The Fifth

We had a little slower day today. The kids needed a day with fewer activities, and we needed to plan some of our upcoming days anyway. We went to the internet café, which was supposed to open at 8, but no one was around. A local boy named Donnie, age 5, had a soccer ball (the ratty one from yesterday) so he and Sarah and Samuel played a while on the covered soccer field. Samuel and Sarah have both picked up some Spanish and are able to communicate enough to play nicely with the locals. The Café owners eventually arrived, so we used their wi-fi to check email and do some other tasks. Forgot the video camera though, so still no posted videos. .Sorry.

We went to the Visitors’ Center to get some post cards, so keep your eye out for those (in about 10 days) if we have your mailing address. Then we headed up the coast to check out a zip lining place in a Nature Preserve. It looks easy enough for the kids to do, and the guides assured us it was good for even 5 year olds, so we bought tickets and will return at 8 tomorrow morning when it is cooler and hopefully drier. While we were there we walked through a Butterfly Garden and took pictures of lots of exotic mariposas. One looks like an iguana head! (picture) We are looking forward to returning in the morning.

On the drive back we took a short detour to find a waterfall shown on our map, but instead we found a remote village called Baru. There was an airplane fuselage being used as an office, and a bunch of very typical shacks where the locals live. (pictures- zoom in on the blue house and notice the Winnie the Pooh on the clothesline)

We drove home, and I grilled the chicken we bought Saturday. We had a little surprise when I started to use the charcoal BBQ and found a good sized snake sleeping comfortably inside! (picture) He actually looked pretty harmless, and I was able to fish him out and into the woods with no problem. We ate a lot of the produce from the Farmer’s Market, including some delicious sweet potatoes that are white and purple on the outside, and the last of the great bread from the Quepos bakery.

We needed a rest after that big lunch so everybody relaxed. Sarah and Samuel got into the pool until 5pm. Samuel has taken over the jobs of skimming the pool for fallen leaves and dead bugs, and Sarah is handling most of our laundry chores. We went back into town, hoping to watch a soccer game at the covered field, but the 6pm game was cancelled (probably due to the torrential rains that started at 5) and the 7pm game took forever to get organized, probably for the same reason. We ordered a pizza while we waited, and Sarah and Samuel were able to play some more soccer. A family visiting from San Jose played with the kids and then we talked to them about things to do in SJ when we go next week.

Eventually they left and Samuel got very tired, so we gave up on the game and drove back up the mountain. Another surprise greeted us in the pool when we got home. A giant frog had gotten in. I got his picture before helping him out and into the bushes.

Zip-lining early tomorrow, so that’s all for now. As always, leave a comment so we know you read this.

Dad- I answered your questions from the July 3 post at the end of that day’s comments.