Ticapaloosa Playa Grande

Cecilia Boyd January 19, 2020

Our Playa Grande AirBNB is offered through an American based in Miami, and is managed on-site by a Portuguese retiree. It's a big new house divided into separate apartments. The big unit at the back has the use of the pool. (We do not.) Our unit is a big room on the front of the house, with four twin beds in a row and an IKEA kitchen that is so complete is seems to have been bought as a package deal - 1 stove, check; 1 sink, check; 4 cups, 4 knives, colander, check, check, check. We have parking inside the gate and a covered patio bigger than the room with chairs and hammock that looks out onto the unpaved road . There's another unit next to us, housing an American family of 4.

You can tell they market mainly to Americans because when we walk through the door into our unit the AC takes our breath away. Just sucks the air out of the lungs like walking from a warm pierogi dinner into a Gdansk February night. After living in CR all these months, having only fans and cold water showers and experiencing cool temperatures while we were traveling in the Central Valley and the Highlands, the AC in this apartment is like walking into the freezer section of Harris Teeter on the Fourth of July. Patti and I immediately cut it back to a level wherein the toilet water would not freeze.

The beach is two blocks away, and on our walk there we pass a restaurant blasting 1970s rock, and some small shops selling surfboards, nighttime turtle tours, and clothing.

The beach itself goes for miles to both the right and left. Flat with calm water, the high tide comes right up to the edge of the protective dunes, and the low tide goes out the length of a football field. It's beautiful.

As we head closer to the typical CR sundown of 5:30 - 5:45 the waves swell and the locals come out in droves with their boards. I notice right away that there are probably as many female surfers as there are men. Right next to us is a group of French speaking women from 20 to 60, most with boards. Soon two 35-year-olds and a 12-year-old daughter head into the waves. This makes me smile.

Ticapaloosa Day 6

Cecilia Boyd January 19, 2020

After 3 nights in the Lake Arenal region, it's time to move on to the beaches.

We head westward across northern Costa Rica, through Liberia (which apparently has a pretty big airport and lots of rental car places, FYI) through Tamarindo to Playa Grande. It's a straight, flat drive and we get to see a lot of the non-jungle northwest countryside.

Playa Grande is an important beach in the conservation of leatherback turtles, and is a site of The Leatherback Trust.

We drive into town and almost immediately -- definitely before our driving instructions expected - run out of road and hit the oceanfront parking lot of the Marino Las Baulas National Park. So we turn right to make a quick loop on the unpaved streets of this little town, and find a good deal of construction on large vacation homes. (A quick check shows most are in the 400s and 500s, and there are also a number of lots for sale.) It's way too early to check in, so we backtrack along the main road toward Tamarindo, passing small shops right and left, catering to casual beach lifestyles.

At the end of town we pop into the local Wil-Mart... yep, you read that right, Wil-Mart... With the little star in the logo and everything. Apparently these guys have Friday night jam sessions out front, and even host an annual Wilstock music festival. As Wal-Mart has broken into Costa Rica, I cannot imagine how this guy has not gotten sued. But I digress.

We pop into Wil-Mart to recharge my phone and get recommendations for food. They have a little soda attached on the side, so we ate there - yummy fish casado, which has become my go-to-meal in CR. While eating we listen to the sound check for the Friday night Wil-Mart jam and overhear the local (macro!) Gringo micro brewer telling his friends in Trumplandia that his first commercial kegs are ready to tap and there's a party this weekend to get 'er done. And the waiter gets pissy with me 'cause I feed the restaurant cat, but hey, live and let live. At least, that's what the cat and I think...

Then we headed back into town to check in. Such as it is. I mean, it's not really a town so to speak. It's a long paved street sprinkled sparsely with well maintained shops and restaurants, with unpaved road cutting off on both sides to who knows what... Commerce isn't done on unpaved, is it?

Security risks…

Cecilia Boyd January 8, 2020

This is the first page of an email I got today. Sigh.

Ticapaloose Rio Celeste

Cecilia Boyd January 6, 2020

Obviously we made it. Patti drove slowly but purposefully while I stuck my head out and made sure we didn't get too close to the right side of the bridge. We made it across with no problem... until we tried to take the hill on the other side, which was pretty steep. Patti had to quickly downshift into 1st to gain proper traction, and at the top of the hill we sat, panting with adrenaline and laughing.

After we got going again Patti told me about this video she'd watched about an investment theory called the "sunk cost fallacy", where people continue behaviors that are detrimental to their own well being, because they don't want to admit they were wrong and they don't want to lose the time, money, love, they've already invested. That definitely applied to us! My advice for the future - cut your losses, people!

It took another 30 minutes of gravel road bumping before we reached pavement. And we continued to Rio Celeste.

Nearing the park it started raining, but having sunk so much into this trip, nothing was going to stop us from seeing the freakin blue river. And thankfully, we got there before the tour buses arrived.

At the park we walked first to the waterfall, and then to two lagoons. Between the two we stopped to rest, speaking in my very poor Italian to an old gentleman from Rome.

And as luck would have it we started chatting with two Polish scientists, US citizens, who live in Louisville, KY. They educated us on the Moscow Mitch controversy (there’s even a song!!), and we had a really pleasant 20 minute government bashing session.

We overheard so many languages at the park. There was a bus full of Germans, a bus of French, a bus of Italians. There were European Spanish people comparing word usage with South American Spanish people. There were Northern European languages that we couldn’t quite identify. And we heard some English, but not overwhelmingly.

I saw a 12-year-old kid wearing this Trump riding a dinosaur t-shirt, and I still don’t know if the wearer is a Trump fan or just trying (but not succeeding) to be ironic.

We finished our walk in the park, had a fabulous lunch at a soda, and decided to take a different route back which was 1) totally paved the entire freakin way; 2) took only 2 hours back, compared to three in the morning.

When I yelled at Gerhart later he just smiled and said his way was more exciting.

(This post has videos, which can only be enjoyed on the website.)

This is an approximation of our trip this day.

Only 1 person in each direction allowed at a time

Ticapaloosa Day 5

Cecilia Boyd January 6, 2020

Thursday was a daytrip to see the Rio Celeste (Blue River) at Tenorio Volcano National Park.

We'd determined that the first route Waze gave us was an unpaved no-go, and since then we'd gotten expert "local" advice from the American ladies and our German host Gerhart. Simply turn right out of our AirBNb, go 1 kilometer to the bus stop on the left, and turn right into the hills... At the wind turbines, take the left fork. Easy peasy.

Yeah, right.

We started out on a beautiful morning, with sun shining on the lake. Turned right, turned right, and headed into the hills. It was paved, poorly, but still paved, and we went through beautiful rolling hills - clearly cattle and horse country.

We saw the wind turbines in the distance, and in our approach we watched for the fork (while searching the skies for the hundreds of dead birds falling from the clean-electricity-making-bird-terminators - nada, people, nada -- but, I digress).

At the fork, we took the left. And went 100 meters, and the road became unpaved. And we went another 100 meters, and it stayed unpaved. So we had a discussion... did we misunderstand our host Gerhart? should we have taken a right? Certainly this is not right...

So we looked for a place to turn around but couldn't find one... SO Patti backed all the way to the fork and we took the right fork. And then in 200 meters it also became unpaved. So we stopped and considered....

Patti really really wanted to see the Rio Celeste. U-Save rented us the car, knowing we would be traveling in Costa Rica and Costa Rica apparently has lots of unpaved roads, so we can assume U-Save knows that our (non 4x4) car can handle the conditions. We have no other plans for the day. And we've already put an hour into the trip.

And so we forged ahead. God help us.

As we continued, the road got worse and worse, and I became pissier and pissier (because remember, I'm not a hiker-camper-backwoods-star-watcher - I like to wear Italian sandals and be clean). And then, we came upon "the bridge".... Such that it was... because, the water was actually running over the bridge... and there were no rails.

So we stopped the car and got out. And looked. At the bridge.

There was 1-2 inches of water flowing over the bridge. And the drop on the passenger side was about 3 feet below the level of the bridge. But, I counted it off, and the bridge was just under twice the width of our sweet little Fiat Uno.

And we discussed. And decided.

To go for it.

Ticapaloosa Christmas

Cecilia Boyd January 6, 2020

Christmas was low key. We had breakfast in our little cabin, hung out with la bella Bella, and then drove along the lake before having lunch at Cafe y Macadamia. The food was delicious, the view was fantastic, there is a terrific little gift shop, and a wonderful bakery for a take away dessert.

All dressed up with no place to go, we decided to drive around looking at "neighborhoods" and then scout out a route for our daytrip for the next day. Waze sent us east from Macadamia and north into the hills, where we drove past the home of some Americans (allegedly) who had a Bernie campaign sign in the window.

Shortly after the Bernie house the road turned to gravel and we decided Waze had made a little mistake. So we turned toward home.

We popped into a little convenience store and while there five 50-ish American women met up in the parking lot and came into the store. Me being me, I struck up a fact-finding conversation with them. Two were from Emerald Isle, North Carolina and lived half-time in nearby Turtle Cove - one of the 'hoods we'd explored.

Again, we were told to rent not buy. And we learned that the Lake Arenal area is "the land of eternal spring" (temperatures). Cool nights, warmish days.

My delicious lunch, plus a frosty ginger lemonade

Eco lawn mower - a goat staked by the road

Who would think you can buy Italian Christmas treats in a convenience store in Costa Rica?

Ticapaloosa Day 3

Cecilia Boyd January 4, 2020

After spending two nights in the Central Valley, it was time to move on to the Costa Rican highlands around Lake Arenal, which is another hotbed of retirement.

The plan was to go first to La Fortuna for lunch and a nice visit, and then across the north shore of the lake to our AirBNB near the heavily German town of Tilaran.

We left San Pedro de Poás, driving through a cloud forest mist and actually right by the entrance to La Paz Waterfall Gardens where the new teachers had gone on a daytrip in October. The roads were windy and wet and we drove slowly, while having our doors blown off by the Ticos passing us right and left.

Just beyond La Paz Waterfall Gardens a number of cars were pulled onto the shoulder, everyone taking photos of a band (that's the name of a group) of pizotes.

La Fortuna is a touristy town that grew up around hot springs spouting from ground heated by volcanoes. We had lunch at Restaurante Tierra Mia, sitting outside under the patio while a heavy rain fell. We walked a half a block to enquire about coming back on Christmas for a soak in a hot spring, only to be told that our AirBNB is actually a three hour drive away.

So, with the plan to get checked in before the 5:30 Costa Rican sunset, we abandoned La Fortuna and hit the road to Tilaran.

It did indeed take almost 3 hours to drive the distance and find the proper turnoff, but once there found a terrific 2BR cottage with well stocked kitchen, comfy living room furniture, hot water, and a friendly dog Bella who made the rounds every morning.

Ticapaloosa Aside

Cecilia Boyd January 4, 2020

If you watched the Rose Parade on New Year's Day 2020, you may have seen the marching band from Zarcero CR, one of the towns we visited on Day 2.

I learned from an Uber driver that marching bands in Costa Rica are typically a municipal thing, rather than a high school or university thing. Each year there is a band competition where marching bands from across CR compete and the winner of that competition becomes the participant in the following year's Rose Parade. This gives the team and the village time to perfect their performance and raise the funds to travel.

(Sadly even the Rose Parade marketing team cannot differentiate Costa Rica from Puerto Rico, even though this country sends a band every year.)

Watch the performance here.

Ticapaloosa Day 2

Cecilia Boyd January 4, 2020

On our first full day we decided to take a driving tour around the Central Valley, which is where many North Americans and Europeans are making their retirement lives.

We left San Pedro de Poas and headed for Grecia, which seems to be the central town of Gringolandia. We parked and walked the town, which was bustling with holiday shoppers. In the park across from the big church made of metal we met a retired lady from Long Island who has been in CR for 5 years. She rents a furnished guesthouse on a farm owned by a Belgian doctor. She says the public transport is adequate for her needs and the public health system is first rate. She doesn't miss her life in the US. Her advice is to rent property, rather than buy, and to rent from North Americans or Europeans, who are more likely to have the same sense of style and comfort as you do.

We found the central indoor market, much bigger than it looks from the outside, found a "soda" inside (a diner serving Tico food) and had lunch. Then we continued on our way.

Climbing and losing altitude, curving and winding, sometimes actually driving through clouds generated by the local volcanoes, we went to San Ramon, Zarcero, Naranjo, sometimes stopping and walking around the villages. As we were heading back to Sarchi toward home in San Pedro de Poas, we noticed a strange sound and a warning light on the dashboard. We pulled over at the ubiquitous soccer field in the center of Sarchi, googled Fiat dashboard lights, and called our friends at U-Save.

I cannot state strongly enough how wonderful the folks at U-Save were. First they asked for a photo via WhatsApp of the dashboard light. (Why are businesses in the US resisting using WhatsApp as a secure and convenient method of business communication?) Then they asked for the Waze maps pin of our AirBNB, where they delivered a replacement Fiat Uno to us later that evening. Totally recommend this company when renting a car in San Jose!

(FYI, if you do move to CR, Sarchi is the place to buy your furniture. As we were driving through we counted more than 20 furniture stores on the main drag. No idea how many are off the path. )

The temperatures during this daytrip ranged from about 78F in the park in Grecia, to the lower 60s in Zarcero. And we saw pretty little villages, a big interesting church in every town, some bizarro topiary, and lots of newer houses with manicured yards and newer cars polished shiny, suggesting the presence of Americans, Canadians and Germans.

Mango smoothie and ginger lemonade at a café in Grecia

Ticapaloosa Day 1

Cecilia Boyd January 4, 2020

I took the 8:45 bus to San Jose where I met Patti at the bus station. We Ubered (illegal, but everyone uses it for the control it offers the consumer) to SJO to pick up our rental car.

We'd inadvertently booked late and had to scramble to even find a car to rent. Luckily Patti found a smaller organization called U-Save, which has excellent customer service. The rental guys were great, even though we showed up two hours early to pickup our Fiat Uno.

The guys at U-Save insisted that the app Waze is the end-all-be-all of CR driving directions, so we both downloaded the app right there in the office using their wifi. And they provided us with the paper maps I requested, just because I don't trust I'll always have a signal in the hinterlands.

We set the destination for our AirBNB of the first two nights, which was in the Central Valley and actually only 35 kilometers from the airport, and hit the roads.

Never ever equate driving X distance in the US to driving X distance in Costa Rica. You'll be eternally, head bangingly frustrated. It took us about 2 hours to go that 35 kilometers, in a combination of learning how to use the car, learning how to use Waze, going through small towns, curvy mountain roads, back tracking when we didn't follow Waze's instructions properly, changing the instructions in Waze after a quick call to our AirBNB host.

And then we made it to our site in San Pedro de Poás. The unit was beautiful, the yard was beautiful and the weather was beautiful. There was a sweet dog in residence named Rosita. At night it was in the lower 60s and we could look out and see the lights of Alajuela and all of San Jose.

Tamales in Guapiles process 7

Cecilia Boyd January 3, 2020

At the end of the assembly line, Pita tied 2 tamales with folded edges pressed together with white twine.

Then we boiled the packets in water for about an hour. And ate.

Tamales in Guapiles process 6

Cecilia Boyd January 3, 2020

We spread dough onto a double layer of banana leaf.

We layered cooked rice, chickpeas, red peppers, carrots, hot peppers, shredded pork, and cilantro onto the dough.

Then we folded up the banana leaves like a burrito.

Tamales in Guapiles process 5

Cecilia Boyd January 3, 2020

Next we put the dough over the fire, stirring until it reaches some magical consistency. And we stir the shredded pork with spices and a sauce.

Then, we were ready for the assembly.

Tamales in Guapiles process 4

Cecilia Boyd January 3, 2020

Next we make the dough, which I kinda equate to a corn flour dumpling. We take very finely ground corn and mix in spices, garlic in two stages, fat (lard?), and reserved pork pot liquor, until we have a certain consistency.