3 April, 2001

After an air-conditioner-less night (the power cut off for a few hours) we woke fairly early, bought an expensive (with laughably small portions) breakfast at the hotel and headed into town to find a surfboard for Todd. We had to look around a bit but finally bought one from Chelo, a guy who works at the Hotel Colonial in town. The board has seen better days, but at less than US $40 it was a decent deal. Renting a board would cost $15 per day, and would require us to return it to the same place.

After a quick visit to the market for camping food we headed out looking for the beaches to the south, reputed to be beautiful and better for surfing than those in San Juan.

We met up with some other travelers along the bumpy dirt road and gave them a ride- two of them on the bumper!- to the beach where we were all excited to see a turtle come up at midday! We watched her for a while, thinking she might lay some eggs -- we're at the end of the season -- but she didn't. We may have scared her, or maybe she'd already laid, who knows. But wow, that was really great. Another one came up out of the water a while later, and she crawled all the way up the shore to some grapefruit-sized smooth rocks, about 30 feet, which for a turtle, takes a lot of effort.

She hung out on the rocks for a few minutes, turning this way and that (we watched from the beach farther up, through the binocs, so we wouldn't scare her) and then moved back onto the sand and did some more turning. No digging though. Watching her through the binoculars was really great. She didn't lay any eggs, and shuffled back to the ocean.

We left the three travelers and headed further south driving all over heck and back. We realized we were very close to the border of Costa Rica, and we wanted to see if maybe, just maybe there was a crossing there. We drove a good way on a solitary dirt road and found (thanks to the GPS) the border: A wooden gate that was not locked. Beebee stepped across just to be a rebel. Woo hoo. There was nothing else here. Just the fence and the gate. We turned around and drove back towards camping spots on the coast. We drove around and around, looking for the perfect beach. We passed the military guard fort one to many times, and finally the captain came out and asked us what we were looking for/where we were going. Steve answered with a laugh, that we had absolutely no idea. Mind you, we'd been driving around dirt roads with only the GPS and directions from locals to guide us, for about four hours. He didn't think it was hilarious, but we think he believed that we weren't trying to run anything across the border. Just to be sure, he had one of his subordinates hop in the car with us to show us a safe place to camp.

We had been by this beach earlier and it was fine, but not perfect (we were holding out for perfect!) There were many fishermen around and no surfing (for which Todd was looking) but, as Todd pointed out, we figured that since we had been led by a military escort to that camping spot, it was probably best to stay there. We did, and had a nice quiet evening. The escort came back and chatted for a while with Steve. Turns out he told Steve that the captain had sent him to find out if we wanted to "donate" any money to the military. Since we have moral objections (and fiscal) to bribing, Steve held out for a while, but realized he had four cordobas (about .30 cents) in his pocket. He offered them, seriously, but knowing that this would get his point across. The guy took it, but we're pretty sure he didn't even bother to tell his boss we'd given him anything. Too embarrassing. We ate our dinner uneventfully and went to bed early.

No extra charge for the scorpion!	We enjoyed meeting Simon, Jacob and Heather	Simon, Jacob and Todd move a tree from the road	Our first view of Costa Rica	This lot is for sale, don't know how much

Got some fresh-from-the-wather fish from an incoming boat, built a bonfire in the sand, ate dinner and relaxed. It was lovely.

Most of the roads were good, the occasional obstacle made us glad to have a 'Cruiser	Long dusty road, note dry trees offering little shade	Lobster tails are a valuable catch, the rest gets tossed onto the sand	Our little cove, complete with dry tree offering a little bit of shade

For those of you who know Santa Cruz, California, this part of the coast is a bit like the cliff/rocks there on East Cliff Drive and up by Sunny Cove beach (the little cove that everyone knows down at the end of 17th Ave. just past The Cheese Factory)

Steve and Jocelyn talked a bit about buying a nice little piece of land just north of where we were camping. It was a lovely little knoll with its own wide, shallow cove with lots of sand. We weren't seriously thinking of buying land in Nicaragua, but it was fun to pretend.

We built another fire in our great fire pit and had a simple rice and fish dinner. Last night's foil-wrapped fish stuffed with onions, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper was much better, but so be it. Both nights we wrapped some plantains in foil and threw them on the coals. Makes for a great breakfast, but we learned that turning them over before going to bed is a good idea. We had charred plantains when we forgot.

The beach was beautiful, but Todd was getting a bit restless, so we decided to cross into Costa Rica. We got to the border around 8:30 a.m. and it still took us about two hours to get out of Nicaragua. So disorganized. We don't need to go into just how many times we walked across the parking lot and how we had to go back and ask the cop who took the original to give it to us and take the copy and how we had to go back to him again because now we needed the copy to show to someone across the parking lot. No, what was really the kicker that we should tell you about was when we were supposed to go get the car inspected.

The guy at the window tells us to go get this piece of paper signed by the inspector. When we asked where/who he was, the guy told us, "Go look in the parking lot, he has a white shirt on."

Great. There's nothing quite like a parking lot at migración on the last day before Semana Santa (holy week) in a Central American country. Egads.

The Costa Rican side was much easier, but we almost stood in a line of about 100 people. Thank goodness Bb spotted a window with no one at it that said, "Entrada" (entrance). We had to buy insurance and change money, and that took about 30 minutes and then, whew!, we were cranky and tired, but finally in Costa Rica.

On our way out of the border crossing area, we passed by a line of trucks about two kilometers long (a little over three miles). Seriously. We were awfully glad not to be a truck driver trying to cross into Nicaragua.

Todd wanted a shower and a room, so we decided to stay in Liberia for the night before heading for Santa Rosa National Park- where Steve spent the summer of '95 doing research. Steve showed us his old digs at Poco Sol (means "Little sun"). He says the slightly rundown room next to the tractor parking spot has hardly changed at all. It was pretty neat for Beebee: this was a part of Steve's life she didn't really know about. He's told her about it since, but they weren't in touch at the time.

We stayed in Hotel Liberia just off the town square and all took wonderfully temperate showers (the beach had been hot, salty and windy as beaches should be). Dinner was pizza for the boys and fettuccini almost alfredo for Bb. That's going to be one of the first dishes she prepares when she gets her own kitchen again. Nobody does it right down here. Sigh.

A church in Nicaragua that had survived the revolutions, but still had bullet holes.	Steve used to ride his bike to work on this very road, every day for seven weeks.	A soggy cow pasture with narry a cow to be seen.	Some frisky kittens that lived at the Hotel Liberia.	Forty five and 40 model Cruisers on our street in Liberia. The word "Joyería" means jewelry shop.

I'm curious to find out if Costa Rica, with its benign government (read: lack of army), high standard of literacy, high standard of living, relatively high cost of living, is much different than the other Central American countries we've been through.

Steve is toying with the idea of passing a slow-moving car ahead of us, but finds himself hesitating on a hill with a curve. I said, "Pass!" intoning the left-off, "You silly fool!" But he looked at the road, then looked at me. I said, "What? Something about being in a not-third-world country with a clearly painted double-yellow line, makes you not want to pass here?" He laughed and said, "Something like that."

I find I am hoping that Costa Rica is more modern. I am tired, I have to admit, of the sheer amount of dirt and trash that prevails in these countries, and the poverty that goes along with it. Since I am not a humanitarian, I don't see myslef fighting to make the lives of the people who live in this situation better, so all the more,`it wears on my ability to take my own place in life for granted and sometimes it's nice not to be constantly reminded of just how lucky you are.

- jocelyn

Travis, Steve's youngest cousin, showed up just as we were finishing and Rolando invited us to stay and have lunch with them. (The cousins in Steve's family are very, very close -- like siblings -- and accept spouses as if they had known them their whole lives.) It was great to see Travis, who is looking so much like a young man now! Makes us feel old. We sat apart from the students for lunch, but Travis and another student, Jamie came over and talked with us. Soon after we had several students talking to us. It's always hard to break into a group, but they all made it pretty easy.

Then Frank showed up and Steve hopped up from the table to say hello. We were both pretty excited. Steve looks up to Frank as a mentor and because of this, Beebee was extra curious to meet him.

A big, tall guy, with a bushy, curly black and grey beard and longish hair down to his ears of the same color, he is at once charming and intimidating; bright and serious, but laid back. Over the couple of days we were there, Bb came to quite like him.

After lunch, the three of us headed off to the beach. The drive was pretty easy (we were glad to be in Sandy) and we walked about two miles down the beach from the entrance path to Witch's Rock -- an apparently world-famous surf spot. Todd had a great time and stayed in the water the entire two hours we were there. Steve and Bb cooked themselves on the sand and ate watermelon. Bb also learned about Tabanid flies. The little buggers bite! And it hurts! The bites don't itch though, and that's some consolation.

Back at camp Frank invited us to camp and eat with the group. What a way to be made to feel welcome. We ate dinner with everyone, took showers and attended the evening lecture/presentation. There were about five groups of students and each had done a small group project studying ants, or seeds or what-not during the day and presented their findings. It was very interesting and Frank again made us feel super welcome by introducing us and telling the students that we'd be staying with the group and in exchange they were to feel free to question us about our trip, our jobs and being out in the "real" world. Bb felt old for the second time in one day.

Listening to the bio students do reports took Steve back to his days in college and gave Bb some insight into the what it is like to get a biology degree instead of one in English.

Next morning, (8 April) we got to look at birds up close that had been caught in mist nets. Everyone had a chance to hold them, but Bb was timid and didn't want to take up student time, so she passed up the chance. She intends to take advantage if another opportunity presents itself later. Then Frank gave a short lecture outdoors on birding -- Bb missed it as she had gone back to camp and didn't realize it was going on. She won't do that again. We got to hear another lecture on the history of CR and then the rest of the day the students had free time, Frank was off doing his thing and the three of us hung out at camp: doing laundry, fixing our second flat tire - yep, you read that right, two in one week!, chatting with the students. It was a really nice afternoon.

Dinner was chicken burgers with all the fixins and french fries. We were all pretty excited about that. After dinner we got to attend another lecture hour. This time one of the TAs presented a lecture on climate in Costa Rica and Frank talked about life zones -- i.e. how life in CR is affected by precipitation, light and altitude. CR has 12 life zones which is quite a few, and explains some of the amazing diversity of flora and fauna in this tiny country. Did you know that Costa Rica is home to 25% of the world's species of butterfly? That is more than the entire continent of Africa. Pretty cool.

Sandy making herself at home among the tents.	Todd trotting out to catch some waves.	Shadows cast as we three walked back from our afternoon at Playa Naranjo.	Sunrise from the monument in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica.	Beebee enthralled by the sunrise.

Great fortuitous surprise of surprises, Giovanni Bassey showed up to get a cup of coffee. This is Steve's other friend and former "boss" in Costa Rica. After Steve was done with the EAP program, he worked for Bassey gathering shells and scuba diving for research, in exchange for room and board. Not too bad a gig. Needless to say, this made Steve's day. He chatted with Bassey while Bb packed up (seemed only right) and made plans to meet up with Bassey later.

Sámala Moonrise Photo: Todd Maes

We drove down to Sámara, and it was hot and muggy, with no snorkeling and only mediocre surfing. It would be a great beach for camping and just sitting around and doing nothing, but we had had enough of sitting around for a while. We stayed out of the sun under a palapa and planned where to go next. Too bad we weren't in the mood for the area. It really was beautiful.

The wind died down for sunset and it wasn't all that great to be sitting in the still air. We feared a hot muggy night, but later in the evening the wind picked up and made for a comfortable night's sleep. The disco next door didn't. Oh well.

So we headed out of town and up to a ferry-boat crossing for which we had no idea of what the schedule might be. We lucked out: the ferry was just unloading when we pulled up, so we pulled right on and it left almost immediately for the very short (five minute or so) ride across the Tempisque river. The ferry cost less than two bucks and was worth it for the time we saved driving around the long way. As we disembarked we were surprised to see that there was a line of cars about a kilometer (half-mile) long waiting for the ferry. Apparently the beaches we had just left are a very popular place for people to go during the holiday week preceding Easter.

The rest of the drive to La Fortuna was lush and picturesque- green rolling hills and views of Volcan Arenal rising behind the glistening blue Lago Arenal. After driving through some really pretty little towns with white buildings and bougainvillea crawling up their fences we stopped for some food at a ridiculously expensive tourist-trap restaurant then headed on our way. Grumpy from not eating enough and from driving all day, we nonetheless stopped in to check out some butterfly gardens near the lake. The $8/person entrance fee is higher than what we would usually spend on an hour tour of a botanical garden, but Steve especially was irritable enough that he decided that we would just go ahead and spend the %@_! money. Turned out to be a great idea as we really enjoyed the garden's educational signs, and in addition to beautiful plants we saw some wild howler monkeys, some tame toucans and parrots, and a bunch of butterflies.

We had a bit of time after finding our lodgings at Hotel el Bosque and before dark, so we walked around town, looking for restaurants, money, an internet cafe and laundry. We found all of the above, but the internet cafes were very expensive -- $5-6 U.S. per hour. Fortuna is a small city with a strong tourist influence, but prices weren't too bad, excluding internet.

We lucked out before dinner and found Desafío Tours & Internet where we met Bryce. We enjoyed talking with him and he let us copy some music. We also struck a deal with him to come back and do an update for a link.

Many thanks to Desafío Tours for donating some internet time for us to do an upload, and for the good advice they gave us regarding things to do in La Fortuna.

He told us of a couple of good places to eat in town. We chose Nene's and were very pleased. The tipico (typical dishes) was inexpensive and good, but the best part was the service. It was great. That doesn't happen in Central America hardly ever.

The waterfall itself was pounding and spraying and not entirely inviting, but the boys dove in and did their best to swim against the current. Bb went for a quick dip, but for her it was too cold for swimming.

On the way back down the hill, Steve and Bb kept stopping to look at birds and drove Todd nearly nuts. He was a bit more goal/time oriented than we birders.

But we couldn't help it. The fields offered a number of good opportunities: toucans (chestnut mandibled and keel billed), blue-gray tanagers, red-winged blackbirds, and a number of LYBs (little yellow birds). It was so good in fact, that we made plans to go out early the next morning.

We got back to the hotel by early evening, picked up our laundry (ahh, fresh laundry! gotta love it) and ate dinner -- at Nene's again! After which we cruised by Desafío Tours to do an update. The young man behind the counter knew nothing about our deal with Bryce, but we must have looked business-like (hee hee), because he let us hook up and do our thing anyway.

After dinner and a stroll around town, we sat out front of the hotel chatting with some other guests and a friendly taxi driver who invited us to come visit his home sometime. We also met Stig (Stee), a man from Denmark, who asked to go birding with us in the morning.

Steve swimming his hardest again the current, only to stay in place. Barely.	Horse parking just below the waterfall entrance.	Whatever hit this Cat and bent it so, isn't very happy anymore.	The surfboard that Todd bought in Nica for 40 bucks that we're still lugging around.	Todd searching for little green men on his bed.