Repelling Redux

Blogger fans will recall that we had an exciting time canyoning near the Arenal volcano shortly after Christmas while the boys were still here. Nancy and I were having dinner with friends a few weeks ago, and Nancy mentioned that canyoning was on her “top 5” list of favorite things to do in Costa Rica, so the next morning, on the spur of the moment, we headed down to Uvita, just south of Dominical where we met up with “Costa Canyoning”. Yes, you read that correctly, the Broge’s did something on the “spur of the moment”.


This trek proved to be quite a bit different from the first adventure. On that occasion we received about 3 seconds of instruction, but had 3 ropes of protection as about 30 of us were led by six or so guides as we repelled from platforms with fixed belay points, and started with the biggest cliff.

With the Costa Canyoning team, there were just the two of us with two guides and one rope. We trained on our way down the creek, starting with the easiest cliff and preparing for the final drop. There were no trails or walkways – we waded our way down the stream. Nancy was quite proficient at hitting every deep spot in the stream. Rather than “hopping” down the waterfalls, we walked our way down the cliff face while belaying ourselves – with one of the guides acting as a back-up belay on the same rope. After the 6th repel, we had a short walk to a small swimming hole, before we walked back to the waiting pick-up. We made it to the pick-up just as the sky opened up and it began to pour.

A wonderful afternoon in the wilderness. And yes, Nancy was sore the next day.

Animal Behavior

We live next door to a farm complete with cows, horses, roosters and dogs, not to mention the menagerie of wild animals around the place comprised of birds both large and small some of which sing beautifully while others exude a noise akin to the proverbial clanging cymbal.


There are even a few roaming squirrels. Now these are not your typical fat and happy grey squirrels that we are used to seeing frolicking amongst the oaks in our yard in Plymouth. No indeed, these are slim and scrawny squirrely squirrels who seem to serve no purpose other than to walk along the top of our back fence, waving at Nancy as if to say “hey, go get your camera and take a picture of me”. Poor Nancy, so easily enticed, rushes for the camera, flips the on switch, stretches into a pose that a ballerina would envy (a bit of an exaggeration) to capture the perfect shot, only to have the aforementioned critter turn tail (with said tail often uplifted) and heckle “get a shot of this”. Not a pretty picture.

In one of our early blogs we mentioned a pleasant journey to the aerial tram at Braulio Carillo national park. Our biologist guide was comparing Tico culture with North American culture using squirrels as an example. “You have squirrels in Minnesota, right?” he asked. “Yes, and they’re fat and happy” we replied. “Have you seen a squirrel in Costa Rica?” he continued. “Yes, and they’re scrawny and ill mannered” we responded. “I don’t know about ill mannered” he said, “but why do you suppose they’re so thin?” he posed. “It’s because they don’t have to gather food for the winter” he said, “they know that tomorrow will be the same as today. Meanwhile, if a Minnesotan squirrel was brought down to Costa Rica, he would continue to collect and store nuts and the Costa Rican squirrels would be watching him and wondering what he was doing” . And so it is with people. The Ticos figure they can find a mango tree or some other edible plant, day after day, so they only gather enough for that day, even at the grocery store. In the states, you always figure you’re going to need more, and so you work really hard to be able to gather more and more, just in case the winter is long. 



One of the many pictures of  the back view of a red squirrel.




When an oak tree isn't available. Notice the lack of  "bushy" in its tail.




A cow and his friend, a cattle egret.  While traveling, we have seen
fields of cows, where each one has her own bird. 




Mama and her colt




A green bird, Jim and I don't know if its a parakeet or parrot.One day
when we came home from a walk, we saw 12 of these
birds flying overhead.




Blue-gray Tanagers




A Mango tree




Close-up on all of the mangoes.  The students at this school will eat
a mango as a snack between classes.



The “Old Way” to Los Sueños



A "cerca" fence along the side of the road.





A place where the road is starting to fall away, with a typical Tico warning.
Yeah, that yellow tape really gives a sense of security.


Way back at the beginning of March, we headed down to the “dream” resort of Los Sueños to visit with Mark and Kari Hooper, friends and former Peace members we had not seen for 17 years.  The much touted Caldera highway was closed between the burgeoning towns of Atenas and Orotina to repair a section of road that had slumped (ok, disappeared) down the side of the hill (ok, cliff).  Thus we joined the rest of humanity heading to the Pacific along the “scenic” route.  This winding road that took us up, down and around the mountains through oh so many small towns used to be the main drag until about a year and a half ago.  As can be seen in the accompanying pictures, there were spectacular views along the way, but what I saw the most of from behind the steering wheel were white knuckles.  The trip took nearly twice as long to get to the resort, which is near Jaco’.  Nevertheless, we arrived in time to meet Mark and Kari for a sumptuous breakfast buffet, followed by a long walk around the yacht filled marina and along playa Herradura.   We had a great time renewing our friendship while catching up on family, jobs and ancient history.  Truly a resplendent visit.