Well this was a real busy day. We got up this morning at 6 a.m. as our driver was supposed to be here at 7:30. He got here early so we had a real short breakfast (toast and a fruit bowl). KEE-AH!...we're off in the Kia van with Javier and headed over to pick up Lynn. She was waiting for us in the reception area at the Hilton and the four of us (Soleilla from our place was with us) left for Liberia. We stopped there at a mall and I managed to pick up some Cohiba Cuban small cigars. The girls hit the banyo and away we went. Drove to Canas and then on to Bevedero where we were to leave on the boat cruise. Bevedero is a cute little out of the way place with a small population on the Las Tenorito River. This river smokes along pretty well. It's a muddy color and definitely not for swimming!
First thing we were asked what we wanted for lunch (which was part of the $85 package) The girls opted for the chicken and I went for the beef. We were then introduced to Amadelo our captain. This guy was very likeable and about 40. Javier joined us and was obviously a good friend of his. While we were at the departure point a group of youalls came in in an arrogant fashion and we thought, "Oh here we go". Turns out to our good fortune they were at the wrong place. We got on our boat which would have held about 40 and it was "our boat." No one else. Well the youalls passed us going like a bat out of hell and we waved like we'd miss them. We hadn't gone more than 5 minutes and the skipper stopped the big Yamaha and pointed out a croc on the bank. It was a small one about 8' long; shortly after that an iguana laden w/ eggs sitting on the bank. He was so attentive to us! He'd spot something and back up, jockey around so we could see, get our pictures and if we couldn't see what he was pointing at he'd use a mirror to point them out with a sunbeam! Our van driver also was a great spotter. We saw all we could ask for. Some of the crocs were around 15' long.
Birds galore and the cruise was at a very slow pace. Javier told us later we got an extra 55 minutes of cruise time. We tipped him pretty well when we got back and I gave him my business card explaining that I was also a "capitan". Well you'd think we were brothers after that. He also works out of Arenal on a large lake there so hopefully we'll see him again.
By this time it was around 1 pm and we were getting hungry. We loaded into the Kia van (nice with individual a/c) and headed for Canas. Got to the restaurant in the hotel, and it was 1st class! The "lunch" began with homemade tortillas and a bowl of some kind of additive like warm salsa. Very good. We also were given a large pitcher of water and another pitcher of some kind of juice that tasted slightly like pineapple juice to me but it wasn't.
Then came the food! Girls loved the chicken and the salsa that came with it. Javier joined us and we had beef. What a steak! Coleslaw, carrots and some other veggie, rice, and black beans. Man it makes my mouth water to think of it. Right behind our table were the desserts. The girls had coffee and then Jo bought a slab of some kind of million calorie chocolate cake which we all tasted. Worth every bit of weight gain!
Then it was time to move on and we headed off to Liberia. Lynn and Soleilla went into the mall again and got a bottle of the salsa we'd tried along with a big bottle of vanilla. Jo and I stayed behind and saved our money.
We dropped Lynn off at the Hilton and got back here about 3:30. Then it was time to hit the beach and go monkey hunting with Soleilla. When we got to the right place the girls went swimming and I hung out looking up into the trees we'd seen them in yesterday. There was a guy cleaning up the yard where we'd stopped yesterday and he invited me in to show me the monkeys. He signalled me to walk around so I did and found the monkeys were in different trees today but still the same troop. He invited the ladies in when they came looking for me. I think his family lived in a house on the grounds and he was a caretaker for the unoccupied houses next door. We watched for a while and I got all my pictures and then we headed back to the beach access path that we'd found the other day. Half way to the road Jo spotted some more monkeys and we watched them for a while. That's about it for the day. We were beat when we got back and it's taken me hours to download 120 pictures and write this blog.
I've still got about 50 videos that I haven't downloaded and some of them are pretty good. When I downloaded the last 60 pics to the facebook I lost them along with all the descriptive info so I'll add that later. Enjoy and leave your comments.
Now we have a quandry. If we drop off our 3rd bag in San Jose at a secure location we'll have to backtrack about 8 hours on the chicken bus. We're thinking of heading South to Puntarenas as far as we can go and then heading up the East coast of the peninsula, catching the ferry to the mainland and heading South along the West coast some more to around the Panamanian border. We'll see what happens. The reason we're changing our immediate plans to see Arenal is that Javier said the best time to see the volcano both at night and during the day is in March or April when it's clearer with no clouds blocking the view. At night you can see the red hot lava flowing down the sides.
So guess we'll devote tomorrow to making plans for the upcoming week. Lynn and Anne are thinking of joining us in town tomorrow night for an early supper (the last night here for all of us).
It's 10 pm and the temp is 29 and the humidity (which is higher than it has been) is 58. The only sound is the surf and the lawn sprinklers. Time for bed.
LINKS FOR THE DAY
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25832&l=d77fc&id=680056043
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25830&l=19594&id=680056043
