April 6, 2011
(NOTE: As luck would have it, connectivity was not nearly as predictable as we had hoped. There are still more sections to come, and pictures and videos to edit and add...Patience will be rewarded! )
Departing from the base of Volcan Arenal, we head Northwest around the perimeter road of Lake Arenal with the ultimate goal of reaching Santa Elena which is a mere 15Km from the volcano…’As the crow flys’. But the route where the road goes is a cool 100Km from Arenal to Santa Elena via a serpentine road but offering plenty of places for photo ops. In years past the road was notorious for its poor conditions with pot-holes so large they had their own legislature! That has changed in recent years with the road now sporting a fresh pavement and a smooth ride. There are some portions which are a continuing problem where the road washes out from time to time, but it is a LOT better than the bone jarring, miscarriage inducing horror it used to be. Our traveling companion, John, has never seen Lake Arenal so we stop to give him time to shoot some photos while we vicariously enjoy the area through his enthusiasm. When the road reaches the half-way point it turns North at Neuvo Arenal. The legends about Nuevo Arenal having been destroyed in a previous eruption of the Volcano are not true. Like TVA did in the States during the 30’s, Arenal was moved from a location on what is now the bottom of Lake Arenal to it’s new location. Immediately after making the turn North, a German bakery sits on the right which has provided a welcome respite of coffee and Strudel for 30 years. This trip we found the Streudel soggy and tough and the wait staff surly and disinterested. Prices, which have never been cheap are not outrageous for the quality of the product. There is an Austrian bakery just down the street but our experience with the Austrian bakery on our last visit was no better. Seems when you are the only oasis in the dessert you can do what you want …and they do!
The roads from this Nuevo Arenal follow the western edge of the lake before it begins the climb toward the town of Tilaran. As we leave Tilaran the road becomes a mixture of pavement, dirt, gravel, boulders and concrete. Boy do they lead you up, through, around and into the countryside but it is certainly a feast for the eyes and a brutal attack on your backside! Some of the vistas leave you breathless with their beauty of the land that seems to go on for miles and miles some stretching as far as the Nicoya Gulf. The journey also provides an image of what rural life is like in Costa Rica. These are folks with everything but money who live in a. place where life is simple and material needs are few. Schools mark the location of Towns sometimes too small to even be noted on the most detailed maps where metal roofs and stucco or wood siding look worn and uninviting but abodes are clean looking with ‘lace curtains’ covering the windows that speak of decent hominess where wholesome, hardworking families survive in the remote mountain villages far from the maddening crowd. These routes don’t allow travel at highway speeds but, then, again, who’s in a hurry when on vacation so the scenery and the countryside are a joy to behold. One noteworthy thing to remember on this well traveled road in the next small town just beyond Tilaron is the “whanna buy a map” scam. An enterprising local diligently removes the signs marking the turn away from the town center and the correct route to Santa Elena. The road appears to go straight but ends a couple of blocks later. Even GPS’s are confused by this quirk of cartography and will lead you right into the same trap. As you look around in a daze wondering where the road goes, a well dressed young man sporting and official looking badge and clipboard will come up to the car and ask you if you’d like to buy a map. We have no idea where his map takes you, but it appears business is good as he was still at it as of our last visit. Also, rumors of this road being the worst road in Costa Rica are only half true. The road from Tilaron to Santa Elena is MUCH better than in years past. Now it will only take a week of traction before you can enjoy the pleasures of Monteverde. However, frequent travelers will be happy to know the dust is just as bad. It is Costa Rica after all!!! Without exception roads through out the country are markedly improved and some of the new roads are nothing short of stunning. No longer do you see people sporting ‘T’ shirts saying “I survived the roads in Costa Rica.” Some will miss the adventure of just getting from A to B, but we welcome it as a way to explore more of this beautiful country without being beaten to death!
We arrive in Santa Elena after about a three hour drive from Arenal. That’sjust the correct amount of time to switch gears, change Bio-zones and prepare for a completely new kind of adventure.
Santa Elena is funky in some respects with lots of young people hiking its many reserves and riding the Zip line tours. There are also a lot of older folks intent on seeing the front lines of global warming where extinction is already in progress or for the fashionistas, it’s where all that Abercrombie and Fitch rainforest gear and those odd hats get worn most in Costa Rica that would look odd on the streets elsewhere in the world. Whatever the reason folks who come to Monteverde carry the message of what global warming looks like. The eco-conscious locals are highly motivated and enthusiastic about preserving the cloud forests just as those of us who live on the outer Cape are passionate about the Whales. Visitors enjoy a sense of being in a mountaintop community where the beauty of the area simply falls away on either side of you as you traverse the mountainous terrain . It’s a wonderful place to come to grips with the realization that what goes on in a rain or cloud forest is what sustains our planet and, thus, us. Right about now we want to go home and turn off the lights, get out the bikes and hide the car keys.
Rather than stopping to take in the shops or café’s and tourist traps, we opt to head right on to one of our most favored places called El Sol which is a spot on Earth that is truly heavenly. We arrive and John jumps out to open the gate for us. We head down the boulder laden road and park the car and coming out to greet us is Elizabeth and Javier. Elizabeth owns the property. Javier is her son who is now living at El Sol with his wife, Dema and their two children, Dylan, their son and Anella, their daughter Elizabeth, Javier, Dema and even Dylan and Aniela all greets us with a bug hug and kiss welcoming us back to this very special place. We sit by the pool awhile and let the dust and cares drop away as the afternoon drags along. This is our third visit here and we feel most comfortable! and very blessed to be back home at El Sol Javier helps us take our luggage to where we’ll be living for the next three days. It’s a simple, rustic cabin comfortable as an old slipper and warm as a fresh croissant. It’s built cantilevered off the mountain providing endless views all the way to the Gulfo de Nicoya over an unending stream of mountain ranges that create a panoramic ripple of beauty for as far as the eye can see. This is a place where the parrots are your alarm clock, the Toucans your neighbors and the only music required is the sound of the wind in the trees and the insects singing at night.
We join Javier, his wonderful wife, Dema and their children Dylan (8) and Aniela (4) in their beautiful new home for our first home cooked meal in 2 weeks. The honest hospitality of a Costa Rican family is impossible to match. When they open their home to you, they open their hearts as well. One of the guide books said that you might become very close friends with a Costa Rican family, but that you would never be invited to their homes and we couldn’t disagree more. An invitation to a Costa Rican home is the very essence of understanding Pura Vida.
After hours of conversation, we return to our cabin and fall to sleep to the endless song of the night insects.
We checked our email early in the day and found the following dispatch from our friends who had traveled to Costa Rica's Caribbean coast.
our friend had a nice journey after they departed from us. Happily the 24 hour bakery in La Fortuna must have better coffee in the morning than in the afternoon because they had a decent breakfast there and got picked up right on time for their 6:20 departure to Puerto Viejo. Our friends had a pleasant journey, sharing the minivan with two other Americans, two Costa Ricans, and two Russians(!) and a nice driver. They stopped for a snack but otherwise went straight through and arrived around 12:30, in time for lunch.
Surprisingly, the other American couple, who looked like honeymooners, were staying at the Banana Azul in Puerto Viejo. It looked like a nice place; Our friends inquired about a room there but they were full. That turned out to be just as well since it is in a rather distant location. Our friends had the driver drop them in the center of town and got a hotel tip from the waitress where they ate lunch. It was rather bare bones, but did have an ocean view for only $40.
The next day their goal was to make Cartago which required a number of bus changes and took them through some spectacular mountain scenery. They then took the 9:30 a.m. bus to Limon and spent a couple hours there to look around and have lunch. Despite it's rather tawdry reputation they rather liked Limon, which was reported to have one of the most beautiful plazas they had ever seen and right on the ocean. It was dedicated to Columbus who had visited there in 1504 and some of the trees were so tall they looked like they dated from then.
From Limon our friends took a bus to Siquierres where they changed for a bus to Turrialba. There they were able to catch a bus to Cartago. They loved the scenery en route and wre impressed by the economic development. In many Latin American countries, leaving the cities plunges you into poverty-stricken areas, but not in Costa Rica. The roads we took were adorned with brightly-colored neat little houses with cars, electricity, televisions, etc., the small towns they went through were evidently prosperous, and the people certainly appeared happy. The experience made them more relaxed about eventually settling farther out in the country.
In Cartago they were dropped at the central plaza which is rather odd because the cathedral there is in ruins. Evidently over the course of 300 years the cathedral had been built and rebuilt, but kept getting knocked down by earthquakes so they decided to just leave it flattened. There is a nice garden inside and it is rather pretty, though odd to have ruins in the center of town. There are not many hotels in Cartago, but they eventually found a bed and breakfast across the street from the Basilica de los Angeles, a large church and site of an annual pilgrimage that draws thousands from many countries every August. It is dramatically lit at night which made for a nice setting from our guest house. The next morning they visited the church which commemorates the miraculous appearance of the Virgin near the very spot and quenched their thirst with holy water that comes from a perpetual underground spring (conveniently piped into the shrine). The pilgrims come for cures and often bring tokens of their ailments which they leave behind and which are displayed on the walls. Among the thousands of little silver arms, legs, ears, eyes, hands, feet, etc. on display, their eagle eyes even managed to find a penis!
From Cartago they traveled to Alajuela, changing buses in San Jose. In traveling from one bus station to another, they found the Episcopal church and walked down the Avenida Central promenade again, having lunch on a balcony on the second floor from where they could watch everyone go by. In Alajuela, they stayed at the Backpackers Hotel, whose brochure they had picked up in Puerto Viejo. It belied its name and was actually quite nice, with a fourth floor bar that had a great view of the city and surrounding mountains at night. Alajuela has a very pretty plaza and a clean and bustling market along with a museum in a former prison dedicated to Juan Santamaria, an Alajuelan for whom the airport is named. As luck would have it they happened to be walking by the Teatro Municipal about 5:45 in the evening where it was obvious an event was starting up. They were invited to attend and it turned out to be a commemoration of a local composer who had written a song about Alajuela. The mayor presented a certificate, a 40-instrument children's orchestra played, and everyone all stood and sang homage to Alajuela!
Alas, thwy had to leave the next day, but since they had a fairly late flight, they were able to look around a little more, buy a few things at the market, and have lunch before catching the bus to the airport (for 90 cents, one of the better bargains). Our friends left San Jose and arrived in Miami at 10:00, got a car and stayed overnight with a Provincetown friend in Fort Lauderdale and then drove all the way down Collins Avenue before catching our afternoon flight back to Boston and reality. It seemed like spring at first, but has turned back into winter. Happily they still have very pleasant memories to keep them warm.
Surprisingly, the other American couple, who looked like honeymooners, were staying at the Banana Azul in Puerto Viejo. It looked like a nice place; Our friends inquired about a room there but they were full. That turned out to be just as well since it is in a rather distant location. Our friends had the driver drop them in the center of town and got a hotel tip from the waitress where they ate lunch. It was rather bare bones, but did have an ocean view for only $40.
The next day their goal was to make Cartago which required a number of bus changes and took them through some spectacular mountain scenery. They then took the 9:30 a.m. bus to Limon and spent a couple hours there to look around and have lunch. Despite it's rather tawdry reputation they rather liked Limon, which was reported to have one of the most beautiful plazas they had ever seen and right on the ocean. It was dedicated to Columbus who had visited there in 1504 and some of the trees were so tall they looked like they dated from then.
From Limon our friends took a bus to Siquierres where they changed for a bus to Turrialba. There they were able to catch a bus to Cartago. They loved the scenery en route and wre impressed by the economic development. In many Latin American countries, leaving the cities plunges you into poverty-stricken areas, but not in Costa Rica. The roads we took were adorned with brightly-colored neat little houses with cars, electricity, televisions, etc., the small towns they went through were evidently prosperous, and the people certainly appeared happy. The experience made them more relaxed about eventually settling farther out in the country.
In Cartago they were dropped at the central plaza which is rather odd because the cathedral there is in ruins. Evidently over the course of 300 years the cathedral had been built and rebuilt, but kept getting knocked down by earthquakes so they decided to just leave it flattened. There is a nice garden inside and it is rather pretty, though odd to have ruins in the center of town. There are not many hotels in Cartago, but they eventually found a bed and breakfast across the street from the Basilica de los Angeles, a large church and site of an annual pilgrimage that draws thousands from many countries every August. It is dramatically lit at night which made for a nice setting from our guest house. The next morning they visited the church which commemorates the miraculous appearance of the Virgin near the very spot and quenched their thirst with holy water that comes from a perpetual underground spring (conveniently piped into the shrine). The pilgrims come for cures and often bring tokens of their ailments which they leave behind and which are displayed on the walls. Among the thousands of little silver arms, legs, ears, eyes, hands, feet, etc. on display, their eagle eyes even managed to find a penis!
From Cartago they traveled to Alajuela, changing buses in San Jose. In traveling from one bus station to another, they found the Episcopal church and walked down the Avenida Central promenade again, having lunch on a balcony on the second floor from where they could watch everyone go by. In Alajuela, they stayed at the Backpackers Hotel, whose brochure they had picked up in Puerto Viejo. It belied its name and was actually quite nice, with a fourth floor bar that had a great view of the city and surrounding mountains at night. Alajuela has a very pretty plaza and a clean and bustling market along with a museum in a former prison dedicated to Juan Santamaria, an Alajuelan for whom the airport is named. As luck would have it they happened to be walking by the Teatro Municipal about 5:45 in the evening where it was obvious an event was starting up. They were invited to attend and it turned out to be a commemoration of a local composer who had written a song about Alajuela. The mayor presented a certificate, a 40-instrument children's orchestra played, and everyone all stood and sang homage to Alajuela!
Alas, thwy had to leave the next day, but since they had a fairly late flight, they were able to look around a little more, buy a few things at the market, and have lunch before catching the bus to the airport (for 90 cents, one of the better bargains). Our friends left San Jose and arrived in Miami at 10:00, got a car and stayed overnight with a Provincetown friend in Fort Lauderdale and then drove all the way down Collins Avenue before catching our afternoon flight back to Boston and reality. It seemed like spring at first, but has turned back into winter. Happily they still have very pleasant memories to keep them warm.
They promise pictures...soon!
