who fly about at night as we sit eating our evening meal, or the Kiskadee who sings from the rooftop, or the little gecko who sits on the ceiling of the patio waiting for some little insect to come his way.

Age has its benefits! Another bank experience today. ATM wouldn't work so we decided to try again inside. We were directed to the line for the old, pregnant and handicapped ! And then were told to use the ATM in the Supermarket - that was for international transactions. Didn't work. So we found another bank and it worked and I think the first few we tried didn't have the cirrus, visa, MasterCard labels on it. Problem solved and colones in our pocket.
We went back to the first national park of a few days ago. We were greeted by Maurice, loaded with binoculars and a telescope and bird books and all manner of reference material. He was for hire and we joined a young couple from Russia, now living in New Jersey. He took us a on a three hour walk in the forest / jungle and we saw many, many birds, bats, and monkeys,and were informed about many things. He was a very happy, knowledgable Costa Rican. If we had gone by ourselves we would have missed most of what we saw. He had a great sense of humour and could call the howler monkeys and they would answer. He said," They are my cousins"
After the tour, wonder of wonders, we found an air conditioned restaurant. I didn't need any more ambience.
We have several pictures that Maurice took with our camera held to the telescope. Worked really well.
No propane barbecue here, instead there are briquettes. I can see the neighbors have one and I am coveting my neighbor's goods, but not her husband. So I sit here, inhaling the smell of the starter and wondering how long they will take. That will be on my list of complaints along with the corkscrew.

Going to a bank in Costa Rica

Today we had the experience of going to a bank. The only good thing was it was aircondtioned so we were happy to sit down and wait our turn, which wasn't in numerical order as far as I could see. Our number was A271. Other numbers began with other letters. There were two guards at the door, one who unlocked the door to let us in and the other whose job it was to tell us to take off our hats.  Senor and senora, sombrero! Shortly after that a good looking Costa Rican came in with his hat on backwards. He wasn't told to remove it. Ours have brims all the way around so there is no way to wear it backward - if that was the way they preferred. After 30 minutes it was our turn. We couldn't use the ATM as it was out of service so we gave the teller our card. No way! Has to use our visa or Masterr Card which would have been a cash advance. Well we don't do that. However he did agree to change a 50000 and 200000 colons note into smaller ones for us. We went to another bank up the street and the ATM wouldn't work there either.
We scouted out the the very famous Manuel Antonio National Park today. The amount of restaurants, bars, and hotels on the way up the mountain was amazing! I was disappointed with the way tourism has taken over. Reminded me of Niagara Falls which looked just like a carnival atmosphere for. I've before returning you got to the Falls itself. I hope the park itself is still as natural as it can be. We will go there when Kyle comes but mush earlier than we went today! It was blistering! Beautiful beaches there as well.

Lazy day yesterday! Around one o'clock we decided to take  a short walk to see what the little store near us has and to check out the little restaurant near us. We weren't sure we wanted to eat there, but the beer looked okay( and I rarely drink beer) but we joined 6 others doing the same thing. Hot, hot, and so the pool was the next obvious step.
We'd been told that there is a hotel and restaurant about a 30 minute walk down the beach and so decided to check that out last night. We drove down a road that is much like Saskatchewan grid roads in the 1940s. In fact, any road leading off the main highway is like that. You crawl along at a snail's pace and ride the bumps and potholes. There are people living in little houses and shacks right beside these dirty dusty roads. They don't have much - so grateful for Canada and our standard of living. We found the hotel and were told they are open at 7.
We walked under a cloudy sky this morning and it took us 30 minutes( younger legs could do it in 20 )arriving about 7:40. Finally after about 15 minutes, a long haired, slim fella  said,"You here for breakfast? We don't open until 8. but hey no problem, will have you serve in a few minutes .Help yourselves to coffee." And coffee it was! I can still feel it coursing through my veins.  We each had a delicious yogurt ,fresh fruit and granola bowl and shared a spicy egg, salsa, avocado, black bean and tortilla platter. Delicious! We faced the sea, and little Costa Rican man with a great big grin on his face as he raked the sand and  tidied up the area around the beach.
Today we will drive to the town of Quepos a few kilometres down and road and take a look at the National Park there. Also need a few more food items - but thank goodness we have the wine opener. 😀

 Sunset at Playa Bejuco

Looking for a corkscrew to open a wine bottle should be easy, right? Wrong! Not when you can't  say corkscrew in Spanish and they don't seem to carry them. Had a bottle of red ready to open the other night and began to search the drawers and cupboards for one. None to be had, which is also the case with the garage door opener. So as the keeper of the keys, I close the garage door after Ernie, and when we return from wherever we've been I unlock the door to the house, come in and open the garage door for him. Somebody must have take off with the opener and the owners never did replace it. Anyway back to the corkscrew. Imagine 30 degree heat, back to back traffic, no parking but we are determined. The first place, Maxi Pali, owned by Walmart, but with no air conditioning, carries lots of stuff, but not here. So on to the next place that showed on the GPS - oops now closed. We see another one, but this is where the traffic is bad and parking non existent. Ernie let me out, I went in and said vino and pantomimed opening the bottle. The cute little cashier knew what I wanted! Success! She came close to getting a hug.
We've begun to find a routine here. Because it is SO hot any exercise or walking the beach need to be finished by 8:30, and if we were doing it really right we'd be done by 8. So we start the day with a walk on a very long beautiful beach with hardly anyone around.
Costa Rica is hot I was told before we came and yes it is hot! They charge extra for the electricity here in this community. It is called Ecovida and they want to to be ecologically responsible so by charging they hope people won't use the aircondtioning 24/7. So we don't. We can sit outside or go somewhere in the hottest part of the day in the air conditioned car, which adds to the pollution by using the air conditioning and the exhaust from the car!
Yesterday we intended to go to a National Park up the road but took a side trip to a wildlife refuge and butterfly farm, which wasn't much. Lots of snakes and frogs in cages and some rescued toucans and parrots with broken beaks and broken wings. There were a few butterflies, but not like I've seen I other places. Farther up the road, we stopped to view the crocodiles from a bridge and by the time we got to the National Park it was after 3 and it was too late to get in. We will try that again, but earlier as it would be cooler.

I am writing this as we sit on the patio out our back door here in a gated complex called Ecovida. If you google that we are in a house called Casa Perfecta. It has cooled down a little and there is a slight breeze that helps me out.  There are several birds calling but I can't see them, smart little fellas that they are. This is a haven for birds and I hope to get a couple of sessions of bird watching in while here. So far we've just begun to familiarize ourselves with the place, shopping where the locals shop for groceries and finding it difficult to read the Spanish.

It was a long ride to get here as we flew on airmiles and they make you wait,- 6 hours in Calgary, but Jodi,Kirstine, Courtney and Charlee met us and took us our for lunch. Then we spent the night in Houston, getting in late and getting up early to catch the flight to Costa Rica.  We were met at the airport there but had an hour long wait for the car to appear.The hotel we chose near the airport in  Costa Rica  had a restaurant attached so we were able to have lunch, supper, and breakfast there. We stayed there overnight as we couldn't get into the condo until the 24th.The  car rental agency came to the hotel the next morning with the car,  did all the business there on the hotel deck and we were off. There were a few anxious moments as we thought the GPS wasn't going to find the satellites but it soon did and we were guided here arriving about 2:30 with stops in a town called Jaco for lunch.
Yesterday we found enough food for supper and today brought home a few more things to keep us fat, dumb and happy.
We began this morning with an hour long walk on the beach which seems to go forever and is very wide. There are surfers, boogie  boarders, fishermen. A young man and his grandpa were watching the sand carefully and when they saw something, know only to them, they would run to the spot dig with a pipe and suddenly have a little cray fish from under the sand to use for bait.
So that brings us to today. In about another hour or so, it will be happy hour and maybe a swim, We have our own pool but there is a community one which we haven't had a chance to investigate yet.
Tomorrow should be more about the area as the clothes are hung in the closet, food is in the fridge 'and maybe we will go monkey watching anew miles up the road.

Costa Rica

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