Back to Guanacaste

Monday morning we left La Fortuna to drive back to Guanacaste, pick up a shipment from the US and visit with our nephew Max and his 5 surfer friends from California. They were all staying in Melissa and Richard’s house. The house was a full house! It was uncomfortable putting this entire load over the hosts, but we manage the discomfort well. So well, that we stayed longer than we were planning. I am sorry! I am sorry! Our plan was to leave the next morning, but Matt was in critical condition, he had to go to the Hospital in San Jose for surgery. The girls and I stayed in the house, Richard went to El Salvador for work, Melissa was in San Jose as a nurse for Matt and Max went back to the US. That was about 2 weeks ago. I have a feeling my sister-in-law was wishing to have family closer and she got her wish. She must not have specified length or distance when the wish was expressed. Lesson for her!!!.. hehe.

La Fortuna and Arenal

Volcán Arenal is one of 5 active volcanoes in Costa Rica. After 400 years of being dormant the volcano made its first and ferocious eruption in 1968 and still remains active; having small eruptions everyday. Little puffs of smoke come up and lava falls on one side of the volcano making it an exciting show at night..

The town of La Fortuna is a beautifully maintained town at the bottom of the volcano. From there you can take exciting tours; canopying in the rain forest, hiking the volcano, rappelling the waterfall, horse back riding, kayaking the Arenal Lake, hot springs, ATV riding, “butterflying” (i.e. watch butterflies), etc, etc. As much as I would like to do it all with the exception of rappelling I promised myself I will be back when the kids are old enough to do all that with me and when I have a job to pay for them.

We started the day with a nice typical Costa Rican breakfast; gallo pinto, orange juice, coffee, hot chocolate and fruit. Overlooking the volcano (well its hard not to have a view of it wherever you are in the area). We left the hotel and drove to El Castillo located closer to the crater. From here one can see the deforestation cause by the flowing lava. We stopped at the Butterfly Conservatory, well worth the drive. We were educated in the life cycle of a butterfly, we touched, we hunt, we photographed even those most intimate moments of this colorful creatures. Such a master piece of nature! After exploring their habitat we were shown other typical species of Costa Rica wild life such as: the Red-Eye Tree frog, the blue frog, the chameleon and turtles. We finish the visit with a nice walk in the rain forest that looped us around to the volcano observatory. We were done by lunch time so we found a fast food type restaurant with a professionally dressed and friendly chef. Not much to say about the food… or yes, it was awful.

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At about 3 o clock the sun was completely cover; the grey clouds and rumbling sound in the sky were obvious indications of… the wonderful time we would have soaking in the hot springs; a free SPA, located by the side of the hotel with the $35 entrance fee. The same river and at the same temperature… I wonder if I missed something.

By 6 o’clock we were back in La Fortuna, playing a game of backgammon, comfortably lying in bed, making plans for dinner. It was at that moment when I got a reminder that it was Sunday; the bells of that beautiful church across the street rang three times. It crossed my mind that the call may be for me, but I managed to put it behind and continue my fun evening, 6:30, the bells rang again, it was a little harder to let that call go, but I manage to do it once again. 6:45… Holy.. I can’t I can’t I must go!! Trinidad went with me. It felt so good! My day could not have been complete without this visit to praise and thank God for our good fortune… and yes to ask for forgiveness and wisdom.

A little parasite here and a little there

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Where and how its unknown, but apparently the bugs have been incubating for several weeks to give Matt the time of his life. Sick, loosing weight and not eating delicious meals (according to me… the chef), were clear symptoms of their existence. We tested and the results were positive. He was so miserable! Luckily now, he is under treatment and he should be fine within a couple of days.. It has not been fun! It is breaking the spirit of the crew. A beautiful place is meaningless under those circumstances and a boat without a healthy Captain is a dangerous idea. My mind wonders if the experience should be reevaluated, but the idea of giving up frightens me more than to wait and go when all goes back to a good shape including my newest patient Samantha who has Strep Throat. The contingencies of this trip are all part of a package, they enrich our experience. Once again, I think I much rather live through them while adventuring. I know they will always be there; they will just present themselves in different forms.

Road Trip

After our ordeal with the car, we loaded our few bags in a Toyota Yaris and proceeded with the plan to get to the city of La Fortuna on the skirt of Volcán Arenal. Taking a road trip its always an exiting event, especially when there is no rush to get somewhere. We get to stop when we are hungry, when someone needs to stretch, when a bathroom is required, when a scolding is necessary, when a picture is a must or when a sight lure us into stopping. We get to play our own music and sing our own songs at our own volume and we get to put our feet up against the window, plus and best of all we get to snack all the way to our destination. Our favorite snack: nuts! The girls have their books, colors, papers, personal music and video player and, of course, each other to torture. The trip was very pleasant in spite of the typical “when are we going to be there” “are we there yet” “how much longer”.

I hate rental car companies

Scammers! Is there one that doesn’t operate on the basis of “ripping us softly and kindly”… well not too kindly. I had such a great day the day before, everything was going according to plan. The search for a car was successful; cheap and easy. Saturday I went to pick the car from Thrifty and they just dind’t quite mention that the car was $90 a week, but the mandatory insurance was an additional $140…. My mind blocked, I wanted to hang onto the neck of the clerk. Anything he said sounded as he was ripping me a little more. I stepped out, frustrated to tears. Matt was waiting outside sick, the kids wanted my attention. Trinidad was asking me why I was so mad?.. At that point, I only wanted my mama… really! I MISS HER, she would have let me crawl and cry!! I guess the car wasn’t the only issue driving me to tears, but it was the detonator. At the end, not having another option, I went back to ripper and humbly said..”OoooKkkay, I will taaake it”. He did try to make it up to me by not charging me extra for adding the spouse as a driver… I guess he didn’t think I would read in the contract that spouses are added free of charge… ok! I know.. I hated the service.

A hot shower at last

This was the idea!
We checked into the hotel room in the same marina, not much luxury there, pretty run down, but there were two beds, a floor that didn’t move and a hot shower, something we haven’t experienced since we were in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico. We were exited to get all cleaned up, after scraping all the algae from the bottom of the boat, and ready to treat ourselves with an extended use of water. The shower looked suspicious; electric cables going up to the head and a heat regulator on it. I adjusted it to the right temperature and pushed the girls in. The water did not smell right, plastic was burning somewhere, it was pretty obvious when smoke started coming down the shower head. Ok! I guess hot showers are another perk of being in the US and one more to look forward when we return.

 

Taking the boat out

Our plan was to take Endurance out of the water to do some repairs and leave it out while we do some “dry sailing” (Inland exploring by car). Taking it out is an exiting operation; to see your home being lift up, see all its parts and curves up in the air is a strange feeling. Once the boat was out, the bottom was sparkle cleaned by the whole crew, even the ones thought to be useless in the maintenance department… hehe. 

Other projects to be accomplished were to repair a small crack on the haul and to replace the cutlass bearing… a thing that makes things happen… an important part of the propeller. To accomplish this task, he had to take the rudder off. He was into the job when he realized there was not enough room between the boat and the ground, he had two options: a-have the crane lift up the boat higher (very costly) or b- dig a hole under the boat (very hot). He went for b. Today the projects are mostly done. Matt and our brother-in-law Richard worked very hard on it for the last 3 days. Now we are ready to go!