Two videos

I have two videos that I meant to post during the trip but wasn't able to...until now.

The first one is the awesome footage I got of a 3-toed sloth at Termales del Bosque near San Carlos.

https://youtu.be/g25slUaOgUU

And the second video is a clip from a "Good Morning America"-type show in Costa Rica called Buen Dia. We didn't have a VCR or DVR, so the best we could do was record the TV screen with our camera. The story is about the Escuela de Musica Pavas, the Pavas Music School, which Sofia performed with while we were there. If you watch carefully, you'll see her in a few shots (at the :31 mark, and the :42 mark, and a few other places). https://youtu.be/IJqLBkM8gz4

My Sphere

Here are some photos of my replica Pre-Columbian Sphere of Costa Rica. It came with the little stand. I'm keeping it on my desk at school.

A Depressing Trip to Fry's

When I went to Fry's grocery store, an hour or so after getting home from the airport, I was bummed at the selections and prices of produce. I totally got spoiled on the farmer's market right outside the door in Pavas.

Here in Phoenix, red and yellow sweet peppers are often very expensive, like several dollars each. Today, they were on sale for $1 each, which was nice...until I remembered how much sweet peppers cost in Costa Rica:

That 500 colones equals about $.86. That's 14 cents per pepper. And they were probably just picked, too.

Sigh.

Back to the Desert

Our last day in Costa Rica. It’s been a long summer, and a full one. And as much as I miss certain things about home (making music with Steve, listening to NPR on the weekends, having plentiful, beautiful bananas on hand for easy snacks for Bella, going to the movies with Peter) I’m a little sad to leave Costa Rica.

Chino wasn’t available to help us get to the airport, so we would have to make two trips. Wito would take me and the luggage at 3:30. Then he’d go back and pick up Cristina and the kids (and the few last purses and backpacks) and bring them to the airport. Our flight left at 6:35, so we needed to be there around 4:30.

The airport tax. I know I write about this every time we visit Costa Rica, but I’ll state it again for posterity: I hate the airport tax. In a big way. In a dump-the-tea-in-Boston-Harbor kind of way. Costa Rica is a great country, but their aggravating airport tax is one of the things I hate. Trivia fact: Juan Santamaria Airport is the only airport in the world to make you pay a tax before you can leave the country. It’s up to $26 per person now. So for a family of five, we have to shell out $130 just to be able to fly home. Plus, at the end of a trip, so much money has flowed out for last minute items (oh yeah, we need to get so-and-so a gift!) that the airport tax is just salt rubbed in this miser’s financial wound. I know airports have to get money to operate and maintain, but all I’m asking is that they work the tax into the price of the ticket instead of making you pay in country. It wouldn’t feel as painful that way.

Wito dropped me off at 4 am, said goodbye, and headed back to Pavas to get the rest of the family. A skycap wheeled our mountain of suitcases to the Frontier check-in counter.

Some tourists don’t realize that you can pay the airport tax early, at any bank. Cristina had done that Monday, so we didn’t have to wait in the airport tax line in the airport like so many other people. It was a long line. I was glad not to be in it.

To go through the line to check in, I first had to fill out a form on the back of the airport tax document (a procedure wrapped in a form inside a bureaucracy). It wasn’t too big of a deal because I was early and there were not very many people there yet, but I wished I had a cell phone to call Cristina and give her a head’s up. Then she could fill out all the other four forms before she got here. But I was powerless. No cell phone, and I was tied down to nine 50-pound suitcases and five carry-ons.

By the way, I can’t remember if I mentioned the picnic basket before. Maritza and Wito gave Cristina a picnic basket. I think it was for her birthday, because they gave it to her before I arrived. The handle on it is fixed upright, though. There was no way it could fit in any suitcase. So I filled it with light items, tied it shut with some rope, and planned to wrap it in plastic to keep it protected. We’d just check it as a piece of luggage.

Even as early as I was, I was second in line. I had 6,000 colones left. I gave the Skycap 1,000. That left me 5,000 to get the picnic basket wrapped in plastic. Wito said it would cost a couple of bucks, so I figured I’d have a little bit leftover. I couldn’t see the guys who plastic-wrap suitcases, and all our stuff was at the front of the line, so I was kind of stuck until the family arrived.

The line began to grow. Around 4:30, the Frontier people opened up and started checking passengers in. Every time they were ready for the next passenger, I told the person behind me to go ahead.

Soon, the plastic-wrap guys came to get their machines and wheel them up front, ready for business. I caught one guy’s attention as he was getting the last machine, and asked him if he could wrap something for me right there or if it had to be done at the entrance. His English wasn’t good, and my Spanish wasn’t either (“Wrap aqui? O solomente aya?”) but I figured out that he couldn’t do it right there. Since I couldn’t leave all my luggage, I was in a pinch. And with the line growing long, I didn’t want to have to do it after the family got there. But he solved the problem by just taking the basket up to a machine and then bringing it back all wrapped up. Just as he was coming back with it, I saw Bella and Sofia coming in the door. Perfect timing. I could see Cristina getting exasperated with the unexpected forms to fill out. All I could do was smile and wave from the front of the line.

I handed Plastic-wrap Man my 5,000 bill, expecting some change, and he told me it cost 5,300 ($9). A little shocked, I tried to get Cristina’s attention to see if she had some change, but the guy said it was okay and went on his way. I was officially out of money.

We got checked in and headed through security. They looked through each bag, and we were worried that they would confiscate our bottle of aloe vera lotion and Salsa Lizano (I had put it in my camera bag to lighten up the 67-pounder…totally forgot about the whole liquids thing in the carry-ons). But they let the items stay and we were in.

We parked our carry-ons at the gate and then I went to get some breakfast with the kids. Not many options. We settled on Burger King. I got “BK Pinto” for the girls (gallo pinto, tortillas, and sour cream) and egg and cheese Croissan’wiches for Alex and me.

I was hoping we would see Monica before we boarded, but it was not to be.

Finally, it was time to board. I saw them setting up tables for yet another inspection of bags (wasn’t one enough?). This time, the Salsa Lizano didn’t make it. They confiscated it. It pissed me off, too, because if I had had it in my pocket or in the bottom of a bag, they would have never known. Only because it was right in the top of my camera bag did they see it. The aloe made it because it was buried in Cristina’s bag. A package of salsa (like chips-and-salsa salsa) also got taken away. Cristina had filled her water bottle at the water fountain at the gate, and they made her pour it out. Oh, come on! If we wanted water, we’d have to buy it on the plane, they said. Ridiculous. How do you say “going overboard on security” in Spanish?

Still miffed about losing my Salsa Lizano, bummer number two came when we got inside the plane. We got front row seats, which at concerts and sporting events is a good thing. But on an airplane, it means that we have no space to put items on the floor in front, because there are no seats in front of us. And to add insult to injury, the first overhead bins are filled with survival gear, so we had to pack all our crap into the bins a few rows back. I’m sure the people sitting in those rows loved that.

In the air, I started catching up on my blog. We had drinks, and bought a bottle of water (grumble, grumble) and a bag of peanut M&Ms.

By 8:30, Bella was tired of listening to music. She was bored. Alex was listening to the iPod, Sofia was reading a book, and Cristina was sleeping. Bella kept torturing me with questions and whining about when we were going to be there. I couldn’t remember when we were scheduled to land. I asked the flight attendant. Noon. Three and a half more hours. Ugg. Thankfully, at 9:15 we crossed into U.S. airspace and the DirectTV signal became active. I’ve never been so glad to see Hong Kong Phooey in my life. Finally, Bella was blissfully silent. I worked on my blog until my laptop battery died, with only a part of one day left to finish writing.

Sofia and Alex noticed that there was a fly in the cabin. “How did a fly get in here?” Sofia asked. “I guess someone opened their window,” I said.

We arrived in Denver a little early. I called our friend Saba and left a voicemail that we’d landed in Denver on time. She’s picking us up from the airport in Phoenix. We had about an hour and a half before our connecting flight to Phoenix, and it took an hour to pick up our luggage, go through customs (no problems, except for a mild reprimand for not marking “food items” on the customs form…“Coffee is a food, ma’am”) and recheck our luggage. We were all hungry, but by the time we got to the gate, our flight was boarding in less than 3 minutes. I barely had time to run to the bathroom (I literally ran), so buying lunch was out of the question. And no laptop recharge either.

Train at Denver airport

The flight from Denver to Phoenix is about one hour 45 minutes. Luckily, they activated our TVs (since we were technically still on an international flight). For the domestic passengers, TV cost $6. At least the drinks are still free, but who knows how long that will last.

Bella fell asleep for the last 30 minutes and slept through the landing. I had to wake her up so I could get our bags down. As we walked to baggage claim, Saba called me. She was already at the airport, circling around the terminal. So we put all the carry-ons in her car and she drove me to our house. I thanked her, gave her a bag of coffee, found my car keys, and drove our van back to the airport to pick up the family and the luggage. None of the luggage was lost, which is always a victory of sorts, especially when you have 10 bags, plus a car seat.

At a red light, I was untangling something from the rear view mirror and didn’t notice right away that the light had changed to green. Glancing in the rearview mirror, I saw several cars behind me, yet no one honked. That was the first moment when it really struck me that we weren’t in Costa Rica any more. Sofia commented on how slow and polite the traffic seemed. And the streets felt so big.

We unloaded all the bags (the painting made it safe and sound) and slowly readjusted to life in the States. I think we’ll all experience a period of time where our hearts and minds are still in Costa Rica. We all miss it, but it’s time to start this (possibly) final school year in Arizona.

The picnic basket, still wrapped up

Marielos's painting

(Hooray! Unlike in 2006, I finished blogging the whole trip!)

Packing Day

We have enough experience traveling to know that on any long trip (more than a week) we really need to leave the last full day completely open. We make that the packing day, even though it doesn’t take all day to pack. In addition to the physical packing of suitcases, we usually need that last day to buy last minute items, run last minute errands, and so on. The longer the trip, the more things there are to do on that last day, and this one was no exception.

The first order of business was to turn the rental car in. The time on the contract was 11 am, and they were supposed to come pick it up. But when Wito called them to confirm, they said they didn’t know they were supposed to come pick it up. They said they’d be there around 12 to 12:30. So we scored an extra hour or so.

Cristina and I ran up to Galerón to buy the rest of the coffee, guayaba jam, and Bio-Land stuff (Costa Rica’s brand of organic products…everything from shampoo to cookies). I’m sure people could tell we were tourists about to depart: we had two carts and one of them was filled with bags of coffee.

The rest of the day was a blur. I took charge of packing the suitcases and Cristina was in charge of errands and phone calls. For example, she went to the Democracy Plaza to pick up her custom-made 9-pointed star earrings made of coconut shell. She picked up our old camera from the repair guy who didn’t fix it because I refused to pay $60 to fix a 3-year-old camera (I love the concept of reduce-reuse-recycle, but I’m also a cheapskate). Cristina paid our airport taxes at the bank (more on that tomorrow). She picked up her contacts from the optical place where we got our glasses. She called Ifigenia (the author of the sphere book) to arrange how to get her book back to her (she’s going to come pick it up next week). And in between all that, she talked to a bunch of people on the phone (Vicki, Jennifer, and I’m sure others) to get last-minute conversations in before we left.

Around 3, Carmen stopped by with the kids, who promptly struck up a final game of Qwirkle on the front porch. Later, Miranda stopped by with Sophia. And Ricardo and family came by as well. I didn’t do much visiting because I was so busy packing, but it was nice for the kids to play one last time. And nice to say goodbye again. They’re all so sweet and have totally taken us in as part of the family. I look forward to being able to speak better Spanish someday so I can actively participate more in conversations.

Because of all the visits, the two younger kids didn’t get to bed until 9. This was not ideal, since they had to get up at 3:30 am. But it was better to visit with family than get enough hours of sleep.

We had 7 of 10 suitcases packed and under 50 pounds each. #8, however, weighed 67 pounds, so we had to do some creative shifting. We finally had everything ready to go by 10 pm. We loaded Wito’s car with almost all the suitcases, showered and were in bed by 11.

Farewell Cookout

Apparently, the salsa (or pico de gallo) I’ve been making is a hit with the extended family, because every time we all get together, that’s what Wito tells me to contribute. Today everyone was meeting at Carmen’s house for a cookout. I hadn’t made the salsa the night before, so I took everything over to make it at Carmen’s.

As soon as we got there, I started dicing tomatoes and getting everything together. The kids started playing. It was a warm, sunny day…unusual for Carmen’s, where it’s usually overcast, windy, and a little cool.

Throughout the day, Fabian grilled an assortment of meats: chicken, pork, and beef. I liked the way he served them. After grilling the meat, he would cut it into pieces and serve it on tortillas. So no plates or utensils were necessary. When a fresh platter of meat off the grill arrived, you just picked your piece, scooped it up in the tortilla it was laying on, and ate it. The tortilla made a nice meat-holder. Like an edible plate. I might try that some time at home.

Among the afternoon's activities: the kids played in the sandbox and created an impressive lagoon (filled with buckets of water) and a volcano. I tried to make their volcano erupt with baking soda and vinegar, but Carmen didn't have any baking soda.

The kids slid down the hill behind Carmen’s house. They sat on pieces of cardboard box. Unlike the failed attempt when it was raining, the kids were more successful this time. Still, the hill was quite steep, and the kids often fell off their cardboard. I’m sure we’ll have some nice souvenirs (of the grass stain variety) to take home to Phoenix.

Eventually, the kids played in the hose, getting soaked. After they changed into dry clothes, Fabian got his kite out. It's always windy at their house, so the conditions are perfect for kite-flying.

A little chorus line action

Cristina dancing with her dad

Towards the end of the evening, an impromptu game of backyard baseball got started. We set up bases (using flip-flops, children’s books, and whatever else was handy). We had a nerf bat and a foam baseball, so everyone could play and no gloves were required. At one point during the game, Bella started reading the third base, but we played around her.

Fabian, Ricardo, and Fernando had a lot of fun by adding a tackling element to the game. If they were trying to get someone out they’d tackle them. Fabian especially loves to tackle Wito. He body slams him any chance he can get. We had several pileups, where someone tackled someone, and then everyone else piled on top. Tripping was not out of the question either as you can see from the photo evidence below.

Alex winds up to pitch...Fernando is on first, Ricardo covers first base...

The ball is hit...Fernando takes off...but wait! Ricardo has strategically extended his right leg!

Down goes Fernando! Down goes Fernando!

Wito finally joined the game to pitch...

...and wound up on the bottom of a pileup more than once.

Carmen brings 'em home

Everyone stayed late because it was our last day together and no one wanted it to end. It was also the end of the school break for Costa Rica, so the kids would be heading back to school the next morning. I believe we were the last ones to leave, and it was after 8 pm. On the ride home, Cristina and I talked about how we’d like to live in Costa Rica for a year or two. Especially now that the kids have their Costa Rican citizenship, a year or two living here would afford them the opportunity to learn Spanish, and then if they ever chose to go to college in Costa Rica (since it would be free for them) they’d be able to. It would all depend on a) what happens to our house in Arizona, and b) whether I could get a teaching job in Costa Rica. But regardless of what happens, we’ll definitely be in Phoenix one more year.

Bella fell asleep on the way back to Pavas (it’s kind of a long ride) but she woke up and ate some bread and jelly before going to bed.

I realized that I left my laptop charger at Carmen’s house. Major bummer, because they live so far away. Wito called her and she said she’d bring it by after picking up the kids from school on Monday. But until I got the charger back, I couldn’t do much work on the blog. The battery would only last so long.

Though it was late and we were tired, we found a movie on TV called The Shipping News and got hooked. It was great, although I watched most of it without my glasses, because I thought I was going to fall asleep. But the movie was too interesting.

Little Dixie in Heredia

I woke up around 6 to make Bella some bread and jam. I slipped on a shirt and shoes and walked down to get the car. Along the way, I said good morning to a lady walking her dogs. She smiled at me and said good morning, and I just assumed she was being friendly. When I got in the car and looked in the mirror, my hair was standing straight up. What a sight.

I parked the car in front of our house and went back to bed. Cristina and I slept in until after 9. I made scrambled eggs with sweet peppers and onions for breakfast.

We didn’t make it out of the house to the farmer’s market until 12:30. The market closes up at 1, but there was still enough stuff left to fulfill our needs. Since we leave Tuesday, our needs are not that great. I need to make a massive batch of pico de gallo for a cookout tomorrow at Carmen’s house (our farewell party?) so I needed tomatoes and sweet peppers. We got a couple of other things, but overall we showed restraint. Alex found a teeny-tiny banana, which was cute enough for a photo.

Cristina lovin' her some pipa...chilled coconut water.

Sweet Costa Rican-style sno-cone cart

I took the two younger kids to Galerón to check out coffee. I bought two bags each of about 5 different brands. I needed to buy more, but this was a start.

Back at the house, I made tuna melts and French fries for lunch. We needed to go back to the Democracy Plaza to meet up with a guy who was going to make some 9-pointed star earrings for Cristina out of coconut shell. We were taking too long for lunch (the darned French fries took forever to fry), Cristina had a headache, and was cranky for us running so late. So when we were finally on our way, I drove like a real Tico: super fast, dodging in and out of traffic, squeezing in between cars (lanes be damned!). It was fun. She didn’t say anything, so I guess she was okay with it. Whenever we’re running late for something, she usually complains that I drive too slowly. Not today.

She missed the guy, but she talked to someone else who said he’d try to make them. They will hopefully be ready on Monday.

Next we headed to Heredia to visit Marielos. This was our final gotta-see-them-while-we’re-here visits. Marielos is Cristina’s late Godfather’s widow, and Cristina’s brother’s Godmother. I’ll give you a moment to untangle that one in your mind.

Marielos used to live in Alajuela but now lives in a condo in San Joaquin de Flores on the road between Alajuela and Heredia. It was easy to find. Very nice gated-community. So well-protected that the residents don’t lock their cars up in barred garages! They just park in their carports. I noticed that the wall around the neighborhood had spirals of barbed wire at the top and then six electrified wires above that. And an on-premises security guard patrolled the small neighborhood (if he’d just carried a machine gun instead of a handgun it would have felt like we were in Columbia). It takes a lot for some to have peace of mind in Costa Rica. All that said, it didn’t feel highly-fortified. It just felt quiet and peaceful.

Marielos looked just like I remembered her. She seems to be doing well. Her husband died since the last time we saw her (7 years ago). She’s an artist and a singer and keeps a very busy social agenda. Her house was decorated beautifully and her backyard was green and lovely. The kind of yard most people would kill for in Arizona.

She served us quite a spread: Cokes and fruit juice, deviled ham sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and a platter of pastries, empanadas, and cakes. She offered us coffee, but I was thirsty, so I went with a Coke.

Marielos taught English at some point in her life, so I especially enjoy visiting with her because I can join in the conversation. Plus, she’s really nice.

Bella played with some dolls that Marielos had upstairs, and Alex and I tried to catch a fly in an empty Coke bottle. Alex got the giggles at one point because of the way Marielos pronounces Gainesville (she says the v like a b, which is common in Spanish).

"Inner peace...inner peace..."

I felt like Alex needed to expend some energy (Coke and pastries will do that) so I took him for a walk. While we walked down the street I realized just how many foreigners (i.e. Gringos) live in Marielos’s neighborhood. Her neighbor’s car had an Obama sticker on it. 50 feet down the sidewalk, we passed a couple going into a house. The man greeted me in English. A minute later we passed a house where someone was opera singing. It sounded kind of jokey, like they were kidding around. Around the corner we spotted a playground, so we walked back to get Bella.

Sofia decided to come also. As we neared the playground, another guy was walking towards his house and greeted us in English. We struck up a conversation in the street. He told us about all the people from the South who live in the neighborhood. Lots of people from Georgia. His family was from Tennessee, though he said his son has always been a Gator fan (he noticed my shirt). He said they used to call this neighborhood "Little Georgia," but when his family moved in he said it should be "Little Dixie." More inclusive.

We played on the playground. Sofia lost a button off her pants but she found it even though it was getting dark.

After three hours at Marielos’s, it was time to go. The kids needed to get to bed. As bad as it sounds, we didn’t do a proper dinner. So we all had pastries and soda for dinner. No complaints from the kids. Before we left, Marielos gave us one of her paintings, which we'll proudly hang in our home when we get back(hopefully I can pack it without it getting damaged).

After the two younger kids were in bed, I worked on my blog some, but I got tired of doing it, so I watched a movie called Hide and Seek with Wito. It’s a moderately scary movie, so Cristina opted out. Instead, she put some of Wito’s music on our computer. We went to bed late, like 1 am.

A Nice Drive Home

Breakfast at the hotel restaurant, which was included in the price of our room, was easy and excellent. The waiter simply checked our wristbands, marked us off on his little clipboard, and then we were free to have whatever we wanted from the breakfast buffet: scrambled eggs, gallo pinto, ham (though none of us got any of that), toast, fried platanos, watermelon, papaya, OJ, coffee, hot chocolate. After a full day in the hot springs and a good night’s sleep, a big breakfast was just what we needed.

Check out was at noon, so we had about an hour and half to spend at the hot springs and still have plenty of time for showering and packing up. When we got down to the pools, we realized we were the first ones there. We had the place all to ourselves. “Swimsuits off!” I joked.

I decided to do the river first. I took the plunge this time instead of going in slowly on the falls. It was cold, but I got used to it quickly and then it felt good. We played in the river for a while and then climbed over the edge of a pool and warmed up in the hot water.

At 9:45, we bid the thermal waters farewell and hiked back up to the car. Back at the room, we showered and I uploaded a video of us on the river. We still had an hour or so until noon, so we checked out a little bit early. The guy tried to charge me the original price of $165, but when we reminded him that we didn’t have dinner included, he gave us a price of $105 ($5 less than the guy had quoted us the day before…bonus!). So the total cost of entrance for 5 into the thermal waters, snacks at the pools (8 or 9 drinks, 2 pizzas, and 2 chicken salads), an hour-long massage for Cristina, a room for the night, and a full breakfast: $155. This was one of the more resort-y type places we’ve ever stayed at, but I think we got a great deal.

On the road, our next destination was La Virgen de Sarapiquí, a little town on the edge of Braulio Carillo National Park, and a prominent location in the book I’m writing. I wanted to scout it out and get a better feel for the river that runs along the highway. The road to La Virgen was a good one, with only minor slow-downs due to an occasional truck.

When we got to La Virgen, Cristina drove so I could take pictures. We stopped at a touristy place called “Pozo Azul,” which turned out to be a perfect location for a scene in my story. I documented it well with the camera.

A good spot for a scene from my book!

Bridge over the River Sarapiquí

Under the bridge...photo by Bella

A statue of La Virgen de los Angeles...patron saint of Costa Rica. Cristina wants one of these statues...just not quite this big.

It was around lunchtime now, but we pushed on a bit before stopping to eat. We finally stopped near Puerto Viejo (de Sarapiquí…not to be confused with the other Puerto Viejo we stayed at in 2006). We found a pleasantly dumpy little soda to eat a simple lunch at.

When there's a TV, we have to strategically seat the younger ones

Afterwards, we bought some hot sauce from a grocery store next door as well as some Otter Pops (Costa Rican style). Alex’s Otter Pop tasted bad, like it was spoiled. I don’t know how frozen sugar water can spoil, but it tasted awful. It even smelled bad. We took it back and they tried to tell us that it was the flavor, that it was supposed to be like that. But they gave us a different one anyway. I saw the guy finally sniff Alex’s and he did make a slight face. They cost 25 colones each, so at least they had the distinction of being the cheapest dessert we’ve probably ever bought (about a nickel a piece).

We ate lunch at "Soda Judith" in the background. Alex is eating his replacement "Otter Pop."

We headed on. I didn’t have much more to see for my writing, so we drove through the middle of Braulio Carrillo en route to San Jose. I love that drive. It reminds me of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We even went through a long tunnel.

Cristina collects waterfalls...usually I'm going too fast for her to get a picture, but she got this one

When we got into San Jose, we headed towards the Democracy Plaza so Cristina could see a guy about making her some coconut shell earrings shaped like 9-pointed stars. On the way there, she called her cousin Irene. Irene lives somewhat nearby and was leaving for Guanacaste with her family for the weekend. But she had a half hour or so, so we changed our plans and met her at a Burger King near the San Pedro mall. The kids played on the playground while we visited with Irene.

We stopped at Democracy Plaza, but it was almost dark and the earring guy was gone. I did, however, find a vendor who was selling a replica of a stone sphere! Finally! Unfortunately, he wanted $40 for it. I really want one, but I’m not paying $40 for what’s essentially a ball of concrete. The guy said it was hand carved volcanic stone, but I’m not sure about that. He probably also has some beachfront property in Phoenix to sell me. As we looked around the stalls that were still open, I searched for someone else who had a sphere to sell. No one had one. Just before we left, I offered the guy 10,000 ($20) for his sphere. And that started a half hour of haggling that finally ended in me getting the sphere and a crystal for Bella for 15,000 (About $25). Sofia is a great haggler. She’s the quiet observer that hangs back and murmurs choice comments in the potential buyer’s ear. When she sensed that I was considering buying it for $30, she said, “You should offer $25…it’s midway between what you wanted and what he’s offering.” Never mind that his starting price was $40! Once he had dropped to $30, that was the new parameter for Sofia. She’s a good one to have at your side. The vendor (his name was Vladimir) even admitted that he was impressed by Sofia’s calm and focused demeanor.

So I got my sphere. It will make a nice decoration on my desk at school. Although I’ll have to keep an eye on it. If one of my students messed with it, it could cause some serious damage. It’s about the size of a grapefruit and pretty heavy. It is hand carved volcanic stone, you know.

We got to Pavas too late to make arrangements to park the car in the neighbor’s garage (she didn’t answer her phone), so we had to park it down the street. Maritza was out and Wito was working late, so for the first time, Cristina had to go with me. It went fine though. She observed that the guard was Nicaraguan. She could tell by his accent.

Termales del Bosque

Jennifer made breakfast burritos: scrambled eggs with onions and peppers (and bacon) wrapped up in big flour tortillas. We packed up and hit the road around 8:30.

The ride to Termales del Bosque was nice. I’m really enjoying the Silver Bullet and it’s peppy climbing of hills and passing of large trucks. Cristina says I’m driving more like a Tico, though I’m not sure that’s a compliment.

Check-in at the hotel wasn’t until 2 pm, but we could go to the hot springs before checking in. The guy at the front desk gave us temporary wristbands that would get us in to the waters.

First, we drove to the entrance, which was at the end of a small road that meandered through some cow pastures. Goats grazed nonchalantly as we drove by. We parked the cars and those that needed to change clothes could do it at the bathroom. An attendant gave us some towels (I guess only guests staying the night get towels, because the Sheridans weren’t offered… they had green wristbands and ours were red). The towels were interesting. They were disposable. Basically, they were gigantic napkins, sealed in plastic. But they were better than nothing.

Then, it was a 10-minute hike down to the waters. The path was well-maintained and paved with concrete blocks. It never got dangerously steep, but a handrail was there if you needed it.

The waters. Set beneath a thick canopy of rainforest, the hot waters are contained in about 7 or 8 different pools of varying temperatures. Each pool has a sign that tells you how hot it is. Those higher up were hotter, and those more downstream were cooler. The hottest was a small, heart-shaped pool, labeled 48 degrees C. We dipped our toe in it, but it felt painfully hot. I don’t think anyone actually goes into that one. The mid-level pools were in the 42-45 degree range: the kind of heat that you can only take for so long before you get a little lightheaded. The bottom pool was the coolest. I don’t remember a sign for that one, but it felt like warm bathwater. We stayed in that one a lot because it felt so good. That pool was right behind the little bar/cantina and even included some stools in the pool for having a drink. But no matter what pool you were in, you could order a drink or a snack and they would bring it to you. Near the bar were some tables, where we stashed our stuff (shirts, shoes, glasses, cameras). The changing rooms/restrooms had lockers nearby, but we left our stuff on a table.

The kids were hungry as soon as we got there, so we ordered a couple of personal pizzas for them. Another nice thing about the bar is that you didn’t have to have money right there. They would “put it on your tab.” Dangerous, in a way. It’s easy to spend money when it doesn’t feel like you’re spending money. A concept I’m sure the owners are familiar with and thankful for.

The prices were reasonable. Natural drinks (fruit drinks made in a blender with fresh fruit and either water or milk) were 1,000 colones ($1.75). I think sodas may have been the same. The pizzas and chicken salad (a tasty snack served with a small pile of tortilla chips) were in the 1,500-2,000 range.

A small river runs along the pools. The water in the river was cool, but not freezing. It made a perfect complement to the hot waters. Play in the cold river, warm up in the hot pool. Get too hot in a pool? Cool off in the river. It’s easy to stay all day when you’ve got that kind of situation. Plus, the river was full of rocks (not slippery at all) so it was fun to climb around on. The kids spent the most time in the river, until they go too cold, then they’d warm up in a pool.

Around 2:30, I went back to the office to check us in to our room. The room was decent, although I noticed it only had 3 beds: a double and two twins. We had been told that each person would have a bed (two doubles and a twin would have been fine). I unloaded our stuff and joined the others back at the thermal waters.

Part of the charm of this place, as opposed to the fancier places like Tabacón, is that the pools are made with river rocks. So the whole place has a rougher, more natural feel to it. Sure, you occasionally step on a rock or bump into a stone when you’re in a pool, but that gives it personality. Also, I love this place because it’s so deep in the forest. No sunscreen necessary, because you have a constant canopy of greenery above you. It was sunny part of the day, but never so much that you felt in danger of getting burned.

As relaxing and fun as the day was, the highlight may have been the sloth. Sloths are my favorite animals in Costa Rica. But they can be hard to spot. In the seven trips I’ve made to Costa Rica I think I’ve seen four sloths. One was in a restaurant/gift shop, so that one doesn’t quite count. I saw one in a park in Limón that just looked like a ball of fur. No movement, no detectable limbs or head. And we saw one in a tree near the entrance to the beach at Cahuita. That was the best sighting…until today. A sloth came down from a tree (they come down to use the bathroom) and climbed around on the low branches right in front of us. I guess he pooped, though I didn’t see it. Then he slowly (do they do it any other way?) climbed back up into the highest parts of the tree out of sight. We got lots of photos and video of him (or her).

Cristina and Jennifer scheduled deep-tissue massages, one of the many services offered at Termales del Bosque. One hour for $30. I considered getting one too, but decided against it. They both seemed to really enjoy it. The name of the masseuse was Ligia. I’m not familiar with that name (and as a teacher in Phoenix, I thought I’d seen every Hispanic name) but it’s pretty. Pronounced: LEE-hee-uh.

The Sheridans left when the ladies had finished their massages (they had dogs at home to deal with). We went up with them to say goodbye and to have some dinner.

Our original deal for the hotel had been this: one night’s stay, entrance to the hot waters (which would have cost us $48 a la carte), dinner, and breakfast for $165. If you figure that dinner for 5 usually runs us about $25 and breakfast about $20, that meant the room was about $72. At least that’s how my mind thought it through. $72 for a hotel room in the States is slightly high for us (I would expect an upgraded dump, rather than the usual dump that $50 gets you). But in Costa Rica, $72 is a lot to spend on a room. I’d seen the room and it was not worth $72.

At the front desk, Cristina asked the guy about the bed situation, and in the course of her explaining how tight of a budget we’re on, he suggested we change our deal and pay for dinner separately. His offer was a room for the night, entrance to the waters, and breakfast for $110. I knew we wouldn’t spend anything close to $55 for dinner, so we took that deal. And he changed us to a room with four beds: two doubles and two twins.

We moved our stuff from Room 20 to Room 23, then walked to the restaurant to check their menu. A little pricey, but I didn’t think t was worth saving a few bucks to drive into town. Since we wanted to go to the hot waters one more time before bed, we stayed close.

Dinner was good. I got arroz con pollo. Cristina got a vegetarian casado, and Alex and Sofia split a casado with chicken. Bella ate from all of our plates. We were trying to be frugal (I think we came in around $21) but I must admit that not everyone got full. Alex and Bella in particular wanted more. So I did what any health-conscious father would do: I gave them cookies when we got back to our room.

We trekked back down to the thermal waters. Bill had said how cool the place looked at night when they had the lights on, so we were looking forward to experiencing it. We were not disappointed. Not only do the lights give the forest a different look, but the insect and frog symphony is cranked up a few more decibels once darkness falls. We got our fill of the pools and river and sauna and then hiked back up and drove to our room.

Bella wanted to sleep with me, so we gave Sofia a double to herself, Cristina and Alex each got a twin, and Bella and I shared the other double.