Costa Rica: Day 7, 8, 9 Brumbelow Honeymoon

Thursday we had the morning to relax at the resort. We woke up, had breakfast and went for another walk along the beach trail. We saw a farmer herding his cows and horses along the path and some strayed onto the beach. Either that or someone was wrestling cows and horses, I’d like to think it was the farmer since there was a little boy helping. We also were able to see howler monkeys in a tree along the path. As we were leaving the hotel at noon we saw a whole family in a tree along with an iguana the size of a monkey!

We traveled further south to the farthest southern point of Costa Rica before Panama starts because there were reefs to check out. We got into the ducky and paddled out to the reef and proceeded to see all kinds of fish. Even though we sunscreened up like crazy, helping each other out, I wore a long sleeve shirt while snorkeling to protect my shoulders, which still hurt from the previous day of kayak surfing. It felt like I was floating in the dean’s salt water fish tank. I saw all types of colors, sizes and shapes of fish – minus the orange Nemo fish. I found this so relaxing to just float and see the fish and coral life. I was even able to use my Reading Rainbow knowledge and identified brain coral in the mix. We worked the hell out of Katie’s waterproof camera taking photos. After we snorkeled, we had a really good lunch of grilled veggies, rice and beans, salad and chicken/pork. It was a good thing our lunches were big because we didn’t get to our hotel until 11:00 p.m. We started our drive back through Limon and on to the Selva Verde Eco Lodge in the northern Caribbean part of Costa Rica. Halfway through the trek – in Siquirres – we switched cars and said goodbye to Jonathan. I gave him my blue WRSI helmet, since he was in need of a new (used) helmet and I had my red one back home. It was around 5 o’clock. We drove for about ten minutes and came to a dead stop. The word was that there were four cars that got into an accident ahead. Costa Rica seems to only have like four major roads so there was no other way around. We sat, sometimes felt joy when we were able to move our car a few inches forward, thinking we would be moving, and then felt angry when we stopped again for another 30 minutes. The worst part was when we were the ones who got picked to stop the line to let the tow truck and cops in. Yulian was screaming Vamos! and beeping the horn. But, we made it through. Our new driver didn’t seem to be able to drive faster than 20 kmh. It was extremely frustrating. I felt like I could have run faster than he was driving. It began to rain and get foggy which made the ride slower. We stopped for dinner and then headed on. Around this time, I began to realize that my lower back was getting really hot. Turns out that the long sleeve shirt I’d worn for snorkeling had hiked up while floating and the sunscreen had not been as thorough on my lower back. My lower back looked like Yulian’s Red Plow and Hearth Staff T-shirt (there are clothing stores that sell second hand American clothing like basketball jerseys and T-shirts. Yulian liked his Plow and Hearth shirt a lot. We asked if he knew what that was and he said no. So we told him that it was just a staff shirt for a store that sells lawn stuff). We arrived at Selva Verde Eco Lodge at around 11 p.m. It is a shame we got here so late as we are staying in a real jungle lodge. There are elevated platforms to get you to your room, everything is eco, you can hear the jungle noises, the bug are huge and come at ya, and there are lizards on the walls. Even though we are exhausted we are going to wake up at 6:30 a.m. to try to enjoy looking around this awesome place. Oh, and the best part were the entry gates; they reminded me of the gates to Jurassic Park.

The howler monkeys started early – 5:30 a.m. – so David decided to go on the bird watch. They sounded like they were right outside the window. I decided to roll over to my left side to continue sleeping. After the unfortunate news that my camera was water logged and not working he went out. Mental note, be sure to remove battery and make sure camera dries out after a couple of hours of snorkeling. He came back before 7 to get me up to breakfast. We went to breakfast and then went on one of the self guided tours around the jungle lodge. We saw howler monkeys that were right above us in the trees. We also went over a suspension bridge over the Sarapiqui River which runs through the river lodge. Katie liked bouncing on the bridge as she walked behind me. I did not, the rules said no jumping on the bridge. Yea, right, and when my back was turned . . . I lightly bobbed up and down for two seconds. I knew it!

The morning was full of wildlife as we went on a motorboat ride of the flat section of the Sarapiqui River to see bird, iguanas and small crocodiles. They were still big enough to bite off a hand. After that we went to a snake house which I walked through quickly. I only walked through quickly, because it was hot and our driver was slow. The traveling has started to make me tired and this was just not my thing. We then carried on to the Arenal Volcano area to do what I’ve been waiting for all week – Ziplining!! We stopped for lunch and then checked in to Hotel Los Lagos Spa and Resort. Where everything was fake and everything else, closed at 4pm well after we’d get back from ziplining. Well, not the pools, but we were tired of water. After a hiccup with the zipline people – they were going to not let us go, then they were only going to let one of us go, then as I finished my first zipline solo David joined me, we were able to zipline in a private tour just the two of us. Apparently, they had sold our reservations. Then told us they could only get one of us. I told Katie to go. Julian called Ronald, the tour company owner, who seems like he knows everyone in Costa Rica. He called the owner of the ziplining company. The owner called his employees and got us a private tour. Ronald is the MAN! We sped down the lines and there was a beautiful view of the Arenal Volcano and Lake. The 7th zipline (there was only 8 total) was over a half mile long and actually passed through a tunnel of rainforest trees. It really sucks that my camera wasn’t working because there was a lot of things to take pictures of today. We came back to the hotel and while David souvenir shopped in La Fortuna, I relaxed after a long, adventurous 10 days. I got to visit a grocery store with Yulian where he directed me to chocolates and cookies that he grew up with. I also visited one of the Americana stores, where he buys American pre-owned clothing. I still have no clue how they get the clothing.

This was a great honeymoon with a great tour company in a great country. I would love to come back. The food was great. And we didn’t have to pay for a meal or drink, unless we got something on our own, like a souvenir. The weather was warm and the people were friendly. The only disappointment was that the only sloth I saw was the one on my novelty pen that we bought in the Turrialtico gift shop. David is already thinking of his five day kayaking tour in the near future. Sigh . . . If only I had more vacation time. Pura Vida Costa Rica!

Costa Rica: Day 6 Brumbelow Honeymoon

The hardest thing in Costa Rica is not the language barrier - it is remembering to not flush the TP down the toilet. Every so often you can hear me say, "oops!" as i remember as i hit the flusher. Sorry CR if i have caused any country-wide plumbing issues.. i'm just a Gringa!


Yesterday, David's 40th bday BTW, (19th thank you very much) we drove to one of the active volcanoes, Irazu. The GPS said we were 11,000 feet above sea level. We were climbing up and up and up for a long time. We could feel it when we got out of the car. It was cold and we felt dizzy. We were so high that we were amid the clouds but we could see down to the crater where water had pooled. The other volcano, Turrialba, is too active for tourists so it is illegal to go to it. There was this cute animal that looked like a racoon and an ant eater called a Pizote and was quite the crowd pleaser as all the tourists were taking her pic.


After the volcano we drove back down and stopped 14 km from town to bike the rest. We flew down the turrialba hills. It was awesome! I had a slight blow outof my back tire, and Yulian was nice enough to give up his bike and ride in the follow car the rest of the way. David asked me on the way if was nervous and i said no. He said, "i dont understand you. You get nervous on rivers you've paddled before but won't get nervous about plummeting down hills." (or something to that effect) and i said "yep!" i'm a mystery.


We got to the tour office, had a quick lunch and then set off on a 3.5 hour ride to Puerto Viejo. We passed out of the Turialba region into Limon. The scenery changed to flatlands with big palm trees. We saw miles and miles of banana farm. The roads got worse - full of pot holes. The pot holes were so bad, they knocked the headlights on the SUV out of alignment. We passed through the town of Limon and you could tell it was a poor area with the shacky houses and general upkeep (i waited until after we passed limon to ask to pee). Once out of Limon we were riding along side the Caribbean sea! The sun was going down fast but we could see the waves crashing and the palm trees on the beach before we turned more inland and were again surrounded by banana trees. We slowly made our way (dodging pot holes bigger than those in philly) down the "Class five road" to our hotel. We checked in to our air conditioned bungalow and headed to dinner. Puerto Viejo is a cute little strip of shops, restaurants and street vendors. Reminds me a bit of New Hope, but with a Carribean flare. They have pizzarias here which is curious to me. i might have to try one. There are alot of shops with cute dresses that i am sure Michelle Kessler would love but i was too tired to look around for some cute attire.


The remaining posts will be added when we return to the US. We didn't have internet for the rest of the trip so the document will be added this evening hopefully. Another sad note, the camera did not record our last day here - the zipline day!

Costa Rica: Day 4 and 5 Brumbelow Honeymoon

We were picked up and set off for the Lower Pacuare river an 18 mile stretch of river that we would do over two days. Once on, we would be on our own with the guides, Jonathan and Yulian, until we got to the end. The first day was easy class II and III. We completed six miles in about two hours. We climbed up to the waterfall near the river lodge and then ate our lunch.


We quickly burned lunch off by schlepping our overnight clothes, gear, and food up to the top of the hill where the river lodge was located via rope and a 45 degree incline! We then got in our boars, ferried across one bit of waves and then got out to walk up to the lodge. We were pretty exhausted. But, the river lodge was BEAUTIFUL! It was rustic with just screened-in, one room huts. There was a bar and cooking area, hammocks, and it was all open air. The shower was just a tiled area with a view of the jungle. Katie said I did good on planning the honeymoon. We were the only four in the whole place, besides two constuction workers. Of course it was Easter. We showered, made our beds and sat down to bird watch before the sun set at its always reliable 6 o'clock in Costa Rica. I have never bird watched before. I enjoyed it but I would never go out to explicity do it. We saw Keel-Billed Toucans with long green bills, Social Flycatchers that would dive bomb the mirror, and Montezuma Oropendola which makes nests that look like pendulums (or testicles if you are a dirty minded person like me) That's my girl!


The boys first made appetizers of sausage, tortillas, nuts and raisins, and potato chips and that illusive white Guanabana juice that, to me, smells like air freshener. I love it! For dinner they made us dinner of Tilapia (my first taste of it ever!) Of course she'll try tilapia when two young Costa Rican guides will make it for her but when I suggest making it back in the states she says noooo. lol! That is because it isn't fresh, David. I doubt Eat'n Park can duplicate this meal! We also had grilled veggies, mashed potatoes, salad and strawberry-banana juice.


We fell asleep to the sound of the river, cicadas and the "jungle music." In the morning, we had scrambled eggs, toast, fruit salad and orange juice. I made sure to stuff myself with lots of food so we wouldn't have to carry heavy containers back down the way we came up! The guides told us the river would be getting more narrow today opening up Class III and IV rapids. I was already nervous about the Class IV before we left. We had 12 miles to do today so we set off. We did, however, offer the chocolate canoer that Terri gave us for xmas a few years ago to the Tellico River god. The first part started off with III and III+ rapids. I did not enjoy these 12 miles because almost every rapid seemed to be a turn in the river pushing all the water against a rock walls. I could not, for the life of me, surf the pillow so I got flipped, and flipped, and flipped....sigh. She did really good. I was proud of her. This is probably all the bad karma coming back to me.


Somewhere in there we stopped to rappel down a waterfall. I thought it was harder than it looked and of course I lost my balance halfway down. I think I was going too fast and not following proper technique. Noone ever told us that the rappeling rope would bounce like a bungee cord. After the rappeling the Class IV stuff kicked in. There were three Class IV rapids in a row including the hardest one of the day. I wanted to walk it but was convinced that I could do it. There was apparently a tongue but it looked like a scary eat-your-face hole to me! She hit the line perfect and did very good. I fucking gunned it and tried to paddle hard but ended up, you guessed it, flipped against the rock wall. My contacts moved, my nose plugs got blasted off, my gatorade exploded out of its holder and i came up gagging and crying. I still say she did very well. Whatever, I should have walked it. But, that was the end of the hardest rapid. There were of course more Class IV up-against-the-pillow rapids. I am sure Yullian was thinking, "what is with this girl!" lol. And i'm sure they've had alot worse.


So, finally, after the last Class IV we paddled through this beautiful canyon. There were high walls on both sides and calm green water. This was my favorite part of the river. And the stupid government wants to put a dam there. Luckily the people rose up and protested it and they won't be able to place a dam there for five years. At which time the people must rise up again.


We stopped for lunch about 20 minutes before the take out again and we were all amused at the minnows as they swarmed over food we threw into the river. I had to step out of the water because they kept nibbling the hairs on my legs. We could also hear howler monkeys occasionally but did not see any.


At the end of the river we got out (it had become very shallow) and changed/rinsed off. We wer in the town of Squirres which apparently, after dark, is the most dangerous town in Costa Rica. We then headed back to Turriabla and the Turrialtico Lodge. This time we got an amazing room with satelite tv (though very low volume), big tiled bathroom, hair dryer!!, and sound barriers!! We are off to dinner because I am hungry, of course!


Tomorrow we mountain bike and then head to the beach for two days. There's talk of bringing the kayak so we can surf the waves at the beach. Yep, i can't get away from it :-P

Costa Rica: Day 3 Brumbelow Honeymoon

We woke up this morning preparing for a mountain bike ride from the top of the volcano. We ate breakfast and noticed it was still a little misty rainy. We started to dress for the day when a knock came at the door. David answered it and they told him he had a phone call. I thought maybe something happened to the cats or someone from home. He came up a few minutes later and said "it's raining on the volcanoes and we won't be able to see anything so they think today would be a better day to paddle and wanted to do the Florida Section of the Revetazon River." I was not thrilled with the prospect of four days in a row of paddling (tomorrow we are going on the two-day river trip) but I said yes since I was promised it wouldn't be too much harder than yesterday. They let me borrow a book entitled "Chasing Jaguars" which lists all the Costa Rican waters. We had read the Florida section the night before and the max was 3+. The max was actually 4-. Same difference.

We got picked up and headed to the river an hour and a half away - there were no rafts on the van so we were good to go. We drove along the countryside and passed into the Limon region of the country. We talked about a bunch of different rivers with our guides and they mentioned they were building a dam that would erase the Pascua and Florida sections of the river and is scheduled to complete in 2013. Sad time for paddlers.

The temperature became warmer as we got closer to the carribean side of the country. The vegetation became more tropical looking with banana trees and palm trees. We even passed a pineapple farm. Who knew pineapples grow on the ground. i always thought they grew on trees!

We climbed up and reached the put in - right at the location of a construction site for the aforementioned dam. The GPS said it was 2100 feet above sea level.

My interpretation of this river was BIG water and kinda tricky! There were cross currents and big waves that moved my contacts all over the place. Renee, you would have loved it. It's very New-esque.

I was scared the first half the river. The hardest rapid was almost right away - of course the last two days we were dropping gradient like crazy! no eddies or stretches of flat water anywhere. She aced it. i dont know what she's talking about. Ok i got flipped alot! We ran a rapid called upper and lower bamboo. i dumped right into a hole at the top and had to roll. Then we went through this HUGE part where i just kept saying "oh shit!" while my guide said "you'll be ok!" We get to the bottom and i look back - it looks like Big Nasty on steroids. I asked "is that a class 4?" "No. is a class 3." It was definitly a three plus. I think the guides were trying to talk it down. um no! it was freaking scary!! You (David) said it was as big as Recyclotron! The hole, not the rapid. she still aced it though. Whatever. it was scary. I don't think Katie is a fan of big water. and that's ok. Get me some lasik!

So we continued on and there was nothing harder after that. We apparently avoided a class 4 rapid which i am happy about. The rest of the river was huge wave trains. We actually ran two sections of the river - a section below the typical Florida take out since there was only the four of us in kayaks. I wanted to count it as two rivers for the Baker's Dozen contest. The Chef said no. At the takeout the GPS said 200 feet above sea level. That's ~1900 feet, aproximately 8 miles that we dropped in about eight miles.

After we got off the river we headed to lunch and then back to the lodge. Apparently, i am the only one who can't read the menu board now. Katie was reading it like a pro. Gracias!

We decided to go down to check out the waterfall since we weren't rushed this time by the six pm sunset. The water was quite cold though! David was scared of what was under the water and took him a bit of prodding before jumping in. I wasn't scared. i was just playing. it was cold though!

We hiked around more and came across some local dogs that wouldn't go back to their owner. They decided they liked us more! They later showed up at the lodge while we were eating dinner and sat by David's side the whole meal. The dogs... not the owner.

Tomorrow we will be heading to our two day overnight river trip. We will be taking minimal things so there may not be a brumbloggy until we reach the carribean! I'm excited about tomorrow. hiking to waterfalls, rappelling down them and much more! I'm excited to get to a new lodge with separate cabins!

Costa Rica: Day 2 Brumbelow Honeymoon

So after we posted Brumbloggy day 1, we tried to sleep. There were the loud americans below us that give us all a bad name. They were drinking and playing charades for hours, laughing really loudly. I went down at 10:30 p.m. the night before to see if there was quiet hours. They said normally it begins at 10 p.m. and they said they were going to send the laughing girl packing. Shortly after the noise stopped for the most part. and then the restaurant began clanking glasses and dishes at 6 a.m. so there was not a happy Katie in the place.

When we were driving up to the lodge yesterday, our guide talked about how the volcano has begun to be more active in the last two-three months than it has been in the lat 100 years. He said the air became toxic at the top, farms and animals were being affected so much that the landownere are moving. There is always smoke now, they say. When I woke up this morning, the fog was burning off and the sun was showing through. before the fog burned off, visibility was 50 feet.
We went down to breakfast and the annoying laughing people from the night before were in a different kind of mood. They seemed to be upset about the price of their room and were discussing things with the owner. I think they were charged extra for being obnoxious. They paid so we are hoping they won't be back. Anyway!!

We ate our breakfast and David took pictures of all the carved artwork placed all over the lodge. I'll send them to Von later for his perusal.
After breakfast we packed up our gear bag for the big paddle ahead. There was a surprise explosion of sunscreen which set us about cleaning all our gear off article by article. We then headed down and waited for our ride and noticed the vultures gathering above... hmmm...
There was one, then two, then three, then four! I think they were about to pick up the three year old that was sitting on the lawn.

As we drove down the hill, Yulian, one of our guides, mentioned that it was 45 mins to the put in of the Pejivalle River. I asked when we were picking up the whitewater kayaks. Turns out he was confused and we had to go pick up the baots. We almost eneded up rafting class II/III-!!! Unfortunately, due to the confusion, they did not have a four fun and I ended up paddling a Dagger G-Force 6.3. Very tight! And I ended up in a Project 52 - which resembles B.O.B. except squirlier. He can be called Sq.O.B. (squirly orange boat).

After a 45 minute drive where we became friendly with our shared wall neighbors Susan and Natalie from Florida, we made it to the put in. There were people and people and people everywhere. They were all off work due to the holy week, and they were all down by the river. Whenever we passed they would wave, hoot and greet us with a friendly smile. Of course Katie would ham it up by raising one arm while running a rapid so everyone would cheer (I only did that once!). Alright, i was the one rolling upon demand. The people were grilling, swimming/wading in the water and just hanging out. It gave a nice sense of community.
The river was low! It reminded me of the Mongaup (ahem.. renee... you should get on it). It was like an amped up Lehigh ...at 500 cfs! There were other people who came with us and rafted and duckied. We were the ones who had the easiest time with the level, zipping in and out and down past the stuck raft. I would not have liked to be rafting it. I got flipped once and then flipped again due to lens issues but other than that it was a breezy day in my playboat. I managed to surf a bit in the beginning while Yulian gave the lecture about rafting. We also passed a section of river that was used by the olympic team to practice slolem runs. There were some nice play holes in that! And i lost sight of everyone by the time i was through.

Now lunch... LUNCH WAS AWESOME! There was fruit, cheese, sandwich meats, bread, tortillas, cookies, tuna salad, refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, chips all on a tablecloth and served with an apron and chef hat! It was the best.river.lunch.ever. And we get it three more times! (though i felt bad that they were dicing and cutting for 20 mins). Mental note Todd, hire someone to meet us at lunch spots with a full spread. The serving table, by the way, was the raft upside down. I was pretty amused by the fact that they were cutting up pineapple on the bottom of a rubber raft.

We got back on the river after lunch and paddled to the takeout - about a quarter mile down the river!! By this point it started to rain and increased in intensity throughout the afternoon. It was a nice calm rain.

So, here we are nearing the end of day two in a cloudy Costa Rica. Tomorrow, we venture to the toxic volcanos and will bike down. It hopefuly will be a calm night. I am exhausted! Now for some more beans....lol.. and drinks

Costa Rica: Day 1 Brumbelow Honeymoon

The alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. We collected our things, did a quick once over and headed to the airport with only one wrong turn that caused us to block traffic while following the GPS to the remote parking. David was driving and trying to think at the same time. Excuse me, Katie was talking to me and distracting me. We did not have a direct flight so we landed in charlotte for a quick bagel and passport check. We completed the second leg of our journey from Charlotte to San Jose with lots of word puzzles and David craning his neck and pointing out geographic features that I could not see from her bitch middle seat. Hey, there was whitewater down there!

After arriving and going through customs we found our tour guide. We drove to the barren streets of San Jose since this is the Holy Week and everyone is off at the beach or crowding up the rivers we are paddling tomorrow! There are festivals going on at the churches and local parks and generally people are all around because they are on vacation. Still it was much nicer than India. Our tour guide stopped us halfway to dine at a side cafe with nice local flavor. Our hosts helped us order food and I practiced my small amount of spanish while David looked confused and lost the whole time. I just CAN'T hear it! It's gonna be a long week of not understanding what people are saying. Therefore, I was deemed head of the household this week!! Halfway through the meal we heard a whurring sound and saw a zipliner zoom past us (upside down mind you) not ten feet from us. Lunch was truly delicious as described by the tour itinerary.

We continued our journey up and up and down and down and around winding turns to get to the Turrialba region. We passed lots of sugar cane and coffee farms. Lots is an understatement. It's too bad we don't like coffee. The cocoa plants are on the carribean coast where we will be on the 6th (my birthday). So much for not having a chocolate bar in a year and a half.

We arrived at the Turrialtico Lodge (The driveway reminded me of the Rockport takeout to the parking lot above, but unpaved) around 5 p.m. and adusted to the close quarters. I mean I freaked a little about how I can hear everything in the entire place! She brought ear plugs. You can't be too prepared for things that bump each other in the night.

We then went off to check out the local trail quickly before the sun went down speedily at 6 p.m. We found a waterfall at the bottom of the trail which we will surely venture to again (minus stepping on biting ants along the way).

We came up for dinner and I personally did not like my choice. But there were mango cocktails waiting for us when we got back to the lodge. It was full of onion, tomatoes and thick corn tortillas. But, David's dinner wasn't bad - a mix of local flavorings of refried beans, eggs, queso, chicken, beef and some cucumber-esque stuff. Surely, we will have to get used to the food or we will be farting until the day we land back in Philadelphia! But we do love our refried beans!

So here we type this at 7:30. It's been dark for an hour and a half, a baby is crying in the background, two girls are playing cards beneath us in the dining area, and we already have our first mosquito bites. But, we are anxiously waiting for sleep and tomorrow!

* Italics is David's comments as Katie typed this (and retyped the names adding capitalization.)