We survived last night in one piece and after an early breakfast we bought a phone card for local calls (all of Costa Rica) We need this so we can make reservations ahead to prevent what happened last night. (Hotel hell). We also have thought about getting an international card as we'd like to talk to the kids but don't want to call collect and we can't charge it back to the house w/o knowing enough Espanol to be able to converse w/ the operator. Something we'll have to explore. Most of the Ticos don't have phones so there are calling card phones everywhere that do not accept money. All the hotels have international phones but they too are by calling card. I can't recall seeing any phones that accept cash.
After packing up and getting our $5.00 back from Mr. DeVito we struck out with our back packs to get to La Cascada where we booked in around 9 a.m. It's a nice place although w/ no air conditioning we have a ceiling fan and a small rotating one. No pool but it's right next to the river where there are three waterfalls just upstream and where it empties into the ocean just across the street there are some beautiful pools that we have to try out. They are continually flushed by the wave action.
After checking in and while hopefully it was cool enough we asked the lady at reception how to find the waterfalls. Her reply was "just across the bridge and turn right" and then 20 minutes walk. Sure easy for her to say. She forgot she was talking to a couple of dumb gringos. Hell, I'm not exactly Henry the navigator so away we go. Across the bridge there's an encampment of people I figured for gypsies or nomads or something with lots of people, cars, trucks, tents etc. so we passed them and then the road branched off to the right. What would you have done? So away we go. The first hill goes up at about 45 degrees and it's about a 1/4 of a mile to the top. Well that took care of the 20 minutes. (We did manage to see a family of white faced monkeys and got a few good shots of them) Rounding a corner there's another hill. This went on 5 times. My tongue was getting raw from the gravel. The steepest parts were paved which I figure is to eliminate the ever present washboard and in between were dust and gravel. We walked for 45 minutes aiming from spots of shade to the next shady spot. Jo was really becoming spent so I went ahead to scout while she rested. Nada. That was it. We headed back down disappointed but even if we'd found the fabled falls we'd have had to hike down into the canyon and then back up again. Upon arriving at the bottom of the hills near the ocean and just past the gypsies we saw the path right beside the river. They had parked one of their big trucks there and hidden the path. We started up but then thought better of it as we were long out of water by then so we came back to the room, grabbed some water and sat out on the covered patio just down from our room and overlooking the road and surf a few hundred feet away. This patio is quite large and is home to many hammocks. We settled in with my book and Jo with her journal and that took care of the afternoon. Our company was a group of young people from Lethbridge and a California guy who appeared on the run. He indicated he couldn't get into Canada due to a cultivation problem on U.S. govt. soil. He also informed us they were filming a movie at the falls and hence the tent etc. for feeding the crew. Well what do I know? They looked like gypsies to me.
He also told us of a better place to stay near the Arenal volcano. It appears the lava flow has changed over the last few years and there's a small undeveloped town with a better view so we'll have to check that out. He also said this place is a lot cheaper as people are still going to the one recommended in the books.
While sitting on the deck I finished downloading pictures and completed yesterdays blog as well as the book I've been packing around. There's another 1/2 # I don't need to carry. I'm saving all these blogs as drafts as I need to walk into town to obtain internet connection which we plan to do tomorrow morning while having breakfast. It's kind of a drag as to put the pics on facebook I don't have hours to spend adding descriptions which I could do at night if they had wireless. I have figured out that by hilighting the pics I want to ad while off line it speeds up sorting them out.
Tonight there was some kind of furry rodent in the grass next door that I got a good picture of as well as a possum crossing the bridge. Everyone's seen them so I didn't bother to get off my butt and snap him although it would have been neat to watch it play dead. While eating lunch though in the restaurant downstairs a couple of the bluejay magpies came down One landed on the chair back next to me and eventually ate a chip out of Jo's hand. I had ordered a cheeseburg w/ fries and when it came I couldn't find any meat. I figured what the hell and started eating it anyway. They'd toasted ( cremated) the bun and it was like trying to swallow the insole of a shoe. He came out a few minutes later with a plate and the meat patty and apologised for forgetting the meat. Haha Part of the experience. I was just beginning to think it was a veggie burger with lots of lettuce, tomato, and cheese.
We may end up staying here one extra night as the game reserve is closed on Mon. and Tues. and we'd planned to leave Wed. No sense coming this far and missing it. After that it will be possibly by boat to Jaco across the bay by about an hour or on to Port Antonio in two hours. This is our next target as that's where the sloths etc. are. After that we're very close to Panama so we'll see how that goes. That's it for tonight. Jo's already asleep and I'm not far behind.
LINK OF THE DAY http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28297&l=605a4&id=680056043
Hasta Luego
Al & Jo
