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Ouch. 6.40 flight means a 3.30 wake up call. Double ouch. Luckily it all went well - the airport at Santiago is a modern clean one, so apart from a minor hitch (Siena leaving her bag in the restaurant) and us failing to get to the gate within half an hour of flight departure (well, we were waiting for a call, doesn't that usually happen?!) we were up in the air before 7 ready for a confusion of meals during the day.
Two 3½ hour flights later, and a wait between the two, and we were landing in Costa Rica...to rain! Well it is the rainy season, after all. If we planned this trip for sunshine, we failed. Luckily we planned it for the adventure. Rain or not, you can feel the humidity as soon as you hit fresh air, so we know we're in a totally different climate.
We arrived at Pura Vida (a phrase used generically throughout CR to mean good life, have fun, chill out, relax, enjoy, thanks, you're welcome, have a nice day, do you want fries with that, and several other things between - between that and Mucho Gusto you've pretty much got the language covered.) we settled straight away - an oasis of green amongst green scenery, 3 german shepherds Max, Jaggi and Lobo running around the place immediately took Derry and Finn out of action for the next 2 days! Berni, our host, ex England and US silicon valley, and his wife Nhi, Vietnamese chef par excellence and chief welcome, made us feel at home - and berni did his best to keep the kids awake at the evening meal (which was superb) with pictures of bugs and other mini beasts. Sadly his efforts were in vain, we'd let the younger 2 snooze before tea and they were unwakeuppable. We all crashed out early - especially since Costa Rica is 2 hours behind Santiago, so our day had been a long one.
Berni let us into some of the insights of Costa Rica - the absence of street names, addresses, the mandatory car insurances, monopoly telephone system, all things which in a country of relaxed, laid back conflict avoidance people, seem to work well. Its either the Caribbean influence or drugs, but the whole country seems laid back. Minimal use of horns on the street too! Anyway, there's limited fast internet throughout the country, and our mobile phones don't work at all, so communications are challenged!
The next day, after our scrumptious breakfast and dragging the kids away from the dogs, we took a cab and visited the Doka coffee estate. We had to pause for a while as we got some money from the bank - travellers cheques are a great principle but in reality, ATMs are a better bet. Few banks exchange travellers cheques, the commission rates can be nasty, and the queues are always long, even if there's only one person in front of you! On the way to the plantation, our taxi driver (who was failing to spot the large colourful road signs pointing the way to our destination) also missed a speed bump and the whole car took off and landed heavily. Shortly after that I noticed the temperature gauge rising fast; luckily we were close to the estate and we made it, but we quickly left him to a steaming radiator and a very smoky exhaust.
The estate tour was interesting too - we learnt all about the 3 harvests per year in a 4 month season, the handpicking where the pickers earn a dollar per basket. Hard work. The process, for one of CR's mid sized growers, was remarkably old fashioned and manual, where they separate the beans into 3 classes based on size, and treat them separately to produce the husk-covered bean. Like our learning in our vineyard tour in Chile, there are multiple points at which the barista can change something to affect the taste. Type of bean, ripeness, duration of drying, method of drying, process to classify, water treatment, roast and mix/blend. We also learnt about how the peaberry is a genetic mutation, not a separate type of coffee. Mostly I learnt not to worry too much when it comes to brewing and drinking it - just buy an expensive machine which looks fantastic, the more dials and buttons the better, and it will magically taste good anyway. So my gadget opinions haven't changed a bit!
Unfortunately the plant was quiet but we could imagine the effort going into producing the beans - the funniest part for me was that they have to export the beans to germany for the decaffeinating process, then re-import it so they can package it and distribute it as their own!
We did the customary shop bit, then had lunch and as much coffee as we could drink in their restaurant - the kids delighted in bringing us a load of different varieties in small paper cups. After 3, we couldn't tell the difference and ended up totally buzzed as we left. They should do the tasting before the shop!
Siena had also decided to try coffee and seemed to like it (not sure if she was trying to conform to adult tastes, but she seemed to perceive the subtleties - the headache later was an unexpected consequence!).
Imagine our surprise when we left to find our taxi driver waiting for us outside with a broad smile on his face - clearly we hadn't done enough to wreck his car with 5 of us and him in it, and he wanted to inflict more punishment on it! As it happened, he admitted defeat as the water was still pouring from the radiator, and we took a cab back with his friend.
We spent the rest of the day chilled out reading, hammocking, dog training, and sleep avoiding so we could all enjoy the evening meal this time!
The next day, Friday 4th, was travel day to costa verde in Manuel Antonio - the first thing wasa power cut alert from berni at 7.45, so we showered quickly and headed for breakfast where mine was disturbed by taking delivery of our car for the next 2 weeks - a large Toyota 4x4 with - thankfully - 3 rows of seats for kid separation purposes. Our first stop for the day - thanks to the GPS provided, without which we'd not stand a chance - was the fabulous Zoo Ave, with a huge variety of birdlife, iguanas, parrots, plus a few cats - Ocelots, a Cougar, ostriches, and some amazing trees, including giant bamboo. We spent a happy 2 hours meandering around, and enjoying the snack lunch of pasty-esque delights. The zoo is mostly given over to rehabilitation - most of the birds there have been rescued either from hunting, or some other kind of endangering, and it's a very enjoyable tour - only like conventional zoos in the layout, but not from the feel which is much more animal friendly.
We stopped back by the hotel to collect our bags, then it was off to the coast on a 3 ½ hour excursion. There had clearly been lots of rain activity as we headed south - rivers were high, the roadside was brown and wet, and the bridges which were one way only were distinctly temporary and under construction - apparently there had been a major storm here recently, and the damage was clear.
The trip was a bit fraught - the kids have forgotten how to travel in a car (only first class flight is good enough any more). We nearly left Derry by the roadside but she managed to avoid it, once she realised we were serious.
We had the GPS set to include off-road, which was cool because about 3 km from the destination we hit an unpaved, narrow steep rocky path which was officially a road! The car took it in its stride once 4wd was engaged, but it made for a bit of adventure and excitement as we neared our destination. I'll conveniently ignore the other normal 2wd cars parked in their garages all the way up the road - it felt like an off road trail to me!!
On arrival at costa verde ('still more monkeys than humans' - we're counting!), we checked in and got to our apartment 'efficiency' which looked pretty good for the next few days - one room with 2 doubles and a mattress, kitchenette and balcony. It was early evening already by this time, so we chilled in the bar and then returned to the restaurant for a 4th July barbecue and fireworks display. The most entertaining part of the fireworks was the proximity of both operator and audience - the guy was lighting them as others were going off - the only way we knew this was because we were all about 3 meters away - and these weren't domestic fireworks!!! health and safety takes a back seat here, you're all responsible!
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