A Relaxing End, While Weather Realities Back Home are Felt All Around

Most everyone else with whom we returned to San Jose was to leave for the airport mid-morning, for their respective flights back home.  Our flight -- a non-stop to Dulles -- did not, however, depart until 4pm, so had the day to ourselves.  I'd used some of the preceding day's bus ride to locate a spa near the hotel, at which I booked massages and/or facials for the three of us.  It was interesting to do, as I did it all over Whassup and had to use the auto-translate feature, as neither of us shared a common language.  They had agreed to open 30 minutes early for us, so that we could all be done by noon, which would leave us time to eat, do last-minute packing, and be ready for our airport transfer at 1:45pm.

It was Tuesday morning, and the preceding Sunday had been the major snow and ice storm that hit the U.S. East Coast.  DC was caked in ice and the government had already been closed for two days.  Flights were snarled all over, too.  I had been tracking our flight, which seemed unaffected, particularly as our plane was originating in San Jose (we flew on Avianca).  At breakfast this morning, however, we found that all the other members of our group had had their respective flights cancelled.  They were all on flights to either Miami or Houston, and everything was shut down.  They had all been rebooked, but they couldn't get out for two more days!  Everyone with whom we spoke was taking it in good spirits, but they were also trying to figure out for what they'd be compensated, who would cover the hotel costs, etc.

The night prior, Monica had told us that the effects of the East Coast storm would be reaching Costa Rica the following day.  Evidently, whenever there are major Polar vortexes in the Eastern U.S., that drives very cold air down into the Caribbean, which begins a chain reaction, with unexpectedly cold air being swept up the spine of Central America, toward the Pacific coast.  In a kind of oppositive vortex, and that results in winds upwards of 60 miles an hour sweeping across the country, causing all kinds of problems.  We heard the wind in the hotel during breakfast, and as we walked over to our spa, the winds got stronger and stronger, to the point that we were afraid of having our phones blown out of our hands or being physically blown over.  During the spa treatments, even though there was relaxing music playing, we could all hear the wind howling outside like a tornado.  On the walk back to the hotel afterwards, I kept checking the Avianca app, as I was concerned about planes being able to take off in such winds.  Alas, everything still appeared on time, and we were appropriately ready when our airport transfer arrived later.

The airport was not too busy, but I was surprised at the number and variety of airlines, to include all the major European carriers.  The transfer service had set the departure time, and as it turns out, they were overly generous, so we had about 90 minutes to kill in the lounge before departure.  

Still Fighting the Winds!

Our flight actually departed early and arrived about 45 minutes early into DC.  The winds were fierce during the takeoff, which was rough, but it soon smoothed out.  We landed about 10:00pm, and I was not sure how the remaining snow and ice would affect us getting home, or even finding an Uber.  It took a long time to get our luggage, probably due to the extreme cold, but getting an Uber was surprisingly not an issue.  Our neighbor had arranged to have our driveway cleared, so it was pretty easy to get to and into our house.  The storm had been bad, and our dog sitter had been unable to reach Chip for two days.  We were SO FORTUNATE that our neighbor across the street, who was herself home alone during the storm, was able to save the day.

Anna and Katherine had to work the next day, and I had been hoping Anna would stay the night with us and just head to the office in the morning.  She was, however, determined to get home, despite the hour.  It soon became apparent, though, that she would be unable to get to her apartment, as she has street parking, and the roads in Arlington are very narrow and we'd read about the problems trying to get them cleared.  She ended up diverting to Austin's apartment, as he has a parking garage, and she was able to crash there, before he drove her close enough to her apartment the following day, that she could walk over.

I felt guilty not having to get up the following morning, but it was nice to have all that time to get things unpacked and cleaned, and then begin to reflect on what a great trip we all had together!

A Parting of Ways, and Unexpected Reunions!

I mentioned in an earlier post that our group would be splitting, with about half the group continuing their tour for three more days, visiting a resort down on the Pacific coast, near Manual Antonio National Park.  We were to spend the morning together, and after a final wonderful breakfast buffet in Monteverde, we piled onto our bus for one last trip together.  We drove for about two hours, slowly winding through the pastural landscape and downward to the Pacific plain.  We joined the famous Pan American highway, which stretches from Alaska to Chile (with on small marine portion between Panama and Colombia), and ended up at a large rest area.  Here we met another Gate1 bus, with a new driver and a new guide for our last day.  We said our somewhat tearful goodbyes to Gio and those continuing on to Manuel Antonio, before shifting to our new bus and heading eastward, back up the valley, toward San Jose.

Our guide was a woman in, I guess, her late 60's, who talked for most of the 90-minute drive back to the capital.  They must be used to such a hand-over, as everything she shared with us was new, with no repetition of what Gio had covered heretofore.  I had been wondering about their politics in Costa Rica, and she covered that, and it was timely, as their presidential elections were being held in under a week.  We had seen political posters in various towns, as well as some cars flying colorful banners which we learned belonged to the various political parties.  She explained that there were 53 -- yes, 53 -- candidates for president, and that the highest vote-getters in the first round, would continue to a second.  Their system has been incredibly stable, and she said that the differences between the candidates -- even with that many running -- were relatively minor.  There appears to be universal agreement that they want to continue their green initiatives, as they've paid off in economic and touristic prosperity, and then overall economic well-being.  They have been dealing with tariffs imposed by Trump but have not pushed back hard, so as to keep off his radar as much as possible.  She also told us a lot about Costa Rica's short-lived civil war in 1948, which resulted in a ceasefire which abolished their military.  Aside from a national police force, they have no standing military, and they cite this fact for their political stability, especially compared to their Latin American neighbors.  As military coups have been the most common form of government and regime change in Central and South America, the lack of an army has prevented military takeovers.  For marine protection, they partner very closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and have a very long-standing joint counter-narcotics treaty with the United States.  

Pacific Ocean

We entered San Jose on a different highway than we departed, and this one would not have looked out of place anywhere in the United States.  We passed large malls and shopping centers, to include Walmarts, Targets, Home Depots, etc.  We saw many hospitals and medical practices, most of which had signs indicating that they accepted Medicare and U.S. insurances.  All of this reflects the still-growing population of American retirees in the country.

Our guide had called ahead to our hotel and made sure our rooms were ready for our early (noon) arrival.  We had returned to the same Hilton at which we had stayed when we arrived, and where we "survived" the earthquake.  We had enough time to settle into the room, accept our luggage, and then grab lunch on our own before we left on a formal city tour of San Jose.  When we were in the room, Anna said our new guide -- Monica -- looked familiar, and she speculated that she might in fact be the same guide she and Jane had had during their visit 14 years prior.  She said the woman had the same build and vocal cadence, but she couldn't be sure.  

A Couple of Lunch Pina Coladas!

K and Anna boarded the bus before I did, and before I did, I took the opportunity to ask Monica if she happened to have previously worked for Caravan Tours, to which she said “yes.”  I mentioned that Anna and her grandmother had been on a tour and she had a memory of her, Monica immediately said, "Oh wait, she was traveling with her grandmother and she played softball back home!"  Anna was into softball then and Monica remembered her.  She immediately went into the bus, went up to Anna, and then gave her a huge hug.  As we departed the hotel, Monica shared the small-story coincidence with our fellow travelers and there were so many nice comments made, and sentiments shared.  I later sent a picture of Anna and Monica to Jane, who immediately recognized her!

Aside from being the capital city and the surprisingly cleanliness, San Jose as a city does not have many highlights.  We toured the downtown area, to include where the major ministries of government are located.  The parliament, judiciary and presidential compound are all built in Brutalist style, of which none of us are real fans.  At the end, we did visit the neoclassic Opera House, which was fashioned on the Milan Opera, but otherwise, San Jose will win no prizes for architecture.  We did spend about an hour in the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art, which was very enjoyable.  There was a huge display of gold artifacts, but they reportedly pale to what is found in Mexico or Colombia, which have far more substantial gold deposits.  The museum was also built in the Brutalist style and was built down into the ground.  The entire time we commented that we felt like we were in the DC metro.

San Jose's Main Cathedral

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Costa Rica's Parliament Building

Monument Commenorating Overthrow of William Walker -- an American Who Declared Himself President of Nicaragua in 1856.  United Central American Countries United and Killed Him

Hive for Newly Evolved "Stingless Bees" in San Jose

President's House (in Yellow)

Anna and Monica -- the Guide From Her First Trip to Costa Rica

San Jose's Opera House

Inside the Opera House

As the sun lowered in the sky, we met back up with our bus and made a short drive to a small bistro, which had been rented out for our farewell dinner.  We had preordered our meals from a decidedly non-native list of choices, which was welcome at this point in the trip.  It was Italian/French fusion and we all really enjoyed our meals and the farewell conversations.

Setting for Our Farewell Dinner

We had formal farewells with Monica before heading to our rooms, but we knew we'd see everyone else at breakfast in the morning, so we held off on those good-byes.

A Day for the Record (Memory) Books!

Morning View from Our Terrace

I was really looking forward to this day.  The morning was technically free, but there were two optional tours offered.  The first was ziplining through the Monteverde cloud forest, and that was followed by a separate hanging-bridge tour.  We signed up for both, but K later cancelled the ziplining portion, as with her neck fusion, it was not advised.  Anna and I were two of the four brave folks who signed up, so we gathered for breakfast with one of the single girls from Miami and Craig, the federal employee from Idaho.  We were driven to another facility way up at the top of the mountain, with the highest views of the area.  We were the first ones there and were literally the first group to go through.  We geared up and met our two guides, who then drove us even higher, ahead of a steep hike to the first zipline platform.  We were up over 5,000 feet and the air was thin.  Our guides were really hoofing it, and we all stayed up as best we could.  We did, however, feel much better when they, too, were winded.  The zipline course consisted of 16 separate runs, with the final one stretching more than a kilometer long.  Our guides were amazing and, as there were only four of us, we had no waiting.  At several points along the way, we had to hike higher, so it was definitely an active outing.  The weather was perfect, and we all commented how lucky we felt to not be dealing with rain or clouds.  The guides said they average only THREE rain-free days a year in the park, and as best we know, it never rained this day, even after we left.  It was just a perfect experience.  One I will never forget.  We all had so much fun!

The ziplining crowds had arrived by the time we returned to basecamp, and again we felt so fortunate that we were first of the day and had such a small group.  Anna and I grabbed a coffee at their little restaurant while hummingbirds flew all the around bushes aside our table.  It was a beautiful, warm morning.  

Hummingbird in Flight

Hummingbird

Our Post Zipline Coffee

The bus with the folks who signed up for the hanging-bridges tour arrived about 15 minutes later, and I think more than 20 folks signed up.  We reunited with K and started to gush about how much fun we had ziplining.  Soon we were all reassembled and began following our local guide, a naturalist, who took us on a two-hour hike through the park, during which we crossed seven hanging bridges.  As we began the walk, our guide asked what animal we all wanted to see.  A member of our group from upstate New York, a HUGE birder, immediately chimed in with Quetzal (pronounded -- ket-zel).  We'd never heard of this bird, but he promptly shared that it was his “life bird” and the one he most wanted to see in the world.  It is increasingly rare, small, very brightly colored with tail feathers that can stretch almost three-feet long.  They inhabit the cloud forest, but usually only during mating season.  At other times they nest much higher in the mountains, upwards of 8,000 feet.  Our guide said our chances were very low, as they normally don't start to fly down to Monteverde until March or April, but he added that with noticeable climate change, the mating season has shifted earlier.  That has, unfortunately, resulted in more unhatched eggs, and the population continues to dwindle.  Well, all that said, very early in the walk the guide shrieked, "I see a Quetzal."  We all froze while he looked and saw what none of us could.  He had a huge scope with him, though which he could take pictures, too.  The bird moved several times, but soon perched on a very high branch, from where we could all see him.  The major birder in the group was literally beside himself in joy and happiness.  His expression epitomizes how much birders love...well, to bird.  He had a huge camera lens with him captured some amazing photographs.  For the rest of the trip, he kept talking about how his "life is now complete."  We all got swept away in his joy, and the bird was SO beautiful.  Our next big find was a hummingbird nest.  It was literally the size of a thimble and, thankfully, the guide had located it on an earlier tour.  He set up his scope and allowed us to look at the nest.  Right before we moved on, the mother hummingbird returned, and we got to see her feeding her babies.  It was so special to see.

Our Guide for the Hanging Bridges Tour

Hummingbird Sitting on Nest

Hummingbird Feeding Babies

The Elusive and Rare Quetzal

The hike was steep in places, but the views and denseness of the cloud forest were awesome.  The bridges were all metal suspensions, and they moved as we walked across.  Not for the faint of heart, but no one in our group seemed to have problems.  We all really enjoyed the hike.  We also saw a newly evolved species of bee on the hike.  Normally, bees wouldn't thrive at such elevations, but a new species called Mariolos appeared within the last 20 years and they're now thriving.  They are much smaller than other honeybees and do not have stingers.   They instead have teeth.  They are prolific pollinators but produce smaller volumes of honey.  As a defense they have a special internal hormone that, if one of them is squashed, the smell of that hormone leads the bees to swarm into the mouth of any predator.  Once inside, they bite, and the sheer volume of bites leads to sufficient swelling to cause death.  We saw these same bees later, in a public park in San Jose.  Even though they don't sting, Anna -- true to her bee phobia -- steered WELL clear of them!

Our trek brought us back to the visitor center, from where we reboarded the bus and headed to our afternoon tour, which was lunch and a tour of a small local coffee plantation.  The few folks who had not joined the morning hike were already waiting for us when we arrived.  We started with lunch served in a large open area restaurant and, of course, lots of coffee.  The farm focused on small sustainable coffee production and partners with several U.S. universities to help develop disease-resistant varieties of coffee beans.  They host regular groups of graduate students from the schools.  We broke into smaller groups and had about a 90-minute tour of the entire coffee growing, harvesting, and production process.  K and I did this on a coffee farm in Hawaii, but this tour was much more involved.  We had arrived at the very end of the harvest season.  We learned that they bring in families from Nicaragua to staff the harvest from late November through January.  Schools let out during this period and the farm has a housing complex for the families.  When harvest season is over, they all go back home.  They had hosted a big farewell party for them that very morning, before bussing them back across the border.

This Little Guy Was on Our Lunch Table

Monteverde Coffee Plantation

Picking the Coffee Cherries

By the time we got back to the hotel, we were all tired, especially Anna and me.  We rested some, but we wanted to be sure to watch the sunset, before our planned group dinner at the resort. Anna wanted time to decompress, shower, and talk to Austin, so K and I walked down the hill to an overlook to watch the sunset.  Several other members of our group joined us and as expected, it was a spectacular sunset.  Timing was perfect, as Anna joined us at the very end, and then we all walked a short distance to the main restaurant, which had a beautiful view over a small lake and the fading sunset.  

The previous night, a few people from our group had done a night wildlife tour offered by resort.  They gushed about it, so the three of us and another couple signed up for this evening's tour.  A small van picked us up from the restaurant and brought us to the very top of the resort property, which is closed off as an animal/bird/insect sanctuary of sorts.  We linked up with another group of four and met our guide, who was the one recommended by our other friends.  It was pitch dark up on top, and each of us was given a flashlight.  The guide had an infrared light, a big scope, and his phone was set up to take night photos.  We weren't sure what to expect.  As it turns out, most of what we saw were incredibly diverse insects, most of which have developed special camouflage, a lot of reptiles and amphibians, and -- for good or bad -- spiders, to include multiple nesting tarantulas.  Thank goodness the guide knew where and what to look for, as most of us were clueless to all the life around us.  He set up his scope when necessary, so we could see, or brought us in close to see whatever he found.  He also took pictures of everything -- so we didn't all try to do the same -- and sent them all to us later, so we'd have them.  It was a long tour, almost two hours, and given that we were leaving in the morning, we were all a little anxious to get back to room, pack, and get to bed -- which we did!

Scorpion under Blue Light (They GLOW!)

Moss-Mimic Walking Stick Insect

Verde Tree Viper

Sleeping Hummingbird

Orange Tarantula