I can even sleep sideways

No matter how you lean you can't see the water but the price is right.

Still no comfortable furniture.

I might have to try drinking.

At Least a private toilet

The first thing you see when you walk in my room.

My first sight of the water

Let's talk about potholes

I have been told at length about the roads and potholes in Costa Rica. As you know I have been getting out and about - Allejuela, San Jose, Atenas, Grecia, Sarchi, Zarcero, Naranja, Palmares, Puriscal, Cuidad Colon and now the 5 hour trip to the RIU Palace in Guanacaste. I want you to know there has not been a pothole in sight. well, a few little ones the last little stretch to the RIU. The roads have been very good with most of the surfaces newly paved. We did run into some rough spots in the construction areas along Highway 1 where they are expanding it to 2 lanes each way. We had a couple of lengthy waits as they were only letting one direction through at a time.

We left Ana's place today at 6:00am.  Adriana and our driver, Luis, and myself. We had a little trouble finding the Holiday Inn Express but nothing serious. We had allowed plenty of time. After they dropped me off, Luis took Adriana to the bus for San Jose as she planned to go on to Cartago and the Orosi Valley before heading back to Atenas by bus. It will be very quiet at Ana's Place later this week as Adriana and the Engineer are going to visit his family and Mark and Sally are both doing trips to renew their visa. One to the US and one to Peru. He found a wonderful deal for $200.00 round trip for air to Lima.

Back to my trip today. I went to Denny's, next to the Holiday Inn and had my most expensive meal since I got here. At least it worked for 2 meals. It was a slice of toast with ham, then scrambled eggs with sausage and hash browns. I set the bread and ham aside and ate the hash browns and eggs. It was over double my fajita dinner in Atenas the other night. It really does make a difference where you are here.

The shuttle arrived right on time. It was full - 10 passengers and the driver. We rode for a couple hours and had a 20 minute rest stop at a restaurant complex and off again. We made 3 stops before coming here.

It is a lovely complex and I will take more pictures and post them. Wait till you see my room!

Maybe I will find some potholes when I go to San Isidro on Saturday.

They grow coffee and tobacco in this area.

The wicker and hammock store.

Our route back to Atenas

Today's lunch

How is this for a strange drink?

They are comparing the size of their noses.

The bird and me.

The church in Puriscal

Another road trip

Milton got here a few minutes before 10am. Traffic wasn't too bad in the direction we were heading, but the other direction goes to the beach and it was bumper to bumper for miles. The route is curvy and mountainous and beautiful. Milton pointed out we were going to the top of the highest mountain ahead of us and I was looking forward to some cooler temps as the day started out quite hot. The towns were very busy and we came across some ferias.  

In the 1990's the church in Puriscal was damaged by earthquakes and the Catholic Church deserted it. Since then, there it stands getting worse and worse. It was sad to see.

We did have fun in the square with a man with a miniature parrot. He said it won't get Any bigger. Lunch was in another soda but the prices were higher than yesterday and here in Atenas. In both Zarcero and Puriscal, wifi was not available. 

On the way back we stopped at a shop with wicker and hammocks and Adriana made the comment "I hope to see rain before I leave Costa Rica." Two minutes later the rain started. It cooled the temps off a bit. Adriana now has a hammock to fit in her luggage.

We got back about 3:10pm.

Ana said March is the hottest month of the year and when the rains start it will cool off a bit.

I don't have any excursions planned until very early Tuesday morning when I head to the Holiday Inn Express by the airport to get my shuttle to Guanacaste and the RIU Palace.

The inside of the church in Palmares.

The church in Palmares.

The church in Naranjo.

The church in Naranjo that was so damaged inside.

Part of the Zarcero Square.

Square has two rows of these heading to the church.

Adriana had beef.

Lunch

Zarcero church inside.

The church in Zarcero

Coffee plants.

Coffee plantation between Sarchi and Zarcero

Sarchi church that we haven't been inside.

Sarchi ox cart

Altar in the Grecia church

Grecia church on the square

Grecia

I did it and I have the pictures to prove it.

But, I did it my way and it didn't involve any buses except the ones we met on the windy, curvy mountain roads that are barely wide enough for 2 little cars, let alone a bus or a truck and a car.

I hired a driver for the day and Adriana negotiated a rate of 65000 colones and that converts to about $124.00 to $130.00. We left here at ten this morning and arrived back at 6:20pm. It was Milton the driver and Adriana and me in his little white taxi. Luis, Adriana's regular driver suggested Milton as Luis was in school. The white taxis are less expensive than the red ones.

We headed for Grecia and although it was greener than Atenas, it was too big and busy for me. On we went to Sarchi which is known for their decorated ox carts, which used to be used for carrying coffee to the coast for shipping. Nice town, but still not my place. Adriana has been there 3 times but still hasn't seen the inside of he church because it is closed over the lunch hour.

Now, let me tell you about Zarcero. It is a smaller village, high enough that the temp was much cooler. The clouds do come down low enough that if your windows are open they go through your house. It is easy for things to get moldy. The square is covered with sculpted hedges that one man has been keeping up for 30 years. We had a wonderful meal at a little Soda with the nicest people. The church is lovely and in all the churches they were getting ready for Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

On the road again to the village of Naranjo. Here the church made you want to cry - it did make Adriana cry. There is so much damage from an earthquake. They seem to be having fundraisers and working on it but they have a long way to go. BUT, there is nothing wrong with their ice cream! This time it was a water based with both sno cone and ice cream and fruit layered. We bought one to share and went to the lovely square and talked with a couple. He is a Tico and she is from Minnesota. He especially was very interested in what I am doing and that I am brave enough to do it alone. It was only after they left that I looked at Adriana and said "where are we?" she said I think we have to go this way. I said no, what town are we in. Up until then I thought we were in Palmares. Off we go again for our last stop.

Palmares has a lovely. Square and church. By the way if you aren't sure of directions, the church always faces west. 

We didn't spend a lot of time there as it was getting close to dark. It was a beautiful but treacherous drive back, part of it after dark.

AND! We are going to do it again tomorrow to Santiago de Puriscal. it is another town I have been interested in. Off the beaten path for tourists, beautiful mountain scenery, very unusual church made of tin. It won't be as long a day so it will be about $55.00 to $60.00 for Milton for the day. 

Speaking of Milton, he is a good driver and very patient when we are wandering around.

I will post some pictures separate from this so you can see a bit of what I saw.

I know, I know, it is my job to keep you entertained.

And I am not doing a very good job of it since I am not doing much. I promise, tomorrow, Adriana and I are going on an adventure. I tried some new ice cream today - at a place called POPS. No cafe Frio today but I did have a wonderful, refreshing red drink that I have no idea what it was. A man at the next table was having it so I pointed to it. It is ice and water and fruit, done in the blender. Then for dinner I had Filete de pollo con papas y ensalada. I brought it back here to eat and it was wonderful. I talked to a couple that have a small casita they rent out most of the year. They only stay here 2 - 3 months of the year and also saw a sign for an apartment for rent a couple blocks from here. If this were the spot for me, there seems to be a lot of availability.

A little report

It has been a quite day, quite hot. I did a bit of walking around but nothing too exciting. It is my plan to go to Grecia tomorrow. Let's see. It is like going from Hutchinson to Litchfield but you have to take the bus to St. Cloud, change buses and maybe bus stations and then take the bus to Litchfield. There are several places around here I would like to check out but I have to go back to Alejuela - by the airport - to get to them. Or, you have to go to San Jose to change buses and stations and it is so big and busy there. In this area there are few buses to surrounding towns. Adriana went to some beautiful areas on the other side of San Jose yesterday when she helped John and Debbie get their bus to Nicaragua. I think we may go back later in the week. It is the Orosi valley.

Sophia, the cat in charge, has moved into my room.

I can just see it

You have all been checking this thinking "what's going on with Gayle? Is she sleeping till noon?" I have not, I tell you. We are having a little water problem so it made doing laundry an interesting process. I had help, thank heavens and besides getting my laundry lesson I got my how to hang up clothes lesson. Use the hose that is coming half way across the yard and put some water in the agitator side. Add the clothes and some soap. I had a packet that John and Debbie had given me so we used a little of that for the first load. From what I could tell the water had already been used. They have 2 machines so we put some water in the other machine for the rinse cycle. Then we kinda wrung them out and put them in the spinner and turned it on. They come out pretty dry and you hang them up. We did a second load, this one dark colors. We couldn't use the packet of soap because it has Clorox and would bleach the colors. We used her soap. When the clothes were washed we took them over to the sink where there was a shallow sink and a pail of water and I rinsed them by hand. Now into the spinner and they are ready to be hung up.

Now the hang up. If it has a collar, you hang it by the collar. A tee shirt you lay the bottom of it over the line and pin it. They have this neat thing that clips on the clothes line that is 4 circles with clips every couple inches and I hung all my little things on that. You hang everything inside out so it doesn't fade. Off I went to breakfast.

I have discovered Cafe Frio. With iced tea it is just tea over ice. Not so with Cafe Frio. There are lots of other things like maybe chocolate or caramel and cream. I may have to give up ice cream so I can have those. I was going to have fruit and yogurt and granola for breakfast but they didn't have any fruit so I pointed to the same thing as the two other times. Today I had no meat, just the scrambled eggs and rice and beans and fried plantains.

It is warmer here today. Tomorrow Adriana will be volunteering at the orphanage so I may take off on a bus ride. I hear a lot of good things about Grecia. Once I am there I should be able to take a bus to Sarchi or Palmares or maybe even Puriscal. I also have to figure out how to get to the Holiday Inn Express next Tuesday by 8:00am for the shuttle to Guanacaste. The next day that Adriana is free she is planning an adventure for us.

Eat up everything dinner

Our dinner ended up being 8 of us and it was a wonderful assortment. There was celery and tomatoes and a tossed salad with everything but the kitchen sink and chopped tomatoes and cilantro, potatoes and carrots and onions and green peppers and fruit and smoothies

He kept saying cowboy.

John and Adrianna and our new friends at the co-op.

Another view from the restaurant

John's lunch

The view from the restaurant

Lunch Monday

I think it is Monday.

Well, I was going to do laundry but I dug deeper in my suitcase and found something to wear - so mañana. John made us breakfast to use up their supplies. Coffee, fried scrambled eggs, juice, toast, peanut butter and jam. No rice and beans.
We will be heading out soon for lunch. We are taking a taxi up on the mountain to a restaurant with good food and wonderful views. I will see about pictures.

I finally figured out how to zoom.

Today's Breakfast.

It was a quieter day.

Instead of going to eat I went to Mass, or half of it. It was in Spanish of course but I could figure out where they were at and what was going on. Breakfast at La Caretta's again. Spent the afternoon visiting with my new friends. They are in an apartment and as they are leaving early Tuesday morning we are having leftovers tonight.
Yes, I did have some ice cream today. Limon - sherbet and a scoop of chocolate mint, and a Popsicle. They were all homemade. I will have to skip tomorrow again to get back on track.

The view from the Study Hall at the University

The front of Ana's Place

A group in the Central Square

Our bus to San Jose

Thanks to Gene

I use the little flashlight every night as there aren't any outside lights and I don't want to trip and ruin my adventure. Works great.thanks.

Father and son

Father and daughter

Could this be Gayle!

When you finish reading about my day you will say - could this really be Gayle! When I got back to
Ana's this morning the lady from the 2nd Atenas B & B came to  pick me up. I chatted with her and decided to move to her house. It turned out it was several miles away, pretty hilly, no bus service and I would be the only guest. There was nothing else right around. Although I am a hermit, I knew that wouldn't be good for me starting out here. When we arrived I asked her to call a taxi for me as staying there just wasn't going to work for me. She agreed to drive me back to Ana's Place and I moved back into the room I had been in.  Apparently in Costa Rica there isn't usually a penalty fee as people's plans change but I gave her a partial payment.
My new friends were just leaving on an adventure when I got back so off I went to a rodeo!
We took the bus to Balsa, a small village about a half hour away. It was at the Veterinary University and we connected with a student on the bus who took us around and explained things. We had lunch at the cafeteria - really good food. No pictures! Then we went to the grandstand and spent a couple hours watching prancing horses. One father and son team were quite spectacular. They were on pintos and one was a grand champion and one was a champion. They are hoping to go to the Calgary Stampede.  There was also a father daughter team that had their horses on a wooden platform and the horses were dancing to the beat of the music. We left after that as we didn't really want to see calves being roped.
It was a really great day. I'm so happy to be here for the next 10 days. Laundry day tomorrow.

Another day, another meal.

I know it seems all I do is eat but actually I am doing 2 meals a day and an ice cream snack. Today I am having breakfast at La Carretta's. I am having pintos and scrambled eggs and bacon. I have my cafe con leche next to me. I waked to the bank on the square to use the ATM for the first time. I was concerned because I have heard of cards getting eaten. It is Saturday so the banks are closed. Everything went well. Since I was getting colones, the hard part was deciding how many thousand to get. Breakfast just came.

More pictures

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