San Jose then home

Our bus ride from Jaco was uneventful.  We even had a reasonable departure time, 9am.  My bag was getting overfull but I could still hoist it onto my back and into the bottom of the bus. 

When we got to San Jose, we just went back to Elvis Hotel, a known entity.  We didn't want another Pecos Bill (hooker hotel) incident since we were pretty tired. 

We took a cab from the bus station and we greeted by Nano the cat at the hotel door.  I'm sure that cat, who is not allowed outside, has smelled the whole world on guests' bags.  He is obsessed with sniffing luggage. 
Once we unloaded our stuff, we walked to the other side of town, near our first hotel, to find the Artisan's Market where we had first seen some beautiful wooden cutting boards.  I didn't take a picture but here is what they look like.  Don't look if you think you might get a Christmas present from me (I bought five).  They use the various types of hardwood available in the country.  The 'purple heart' is the best. 



You can only imagine what 5
of these weigh.  If you cannot imagine, let
me tell you - A LOT.  My poor pack/back.

I was having some tummy trouble.  My innards probably recognized we were in San Jose and had a flash back to that Japanese dinner.  Any way, thanks to the Jade Museum next door to the market and their tourist-level baño. 

Back to the hotel to do a final pack.  In the end, Val's bag weighed 25 lbs, mine was 42.  WE decided to take a cab to the airport even though it would cost us each an extra $10.  Worth it not to have to hold our bags on our laps on  a crowed bus for an hour or more. 

We got to the airport early and our flight left on time.  We arrived in Houston and had to go through customs/security.  That went well with an hour to spare so we ate at the Noodle place that was directly across from our gate.  It was fine, but airport expensive. 

We arrived in San Francisco at midnight and our flight to Vancouver didn't leave until 6:30.  I had used my 'winter coat' (a hoodie) to wrap my wood bowls and had forgotten to take it out of my bag before I checked it so I only had a t-shirt and a light rain shell.  The airport was freezing!  No sleep for me.  Val and I wandered around a bit.  It is creepy to be in a huge, basically empty airport.  It was definitely a scene from EVERY zombie movie.  There were a few scattered people sleeping on the benches.  I was just waiting for them to rise and attack.  As it turned out, the only ones who had to worry about that were the poor employees of the first coffee shop to open.  The line up was 20 deep by 6:02. 

Here are a couple pictures of the empty airport (it is a nice airport).



San Francisco Airport



the eerie San Francisco Airport at 2:30am

And here is the same spots sullied by our tired selves.


Just waiting for the zombies



Val

When we checked in in San Jose, the United desk person couldn't give us boarding passes for San Francisco.  She said she couldn't even book our seats.  United had let us check-in online 24 hours before our flight but we couldn't do that with Air Canada.  Either because it wasn't 24 hours before, or because they usually don't let you check-in online in a foreign country. 

Anyway, our United lady just told us to pop over to Air Canada desk and do it there.  which we did.  But when we got there, I discovered that she had already given me my boarding pass for the Air Canada flight even though she told Val she couldn't possibly do that.  Whatever, Val checked in with Air Canada and all was well in the world. 

Except that Val realized we didn't know if our bags had been sent to Vancouver or San Franscisco.  We asked Air Canada lady.  Vancouver.  We asked when we got to San Franscico, they are going to Vancouver.  So, we felt pretty confident - our bags would be in Vancouver. 

Guess what?  Our bags weren't in Vancouver.  We filled out the lost bag forms and still managed to get on the bus to catch the 11am ferry.  The Air Canada lost luggage guy was very nice.  I may have to stop bashing AC.  they were also the only legs of our flight with free movies (I watched Bridget Jones's Baby on the way down and The Accountant on the way back).

Apparently, they had lost them in completely separate ways.  The delivered Val's bag to here that very day at about 8pm.  I got mine on Sunday, two days later around noon.  It was kind of nice not to have to deal with them on the ferry to be honest.  I may get used to home delivery. 

So, all's well that ends well.  Except for this:


http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/surprise-snowfall-in-victoria-leads-to-cancelled-flights-slow-traffic-1.10520613 

What the hell, Victoria!!  I expected to return to Spring with blooming daffodils and cherry blossoms. 

But I did get to sleep in my own cozy bed and kitty was happy to have her heat source back.

Thanks for reading.  



Jacó - Scarlet Macaws and blazing heat

Sunday, Feb 19

We left Monteverde on the 6am bus.  It was as beautiful a view on the way down as it was on the way up the mountains.  We had to change buses in Puntarenas on the coast.  It was a tight transfer but fortunately, the bus to Jacó was late so we made it.

There were taken out of a dirty window of a moving bus so...

Puntarenas

According to Lonely Planet, people either love Jacó or hate Jacó because it is so touristy.  I don't know that we felt that strongly either way but it felt a lot like later Puerto Vallarta. Basically a long strip with restaurants and a million gift shops.  And it was hot, so hot.

We got dropped on the side of the road.  Our hotel was up the street behind Pops Ice Cream.  This is actually how they list their address in Booking.com.  No one uses street names.  We were pretty loaded with our Monteverde purchases but we decided to walk.  It was around noon so hot, hot, hot.  We were staying in the Blue Palm Hotel.  It is one of the nicest places we have booked. We figured we deserved a relaxing last couple of days.  Air Conditioning in our room (thank god) and a pool (which we did not use).

our room

After our long, hot, overburdened walk to the hotel, we dumped our bags and lay under the AC until we were less melty.  Then we headed back into town to find dinner. Turns out we weren't that far away once we were backpack free, we were about 1/3 KM up the road from the main drag.  We visited the beach.  Jacó is a surfing town.  After that we ate.  And shopped.  Actually, that's all we did in Jacó.  Walked up and down the main street, stopped for food or drinks or shopping, for three days. I don't really have much to tell.

Se Vende (for sale) if you are interested

The beach

The river (east of the bridge)

The river (west of the bridge)

I finally found a painting I liked.  It is in a tube which barely fits in my backpack.

Tico Pod where I bought my painting,
 sister store to Fruity Monkey Poop shop where I bought a mug

There is a Biological Reserve (one step down from a National Park, I think) nearby called Cararas.  There are Scarlet Macaws there so I sort of wanted to go but Val just couldn't face getting up before 5am again and I agreed.  So, we skipped it.  But as we were sitting on the veranda over the pool, there they were, flying right over our heads.  We saw four on our second day and I saw another four the next day from the veranda and the bus.  They really are the most impressive bird going.  They look fake and to see them in the wild is unreal.  And they are so noisy.  Val is a birding convert.  But no pictures.  You will have to settle for these adorable wrens.

This morning, we took the  9am bus to San Jose.  Uneventful trip.  We came back to Elvis hotel.  Then to the artisanal market to buy a cutting board for myself.  I LOVE the wood products here.  And a few more gifts for next Christmas.  My bag is going to be so heavy.  We just checked in online and I put that my bag may weigh over 50lbs.  I don't think so but just in case.  Wood is heavy.

Street art under a bridge in San Jose

Now it is only 6:30 but we are in for the night.  I have to prepare myself mentally and physically for the difficult task of packing all of my purchases that I said I wouldn't make.  I will remind myself how easy Christmas will be in 9 months.

3pm flight tomorrow out of San Jose, we arrive in Vancouver at 9:30ish on Friday.

Monteverde: the shopping portion of our trip begins (in earnest)

Friday, Feb 17

I woke up super early because I had booked another bird guide for 5:30am.  Val declined, she had had enough bird tours for one town.  But he never showed up.  So, at 6 I gave up and went back to bed.  Val woke me up at 8 so I could get in on free breakfast that comes with our room.  Good breaky.

Since we had the bulk of the day to kill, we decided to walk to a gift shop we had seen when we drove back from our Night Walk the previous evening.  It had been dark and the driver was a maniac who drove manically so we weren't quite sure where it was but since there is only one road, we figured we could find it.  We headed out around 10am.

We walked and walked, the paved road ended and still we walked the dusty highway of life/Monteverde.  We walked for over an hour (with a toucan break or two).  We finally found it, Rosewood Souvenirs.  We walked in and it was full of wood bowls.  Wood is a big product here.  There are lots of beautiful coloured woods, reds, yellows, purple, green, tan, brown.  So, the wood products are especially gorgeous.  I had not particularly planned on buying any bowls but I had to admit they were very pretty.

So many wooden bowls

Spoons

Candles

Rocks.

The woman working there greeted us and saw our sweaty red faces.  She couldn't believe we had walked and then we had come all that way just to find her little shop based on a drive by sighting.  She called in her husband.  He had an orchid garden in the back and she asked of if we would like him to take us on a tour.  Uh, yea!   It was like a little forest in their back garden.  We say toucanets and motmots.  And so many orchids.  But not the big gaudy kind you can buy in Canada.  Some were so tiny you could barely see them.  I have a million pictures of flowers so I will pre-apologize again for the inundation.

Motmor in the garden

The tiniest orchid

Very proud of his garden

Then he asked if we would like to see his wood shop where he makes all of the bowls.  Uh, yea!   Super cool.  Would we like to try making a bowl?  Uh, yea!

Adding beeswax 

bowl w

pile of wood, ready for bowl making

Finished bowls, waiting for wax

just a picture I like

Would we like to try some sugar cane?  Uh, yea!.  A carrot from his garden (which he washed in mud basically)?  Uh, yea!

Cutting the sugar cane

yum

I'm not sure why I am holding a machete

Our companion on our garden walk

Emerald Toucanet in the garden

We finally let him go back to work and headed into the shop where, now that we saw how the bowls made and met the man who made them, we wanted to buy some.  And take pictures.  But then, before I could let my pile of bowls get too big, he waved me over, there was a cool bird at the feeder (a hollowed out log).  Did I want to see?  Uh, yea!  That feeder was crazy with birds.  Euphorias, a tanager, an oriole, a pair of Hoffman's woodpeckers.  More pictures.

I bought five bowls before we left.  Val bought two bowls and some jewelry made by the wife.  And I may have bought a little bag but don't tell Lea.  We were running out of time before out next tour at 2:45 if we wanted to get lunch first, so the owners called us a cab.  But not before we got to meet their daughter and new grandbaby.  I think we may be the godparents.

We took the cab back into town to the Beer House, which had noticed serves craft beer.  We decided that was a good reason to go there for lunch.  I had mango beer and Val had chilli beer.  I had Orange soup (carrot, pumpkin, ginger, tumeric with a whole wheat pita) and Val had Shakshuka (a yummy combo of tomato, eggs, cheese).   Expensive but worth the splurge.  I also bought a bracelet which I am wearing right now.

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cat in the cafe

Since we were clearly in a splurge mentality, we also sent our laundry out.  Out as in when we got back, my feety pajamas were hanging in the driveway, but I am vacation Joanne, who had no shame.

Our next event of the day was a 3 in 1 tour - coffee, sugar cane and chocolate on the El Trapiche plantation.  I now know more about coffee than I ever cared to know.  For my particularly coffee obsessed friends who feed me on a regular basis, I am bringing some home.  Not just any coffee but the stuff that they claim cannot be bought outside of Costa Rica.

Here is what I learned.  There are three methods for drying the coffee beans (arabica in CR).  1.  peel the shell off the berry and wash the bean of the sweet jelly that surrounds it.  this is called the full wash method.  this is the one they import because it only takes one week to dry.  2.  Peel the berry but don't wash the sweet stuff off.  this is called the honey method.  It makes the bean sweeter and tastier.  It takes two weeks to dry and they don't export this, they only sell it in their shop.  3.  Dry the bean still in the shell.  This takes three weeks and is called the Natural drying method.  Then remove the shell before roasting.  Again, not for sale outside of their shop. I also learned about the size and weight of the dried bean.  Peaberry is best.

Drying racks.  full berry top left,
honey, top right,
full wash on the bottom

the view from the coffee field

Coffee tree/bush

We also finally found out what all the oxcart paraphernalia is about.  We see mini oxcarts for sale everywhere, murals of oxcarts, postcards, statues.  Well, apparently the oxcart was how they used to get the coffee to the coast to export.  Ok.  We met some oxen pulling their cart but declined to ride in the cart.  The ox were also used to turn the sugar cane crushing machine to extract the juice.  We then used some boiled juice to make sugar candy.  We have a brown lump of it in a baggie in our room, just begging for an ant infestation. Plus, we saw the various stages of the cocoa bean getting turned into a chocolate bar.  I ate a lot of cocoa beans, coffee beans and sugarcane all in various states of processing.  Plus drank some sugar alcohol that probably should have blinded me.

Oxcart

Sugarcane

oxen powering the sugar press

making candy

Random cat

this stuff should no be legal

Chocolate making paraphernalia

Home again.  We ate some left over bread from our previous day's walk to the bakery.  And early to bed.  With all of our early mornings, we are usually in bed by 8 and asleep by 9.  Val and I declared this one of the best days of our trip.  We love an unexpected treat like our orchid/wood/bird tour.  But the five bowls and the four bags of coffee are seriously going to make packing a challenge.  The cube system can only do so much.

Saturday, Feb 18

We had a late start, an 8am pick up for the shuttle to the Selvatura National Park.  We arrived.  We walked the trails.  We crossed the 8 suspended bridges.  We id'd two birds, one of which was the sooty thrush, the other escapes me at the moment.   No bird pictures, no animal sightings.  So lots of photos of plants.  I will call this series, 'the textures of the jungle'.  or a bunch of leaves and flowers, and a berry or two (not as catchy but more accurate).

under the bridge

We finished there around noon when it was getting hot and overcrowded with the 11am arrivals.  Back to the Beer House.  This time I had Pineapple beer and Val had chili again.  Then we bought out bus tickets for tomorrow to Puntarenas where we will transfer to a bus to Jaco.  Then a low key afternoon.  I had a nap, Val talked to the Minnesotans.  This is the couple we met on the boat to Tortuguero who  I mentioned earlier.  They were the ones who took the public transit from Cahuita.  Anyway, they are coincidentally staying in the same hotel as us here in Monteverde.  Pro-tip for travellers in Costa Rica.  Be polite to everyone because you are going to see them again.  We keep running into the same people, from city to city, certainly from tour to tour.

Then a quick coffee at Don Juan's down the hill a bit.  And now we are trying to cram our new purchases into our old packs.  I can still do it, just.

Sunset over Monteverde