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We broke camp at Miramar at 8:30. Saying goodbye was made a little easier by the weather. Yesterday we had gloriously clear and sunny weather, and no rain at all. It was a great way to spend our last day, and we thoroughly enjoyed the house and view. Today, however, was overcast and gray, so packing and leaving weren’t quite so hard. Sarah posed by the pool one last time.

Samuel has an increasingly good eye for wildlife, and spotted a praying mantis on the light by our gate.

We got on the road and made good time all the way to Jaco where we stopped for brunch. We went to a local landmark, the Taco Bar, where they have seats that are swings. Sarah had a citrus iced tea (tangy!) and Samuel tried to figure out if he was a mujer or an hombre.

We pushed on, passing a bridge over the river Tarcoles, where crocodiles lounge in the mud.

This guy is about 9 feet long. That’s a butterfly on his back. Nobody wanted a swim break, for some reason.

Then we crossed some very rural and mountainous terrain on our way to the Arenal Volcano area. This house in San Ramon has its own nativity scene on the 3rd floor (zoom in).

These mountain people were having a celebration with mariachi music and cowboys on horseback drinking beer.

Finally we got to Fortuna, which is the service town for the volcano and National Park. We ate at the Lava Lounge. Sarah’s rice came shaped like a volcano!

We are now ensconced at the Linda Vista del Norte hotel (after a 5 mile ride on a bad dirt road).

http://www.hotellindavista.com/



More news  and some videos tomorrow on what we get up to.

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Our final day in Uvita was a sad one. We had a lot to take care of this morning. We found Donne at the Soccer complex, and he and the kids played a while. We gave him our excess paper and markers, and they were a big hit. Some of the other local kids showed up, and they all drew pictures and colored together.

We also dropped off some clothes for the church mission that we didn’t want to bring back with us, to make room for things we bought here. I also left my guitar for the church, in hopes they can find an interested local person to learn to play it.

Samuel got a Costa Rican haircut.

Sarah posed on a balcony.

Then we said goodbye to the hair stylist and the computer guy. A vendor sold fresh coconuts to Donne’s uncle, the Pipa Fria man in Uvita.

When it was time for us to say goodbye to Donne. we got him an ice cream cone. Amy gave him a hug and a big bag of goodies to make the farewell easier. He got a Spiderman bookbag, Spiderman boxing gloves, lots of American clothes (highly prized here) and some Iron Man boots, among other things. He will be the best outfitted young man in Uvita for some time. It’s very odd to say goodbye to someone you have gotten to know, when it is unlikely you will ever see them again.



We drove up the mountain and ate our last meal at Miramar, then packed our suitcases. We took some pictures of ourselves around the pool. You may see them on Christmas cards this year.

We have really enjoyed being here. Again, it is odd leaving a place you have lived in for a month, knowing you will probably never see it again.

We headed down the mountain around 4 and stopped by the Uvita Information Center one last time. Sonia is away in San Isidro but her very capable assistant Marcella helped us with driving directions for tomorrow and the purchase of our final international calling card. These ladies have been extremely helpful to us, and we can recommend them highly to anyone who comes this way.

We drove to Dominical and watched the surfers in the late afternoon light. Amy spotted som flowers she had never seen before. She thinks they are related to poinsettias.

We had planned to go to a sushi restaurant at 5, but they were not going to open until 6. We walked to a church festival and listened to the music for a while, but when we returned, the sushi place was still not open.

We wandered .around and found a great place with a sweet view of the beach at twilight.

We had a very enjoyable meal of sautéed mahi-mahi with garlic butter, red snapper, chicken fingers, all the fixings, and a few drinks (pina colada, anyone?) for a small fraction of what it would cost at home. Sarah still likes her rice and beans.

Samuel still likes orange soda.

It was nice to be out after dark, even though the kids crashed before we drove up the mountain for the last time.

I am enjoying a rain-free evening, with our pool and palm tree lit up one more time..

This very special place will be very hard to leave in the morning. This very odd bug, that looks like an alien, came to say goodbye.

Tomorrow we travel to the Arenal Volcano area. We hope to arrive mid-afternoon, so I will update you on our trip, accommodations, and the state of the volcano and lava tomorrow evening.



Hasta!

Raccoon Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i8R72M53YY

29

Our time here has been remarkably free of injury, mishap, or complications. Considering the new activities, situations, and environments we have been in, we have been blessed with good health, no accidents, and general well-being.


Samuel had a slight mishap on Tuesday. He was walking on a slippery walkway near the beach after our marine tour when he managed to bump into a shelf in front of a restaurant and scrape his cheek under his eye. We were worried it would bruise and cause a black eye, but he was lucky and just has a little pink abrasion to show for it. It’s hard to distinguish from the chocolate ice cream smears.

Sarah on the other hand, developed a minor skin rash our first week here. She had a little itchy irritation on her legs that we thought was probably from mites in a hammock she liked to swing in. We quit the hammock but the irritation continued. In recent days it spread and got worse. We went to a farmacia for help, and got some ointments and an antihistamine, but after two days there was no improvement.



So today we went to a clinic and saw a doctor. He thinks she is coming in contact with a plant of some sort, and that the sun, pool water, and sea water are intensifying the irritation. He gave us 2 more ointments and another antihistamine to add to our arsenal.



The worst part (other than a steroid shot in the butt) for Sarah is no sun, no pool, and no beach until it improves. With only 2 days left here, she was looking forward to a last time or two swimming, but that is doubtful now.



To lift her spirits, we drove to Dominical and went out to lunch and rented some movies (in Spanish!) . When we return them tomorrow afternoon, we plan to get some sushi, and go to a festival the church and school there are having. It will be a busy day, as we have to pack, deliver donations, buy some supplies for Saturday’s drive, and stop by the Information Center for a few things too.



This morning as we drove to the main road, Amy spotted some beautiful orchids growing wild on somebody’s rusty gate. We see them all over here, because the climate is ideal for them.

Further down the road, a huge limb that had fallen in last night’s Pretty Big Storm blocked most of the road. We managed to sneak the mighty Terios around it.

During lunch in Dominical , this lady got out of a bus. She is wearing a traditional Costa Rican dress, the first we have seen here.

Sarah posed by an indigenous sculpture, and Samuel admired some artwork.

When we got home, Samuel spotted this varmint eating bananas from the tree outside one of our bathroom windows. It’s a relative of the raccoon, but it has a long straight tail. He came back three times and ate half a dozen overripe bananas. I also took some video I’ll try to post tomorrow.

I also spotted two toucans (twocans?) sitting together pretty close to the house. All month they have kept their distance (maybe due to the kids squealing when they are in the pool) but now they come quite close. These two appear to be a couple.

Tonight as the sun went down (or as night fell, to be more exact- its been very rainy in the late afternoon) I brought Sarah outside and explained to her that it would probably be the last time we watched it get dark over the ocean from our patio (since we will be in Dominical tomorrow night). We talked about all the things we had done and seen, and how we would always remember our time here. She was very thoughtful and spent a few minutes on her own, enjoying the last rays of light. Later she said she might like to have her wedding or honeymoon here. Despite her skin trouble, I think she has really enjoyed being here, and has learned and grown a lot.

Speaking of growing a lot, Samuel weighed himself while we were waiting for Sarah today, and he weighs 58 pounds!! That’s a lot of rice and beans!



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We had breakfast at Donne’s family soda. We are all about done with rice and beans, but it was nice to eat with Donne and give his mom some business.




We drove south to Palmer Norte, which is at the junction of our Costarena highway and the Pan-American highway. It’s not a huge town, but was pretty busy. We passed the Bar el Corral Disco Dance and Karaoke establishment, which is right next door to the Technical College. Hmm…..

On the way there we stopped for a refresco at a seafood restaurant where the cook was cleaning fish anjd throwing the scraps to a family of (large!) iguanas.

They served one ice cube with a coke, much to Amy's dismay.

In Palmer Norte we found a hardware store selling chickens. We didn’t buy any.

Parts of the road back had been destroyed by the recent rains.

We found two more waterfalls near the Tilapia Farm. We played in the water and lounged on the rocks.

Then we parked the Terios by a raging river and swam.

There were some banana trees but the fruit wasn’t ripe.

When we got home I finally got a picture of one of the family of toucans that visit us daily.

Tomorrow it's one more trip to the beach (weather permitting) and we'll start packing and planning for the last leg of our trip.

Hasta luego!

New movies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVgxYPtrjus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzImGRzkzrM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGv6e3H0wH8

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Our marine tour of the National Park was a lot of fun. We headed out at 8am from the Park station.

The kids were very excited. Neither had ever been in a boat on the ocean before.

Almost immediately after shoving off, we got to swim and snorkel in the very clear water near the Whale’s Tail rocks. Amy and Sarah saw a few varieties of tropical fish, lots of coral, and lots of rocks. Between jumps in from the boat, Samuel says he saw a big whale down there. He may be making it up.

After an hour of swimming, the captain fired up the boat, and we rode all around Whale Bay (Bahia Ballena). We didn’t see any dolphins or whales on our tour, but there were two giant tortoises (tortolas).

We rode out for over an hour, with the crew trying to find us some sea mammals, but due to the full moon/ high tides, there was a lot of flotsam in the water, which apparently discourages whales and dolphins from surfacing. We enjoyed the boat ride anyway, although Sarah got a little seasick.

On the way back in, we rode by Whale Rock. It's the island we can see from our patio, but today we got to see the other side of it, and up close.

There is a cave that goes all the way through the island.



Then we rode closer to shore, and saw the sea view of the Ventana Beach caves we’ve been in, and some other more spectacular ones near them.

Then we rode up the coast, and got good views of many of the houses and businesses south of Uvita on the coast.



The rain held off until we got to shore. We ate lunch in a little mom n pop soda by the beach, and bought a few things at a souvenir stand.



We had hoped to go back out to the beach after lunch, but the rain would not let up. We drove in to town and found Donne, whom we had promised some ice cream today.

Then we went to the Soccer Complex and the kids ran off some energy. They ended up in front of Walter’s TV at the coffee shop, watching Dora the Explorer in Spanish. Samuel thinks its hilarious!

We dropped Donne off at his family's soda.

Tonight Sarah learned how to play Rummy. Don't play her for money!

Tomorrow we are off again in search of more and better waterfalls. We also want to visit a town a little farther south that we haven’t seen yet. It will probably be our last trip down that way, so we want to do all we can.



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