Ephemerica

In our quest to get back on our feet and return to our travels, we needed some local help, so we contacted some people through CouchSurfing and asked to stay with them. We got a response from a friendly couple, Trevor (from Nebraska) and Mariana (from Argentina). They live in Heredia (just outside San Jose), which has a youthful populace due to the pair of universities in town. We’ve been able to leave our bikes and some bags with them as we’ve explored the central valley. After hanging out in Heredia a couple of days and enjoying the atmosphere, we took a bus to the nearby town of Alajuela, where we were planning on meeting our friends Becky and Sara. We stayed for a few days at the , home of a bar devoted to Marilyn Monroe and “the best breakfast in Costa Rica” (according to their website). The breakfast was actually pretty good, as far as typical Costa Rica food goes—gallo pinto (rice and beans), potatoes, plantains, and an omelet bar. Becky brought us a care package of things we needed from the states, including a new digital camera (a cheap one…you know what they say about fool me twice…). So we were very excited to start exploring and take pictures again!

Our first day in Alajuela was spent on a trip to the nearby town of Sarchi, which is supposed to be the best place to buy local handicrafts. Most of the items are made from the beautiful hardwoods found in the area. I feel somewhat ambivalent about the wood crafts—although the items are stunningly beautiful, you have to wonder whether or not you are supporting the destruction of rain forest by purchasing such items. Anyway, Becky and Sara were introduced to the wonders of Costa Rican bus travel; that is to say, wondering when the bus is going to roll over because it drives so fast on small, windy roads. And they were also introduced to the rainy season here, as it absolutely poured all afternoon, causing us to walk from awning to awning through the town in a futile attempt to stay dry. We eventually made it back to the hotel, where we warmed ourselves with some rum that Cindy and I brought from Nicaragua that was thankfully forgotten by our attackers there.

The next day we visited the nearby Volcano Poas. We again tried to get there by bus, but despite the help of several locals, we couldn’t figure out how to make it happen. So we returned to our hotel, and booked ourselves a guide to take us directly to the volcano. Our guide was a Tico named Luis, who was very friendly, spoke excellent English, and had lots to tell us about the area. Poas is one of the most visited national parks in Costa Rica; apparently the fees collected there are enough to subsidize the costs of the less traveled parks in the country. We went up on a Sunday, and sure enough, there were plenty of people there. Unfortunately, Poas is a bit of a crapshoot in terms of visibility. We got a glimpse of the just as we arrived, but within 10 minutes, it was enveloped again in clouds. Luis told us that some people don’t even get to see that, so we should consider ourselves lucky We took the short hike in the rain to the other crater, which is a lake (Botos Lagoon), and had to be satisfied with seeing the picture of the lake posted at the lookout, since that side was covered in clouds as well.

The day after our trip to Poas, we transferred to a hotel called , which is in the hills between Heredia and Alajuela. This hotel is amazingly beautiful, and we picked it because we had a little surprise planned for Becky and Sara…more on that later. That morning we took the coffee tour at . The tour was, shall we say, unique. We walked through a small area of coffee plants as three people (claiming to be coffee pickers) explained to us where the coffee beans come from, and how they are processed from cherries on the tree to the roasted beans that you put in the grinder. When we finished seeing the processing plant where the final product is bagged, we went into a small auditorium, where the three “coffee pickers” (who were at this point clearly actors) went into a full-blown stage production (complete with costume changes) explaining the history of coffee. It was like seeing a show at Disneyland…with an appropriate amount of caffeine added. Anyway, the tour ended in their gift shop (of course), where you could sample all their various blends of coffee. Since I don’t drink coffee, I wasn’t too interested in that, BUT they also had out samples of their various chocolates, which I was very interested in. You could also buy all the coffee your heart desired and have it shipped to the states for somewhat cheaper than their online prices, so we decided to send ourselves some coffee for our return.

That night we let Becky and Sara in on our surprise…they were going to be the witnesses for our wedding the next morning. We got married on July 17 by a lawyer overlooking the beautiful hotel pool, and we finished it before the rains came that day. This is something we’ve had planned since Mexico City, when we booked the hotel. We bought rings at a jade store in Antigua, Guatemala, and thankfully the robbers overlooked them when they were going through our stuff. The hotel did a really great job, preparing tropical flowers for us and a very yummy mango cake. But we had no time to sit around and congratulate ourselves—we had more stuff to see! After we killed the bottle of champagne and finished taking wedding photos, we jumped in a cab to visit . The gardens are set in the hills near an amazing chain of 5 waterfalls, and there is an aviary, butterfly house, hummingbird garden, snake house, and frog house. There is an abundance of beautiful flora and fauna to see (and photograph) as you walk through the park….I can’t wait to post some of our pictures. After wearing ourselves out in the park, we returned to the hotel for a celebratory wedding dinner. They serve all the guests at the same time with a 4-course meal in the main room of the hotel. Although our friends Trevor and Mariana weren’t able to get off work to come to the ceremony, they were able to join us for dinner. The next day we saw Becky and Sara off the the airport to return to Atlanta, while Cindy and I soaked up as much luxury as we could before returning to Heredia to stay with Trevor and Mariana.

We still haven’t made any binding decisions about our future travel directions yet, but in the meanwhile we are planning on leaving tomorrow by bus and boat to the Caribbean coast near Tortuguero National Park and spending a week volunteering to patrol the beach at night acting as midwives for the sea turtles. Then we’ll return to Heredia/San Jose and figure out what we’re going to do with the bikes.

Posted by Matthew on July 20th, 2007 | Filed under: Costa Rica