TO YOUR HEALTH: As soon as I got off the plane in San Jose, my sinusitis disappeared. Just like that! It is so wonderful to feel wonderful again! Pura Vida Costa Rica! Lou is still coughing but she says she is getting better.
TO YOUR LIFESTYLE: We left our quite luxurious accommodations at Ti-fakara Lodge, to move into a very humble Air BnB room with a typical Tico family. The eighteen year old daughter, who runs the listing for her parents, was leaving TODAY, to go study English for three months in Tampa. She was a real little sweetie. There was a big party last night celebrating her departure, so Lou and I didn't get to spend much time with the family. I wouldn't have understood a word- with all of them chatting. Come to think of it, they were just like our loud, Acadian families when we get together! Ah.... we Latinos!
TO YOUR COMFORT ZONE: Dare I use those words? We slept with the windows open, because we couldn't close one of them. We needed the natural air conditioning. Lou went to close the curtain and the whole thing came tumbling down. I laughed!We got it back up, while stumbling around in the dark. We didn't want to put the lights on and let more bugs in. NO mosquito netting! We were really roughing it. For sure Lou was WAY out of her comfort zone, but she NEVER complained. She took it all in for the unique, but NEVER to be
REPEATED, experience that it was.
TO THE TOPOGRAPHY: We are on our way in a private shuttle, with our driver Horacio and three young Canadian graduating students from Toronto, to La Sámara, a beach enclave. Can't wait! We meet Canadians everywhere. They got a 400$ flight with Delta, direct to Liberia. SWEETER deal than ours, and an even sweeter graduation gift! I flew standby to Toronto to visit friends, WHEN I graduated from UNB.
We have left behind the humidity, the rain forest with its gorgeous flora and fauna, for the dryer land and blue coastal vistas of the Pacific Ocean.
Thanks to all of mi hermana's hard work, research and preparation, we are getting every
thing in the way Ticos refer to as: BUENO, BONITA, Y BARATO!! Good, pretty and cheap!
Furthermore,I wrote this entire blog in the SHUTTLE! It has WIFI! How S-W-E-E-E-E-T is that?
Day 5: GOOD THINGS TO KNOW ...
when traveling in Costa Rica! This is my second visit to this beautiful country, so I feel that I am a TOTAL expert. LOL
There are NO facecloths in most hotels, B& Bs, etc. Bring one from home.
Toilet paper is paper thin. Double up if you don't want to be surprised.
Get used to birds flying into open living areas, like lobbies, and making themselves at home in every way. THEY don't need toilet paper.
Cleanliness is NOT cleanliness by North American standards, so DON't freak out IF your bed isn't made every day, nor your floor swept, nor your wine glasses replaced...LET IT GO!
Roads are narrow and people are crazy drivers, especially taxi drivers. Be prepared for many near misses, and lots of gasps from fellow passengers.
Make an effort to say a few words in Spanish. A few words go a long way, toward building a bond with these wonderful Ticos. (Costa Ricans are called Ticos.)
Say "PURA VIDA" to locals. It means "Pure Life", but it is their COUNTRY' S slogan, their branding of their country. It doubles for "Enjoy your day; have a great day; Hello; Goodbye; Thank you; You are welcome." They will smile and answer back "Pura Vida." The letter v is pronounced like the letter "b."
Nicaragua is a very poor neighbouring country. Many Nicaraguans come to Costa Rica to work in the service industry. So don't be afraid to tip a dollar or a 500 colones (roughly one $US). You get a beautiful smile EVERY TIME!!
Try to figure out how the money works as quickly as possible. Use $US as much as possible, and your credit cards. Bring lots of one dollar bills. 550 colones is one US$ so if you aren't too good with mental math, you may have trouble dealing with the fact that 10,000 colones is $24.50 Canadian. 200,000 colones can cost you $480 Canadian dollars at the ATM. Hard to wrap your head around some of this math.
Get OUT of your comfort zone .... explore..... do things you have never done before.... go for the gusto...
On a final note, for all of you who have seen videos, read postings, and my blog, I want to get ONE THING STRAIGHT! I AM not TERRORIZING my sister!!!! 😉☺😀
There are NO facecloths in most hotels, B& Bs, etc. Bring one from home.
Toilet paper is paper thin. Double up if you don't want to be surprised.
Get used to birds flying into open living areas, like lobbies, and making themselves at home in every way. THEY don't need toilet paper.
Cleanliness is NOT cleanliness by North American standards, so DON't freak out IF your bed isn't made every day, nor your floor swept, nor your wine glasses replaced...LET IT GO!
Roads are narrow and people are crazy drivers, especially taxi drivers. Be prepared for many near misses, and lots of gasps from fellow passengers.
Make an effort to say a few words in Spanish. A few words go a long way, toward building a bond with these wonderful Ticos. (Costa Ricans are called Ticos.)
Say "PURA VIDA" to locals. It means "Pure Life", but it is their COUNTRY' S slogan, their branding of their country. It doubles for "Enjoy your day; have a great day; Hello; Goodbye; Thank you; You are welcome." They will smile and answer back "Pura Vida." The letter v is pronounced like the letter "b."
Nicaragua is a very poor neighbouring country. Many Nicaraguans come to Costa Rica to work in the service industry. So don't be afraid to tip a dollar or a 500 colones (roughly one $US). You get a beautiful smile EVERY TIME!!
Try to figure out how the money works as quickly as possible. Use $US as much as possible, and your credit cards. Bring lots of one dollar bills. 550 colones is one US$ so if you aren't too good with mental math, you may have trouble dealing with the fact that 10,000 colones is $24.50 Canadian. 200,000 colones can cost you $480 Canadian dollars at the ATM. Hard to wrap your head around some of this math.
Get OUT of your comfort zone .... explore..... do things you have never done before.... go for the gusto...
On a final note, for all of you who have seen videos, read postings, and my blog, I want to get ONE THING STRAIGHT! I AM not TERRORIZING my sister!!!! 😉☺😀
PVCR: Day 4
Oh what a night! I never slept a wink. Neither did Louise. Maybe we were too strung out from our hike?
We found out today that the CERRO CHATO TRAIL was CLOSED TODAY by the federal government of Costa Rica. Why? Because it is too dangerous!!!!! Where the trail starts there is a hotel, and a reception area where you pay. We didn't know it wasn't regulated. The trail itself is in a national park, but when the government tried to build a safe trail to the crater (green lake), the owner of the green lake, destroyed the hanging bridges. Can you believe it? The owner of the crater, has people selling this trail as a tour, when he really has no right. He never maintained CERRO Chato, and was just interested in making money off unsuspecting tourists, like us. All the hotel owners and tourism people here are very glad that the government has shut him down. So we have the dubious distinction of having been pretty much the LAST tourists to go up CERRO CHATO!!! Can we pick 'em or what?
So what did we do today? We are aching from our heads to our toes. I feel like I have been in a school yard fight. We went on ANOTHER hike after breakfast, which was however, much less arduous, must safer and very well maintained. We went to the Mystical Hanging Bridges National Park, near the Arenal Volcano. Louise was terrified at first of these high, swinging bridges, but she got used to THEM. We had a wonderful taxi driver, Jesus, take us there and back, while we had a leisurely three kilometre stroll through the rain forest, with MORE waterfalls, and where we saw all kinds of flore and fauna. IT was incredibly beautiful.
I have just had the BEST chicken quesadillas EVER, next door to our lodge, where we had a great chat with Alonso, our waiter, and where Louise fed half of her gigantic plate of nachos to me and the resident dog, Atmos. Dos cervezas mas tardes ... two beer later, I am ready for a siesta.
It will be an evening spent relaxing around the pool, and to bed early. Tomorrow we move into La Fortuna, where we will spend ONE night with a REAL Costa Rican family. HOW FAR OUT OF LOUISE'S comfort ZONE do you think that will be?
Hasta mañana muchachos.
We found out today that the CERRO CHATO TRAIL was CLOSED TODAY by the federal government of Costa Rica. Why? Because it is too dangerous!!!!! Where the trail starts there is a hotel, and a reception area where you pay. We didn't know it wasn't regulated. The trail itself is in a national park, but when the government tried to build a safe trail to the crater (green lake), the owner of the green lake, destroyed the hanging bridges. Can you believe it? The owner of the crater, has people selling this trail as a tour, when he really has no right. He never maintained CERRO Chato, and was just interested in making money off unsuspecting tourists, like us. All the hotel owners and tourism people here are very glad that the government has shut him down. So we have the dubious distinction of having been pretty much the LAST tourists to go up CERRO CHATO!!! Can we pick 'em or what?
So what did we do today? We are aching from our heads to our toes. I feel like I have been in a school yard fight. We went on ANOTHER hike after breakfast, which was however, much less arduous, must safer and very well maintained. We went to the Mystical Hanging Bridges National Park, near the Arenal Volcano. Louise was terrified at first of these high, swinging bridges, but she got used to THEM. We had a wonderful taxi driver, Jesus, take us there and back, while we had a leisurely three kilometre stroll through the rain forest, with MORE waterfalls, and where we saw all kinds of flore and fauna. IT was incredibly beautiful.
I have just had the BEST chicken quesadillas EVER, next door to our lodge, where we had a great chat with Alonso, our waiter, and where Louise fed half of her gigantic plate of nachos to me and the resident dog, Atmos. Dos cervezas mas tardes ... two beer later, I am ready for a siesta.
It will be an evening spent relaxing around the pool, and to bed early. Tomorrow we move into La Fortuna, where we will spend ONE night with a REAL Costa Rican family. HOW FAR OUT OF LOUISE'S comfort ZONE do you think that will be?
Hasta mañana muchachos.
PURA VIDA COSTA RICA - DAY 3
I started off my day with a visit from Lola, who came to see me as soon as I sat down at our patio table at 7:00 am. No doubt looking for food, but I didn't have any. As I am writing this, now, almost ten hours later, she is back and trying to eat the bracelet I tore off, and left on the table, from one of our outings today. We have ordered in pizza so maybe we will share with Lola. She EATS anything, our cutie concierge Julissa tells us. Her favourite is yogurt and granola. Am I repeating myself? I did indulge in a bit of wine last night. Poor Lola has trouble flying; her claws are damaged, so she doesn't get around easily. She poses for the camera, I swear to God!
Ten hours later I AM a total wreck today! Physically that is. I have war wounds to prove it.
Hermanita and I were up EARLY and on the road by 8:30, hiking up to the Rio Fortuna Catarata, with its 500 steps down, and 500 back. Worth it totally!! She will post awesome pictures.
When we returned to our Lodge, we met a couple from Quebec. They heard us speaking English and then switching to French, which we do all the time. They were amazed and we struck up a conversation. So we ended up going on a super challenging hike, called CERRO CHATO, with them. I will leave Louise to tell her story, but suffice to say, I DID it, but it was tough. Some young folks we met, told me I was amazing. That made MY DAY! Again, I was the oldest person on that trek, JUST like on The Fundy Footpath.
I fell coming down, three times, when the going was the easiest. Go figure! Anyway, it was very challenging, but worth the four hours invested. We met Canadians from NS, more Québécois, Germans, Americans, Spaniards, you name it. Costa Rica is an international destination.
I am going to sign off. Lola is at my right elbow, and I can't type. If she wants your attention, she will peck at you with her beak. NOW she is perched on the back of my chair, the scamp!!
Hasta mañana! Signing off from another day in paradise. I will post pictures separately from my blog. I can't insert any here from my IPad or IPhone. Mierda!
Ten hours later I AM a total wreck today! Physically that is. I have war wounds to prove it.
Hermanita and I were up EARLY and on the road by 8:30, hiking up to the Rio Fortuna Catarata, with its 500 steps down, and 500 back. Worth it totally!! She will post awesome pictures.
When we returned to our Lodge, we met a couple from Quebec. They heard us speaking English and then switching to French, which we do all the time. They were amazed and we struck up a conversation. So we ended up going on a super challenging hike, called CERRO CHATO, with them. I will leave Louise to tell her story, but suffice to say, I DID it, but it was tough. Some young folks we met, told me I was amazing. That made MY DAY! Again, I was the oldest person on that trek, JUST like on The Fundy Footpath.
I fell coming down, three times, when the going was the easiest. Go figure! Anyway, it was very challenging, but worth the four hours invested. We met Canadians from NS, more Québécois, Germans, Americans, Spaniards, you name it. Costa Rica is an international destination.
I am going to sign off. Lola is at my right elbow, and I can't type. If she wants your attention, she will peck at you with her beak. NOW she is perched on the back of my chair, the scamp!!
Hasta mañana! Signing off from another day in paradise. I will post pictures separately from my blog. I can't insert any here from my IPad or IPhone. Mierda!
PURA VIDA COSTA RICA - DAY 2
There is good Karma and bad Karma. We have had NOTHING but good. However, we know some who have had BAD, already.
Hermanita and I were up fairly early, after a good sleep of about seven hours. We had some problems heading out, in our taxi, to the local bus terminal, to catch a bus to Lafortuna. THE DRIVER didn't KNOW WHERE the terminal was. Obviously, why would he? He drives a taxi for a living. We couldn't get the money we needed out of the ATM machine. The cab driver Miguel, was sweet. Hit on me! How desperate are these Costa Rican men? Ladies beware of that expression " Muy bonita!"
We found the bus terminal, and immediately met six Maritimers - a Newfie, four nurses from Halifax, and the Newfie's partner, from Ontario originally. Total GABFEST!!
The bus finally arrived. I went to board, but the driver said I had to check my backpack, though he let all the SWEET things on with their pack backs. Age discrimination? LOL It didn't help that I didn't have it on my back, either. I was lugging it by the handle. Stupidity!!!
By the time I got back on the bus, there were no seats. I sat on the floor, where a wheelchair would be, switching up with Hermanita now and then. There is NO chivalry in Costa Rica. This older woman got on the bus. No one gave her their seat. We started to climb in the mountains, and when it got really dangerous, with winding roads, I was seated then. I gave her my seat. They just kept letting people on at every stop, even though it was STANDING ROOM! That poor woman would have gone tumbling down the aisle, for sure.
Anyway, I must have shamed one man at least, because the next elderly lady that gone on, he gave her his seat.
We spent over four hours on that bus, but you know what? We met these two sweetie French girls from Paris, Élodie and Virginie. They are going to come visit us in New Brunswick!! We had the greatest conversations, seated on the floor of that bus. I also met Maria, from Bavaria and another Parisian Alex, traveling solo, after Élodie and Virginie got a seat.
Two German girls who never looked up from their seats, never smiled and never said a word, were missing a backpack at the end of the trip. Karma? They had put it up on the rack, and it looks like a local took off with it when no one was looking. Qué lastima! Too bad.... so sad!
We are at a wonderful Air BnB where we have already met the local pet, a parrot called Lola! She has us eating out of her hand, as she eats out of ours!
I have just finished playing the "throw the water bottle" with Estevan and Frank, the two little boys of the owners of this establishment. Estevan won! He is seven and speaks a little bit of English. Too cute!!!
Bonne nuit tout le monde! Buenos noches a todos!
PS: Getting the money straight is SO hard. Hermanita tried to pay the taxi driver $30 for a $7 cab drive. Bless his heart. He was honest and told us. His name is Sterling! How apropos!!! We are going to be calling on Sterling to take us everywhere, while we are in La Fortuna.
PPS: Did I mention that our bedroom has a balcony overlooking the Areanal Volcano? More pictures tomorrow. Mañana amigos!
PPS: Living "La vita dolce" - Italian for "Living the Sweet Life!"
Hermanita and I were up fairly early, after a good sleep of about seven hours. We had some problems heading out, in our taxi, to the local bus terminal, to catch a bus to Lafortuna. THE DRIVER didn't KNOW WHERE the terminal was. Obviously, why would he? He drives a taxi for a living. We couldn't get the money we needed out of the ATM machine. The cab driver Miguel, was sweet. Hit on me! How desperate are these Costa Rican men? Ladies beware of that expression " Muy bonita!"
We found the bus terminal, and immediately met six Maritimers - a Newfie, four nurses from Halifax, and the Newfie's partner, from Ontario originally. Total GABFEST!!
The bus finally arrived. I went to board, but the driver said I had to check my backpack, though he let all the SWEET things on with their pack backs. Age discrimination? LOL It didn't help that I didn't have it on my back, either. I was lugging it by the handle. Stupidity!!!
By the time I got back on the bus, there were no seats. I sat on the floor, where a wheelchair would be, switching up with Hermanita now and then. There is NO chivalry in Costa Rica. This older woman got on the bus. No one gave her their seat. We started to climb in the mountains, and when it got really dangerous, with winding roads, I was seated then. I gave her my seat. They just kept letting people on at every stop, even though it was STANDING ROOM! That poor woman would have gone tumbling down the aisle, for sure.
Anyway, I must have shamed one man at least, because the next elderly lady that gone on, he gave her his seat.
We spent over four hours on that bus, but you know what? We met these two sweetie French girls from Paris, Élodie and Virginie. They are going to come visit us in New Brunswick!! We had the greatest conversations, seated on the floor of that bus. I also met Maria, from Bavaria and another Parisian Alex, traveling solo, after Élodie and Virginie got a seat.
Two German girls who never looked up from their seats, never smiled and never said a word, were missing a backpack at the end of the trip. Karma? They had put it up on the rack, and it looks like a local took off with it when no one was looking. Qué lastima! Too bad.... so sad!
We are at a wonderful Air BnB where we have already met the local pet, a parrot called Lola! She has us eating out of her hand, as she eats out of ours!
I have just finished playing the "throw the water bottle" with Estevan and Frank, the two little boys of the owners of this establishment. Estevan won! He is seven and speaks a little bit of English. Too cute!!!
Bonne nuit tout le monde! Buenos noches a todos!
PS: Getting the money straight is SO hard. Hermanita tried to pay the taxi driver $30 for a $7 cab drive. Bless his heart. He was honest and told us. His name is Sterling! How apropos!!! We are going to be calling on Sterling to take us everywhere, while we are in La Fortuna.
PPS: Did I mention that our bedroom has a balcony overlooking the Areanal Volcano? More pictures tomorrow. Mañana amigos!
PPS: Living "La vita dolce" - Italian for "Living the Sweet Life!"
PURA VIDA COSTA RICA - DAY ONE ... FINALE
After 21 hours of traveling, we made it safe and sound to our Air BNB, not far from the airport. Life is good. We are tired, but all went well, and we are in for a good night's sleep, we hope, before we head out for the first leg of our trip... destination La Fortuna, in the rainforest, near the Arenal Volcano.
Hasta mañana! À demain!
Hasta mañana! À demain!
PURA VIDA COSTA RICA - Departure! DÉPART!
Freezing rain! School is cancelled, AGAIN! Hermanita and I are seated in the lounge of MasterCard World Elite, in MONTREAL. Do I have a horseshoe up my "you-know-what?" LUCKY! LUCKY! LUCKY!
We got out of Bathurst in the nick of time. It had just snowed... no freezing rain had yet started when we left at 5:50 am. Come to think of it, my travel woes occur when I want to get BACK to the North Shore, NOT when I want to leave.
My "hermanita" ( little sister) sent me a text earlier in the week. "No hairspray, no gel, no brush, no makeup." Guess who has eyeliner and lipstick on at 3:30 this morning. PAS MOI!
So, we aren't at destination yet, BUT we have much better options to go further, here in La Belle Province.
¡Hasta luego! À la prochaine!
We got out of Bathurst in the nick of time. It had just snowed... no freezing rain had yet started when we left at 5:50 am. Come to think of it, my travel woes occur when I want to get BACK to the North Shore, NOT when I want to leave.
My "hermanita" ( little sister) sent me a text earlier in the week. "No hairspray, no gel, no brush, no makeup." Guess who has eyeliner and lipstick on at 3:30 this morning. PAS MOI!
So, we aren't at destination yet, BUT we have much better options to go further, here in La Belle Province.
¡Hasta luego! À la prochaine!
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