Up the Mountain

We got packed up at a decent pace and made ready to leave our first Airbnb of the trip. Our next one, in the cool mountains of San Gerardo de Dota, would be a rustic wood cabin. There were not a lot of Airbnb options in the Dota area, so this is one that I settled on, even though it was a little pricy for the rustic-ness. That’s why we only booked two nights.

Ramon got his rental car around 8am, so we were able to load up the luggage between two cars, which made a huge difference in comfort level. Anna’s bag was large, so I’m not sure how we would have loaded up all 7 of us and luggage into the Rush. Alex rode with Ramon.

We said our goodbyes to our host, Sofia, and hot the road. Google Maps had estimated 2 hours to the cabin, but Waze was saying an hour and 15. Despite the slow-going up the mountain and getting stuck behind the inevitable slow trucks, we still made good time and found ourselves, for the second time this trip, looking at being early for our Airbnb. We stopped at a little cafeteria-style restaurant for some snacks.

The cafeteria had pretty good wi-fi (one of the changes I’ve noticed from 10 years ago is how the wi-fi seems to be much improved). Cristina called T-Mobile to continue the effort to get the extra phone unlocked, since we were heading into the area that the Kolbi card was most recommended. Still not much success, as they said (for the second time) that they’d work on it and get back to us in the next day or two. Our host, Allan, said that early check-in was not possible, but he suggested we visit Truchas Selva Madre if we needed to kill some time. This is a trout farm/restaurant that has some hiking trails to waterfalls for 1000 colones per person ($1.67). It wasn’t very far off the main road, and the trout camp was gorgeous. We were greeted by Jose Maria, the owner, who totally embodied the authentic pura vida spirit of Costa Rica. Super sweet, friendly guy; you could tell immediately. He explained his facilities (restaurant is closed on Mondays, but we could still catch trout and he would clean them for us). We opted for the hike, and it was perfect. Not cool enough to be uncomfortable, but not so hot to be uncomfortable. The hike was beautiful and just strenuous enough to make the old people short of breath to give you a good day’s exercise, but not kill you. And waterfalls are always the perfect payoff for any hike. And we had an escort: one of Jose Maria’s dogs, who Jose said would likely follow us on our hike. He was sweet. We couldn’t remember his name (Mechas?) so we just called him Mitzi (we couldn’t remember his gender either…had a Wito moment).

After hiking the whole 2 waterfall loop, we decided to catch some trout for dinner. Bella and Alex went first and quickly caught two nice big ones. Unfortunately, there was a casualty, as Alex dropped his knife in the water while bringing his trout in. We decided to get 4 trout, so it was Sofia and Anna’s turn. They had a little more trouble, but finally landed two good ones. Jose Maria took the fish in a bucket to the pila (outdoor sink) and cleaned them. His daughter came down from the house and helped him. One of the trout was a potential mama, and Jose cut out the roe and washed it off for everyone to try. Well, Cristina and Sofia tried. He also lay the heart of one trout on the edge of the sink where it was still beating. Bella took a look and then went and played with the dogs.

Jose not only cleaned the trout but also filleted them for us (because I don’t have much experience or confidence in cooking whole fish in an unknown kitchen with no internet). The cost was 6000 colones per kilo. Our 4 trout totaled 3 kilos, so we paid 18,000 ($30) for 8 beautiful, large trout fillets that couldn’t be any fresher if we wanted. He said that the next day he could drain the pond a little and possibly find Alex’s knife. Cristina swapped contact info with him and we headed to our new home.

The cabin was much smaller looking on the outside than we expected, but once we figured out where the keys were hidden, we got inside and unloaded. The kitchen mostly had everything we need, but the fridge has seen better decades and there is definitely a lack of counter space. But overall, the cabin is cute and cozy (if a little chilly). And it has a pool table, which Alex and Ramon tried out. Alex and Ramon started working on building a fire in the fireplace and the rest of us went down to the nearest “mini super” to get a few supplies we forgot. There are lots of names for grocery stores: pulparia (very small), bodega (not sure if this term is used in Costa Rica, but it’s small like a pulparia), mini super (probably the name of a chain, but it describes it nicely: bigger than a pulparia, but not as big as a super market).

Note: it’s hard to find real butter in this neck of the woods. They have Numar, which is margarine, but we tried several places, and no one had actual butter. One guy explained it’s because the fat from the milk is mostly used for natilla (sour cream) which makes butter more expensive, so people just don’t buy it as much as Numar. Supply and demand = frowny face for us.

We also had a hard time finding full-fat milk. At the risk of sounding like a diva, I want richer cream in my coffee than skim milk. I’m willing to forego my usual half and half for milk, but I at least want whole milk. This wasn’t a tough find in San Jose, but out here in the land of no-butter, whole milk is apparently also scarce. We finally bought 2 coffee cups full of whole milk from a restaurant. Weird gringos.

Back at the cabin, I started cooking dinner while we all had hot chocolate. We decided to cook the trout over the fire, which Alex had going nicely now. I didn’t want to risk ruining our beautiful fish, so I put them skin side down in a baking sheet over the fire. I made some rice and beans, Cristina warmed tortillas over the fire, and we chowed down.

After dinner, we played a couple of rounds of Sofia’s game Scrawl, kind of a cross between Pictionary and Telephone, with a pinch of Cards Against Humanity raunchiness thrown in. It was great. I never knew my wife could draw such a good picture of someone having intimate relations with a cow. Yeah, it’s that kind of game.

Allan, the host, said that if we wanted to take a guided walking tour, he knew an ex-pat from the States that gave tours and lived very close by. 3000 colones per person ($5). I was really ready for a day of chilling, nursing this annoying sunburn, and catching up on my blog, so I opted out, but the girls wanted to do it. I told Allan we’d want to sleep in, and he said they could start at 10am.

Although it was only 10pm, we were all tired and ready for bed. So that’s what we did. Sofia braved the suicide shower, but the rest of us opted for morning showers.

Note: we call them suicide showers because they are a type of shower that heats the water at the shower head, which means that there are wires in the shower connecting the shower head to the electricity. A shower with electrical wires sounds like something you would only use if you wanted to die. Thus, suicide showers. It’s just an old joke that has stuck over the years.

Our mattress was quite hard and thin. I added it to my mental note of complaints about a cabin that cost $100 a night. That was a $30-a-night mattress if I’ve ever felt one.