Only Bode was up for an all-night party, so we started creeping out of town until we found the Jaguar Rescue Center. Despite it’s name (there are no jaguars,) it’s actually a really great stop if you are interested in getting up close and personal with some local animals.

All the animals here get brought in after being confiscated pets, found injured, illegally sold, etc. They take care of everyone until they are able to be released back into the jungle. In some cases, they can’t be released, which also makes this a bit of a personal zoo for the owner.

Of course, we went for the monkeys. The tour starts by walking right into the monkey pen. They have 10 or so howlers of various ages – all of whom are eager to jump right on your head. There is no prodding or training here. The monkey do whatever they want, but it mostly involves using the visitors as climbing structures. Heads make good chairs.

There were a few rambunctious tenants, so the guide told us that if we needed to, we should pick them up by their tails. Bode was clearly listening, because right then he leaned over and picked up an unsuspecting monkey by it’s tail. He must have needed to do it.

The tails are pure muscle and more like a long finger. Pretty cool.

Every afternoon, they open the pen and take all of them out to the jungle to frolic. If they find another group and want to leave, they are free to go. So far, two of them have found a mate (for some reason they are all females.)

Next were the sloths. They have two of them and the same rules apply. They take them our every afternoon and hang them on a tree and see if they will go anywhere.  They have a two-toe and a three-toe sloth sloth here and they are pretty interesting to see close-up.

Last were an endless line of snakes and one jungle cat – the name escapes me, but not a jaguar – a small one that was actually being sold along with a box of kittens (or so the story goes.)

There’s a beach right in town, but you are better off crossing the footbridge at the southern edge of town into the National Park. Here, they appreciate a donation for admission and you can hike their trails to find your own little slice of beachfront for the day.

Angela was talking to the park ranger and mentioned off-hand that she hadn’t seen a sloth in Costa Rica yet. The ranger walked about 10 meters, looked up into a tree and pointed. There you go.

They like to sit curled up at the tree-tops for week-long stretches. From a distance they just look like a furry bird’s nest. They don’t really move around, so you really have to be deliberately looking for them.  Apparently, they only come down for their weekly poop at the base of the tree.

We hiked into the park and put Bode in charge of the day’s photos. He though it would be a really good joke to cut our heads off in all of them, but we were on to him… eventually.

Not far down the trail, we spotted (heard) howler monkeys and we looked up to find they were all around us. We’ve been around monkeys for so long it almost feels normal to have them in the trees above us.

We plopped down in a shady spot in the sand and commenced our day at the beach. Now, white faced monkeys appeared directly above us and started dropping their fruit peelings on us.

A good hike. A beautiful beach. An animal show.

This isn’t quite paradise, but I think we’re getting close.

Anyway, we were leaving today, so we bought tickets for the 11:15 water taxi back to the mainland.

We had some time and while Doug and Bode hung out at the playground, Jason and I went walking the tiny town. Next to the playground, I stopped in a cute shop and was browsing the earrings. The next thing I know, Jason comes running in and say ‘we gotta go’. We quickly walk down to the dock, and as I pass the park I notice that Doug and Bode are not there.

I mentioned that I was just about to buy these really cool fish scale earrings and Jason said he got me out of there just in time. As we get to the boat dock (it really isn’t a dock, just the muddy place the boats slide ashore onto) I see the water taxi leaving with Bode and Doug on it. We start running and waving our arms. Finally, the guy backs up and we climb aboard.

After sitting down, I glanced at my watch at it says 11:08. For the first time in Central America something has been on time… actually, early. Here, they leave when the boat is full enough, regardless of time. I think Doug was most relieved – we had the keys to the bus and I don’t think he wanted to entertain Bode until we arrived on the next boat at 3 pm.

We were happy to find the bus exactly as we left it and we all prepared for a good drive.

I failed to mention yesterday that the drive to the dock  is a very long 29 kilometers down a dirt road after the town of Cariari, which wasn’t even on our map.  It’s all banana plantations and road signs are non-existent. Getting back was even more of a challenge, but we managed.

Red Beard was running poorly the entire dirt road, so once we got into a town we pulled over in a closed restaurant parking lot where Jason could tune her up. We made lunch in the bus and entertained Bode. We are constantly stopping for some repair or other and it never phases Bode. He’s such a great traveler.

Down the road, we came across the town of Westfalia. It was on our way, so we thought we would be able to get some sort of photo with the bus. We were even thinking on staying here, but iIt turns out that the entire ‘town’ is just a few houses and one restaurant/hotel. We made a few passes back and forth looking for some equivalent of a city limits sign to no avail. We had to settle for a shot of the bus next to the restaurant. It’s near the beach, but Westfalia, Costa Rica isn’t as Volkswagen Westfalia-friendly as we had hoped.

We eventually made out way a little further to Cahuita, where there is a National Park and called it a night.

* “We’re at the boat dock” is a trademarked expression that is funny to exactly four people.

We woke up early and headed out to check out a local hot springs. We were pleasantly surprised by a beautiful jungle park alongside a river with 4 pools (2 hot).  It was so nice we considered spending the entire day and camping there, but another rainstorm rolled in and we decided we were better off driving toward the Caribbean.

We drove a few hours to Cariari, where you take a labyrinth of dirt roads though banana fincas to find the boat dock at La Pavona. We showed up and found that the ferry was leaving in about an hour. We packed up our bags for a night without the van and parked Red Beard in the “secure” lot. The boat ride was about $3 USD each and the parking was $10 USD.

Tortuguero is only accessible by boat and about an hour’s ride from the dock. We have been wanting to visit a turtle nesting area for months. Timing, cost and the late nights have prevented it until we reached Tortuguero.

This was the first time we’d seen the Atlantic Ocean since we were on the U.S. Gulf Coast  in November.

The town has a Caribbean vibe and feels much different than not-to-distant Pacific coast. We are definitely in Creole country and most folks speak English as their first language.

The entire town consists of meandering dirt paths that connect the beach-side soccer pitch to the strip of tiendas and trinket sellers. We found a little hotel right next to the soccer field and  Bode ran out to watch the afternoon game and make some new friends.

We had some great Caribbean food that night – there was lot’s of simmering in coconut milk. Later, Bode schooled everyone in how to pick up cute European girls using only finger puppets. Pure genius.

Naturally, we were staying up late to go see some turtles. A guide is required to be on the beach after 6 pm so we signed up with Emilio for $20 USD each (Bode was half that).  Half the money goes to the volunteer organization that helps spot the turtles for visitors and makes sure they are safe. After seeing the thoroughness and checks and balances of the park system rangers, guides, and volunteers  – we were convinced our money was well spent. They are very serious about protecting this habitat.

We were a little unsure if we’d see any turtles, but Emilio assured us there were ‘turtles all over the beach’. A boat picked us up and took us to a station at the end of the beach. Only 8 people are allowed with each guide and each guide is assigned a certain area of the beach. Rangers and volunteers patrol the entire beach to ensure everyone is following the rules.

Our paperwork was checked and we were led out to the beach.  Immediately, the guide walked us to an enormous green sea turtle. She had dug a massive hole and was laying white ping-pong ball size eggs. Apparently they lay over 100 eggs at a time and return 7 more times each season to do it again.  After she finished and was beginning to cover the eggs, she flung sand all over us with her flippers. Everyone was just in awe. These giant creatures can really move some sand.

We walked down the beach where Emilio had found a turtle that was heading back out to sea. We slowly followed behind her to the ocean and watched until we could no longer see her. As we stood there, turtles emerged in the surf on both sides of us, just starting their 2 hour nesting ritual.

We walked the beach and found more turtles laying eggs and then returned to our first turtle to watch her go out to the sea.

Through all this, Bode was pretty amazing. It was late, but he was excited. He asked great questions and was really engrossed in the experience. Regardless of age, you know when you are witnessing a miracle of nature.

Yet another really amazing day.

Unfortunately for us, photography of any kind was not allowed (and closely monitored), as even the camera’s light-sensor might disturb the turtles and send them back out to sea. Since we came away without any turtle photos, we decided we would all create something to remind us what we saw.

While Jason’s may be the most accurate (former sand castle contest champ is on his list of random useless accomplishments,) I do have to mention Bode and I did ours while riding in a VW bus on a dirt road.

We also had some time to knock out a few projects on the bus list, like repairing a couple of closet shelves and a thorough cleaning.

More importantly, we managed to get to my parents back to the airport without breaking down.

We had been waiting for our return to Liberia to get some new front tires, so this was our chance.  We met up with Doug and went to get new tires, where the tire guy told us our front right axle nut was really hot. He wouldn’t fix it, so we pulled out with our new tires and fixed it in his parking lot.

Jason had to take it apart and apply lots of grasa to the front bearings and make sure things were adjusted properly and we were on our way. I was glad that it wasn’t with my parents waiting to catch a flight.

We finally got on the road and headed up to Rio Celeste. There is a national park near here that is about 15 miles down a dirt country road, so we went looking for it. Again, we were warned it was 4×4 only, but we had no problems.

We heard a lady offers camping in her front yard, so we went to investigate. Sure enough, it was just her front yard and she wanted to charge us quite a bit for the privilege, so we passed on it. We drove around a bit more following hand-painted wooden signs for cabinas until we found accommodations in what Doug referred to as ‘the halfway house’.

The house was in a lovely valley, but was a muddy hike from the car. It had a bathroom, but no sink in it. The kitchen had a sink and a refrigerator, but no stove or cooking equipment. The walls didn’t quite go all the way to the ceiling. But, it was cheap and that is our usual criteria.

I was putting Bode to bed in one of the rooms when we heard Doug screaming about a giant spider coming up through the shower drain. Neither Bode nor I really wanted to go check it out, so we just decided to pretend we were asleep. Poor Doug.

We were 3 km from the park entrance, which featured an enormous variety of creepy crawly dead things in jars. The hike to the falls was only 2 kilometers, but Jason had sprained his ankle back in Montezuma and it seemed to be getting worse. He waited in the car with his leg up while the rest of us set out down the trail. What they didn’t tell us was the last kilometer involved sliding down a very steep muddy mountain. It was all we could do to keep from sliding all the way down to the bottom and by the end we were covered in dirt and mud. It was worth it.

The water color here is the same shade as the sky. The legend has it that when God was painting the sky, he dipped his brush to clean it into the water at Rio Celeste. It really was pretty amazing.

Highlights of our week in Costa Rica…

Arriving at Liberia airport and seeing Angela, Jason and Bode holding a sign that read “Grammy and Granddaddy.”

Bahía Pez Vella: Our beautiful condo overlooking Sailfish Bay with multiple swimming pools. Bode tried them all.

Casado: Costa Rico’s national dish. A plate containing either fish, pork, chicken, or beef with
rice, beans, and fried plantains. Muy delicioso. The fish sandwiches are also good.

Dead chicken wind chimes.

Eco Tourism. Costa Rico has figured out that preserving the environment attracts tourists which helps the economy which helps provide a stable government.

Friendly, accommodating, laid back locals.

Green Season, recently renamed from the tourist reducing Rainy Season. Not to worry, the rain is only in the late afternoon or at night and lasts half an hour or so.

Howler Monkeys in the morning.

Iguanas and white-faced monkeys eating bananas from Bode’s hand.

Jason driving Red Beard, sans power steering, around curves and up a mountain like it was no big deal. Speed bumps are a redundancy when the roads are narrow, dirt, full of pot holes, and choked with bicyclists carrying passengers on the handle bars. His cooking isn’t bad either.

King sized crocodiles basking in the sun.

Long, lazy afternoons with my family.

Magpie’s that steal your breakfast.

Noodling with Bode at the swimming pool.

Open air dinning and ocean breezes.

Pedicure and shopping with Angela.

Quiet nights with only the sound of the surf.

Rocky the Raccoon who visited every evening. Make sure the door is closed securely or he’ll get in.

Swimming, snorkeling, snuggling, and sunsets. Bode excels in all but one. Sunsets didn’t mean as much to him as they did to the rest of us.

Tinker Toys and tide pools.

Unit thirty-three, complete with Shaggy Dog movie, which we watched every night. Our landlords owned one of the five dog actors in the movie.

Volcanic black sand. It might not be as pretty as white sand but it’s easier to see if you washed it all off.

Watching a mama whale and her calf cruise around for our enjoyment every afternoon.

Xanadu (Utopia) : A vacation in Costa Rica with Angela, Jason, and Bode.

Yellow birds building a nest in the palm tree on the patio.

Zerberts by the dozen from Bode.

Some random quotes from the week:

Bode: “Grammy , let’s play noodling. You wiggle your fingers and I’ll be the fish.”
Grammy: “Ouch!”
Granddaddy: “Didn’t anyone one else see that coming?”

Jason: “Is it still fishing if you don’t touch the pole?”

Angela: “Bode, Grammy is not a piece of playground equipment.”

Granddaddy: “I think that crocodile’s stuffed and nailed in place.”

Angela: “We’re back. Pour the wine, cue the sunset.”

Bode, on leaving our condo: “Can we stay someplace this pretty again tonight?’
Angela: “Uh, probably not.”

The guided river cruise was great in that they told us all the species you are seeing – especially the birds. We’ve traveled quite a bit to areas where the guidebooks say it’s great for bird watching, but we’re not birders. It definitely makes it more interesting when you have someone to identify them and tell you all about them . We saw at least six types of heron – we even saw a nest with blue eggs.

Up next were the iguanas. We saw plenty along the riverbank, but in one particular spot they seem to be lounging around waiting for us. The guide threw out bits of banana peel and they gobbled it up as quick as they could.

We pulled over and picked a few long seed pods, which the guide said were nicknamed Monkey Guaba. Bode thought they were delicious, the monkeys seemed to prefer the bananas.

When the boat pulled over to a group of Capuchin (white faced) monkeys, they were shy at first. But after a while they were jumping on the boat. We got to feed them bits of banana. We’re not sure this was technically allowed in the park, but the guide provided the bananas and encouraged us. It sure was fun.