Pura Vida from San Jose, Costa Rica

We are on the last week here in Costa Rica and our planning is showing signs of wear and tear. We have thought all along that we were only here through the 8th and when we checked our flight itinerary yesterday we discovered we don't leave until the 9th. We had to book an additional night in San Jose at the KC Hotel where we are currently residing.  We now need to extend our rental car and then cancel our reservation in Orlando for the 8th.  What a mess!  We need to do a better job of writing this plan down in a common area.  Erica books some travel arrangements  and I book the rest. Often we find ourselves questioning each other unnecessarily.  Lesson 1789 learned, of course the hard way.

Erica and the kids drove from Montezuma to San Jose on Monday morning to pick me up from the airport after I flew back from Chicago.  I was in Beloit all weekend staying with my Mom.  I went back for my good friend Jeremy's celebration of life on Saturday night.  He passed away on Jan. 23rd after a year long battle with a brain tumor.  He was only 42 years old and so it has been a tough year for me and of course all of those who were close to him.  I have, without a doubt, been changed because of him.  I also got to spend Superbowl Sunday at my brother's house in Sun Prairie where the weather warmed to above freezing for the weekend.  We drove back to Beloit with very low visibility due to the heavy fog caused by the moisture in the air.  It was good to play a few games of ping pong with my niece Emily, she handed me my first two losses of the year! We also played a bunch of Uno which has been a big theme of our travel this year.  You never leave home without your Uno cards, it is just about the best and easiest family game you could ever find.

Erica and the kids started their trek over to San Jose by leaving our rental house around 6:30am with plans to drive up the East coast of the Nicoya Peninsula and then around the water and back down South to San Jose.  They decided to stop at the ferry terminal that runs directly across to Puntarenas.  This would cut at least two hours off of their travel.  I hoped for Erica's sake, traveling alone in a foreign country with two kids in the car that tend to lose their mind a few hours into a long drive, that she would get a last minute ticket to ride.  She did and so they enjoyed an hour and a half ferry ride.

When I left on Friday I had the luxury of taking an air taxi from Tambor to San Jose which took only 25 minutes in a little 10 seat plane.  The maximum speeds that you can drive in Costa Rica are 80kmph but most of the time you find yourself driving between 30kmph and 40kmph.  This little country takes a long time to explore at those low speeds.

Before exploring the San Jose area, I want to reflect on the last two weeks in Montezuma.

It was sad leaving Casa Guajira, our rental house, that Friday morning.  Erica and I have come to really enjoy it's peaceful surroundings and the entire community in Montezuma.  It is an old world setting with all of the advantages of new world technology.  The roads have preserved it's primitive feel which is soon to be gone with the constant road construction that is now being completed to the main highway leading around the southern tip of the peninsula.  While we spent the majority of our time exploring the local community, we did find ourselves going off road to Santa Teresa which is world renowned for it's surfing and also to Cabuya, known for it's sport fishing and snorkeling around Cabuya Island.  We didn't surf in Santa Teresa but we did surf at Playa Grande, just a 30 minute hike North of Montezuma.  We also road horses past this beach to one of the only waterfalls in Central America that flows directly into the ocean. Blythe has wanted to ride horses all year and we finally did it.  After the two hour ride out to the waterfall and the two hour ride back, in direct sun most of the way, we asked Blythe if she still wanted a horse. She replied, "well, maybe I will not get a horse and just get a dog or a guinea pig". We laughed so hard at her candor.  Boyd's horse layed down, with him on it, in a water stream diverting from the fresh water pond to the ocean and provided a very scary moment for all of us.  Our guide hurt his leg trying to keep the horse from rolling over and of course Boyd got extremely rattled and started crying.  The rest of the way out and back I stayed close to him and coached him to have less fear.  Erica spent her ride teaming with Blythe and sprinting on the beach with our riding companions Alessandra, who is Brazillian, and Francois, who is French.  We have made connections with them over email and they have advised us on our future plans in their home countries.  They were spending their month long holiday traveling all of Costa Rica in a camper van.

We were able to enjoy Erica's birthday on Jan. 19th by zip-lining over Montezuma Falls and then swimming and cliff jumping in them half way through the eleven platforms.  None of us had ever zip-lined and it was as amazing of an experience as you could hope for.  We then spent the following Monday traveling on a true off-road adventure in our four door Toyota Yaris sedan that was not built for such travel. We decided to take a more direct route from home to the Diria coffee plantation for a day learning about and tasting good coffee.  This was supposed to be done for Erica's birthday two days prior but when we set out to go our navigation told us it was closed on Saturdays...ugh!!! Zip-lining was a great consolation prize and we adjusted quickly.  The coffee tour was wonderful. Erica talked about it previously so I will spare you.  After spending a night in Nicoya, we toured the city of Santa Cruz and Nicoya finding both towns to be somewhat boring.  We shopped a bit at a local mall and Boyd bought a watch from a small electronics store.  We then enjoyed a few hours learning about pottery in the village of Guaitil.  I highly recommend visiting this village and hope to again one day.  It's ramshackle homes and buildings house some of the most beautiful and native pottery art and artists in Costa Rica.  When you stop into a store, each owner throws their own pottery and their home is attached to the store so you see how they live as well. It was great cultural exposure for all of us. We made sure to buy some pieces of art while we were there.

If you plan to travel to Montezuma, or to any part of southern Costa Rica, do not rent anything less than a four wheel drive vehicle.  If you can't get a four wheel drive, at minimum get an suv or truck.  We have learned how to navigate the car around but it has taken a beating.  I was stuck once on the sand and had to have six local guys come push me out.  Luckily one of them I knew named Henry.  He was our horseback riding guide and he gathered the others quickly to help.  I can't say enough about how friendly everyone in Montezuma is. We felt so safe here despite the fact that the town is intimidating at first glance.  The dirty facades from the salt, sun, sand and dirt that permeates every building gives the town a very rough feel.  People water the dirt roads outside their homes and businesses in the morning and afternoon here to try their best at eliminating the dust from coming onto their property.  We were in a constant state of sweat and dirt and you jump in the water every time you get a chance to just to get wiped down.  The setting of this town doesn't get any better.  Off the beaten path, on the sandy beach lined coast and at the tip of the rainforest.  The wildlife is everywhere due to there being National Wildlife preserves sandwiching both sides of town. Of course we talked of one day owning land here but for now we settle happily as part-time residents left with the strong desire to come home to here again in the near future.

Peace and Love