I Smell Gringos

Today we drove to Volcan Poas, a semi-active volcano about an hour’s drive away. (It’s pronounced PWOSS…one syllable…though the p sound and the w sound aren’t real comfortable together for most non-Spanish speakers…think Barbara Walters saying the word pross, which I realize isn’t even a word). On the way up the mountain, I saw some Gringos walking in the road, so I said “I smell Gringos,” just as a joke. Bella didn’t quite hear me right and said “You smell geckos?” We all got a chuckle out of that. Sometimes certain moments happen and everyone recognizes it as a bloggable moment, as in “That’s going in the blog.”

Speaking of smells, when we reached the Volcan Poas National Park and got out of the car, we detected the distinct smell of sulfur. “Aww, that stinks,” Alex said. But you get used to it quickly.

We got Tico-price admission (even me…score!) and hiked to the principle crater. I remembered that the last time we were here, Bella was in the sling and not too happy. Her disposition was better this time, but I still wound up carrying her for part of the hike.

We arrived at the crater to see a spectacular view of…white. Complete and utter obscurity. “Look at that polar bear in a snowstorm,” I said. But a little patience can pay off, and before too long, the winds lifted the cloudy fog enough to glimpse the smoking crater below.



A group of about 7 or 8 Gringos were milling about, waiting for the fog to clear like we were. Two of them, an attractive girl and a guy that looked like an offensive lineman, posed for a picture in front of the crater and we then realized that these people were cheerleaders. When you see how they posed, you’ll know what I mean. We chatted briefly to them. They were all from various states, here to work for a guy who was opening some kind of fitness gym in San Jose.


Next we hiked up to the lagoon, which is an extinct volcanic crater now filled with water. The lagoon is okay, but the coolest part is the trail that leads to the lagoon. It’s paved and easy to hike, but it winds through a beautiful canopy of jungle vines and trees. You can easily imagine that you’re walking into another world, dark, cool, and primal. If a girl in a red hood had run by saying something about a wolf, it wouldn’t have seemed out of place.

Haven't I seen this set in a Tim Burton movie?

On the way back down the mountain, it seemed like we were running out of gas. The gas gauge in Miranda’s car doesn’t work, so you have to go by the trip meter. When the meter gets to 200 km, you better fill up. We were at 162 and it was starting to chug-chug like it was running out of gas. I wasn’t sure if it actually was, but I didn’t want to risk it. So I coasted down the mountain as much as possible. We had passed a gas station on the way up, so that was now our target.

You can buy strawberries up on the mountain where the weather is so wet and cool, so even though we were running low on gas, we still stopped for strawberries. We got gas later with no problems.

We ate lunch at a nice place near the gas station. The food was delicious and the waiter was kind and attentive. The restaurant itself was gorgeous. Even the bathrooms were lovely, resembling a cave beneath a waterfall. The only glitch to the meal was that their credit card machine wouldn’t connect. After fiddling with it for a while, they actually told us not to worry about paying the bill; we could just pay the next time we came. But I had $25 US dollars on me, which is exactly how much the bill was, so I paid with that. It was doubtful we’d be coming back this summer, and the food and service was too good to not pay for.

Onward we went to La Paz waterfall, on a road that had recently been destroyed by an earthquake. We were told by our waiter that the road was reopened, so we took the chance to see the waterfall, which was only about 10 km off the beaten path. The road, while open, was still visibly affected by the earthquake. It was a slow and rough journey. We saw many houses still in ruins or partially crumbling.

We drove by the Peace Lodge and Gardens, a fancy resort near the waterfall. They have all kinds of things to enjoy (for a hefty price) like animals, gardens, and flowers. We attempted to drive the road past the Peace Lodge, but it got even rougher and we finally came to a “road closed” sign. “Extremely dangerous risk of landslide.” That was enough for me. We turned around and went back to the Peace Lodge.

The Peace Lodge was about to close, so no luck in seeing the falls this time. All we had time to do was explore the gift shop and use the bathrooms, which were even nicer than the restaurant’s. The sinks were cool enough to warrant videotaping. Each sink was like a little waterfall. You rotated a rock and water poured down a stone chute into a ceramic basin. Totally touristy. Totally delightful.

This was the resident cat, named Hunter

If I needed a cane, it would have to be this one

We got home at last around 6. The kids watched a little bit more of Bolt, in Spanish. I worked on setting up a wireless network, but to no avail. I cannot get the router set up with a detectable internet connection. I think it may have something to do with the fact that Wito’s computer does not have an actual ethernet port, but uses a USB ethernet adapter. I finally gave up and watched some TV, then went to bed around midnight.