Busy, Busy, Busy

After arriving home from Granada; we had a day and a half before our next company arrived.  Catherine and David are Victoria’s parents; and Catherine is Mike’s cousin. 

Catherine has been reading my blog from the beginning; and a simple comment of “you look like you guys are having a great time” lead to them coming down for a week.  They got to visit Victoria for a few days before she left. 

Victoria was at a weekend concert that was a few hours South of here; so on Monday morning, the 4 of us went and picked her up.  And then we headed to a whale park.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to see any whales; but the walk along the beach was very nice.

After lunch; we headed over to another National Park and strolled along the beach for a bit; before making our way to the water falls. 

On Monday afternoon, Victoria got the news that she had been patiently waiting for… her acceptance to the University of Western Ontario… so her mom treated us all to a delicious dinner at Lemon Zest.  Congrats Victoria and we’ll see you in the fall once you’re settled in in London.

Tuesday morning we drove back down South to Manuel Antonio National Park; and within a few minutes of entering the park we saw a 3-toed Sloth.  It wasn’t that far up in the tree; and it was just lounging… arms behind it’s head and it’s legs crossed… looked very comfy.

Spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the calm, warm waters.  On our way out we stopped and watched a whole bunch of monkeys.  Mike had looked for them earlier; but no sign of them.  So it was nice that they were there as we were leaving. 

Found a nice place to have dinner and watch another beautiful sunset.  Wednesday morning, we were up at 4:00 am and on our way to the airport by 4:45.  It was Victoria’s last day… hard to believe that her month here was done already.  We had a great time with her and have offered for her to come and visit again. 

We stopped and had breakfast at Denny’s and then off to Poas Volcano we went.  The drive was beautiful and the scenery was lush and green.  It was very cool and windy up at the top; and for the first time since arriving here; I had long pants and a sweatshirt on : ((  Mike also needed his wind breaker.

We hiked our way to the active crater and had beautiful views all around; then off to the older crater that was now a lake.  The whole hike was roughly 2 hours. 

Down the mountain we went and into the heart of San Jose!  We were looking for the Central Avenue and after a bit, we finally found it.  Parked the car, walked along for awhile; stopped for lunch and then took the old highway back to Jaco. 

We made costillas and home made salsa for dinner.  After dinner, we headed over to David/Catherines for some euchre.  The cousins took on the out-laws and the cousins won all 3 games.  We called it a night and were in bed by 9:30.  It had been a long day.

Click here to take a look at some of our pictures.

An Interesting/Exciting Trip to Granada

When you come to Costa Rica for the winter, you’re supposed to leave before 90 days is up.  We didn’t bother to do it last year; and didn’t have any issues at the airport when leaving.  But we decided that this year, we would leave and go to Nicaragua.

So early on Tuesday morning, Joey picked up me, Mike, Phil and Jason, and our long travel day began.  Joey only took us as far as Barranca (to catch up to the bus) and then we took the Tica Bus the rest of the way.

No problems at the border; and a few hours later, we were finally close.  The bus doesn’t go into Granada on the way through, so we transferred to an old bus and bumped along the rest of the way.  The guys figured the bus was circa 1965.

We finally arrived at the bus station in Granada and started walking.  Never seen anything like this place in my life and not sure if I ever will again.  The streets were narrow; and an assortment of buses, cars, taxis, and horse drawn carts filled the streets.  That and 1000’s of people...it was insane!

Found a place to sit and have a drink and figured where to look for a hotel.  Thankfully Jason had been here before and he knew where to go.  We passed the central park; the old church and then up another street.  A few times I found myself thinking “oh Lord, where is he taking us?”.

Let me describe most of the streets in Granada, so that you’ll understand why I was feeling this way.  The streets are narrow; and sometimes there’s a sidewalk… sometimes wide enough for us to walk side by side.  Other times, it’s only a few inches across, or not at all.  Sometimes the vendors have their businesses right up to the curb.

Some people have car ramps so they can drive their cars up and park their cars behind their walls.  There are holes and cracks and it's not very friendly towards people with physical disabilities.

The buildings are all in a long row; and are all attached.  Other than doors, there isn’t much else to indicate anything being there.  But behind those walls are beautiful houses, hotels and businesses.

We arrived at the Hotel Cocibolca (ko-see-bowl-ka) and other than a small flat sign on the wall, you would never know it was a hotel.  You step into the hotel reception area with a dining room off to one side and a lounge on the other side.

Beyond that is a courtyard with the hotel rooms down the sides.  Lush greenery and flowers down the middle complete with a fountain that houses a half a dozen turtles.  The pool is at the back of the property.  Never would I have guessed that was behind the wall.

Very clean rooms and cheap… only $45 a night.  After we registered and dropped off our stuff; we headed back out to the main street.  This street is mostly closed off to vehicles and both sides are lined with restaurants, businesses and houses.  The roads are both cobble stone and flagstone. 

We were entertained by the local kids who don costumes and dance to their own music.  Walked around a bit more and then off to bed we went.

The next morning, Mike and I took a horse drawn carriage tour around town and our guide pointed out the buildings of interest.  In the afternoon, we went on a boat tour of the 365 islands, on Lake Nicaragua.  Some beautiful properties for sure.  Some of the islands were single homes and others had multiple homes.  You certainly need some money to buy a place out here.

On Thursday morning, we had some excitement.  The 4 of us were sitting in the breezeway of our hotel, which also happened to be the designated smoking area.  There was a man and his children sitting across the way and he asked me to not smoke.  I pointed out that it was the smoking area.  A few grumblings later and I was going to move (to be considerate).  Within seconds he was calling me a “f…ing ignorant a..hole”.  Really???  Sat my butt back in the chair, and continued to smoke. 

Now bare in mind, there was an empty, smoke-free dining room just around the corner; and this is where the 4 of us ate within the half hour.  Shortly after breakfast, I see this guys wife sitting in the exact same chair as I was; with their daughter less than an arms length away… and the wife is smoking a cigarette! 

Are you  kidding me!  The way he had acted earlier, I figured that they were both non-smokers.  About 10 minutes later, the man showed up; and me, not being able to keep my mouth shut (I know what a surprise!).

I say to him, “hey buddy, did you know that your wife was having a cigarette with your daughter almost in her lap?”  And what’s this a…holes reaction… “FU” he screams at me, then throws the contents of the ashtray at me, followed by the ashtray itself. 

And the next thing I know, he’s slapped/pushed me on my face.  Mike and Phil were up and in front of me by this point.  The “F” bomb was dropped numerous times and the hotel staff came to see what was happening.

This guy threatened to kill all of us; and that’s when we called the police.  But unfortunately, the police take a really long time to come and when it’s between tourists, they don’t usually get involved.  This idiot was from France and also had a run in with some American tourists the night before; because… god forbid they asked him for his help on the computer… didn’t find that out until the next day.

The guy and his family were brought back to the hotel by their tour guide and was told to apologize… he did while laughing at me/us the whole time.  That’s when I decided to press charges… maybe if anything, it would screw up his holidays. 

But no such luck; takes anywhere from 30 days to 6 months for the cops to do anything; and by then the tourists are long gone. 

On top of this, our tour guide, whom we gave a $20 deposit to the night before; never showed up and we got screwed out of a 4 hour tour of the area.  First time that that has happened; and thankfully it was only $20.

We ended up going for a massage instead; and that helped erase some of the stress of the morning. 

Friday we made our way to the bus station; and started the long ride back.  We almost didn’t make it back into Costa Rica.  The border guard that we went through was insisting that we have plane tickets showing when we leave.  Nobody had mentioned that we needed plane tickets… now what?  That’s when we talked to the other Canadians that we met and they went through the other line.  So that’s what we did; back in line we went and without further ado, we were stamped and back on the bus.

We were really happy to finally meet up with Joey in Barranca before coming back to Jaco. 

Granada was probably one of the coolest places that I’ve ever been too.  It was old, caotic, noisy, busy and exhilarating all in one.  We don’t think that it’s a place that we would want to spend a winter; as we were already getting a little bored by Friday.

Plus, I don’t know where we would buy our food from.  We walked through the “flea market” for a bit.  One stall after the next, selling their wares.  A lot of the vendors had meat, chicken etc all just sitting out in the heat.  And if you wanted something, they just cut off a piece.  Yikes! 

The amount of begging in the streets is also a problem; and kids and adults alike come up and ask you for money, pop, whatever, and it gets tiring pretty quickly.

All in all it was a great experience.  It was like taking a step back in time to a world that really hasn't changed very much.  And we're glad that we saw it.  

I was really happy to be back “home” in Jaco.  Please click here to look at our pictures.

A Trip to Orotina and A Fair

The last blog we were heading off to Manuel Antonio.  Well that never happened.  Phil and Liz came over for dinner; and then Phil and I took on Mike and Victoria in a game of euchre.  We ended up playing later than planned; and the idea of getting up at 4:30 to catch a bus for 5:40 am didn’t really appeal to any of us. 

We also learned early last week that Victoria’s parents, Catherine and David are going to come and join us for a week… so that was also part of us postponing the Manuel Antonio trip.  We'll go with them when they arrive a week from this Sunday.

So on Friday we caught a bus to a typical Costa Rica town called Orotina.  It was about an hour and a half bus ride, but we got to see lots more of the beautiful country here.

Shortly upon arriving, we found our way to a restaurant, and enjoyed a meal at a soda. 

We then started looking around.  I noticed that we were getting lots of stares, especially in the beginning.  Orotina doesn’t usually get a lot of tourists, and we stood out.

At one point we were lured into a bakery by the delicious smells coming from it.  Asked the owner what he recommended, and a huge piece of sweet bread filled with soft cheese and strawberries soon found its way into our bellies.  Boy was it ever good!

I was really impressed with Orotina.  Very clean with a very busy downtown core.  Don’t remember seeing an empty store front.  And of course all of the stores here are totally independent.

Saturday night, we headed off to our favorite burger joint, Papas & Burgers, stopped in to say hi to Joey/Eida and then off to the fair we went.  There were the “typical” fair rides… The Pirate, a roller coaster, bumper cars… etc.  And lots and lots of people.  Seemed like most of Jaco was there.

We didn’t go on any rides, as I have a little trust in the carnies that set those rides up at “home”, never mind here.  So we just walked around, watched and took pictures.

On Sunday, we road our bikes all the way to Los Suenos.  The round trip was approximately 15 kilometres and thankfully there weren't any real hills that we had to deal with.  Once arriving at the Marina, we parked our bikes and walked around. 

Then we drove our bikes back out to the main road, down to the beach for a bit; and then back home.  I can’t remember when was the last time I went on that long of a bike ride, but surprisingly, didn’t feel too sore the next day.

Our complex is being painted right now; and we treated a couple of the workers to some red liquorice.  Neither of them had ever had anything like it before, but there was lots of “good, good” and mmm coming out of their mouths.

And the other night, we had Phil and Vanessa (his daughter), and our new neighbour Jason over for lasagne.  And after dinner, Mike and I took on Victoria and Jason in euchre. 

Again, a good time is being had by all.  Please click here to look at our pictures.

The Fun Continues

These past few days have been fun filled.  We’ve had lots of parties, dinners, swims and oh yeah… an earthquake.

On Monday morning around 5:00 am the bed started shaking, followed shortly by cups/plates rattling.  Within a few seconds all of us were up.  Apparently the quake happened about an hour south of us; 15 miles off shore.

It was a 6.0 and as far as we know, there wasn’t any damage done.  And all of us were fine.  But talk about an exciting way to start the day.

On Monday night the 3 of us headed over to Papas & Burgers and played some good old fashioned Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.  There were about 18 people in total and I tripled my money!  Bought in for $4.00 and cashed out $12.00.  Mike and Victoria didn’t do so well; but I think we still came out ahead.

I ended up taking over the dealing (I know what a surprise!) and wowed and bedazzled all the other players with my poker dealing skills.  I’m in my element when I have a deck of cards in my hands.  Even tried to convinced a few of the other players that I was actually born with a deck of cards in my hands.  Some of them were a little drunk, so I may have succeeded.

We’ve been to the beach a few times; and Mike and Victoria have spent lots of time playing in the waves.  The waves here aren’t near as high or big as in Hermossa; so you don’t get tossed around quite so much.

We’ve also had lots of nights sitting around Phil’s pool with the Canadian Crew.  Even got together for their last night (which was last night) and went to Jaco Taco for dinner.  It was a lot of fun, the food was great; and Phil treated all of us.. Thanks again Phil!

Today we saw them off and have already made some plans to meet up in the Spring when we get home.

My bike had another flat tire this past week; and we have now bought tube #3, a different brand this time; and hopefully it’ll last.  Mike has become an expert in changing flat tires.  He’s also really really glad that’s it’s the front tire and not the back.

And as of today; Phil has lent Victoria one of his bikes to use for the rest of her time here.  She’ll have a much better chance of seeing all of Jaco this way.

A few days after the Canadian Crew showed up, Mike wearing his Tilley hat, looked over the wall to say hi.  When Paula looked up; she instantly was reminded of "Wilson" from the TV show Home Improvement.  His character was famous for not having the lower part of his face shown.  Ever since then, we have unofficially become "the Wilson's".  And Victoria is now "Miss Wilson".

So today, before we went over to say our goodbyes, Paula took a few pictures of us, being "the Wilson's".

And not sure how this happened; but I totally forgot to mention it in the last blog or post pictures.  But almost 2 weeks ago the bikers started arriving in Jaco for the weekend. 

Just a few showed up on Friday night and some booths were up and ready for business.  On Saturday morning, there were upwards of 1000 bikes in Jaco. 

Most of the bikes were parked around the park; which is just in front of our condo complex.  We spent a few hours wandering around and taking pictures.  At one point, I was standing on the side of the road; and about a 100 bikes or so passed.  I could feel the rumblings in my chest and the smell of gas.  It was pretty exhilarating.


Tonight, Phil is coming over for dinner and the 4 of us are going to play some euchre.  After a game or 2 maybe we'll teach them pepper, which is "the grown up" version of euchre and much more of a game.

The plan for tomorrow is to be up and out the door by 6:00 am.  We’re heading to Manuel Antonio for the day; hope the monkeys are out.

Click here to look at our pictures.

Mike Birthday and Victoria Arrives

The past few weeks have just flown by.  Our new friend Phil, from London, had some friends show up for a 10 day visit; and we also met a group from Pensacola, Florida.

We’ve had a couple of beach fires with the group from Florida; and it’s been a lot of fun.  Joey brings his grill; we all bring food and drinks and the party begins!

On a couple of occasions, Joey/Eida’s daughters have come and entertained us with their guitars and singing. 

We have also done lots of things with the Canadian Crew.  Dinners out; drinks around Phil’s pool; drinks on Phil’s front patio… lots of drinking. 

Then on Mike’s birthday, which was on Friday; his cousins daughter, Victoria from Seattle; arrived for a months vacation in Costa Rica.

We met her at the bus station; and it’s been non-stop ever since.  After unpacking and taking a swim, we headed off to Rustico’s for dinner.  I forgot to mention this in the last post; but we finally saw Sadie, our favourite sister who owns Rustico’s. 

She only works the occasional weekend now; and she happened to be there a few weeks ago.  She recognized us right away and her face lit up into a huge smile; she then came out from behind the register and gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek!  Don’t think that that has ever happened at home… made me feel good to get that kind of welcome from her.

After dinner, we headed home to gather our stuff for the upcoming party at the beach and off we went.

Joey had gotten a load of wood earlier in the day; and had it all set up for us when we got there.  Within short order, there were 20-30 people to help Mike celebrate his 61st birthday. 

The group from Pensacola were there; the Canadian Crew; Joey/Eida, and a few other people that we didn’t know.  The fire was huge; and we partied late into the night.  We had a great time and for both of us; our birthdays this year will be remembered for many years to come.  Both of us are Canadian winter babies; and usually a beach fire is out of the question.  But not this year; and boy did we ever have a lot of fun.

Yesterday, we took Victoria up the road to Hermossa so she could watch the surfing competition.  While Mike watched our stuff; we went into the waves and boy did we get tossed around by a few of them.

The waves were huge; and the under tow was pretty strong; but it was still a lot of fun.  We finally decided to get out when a couple of surfers came pretty close to our heads with their surfboards.  So back to the beach we went to watch from a safer distance.

Got back to Jaco and off to Papas & Burgers we went for yet another great dinner.  There was a street parade going on with lots of marching bands, etc and so after dinner we stopped and watched/listened for a bit.

The Canadian Crew were also out there; chatted with them for a bit; and made plans for us to come over later.  We headed home for much needed showers and then back to Phil’s we went for a late swim, more drinking and visiting. 

We’ve had a lot of fun this past while; click here to take a look to see some of our pictures.

A Birthday Beach Fire

For the first time ever in my life, I got to have a fire on the beach this year for my birthday!  And was it ever nice.

We went for dinner at Papas & Burgers, and around 8pm we headed to the beach.  Joey had gotten some wood for us; and within short order we had a blazing fire going.

7 of our friends showed up and helped me celebrate.  Mike had baked me a chocolate cake and we brought that to the beach to serve.

The night was perfect; and we plan to do it all again a week from tomorrow for Mike’s birthday.

On Monday morning, Joey picked us up and off to the beach we went.  Joey and Eida wanted to try out a kayak that their thinking of buying.  We didn’t have bathing suits with us; or we would have tried it out too.  Maybe next time.

A lot of the rest of this past week (or so) has been pretty much spent the same.  We go on lots of bike rides; lots of mountain hikes; and we are spending a lot of time at the beach this year.  Being this close, plus having chairs makes a huge difference.

We’ve also been down lots of new roads in Jaco this year.  And have ridden around a few typical barrios.  All I can say, is boy do we ever have it good at “home”.  I didn’t take any picture while driving around the barrios, as I’m not yet quite co-ordinated enough to pedal a bike and operate a camera.  Maybe by the end of our stay here, I’ll get to that stage; but not yet.

Our neighbour Phil gave us the key to his place and we’ve been using his pool almost daily.  And boy is it ever nice.  No kids, private, stereo playing; and did I mention NO KIDS!!!

My front tire on my bike has been going flat since my birthday.  Mike figures it's been 30 plus years since he last fixed a flat tire; and he's done it 4-5 times in this past week.  The first time, he biked over to the bike shop and the guy fixed it for a dollar.  That lasted about an hour before it was flat again.  Next was a repair kit for about a dollar and 2 patches later, decided to get a new tube.

The new tube within an afternoon had 2 patches; so off to the store Mike went again.  This time he bought a smaller tube; and very thoroughly checked to see if there was anything sharp in the tire (there wasn't).  So far it's been a few days; and no flats!

And last night; we had another fire on the beach.  This time with some American tourists that Joey had met earlier in the week.  While enjoying the fire, and cook out, Joey and Skip both caught red snappers. 

The first one, was caught by Skip and Joey was planning on turning it into Ceviche for them; the second one; was served within short order.  Joey took the fish to his place, cleaned and gutted it.  Then he lined some tin foil with salt, put the fish on that; covered it with more salt and sealed the tin foil.

Back to the beach and onto the fire.  An hour later, the fish was done and boy oh boy was it ever good!  You don’t get much fresher than that.  They even had melted garlic butter to dip the fish into and mmm mmm tasty!

So, all in all it’s been a couple of nice weeks, again, in Jaco.  Please click here to look at our pictures.

A Quieter Week

This past week or so has been fairly quiet.  Mike had a really bad sunburn and that kept us pretty close to home for a few days.  Lots of Benadryl and lots of aloe and a few days later it was easing up.

We also ended up with a broken bedroom window.  While out one day; the maintenance guy came and used an electric weed eater on a rock bed.  You guessed it, rocks went flying everywhere… including through our window. 

Liz, the manager, got on it right away to have it replaced; but the promises of tomorrow never came.  After almost a week; she had it replaced herself.  We wanted to be here; so there was lots of sitting around time.

Some of you have asked how my foot is doing.  The x-rays that I had done in July showed that I had 2 plantar spurs, one on the bottom of my foot and the other on my Achilles tendon. 

After waiting almost 5 months to see a specialist, she told me that I had Achilles tendonitis and there wasn’t much that I could do.  Because we left shortly after seeing her, there wasn’t any time to pursue another opinion.  I will look into in this spring when we get home.

Despite my foot hurting most of the time; I don’t let it stop me much; and have walked up the mountain a couple of times already.  And lots of bike riding too.  The bike is great for my heel; but kills my knees when starting off.  And the walking is hard on my heel; but easy on my knees… oh this getting old sucks!

I also had an cervical ablation at the end of November; and all I can say on this subject is; that it’s worse than I thought it was going to be; but better than it was.  Will also be looking into the next step on that when we get home.

So, this past week of lots of down time worked well.

We met another Canadian, who is from London, Ontario, of all places.  And his house is out our back room.  His name is Phil; and he took us up to his friends place in the mountains the other day.  Really nice place, but I certainly wouldn’t want the responsibility.  Also just a tad out of the way.

And on Saturday afternoon, we got a cab and headed up the highway to Hermossa, where there’s a weekly surfing competition.  About 50 surfers strutting their stuff and hoping for the perfect wave.

The beach is really close to the surf and it made for a fun afternoon.  Had dinner at the Backyard (the restaurant that sponsors the competition).  They had some live music playing and it was a great way to spend a day.

We’ve also played in the waves quite a few times.  Apparently the ocean is pretty calm these days, but it’s perfect for us. 

And yesterday Mike and I went to the beach where Joey was fishing.  As we were setting up our chairs, 5 macaws flew by.  There were 2 pairs and a single.  They seemed a little confused and flew amongst the tall buildings like they had never seen them there.

Turning back, they met up with another pair of macaws and the 7 of them flew around, squawking up a storm and showing off their brilliant colours.  A little while later, I was walking along the shore; when I saw all 7 of the same macaws land in a tree just up from me!  How often does that happen to a Canadian girl?  Not very.

I headed on over and the 7 of them were in the tree, just a squawking away and having a feast on the almonds.  If you weren’t careful walking under the tree, you could have ended up with one or two being bounced off your head. 

Feel free to click here to look at our pictures.