Haul-Out

Days:
Too many.

Used:
6 gallons of bottom paint.
A bunch of prep & repair materials.

Had done / Jim did (remember, I did nada):
Fiberglassed over a bunch (Jim would know the exact number) of through hulls.
Bottom sanded & painted with anti-fouling paint.
Repaired t-bone hole on starboard side.
Repaired tsunami crunch on port side.
Buffed hullsides.
Removed scum line from just above the waterline.
New strainer for generator & watermaker intake.
Removed old toilet plumbing because... we now have one and soon to be two composting heads (more on this later, but in meantime, check out Nature's Heads).
Uh, what else?
Not sure, but it was a lot.

We provided:
Money into the somewhat sluggish boatyard economy.
Money into the local hotel and restaurant businesses.
Rain shelter for golf carts.

Floating!

Yes, we are back in the water!
Yes, our damages were repaired!
Yes, new bottom paint!
Yes, through hulls glassed over!
And on, and on, and on...

Then: Time to put the dirty boat back together!
2.5 million tools tossed about.
Dirt everywhere.
We are halfway there...

But first...
Time to celebrate our 16th anniversary!

Further Interruption

Complete and utter interruption.
Full-on life interruption!
Tomorrow we do this:

"Meerkat" goes to the spa.
Gets her damages fixed.
A bit of a face-lift.
A bunch of bottom paint.
A huge amount of cash out-flow.

Another Commercial Break

Once again, time to interrupt this boring, tedious, too long with too many pictures and details re-cap of vacation heaven for something.
No rescues at sea this time.
Well, except for Ed getting airlifted off of "Blue Max" a few weeks ago, but really we aren't going to talk about that!
This time it's a commercial!
"Thistle" is for sale again!

I'm sorry, but did I read that price right?
WHAT?
I did?
Holy crap.
I'm very curious as to what he did with the boat.
Did he rip out the interior and re-do it?
Install a new engine?
New mainsail?
Replace the countertops?
New cushions and mattresses?
He better not have taken out that table Ron Whately made us... grrrrrrrrrrr.
Install 24k gold faucets?
What?
Really, what?

And on to Arenal!

Well the boots on the fan trick worked.
I was able to put dry boots on to protect my sprained ankle.
Yay for Jim's creativity.
And now off to Arenal!
Volcano #2 on the list.

A wise decision was to drive down the hill to the highway and avoid as many sharp pointy gravel roads as possible.
Remember, we had no spare tire...
Or any good tires for that matter.

Stopped at Cafe Macadamia and Lucky Bug for snacks and shopping.
And bird viewing.
And internet.

And then the huge disappointment of the trip...
Our favorite gift shop from our prior time in CR, Toad Hall was boarded up and closed!
With squatters squatting in the breezeway.
Ugh.

Still raining with no signs of it letting up, so selected a hotel based upon it's 14 thermal pools.
Arenal Paraiso Hotel & Resort!
What else are you going to do in the rain?
Sit in thermal pools!
Oh yay.
Works for me.

But first ~ supplies, shopping and lunch!
It to La Fortuna for all of the above, including this feast.

Ok, food!
Beer!
Wine!
Snacks!
Giant bugs!

Giant bugs?
Aaaaggghhhh back to the foo foo hotel.
With the incredible thermal pools.
Flowers.
Rooms.
Beautiful ceilings.
Did I mention the thermal pools?
Laundry service.
And a sloth in a tree!

Rain Tenorio National Park Hiking

So our plan was to get to Tenorio Park really early to beat the crowds on the trails.
Ah ha ha ha ha.
Ha.
It was pouring rain.
What crowds?
Plus we had to drive an hour on what was now the worst gravel, sharp rock, pot-hole filled road to date.
Up, up, rocks, stream, bridge, up, rocks and more rocks.
Finally up to the park.
And we were the first ones.
Actually, I don't even think they were open yet.

A basic, hand drawn map of the park was handed out.
Weird things in jars were on display.

And off we went hiking in the rain.
Me, looking quite like Big Bird...
I had a backpack on and a jacket tied around my waist with a yellow rain poncho over the entire ensemble.
Good thing there were no crowds...

Back to the rain.

In fact, it would probably be better to describe this day in the exact words in my travel log:

Good trail, bad, trail, rocks, puddles, slippery mud, squishy mud, gooey mud, boards to walk across, stepping stones, no stepping stones, rain coming down, I look like a flippin idiot (or Big Bird), up, down, rocks, roots, hanging bridge, not blue rio :( too much rain? More rain, two logs to walk across, luckily with a cable to hold onto, more squishy mud, now all of our shoes are covered in mud and our socks are soaked, I'm done! Crap it's pouring, not hot spings, this is crazy and we really need to get back across the river and here come all the other hikers - have at it! Beautiful waterfall, but good lord the steps going down, half way down and yes, this time I am really done! But wait, we still have a kilometer to go! AAAGGGGGHHHHH!

Funny on how the way up the trail we were so careful to not step in the giant puddles and squishy mud.
Ha.
On the way down?

Who cared...

We had to wash our shoes at a spigot.

Wet squishy socks and hiking boots.
Mud everywhere.
Ugh.
Beer.
And back down the gravel road from hell, singing "We are the Champions" at the top of our voices accompanied by Queen.

Thanks for the theme song for the day Freddie and friends!

More rain.
Hora feliz.
Cheese.
Crackers.
That pate shit in a tube.
More rain.

Had to take everything out of Jim's wallet / money belt and lay out to dry.

Had to hang my boots on the fan overnight.

An adventure in paradise.

Heliconias Lodge at Bijuaga & Cabinas Miravalles

Bijuaga is off the beaten path.
Tenorio is off the beaten path.
Rain however finds this unbeaten path.
First stop ~ small hotel full.
Next stop, oh wait, let's talk about the road.
It was a beaten path.
Worst road yet.
Gravel with giant rocks.
Sharp, pointy rocks.
Pot holes.
Pot holes filled with sharp, pointy rocks.
Remember, we are down to four decent piece of crap street tires.

Since this area is off the beaten path, my extensive internet research found all of three places to stay.
Remember, the first one was full.
The third one had no beer or wine.
Cross that one off.
So the second one it had to be.
So dealt with the beaten path road and was rewarded!
The Heliconias Lodge!
And luckily it had two rooms.
Two awesome rooms!

With incredible decks!
Rocking chairs!
Views of Miravalles Volcano and Lake Nicaragua!
And king size comfortable beds!

Beers, wine, juice (Susan), crackers, bread and Monteverde cheese on our deck.
For some reason our room always becomes the party room... why is that?
Enjoyed the breeze, view and our music.

Made fun of the birders.

Hey, we found a walking stick on our deck!
What else were we supposed to do with it?

Decent dinner.
A float in a luke-warm jacuzzi tub.
Awesome sleep.
Woke up to the sounds of howler monkeys in the distance.
Lots of howler monkeys!
Howling for a long time!
Great breakfast.
Decent internet.
And a great hike!
Ferns, vines, birds, heart shaped leaves, different fauna, capuchin monkeys skittering across the tree tops, strangler figs.

Giant strangler figs!

Unfortunately Heliconias only had the two rooms for the one night, but the awesome staff member, Jorge had (after a lot of phone calls) arranged for our next stop!

So back down the gravel road from hell (hey, it was ok, we did NOT want to drive back up this thing!) to Cabinas Miravalles.

Over priced, but okay.
Good view of Miravalles!

Nice dogs visiting us.
Hot and steamy afternoon and California was supposed to be getting the cold, wet, snow-filled storm of the century ~ snow down to 500-1000 feet and we were pouring sweat.
HA HA HA HA HA!!!

To the awesome pizza place right around the corner for lunch, beers and a dice tournament.
To the equally awesome tienda for supplies.
Drinks on our patio and then the rain started.
More dog visiting.
More rain.
Back to the pizza place for great pizzas!
More rain overnight.
All good.

Off To Tenorio ~ Drive Day

Tenorio National Park ~ the one that no one's heard of.
Not in the guidebooks.
Not really on the map.
However, the map is how I found it.
In researching our trip, I wanted to find three or four inland areas to explore.
Inland areas that were not too far apart.
Ones that conveniently divided the driving into four non-strenuous days.
Okay, we had Monteverde, had Arenal, Poas... what else is around...?
Tenorio Volcano National Park!
Where the aqua blue Rio Celeste is!

So up, adios to Monteverde and Carlos and the monkeys at The Quetzal Inn.
Up the hill to the "not the highway" gravel road.
A stop at Don Juan Coffee Tour to buy green coffee beans and who is that in the info booth?
The long haired frog tour guy!
That's two times in Monteverde we ran into people we had met before!
I love how my small world encompasses other countries...

Back onto the gravel road for miles.
And miles.
And miles.
To Dos de Tilaran where on my, what's this?
A paved road!
With a line down the center!

Then to Tilaran.
Fuel (that was fun).
And on to the South side of Lake Arenal!
Where the Longhorn Bar and Grille is conveniently located.
Not open yet, but the owners were happy to sell the boys some Costa Rica microbrews!
And I got to pet the puppy with the largest feet in the world...

So we were all happy!

But not as happy as we were when we got to drink real microbrew beer at The Tilawa Hotel and Microbrewery.

Jim was really happy.
Susan was happy watching us.
Lots of dirty barefeet.
Dreadlocks.
Hippie chick clothes.
"Dude!"
"Cool!"
and hand rolled cigarettes...
And why was this?
Costa Rica's version of Burning Man was to be at Tilawa in a couple of days.
Lots of "Dude's you sticking around?"
"Uh no".

Back on gravel roads.
Past the huge wind generators.

Past a billion baby cows.
Horses.
More baby cows.
Moo.
And finally on the paved road to Bijuaga!
Next stop ~ the small town of Bijuaga, rain and Tenorio National Park.

And Now for the "Scare the Crap Out of Ourselves" Part of "Scare the Crap Out of Ourselves Day"

It's called "The Tarzan Swing".
The finale of the Selvatura Zipline tour.
Yeehaw.
A little lightheaded wobbley walk from the last zipline around a few bends, over a hanging bridge to the sounds of screams.
Yes, screams.
Just follow the screams, yells and hysterical laughter and it will lead you to the Selvatura Torture Tarzan Swing.

Oh yay, more stairs up to a rather tall platform.
Where they double hook each person to a couple of lines hanging from something.
Something up above.
In my extreme case of fear, I don't know that I looked up at it.
I was watching the backs of the people crammed on the stairs inches in front of me.
And hearing those screams...
By this time there was a stack of people behind me.
No place to escape to.
Sort of like being in the middle of an elevator.
So up the rest of the stairs to the elevator like platform where we were pushing to be last.

Yeah, let's let Alan go first!
Then let's send Jim!
Then Susan!
And by that time, possibly I will have been able to climb down the side of the platform and get the hell out of doing this.
And no one will notice I didn't do it.

So off Alan went.
Laughing.
I can't remember the noise Jim made.
But Susan?
Susan who never says the words "Oh My Gawd" (only "oh my word")?
Here, listen for yourself:

Yep, it was "ooooohhhhhh mmmmmyyyyyyy gggggggggg".
Then "Ok, I did my scary thing for the day".
If you can hear that over my hysterical laughter.
Remember, I hadn't gone yet.

Selvatura ~ Either "Really Good Timing!" or "Scare the Crap Out of Ourselves Day"

Read the guidebooks!
They ALL say "No trip to Costa Rica is complete unless you do a zipline tour!"
Really, they all say this.
Or the one I have does.
I think you could fly to Costa Rica and fly back and your trip would be complete... but your fun and experience would not.

Anyway, after reading (but apparently not the fine priint) the brochures we headed up the hill to Selvatura.
A complete adventure park!
Hanging bridges!
Butterfly garden!
Frogs!
Ziplines!
Every way to empty your money belt of colones!
Gift shop!
Insects!
Nature walks!
We wanted the ziplines.
Ziplines only, even though they wanted us to buy more.
We got there just in time to be added to a tour.
A "tour"?
You mean there were specific times a day?
Only three?
Oops - got lucky and walked right into it.

Alan, Jim and I had done this when we were here four years ago.
It was the four of us and three zipline dudes.
Two to assist and one to take pics.
This time it was 40 of us and 8 or 9 interchangable tour dudes.
Completely different experience.

We sent Alan first to show Susan the ropes ziplines.

Fifteen ziplines.
Lots of laughter.
A couple people got stuck.
One lady had to have a tour guy go with her.
Scared, really?
I think she thought he was cute.
Kids laughing.
Everyone smiling.

Gross sweaty gloves.
Up hills.
Up steps.
Zzzzzzzzzziiiiinnnnnggggg sounds as people flew across the canopy.
Me with a totally smelly, sweaty (and not my smell or sweat) helmet.
And then the big, long ones.
The last couple lines were really, really long.
Especially the last one.
It was really, really, really, really, long.
Maybe one more really.
So long, they send you tandem.

Probably for a few reasons.
So you can't spin!
Which can be way dangerous (ask Jim how close he came to trees...)
So you don't get stuck in the middle and have to be rescued (ask Alan and Susan who didn't quite make it to the platform)
Time-wise to get all these tourists across and it doesn't take the entire day.
So you have backup to see the landing platform when your eyes are tearing from the wind (ask me who's legs were being blown sideways from the wind).
So you have backup to see the landing platform when you are laughing so hard you are crying (ask me about this too).

So when the guidebooks tell you "No trip to Costa Rica is complete unless you do a zipline tour!", I think they are pretty much right on.