Tag Archives: San Geraldo

Bugs, Snakes, Birds, and Turtles

13 Jun

After F and D departed, the crew lounged around the rental house until the house cleaners kicked us out and then headed up the mountain to San Gerardo de Rivas. This funky little mountain town is the last stop for folks headed to hike Mt. Chirripo; we did not hike the mountain on this trip (but R and H took this serious hike on earlier in their travels). We did, however, venture to Cloudbridge Reserve to pay our respects to H’s thumb. We spent the evening at Casa Mariposa – a super cute hostel at is built into the rocks along a stream and open to the wonderful world… which meant we had a few insect guests staying in our room and one black snake. H and R were a bit more comfortable with our roommates, but Landin and I decided to pitch at tent to have a little more privacy. Nothing like sleeping in a tent indoors. H and I got up early to do some trail running along the Cloudbridge waterfall trail and worked up enough heat to jump into the most beautifully clear, cold stream 3 times.

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We continued up the mountains toward the Cerro de la Muerte (Mtn of Death) and stopped at the Mirador de Quetzales for some bird searching – and we had success! One female Quetzal added to my list as well as 20 other birds. Our Guide was wonderful and we sipped hot chocolate as it rained before heading down to San Jose for the night.

We made a very early drive to catch a canal boat the next day to Tortuguero National Park. Clic Clic runs a very affordable canal boat out of La Pavona. Tortuguero was hot hot hot (cold water shower never felt so good) and wet wet wet. So to mitigate the heat we had milkshakes, naps, and hammock swings (to create some breeze). We did enjoy the national park and took a night walk to see a Green Sea Turtle looking for a nesting spot. Also we paddled around the canals in a dug out canoe and again found plenty of rain in the rainforest.

Once we had enough humid heat, we retreated to the mountains to give our clothes a chance to dry out and soak our muscles in the hot springs of Volcano Arenal. We found the cute town of El Castillo and stayed at Essence Arenal, which serves a wonderful veggie dinner and has spectacular views. After spending the morning in the heated stream waters (we even found a free access point across from the most expensive spa), we drove around Lake Arenal to find the brewery and stopped

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on the way back at Pizza John’s for pizza, home made ice cream, and a some interesting/great conversation.

Landin and R were scheduled to leave early on Tuesday, so we made the track back to San Jose. H and I are now headed to the East Coast for some beaches and Caribbean food.

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The Rule 2: Don’t Die Special One Month Anniversary Edition, In Two Parts… PART ONE

24 Apr

That’s right people, we have made it to our one month anniversary! We have been celebrating our little anniversaries that we’ve reached along the way, mainly with ice cream. However, for the one month we decided that something more fancy than the two of us eating ice cream would be required for blog purposes (but let’s not pretend, we absolutely ate ice-cream on the anniversary!); thus, we have the Rule 2: Don’t Die Special One Month Anniversary Addition, In Two Parts.

PART ONE: The Helpful Peruvian

We worked for three days at the Cloudbridge Reserve in San Geraldo. On the first day, H chopped her thumb in two. The second day she was in charge of greeting hikers into the Reserve while I learned what to look for when finding posts for building a casa and about the land surrounding the reserve from Tom while we hiked around the front of the property (I definitely had the better job!). Day three was all about staining one side of some planks of wood to keep them from being damaged during the building phase of the next few weeks; we stained a lot of wood, but did not quite finish them all before our stain ran out. We’re really excited to see them on the floor of the new buildings when we head back through!

However, instead of staying our full 5 days, as was the original plan, we had to pack up and leave for our next stop in Liberia to help watch a small B&B with pets while the owners traveled, looking into different location possibilities. We said goodbye to Tom and our favorite view at Cloudbridge (which just so happens to also be from the volunteers’ porch) and went to also say goodbye to Traci at Casa Mariposa. When we arrived Traci had gone for a hike down to the next town, Canaan (which I hear has a fantastic sustainable dairy farm with tasty cheese), so we parked in front of the house and snacked on our lunch. We assumed that if we finished lunch before she came back, we would just see her on the hike back down the mountain as she was coming back up.

Conveniently, while we were sitting on the porch with H‘s thumb stuck in a permanent hitchhiking position (it can also be seen that she seems always really supportive of anyone who looks at her) a friendly Peruvian, who we had just met at Casa Mariposa a few nights before, passed by directly from his long hike down Chirripo in the rain. Gonzalo was headed back to his home in San Jose, we were headed to San Jose for the night, and he kindly offered us a ride with him (an offer we secured by asking if the shower could be borrowed at Casa Mariposa). We were not more than 3 km down the mountain when a nail found it’s way into the back left tire. Bad luck, especially since H was one handed and Gonzalo had literally just hiked a ridiculous mountain. But he still had enough energy to do all the heavy lifting, allowing me just a few moments with the jack to make me feel like I was contributing…

And we changed a tire

Ultimately we got the tires switched about the car, and I was very impressed how well Toyota had organized it’s tools so they are all easily accessible and yet out of the way inside the door or walls of the truck. Ingenious, really.

Gonzalo got us to San Jose without further delay, insisting we practice our Spanish even though he speaks fluent English. We even had a discussion about the difference between clouds and fog while going over the Montana de Muerto, which I am not sure we ever came to any final decision on. (Does anyone know the answer on this?) After proving ourselves to be unlikely serial killers, Gonzalo invited us to stay at his apartment outside the city. We ended the evening with breathtaking views of San Jose and the nearby volcanos from a swimming pool, extraordinary conversation, and a late night viewing of Los Juegos del Hambre (finally! And it was in English with Spanish subtitles, which I should have been paying attention to… But it’s the Hunger Games, I did not have any better intentions than pure enjoyment!)

We took a bus to downtown the next morning, got a little lost looking for the next bus station, and then began our trek to Liberia. Please stay tuned for more information in PART TWO: Ant Wars, coming soon!

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