San Jose Difference

We went out for a walk in Quepos this morning before leaving. We found a very nice city park at the end of the street -- it actually deadended into the park. It was fun watching the waves break into the rocks.

Our ride to San Jose was early but so were we. We had a nice ride with a couple from Wisconsin that had spent time at Montezuma. It sounded like a really nice place to visit. We picked them up in Jaco which is another beach town. They said that most things were closed on Good Friday, but there were plenty of drug dealers and prostitutes pushing their wares. I´m glad that I missed that bit of color.

The area of our hotel in San Jose is a little different. The clerk basically told Dad that it wasn´t a good neighborhood after dark and that we are in the middle of the red light district. I´m lucky that I got Stephen to leave the hotel after he heard that. We walked down to the main street in search of the Ancient Gold Museum. We found it, but would you believe that it was closed today. We gave up after that and just located things to eat -- saw a KFC, Taco Bell, McDonald´s, Wendy´s, and Subway. Dad felt like he was back at home.

We are in for the night in preparation for the airport experience tomorrow. Hope you are all enjoying conference -- I guess we will see it when we get home.

Captive in Quepos

Today we planned to go back up to the beach at Manuel Antonio and actually spend some time frolicking in the clear warm water. Unfortunately, last night we found out that there was a small monkey wrench (not monkey) in our plan. This just happens to be Good Friday. What we have found out is that you do NOT want to be in a small town in a Spanish-speaking country on Good Friday. Everything, including the transportation is closed down. I feel like we are trapped. We couldn´t even get a bus out of town. Oh, well.

Manuel Antonio

Spent the morning in Manuel Antonio National Park. There were rainforest trails as well as beautiful white sand beaches. We were able to see monkeys, a sloth, lots of lizards, and some kind of spider or crab. We spent the first part of the trek searching for the spot of a geocache. We found it as we looked out over the cliffs onto the ocean below. I was a bit afraid of finding a hidden snake but all went well.

The water was warm and beautiful. After I got out a ways the water was clear but I didn´t see any fish or shells. On the way back, Dad and I did get to see a Jesus lizard -- the kind that can walk on water.

Arenal

Stephen and I spent from Sunday evening to Wednesday morning at Grupo Arenal Paraiso near Arenal Volcano. The resort that we were at was beautiful with lots of lush tropical growth everywhere. They had a hotsprings on sight with gradually hot poolers as you went higher up towards the source. The part that I liked best was being able to sit out on our patio at anytime of the day and having a wonderful few of the volcano and the beauty of the tropics.

We went on a tour of the volcano on Monday walking up to the site of the 1968 eruption. Very rocky and we got to see the regrowth of the forest where everything had been burned at that time. Later in the day we went to Baldi Hot Springs which is a big attraction in the area. 15 pools that got progressively hotter -- up to 153 degrees. OUCH!!

Tuesday was a taxi ride out to La Fortuna Waterfall. There was a 600 meter walk in to see it. What they didn´t tell you that it was 600 meters of steps going straight up and down. The falls was worth the hike. Stephen took lots of pictures of me standing dangerously close to the tumbling water from the safety of the dry rocks. I wonder if he was thinking insurance at that point.