After a full day at Manuel Antonio NP, we went to the Plinio Hotel. This older hotel was built into the side of the hill. Our two-story room had the bathroom and a sitting room on the entry level and the bedroom on the second level. Three walls of the bedroom were screens. It felt like we were in a tree house. Sunday morning, as Jim was in the shower, I felt the bed start to vibrate. It then started to shake and I was aware of the walls creaking around me. Then it went back to vibrating. The whole process lasted probably 30 seconds and Jim didn’t feel a thing in the shower. After returning home, I checked the USGS web site and found that there was a 4.6 tremor about 40 km northwest of where we were staying.
As we left the town of Quepos, Jim was following a police car going about 20 km/hr. Really slow. We were also driving by a double yellow line. The police were oblivious to the line of cars behind them but we felt stuck. The road was straight and had good vision but it was still a double yellow line. Finally, a Tourismo van pulled out five cars back and came flying by at 80 km/hr. The police continued on their slow patrol. At that point, Jim became a true Tico driver. He passed the police on the double yellow line (along with the rest of the cars behind us) and we continued on our merry way.
Our next stop was at Carara National Park. There we took a guided tour into the rainforest complete with loaner rubber boots -- not that they kept our feet from getting wet. We did not see any of the Scarlet Macaws for which the park is famous (but we did hear them – they make a noise straight out of Star Wars). The trail we were on is in the flood plain of the Tarcoles River. Here we saw white-faced monkeys but they stayed high up in the trees and didn’t come prowling around for handouts. The trees were huge in this forest. We saw a couple of coatimundis, which is a relative of the raccoon. The highlight was when on our return trip through the forest we saw some spider monkeys, who showed their objection to our presence by shouting at us from high above.
It should be noted that Sunday was Mother’s Day in Costa Rica and instead of trying to buy jewelry for Nancy in celebration of her motherhood, we trekked through the jungle. At one point on the waterfall hike, as she was struggling to keep from sliding down a muddy embankment, I told her to just grab the vine and swing down like I had done. She informed me that women did not do that. On the Sunday hike we slogged through two feet deep water which filled our borrowed boots while the guide told us to keep looking for vipers. Yet not a complaint was murmured, not a reluctance to continue on was expressed. These adventures may not top her list of accomplishments or fill her with pride like finishing a beautiful quilt, but words alone cannot express my love for this woman who is so willing to share in this adventure. Feliz dia del madre, senora Nancy!
As we left the town of Quepos, Jim was following a police car going about 20 km/hr. Really slow. We were also driving by a double yellow line. The police were oblivious to the line of cars behind them but we felt stuck. The road was straight and had good vision but it was still a double yellow line. Finally, a Tourismo van pulled out five cars back and came flying by at 80 km/hr. The police continued on their slow patrol. At that point, Jim became a true Tico driver. He passed the police on the double yellow line (along with the rest of the cars behind us) and we continued on our merry way.
Our next stop was at Carara National Park. There we took a guided tour into the rainforest complete with loaner rubber boots -- not that they kept our feet from getting wet. We did not see any of the Scarlet Macaws for which the park is famous (but we did hear them – they make a noise straight out of Star Wars). The trail we were on is in the flood plain of the Tarcoles River. Here we saw white-faced monkeys but they stayed high up in the trees and didn’t come prowling around for handouts. The trees were huge in this forest. We saw a couple of coatimundis, which is a relative of the raccoon. The highlight was when on our return trip through the forest we saw some spider monkeys, who showed their objection to our presence by shouting at us from high above.
It should be noted that Sunday was Mother’s Day in Costa Rica and instead of trying to buy jewelry for Nancy in celebration of her motherhood, we trekked through the jungle. At one point on the waterfall hike, as she was struggling to keep from sliding down a muddy embankment, I told her to just grab the vine and swing down like I had done. She informed me that women did not do that. On the Sunday hike we slogged through two feet deep water which filled our borrowed boots while the guide told us to keep looking for vipers. Yet not a complaint was murmured, not a reluctance to continue on was expressed. These adventures may not top her list of accomplishments or fill her with pride like finishing a beautiful quilt, but words alone cannot express my love for this woman who is so willing to share in this adventure. Feliz dia del madre, senora Nancy!
Awesome! I love seeing Costa Rica with you - the pictures are amazing and I too am amazed at the courage you both show. thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLynne Lien