And now for the final photos of our Costa Rica adventure. These are the items that, for several reasons, didn't get published in earlier dispatches, but which I think you might enjoy.
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Let's start with this one of Shirley Ganse, my traveling companion. It was shot the day she got some stinging sun block in her eye. Some new sunglasses could help with the aggravation. Our group was working its way through a gift shop when I found these cheapies and shot this photo of her. When I saw the image, I told her she looked like a movie star. As I recall, she poo-pooed my comment, but after she posted it on facebook, one of her friends added the comment that she looked like a movie star. Live with it, Shirley.
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On the flight home, Shirley became a true member of Team Wilson. Sitting next to her on the plane were a couple who were returning home after some volunteer public service work in Haiti. Shirley told Velma about the indestructible soccer ball that was being distributed to children around the world. After her time in Haiti, Velma knew about children who used rags to construct a ball to play with. People who have "been there" don't need an explanation of what the virtually indestructible One World Futbol can mean to a child.
I should add that Velma is connected with Mountain Top Ministries Haiti (
http://www.mtmhaiti.com/), which "exists as a resource that ignites a vision in the Haitian people for their country to recognize their true potential, so that they may take spiritual ownership of their nation to defeat generational poverty village by village."
The people you meet on airplanes!
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This was the kind of water craft we took to get to Tortuguero,("Turtle Town"). If it pulled up at the right point of the bank you could climb aboard from the grass. Otherwise you were walking in the mud. The sides roll up or down, depending on the weather. The outboard engines driving them varied widely in strength. Some boats had two large engines of 100 horsepower each.
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This is what was waiting for us down the river from the launch site when we returned a few days later. There were others on the river, but this was the biggest one we saw.
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Tortuguerro is heavily dependent on tourism, and it is the environment that draws the tourists. The mural on this building celebrates the environment. It's one of the first things we saw as we arrived.
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Tortuguerro is situated on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. The next three buildings are right at sea level.
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The message in white appears to advertise outboard motor parts. The outboards were American make and generate as much as 100 and 150 horsepower.
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The Hotel Laguna
Tortuguero is a great place to stay, but it's wise not to sit beneath the coconut trees.
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This iguana hung around just outside the hotel's restaurant.
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After returning to our boat launch, we headed down the road to our next destination--the Arenal volcano. Note the "living fence" on the left, created by planting trees in a line and connecting them with wire. It's a common sight in Costa Rica.
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The Arenal volcano is pretty symmetrical and reminiscent of Mt. Fuji in Japan. It's also located in a different microclimate than Tortuguerro, which explains the beautiful weather shown here. Unfortunately, this weather showed up on the last day of our Groupon and most of our traveling companions were heading home.
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The photos below show some of the flowers in the grounds of the Casa Luna Hotel &
Spa, where we stayed for the second leg of our Groupon tour.
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During an evening hike for a another view of the volcano we encountered a "giraffe." Trees know how to grow legs to help them get where they want to go.
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This tiny feather had fallen from a nest that birds had built on the staircase outside our door.
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When Wilson and I hiked to the La Fortuna waterfall, we passed this funky school bus along the way.
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Can you spot the moon? It came out to greet us on our last day at Casa Luna ("Moon House")
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On day seven our group headed to the airport. But Shirley, I and Wilson were staying for four more days. We thought we'd have to take a taxi to our hotel, and that could have cost a bundle. But the man at the information desk in the airport was about to go on lunch break with his wife, and they walked us to the bus stop, where we paid $5 American for the ride into San Jose, then $4 for the taxi to the La Posada Inn, which was situated close to the heart of town.
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One block away from our lodging was the Legislative building for Costa Rica. There are 57 elected officials for the country, a guide told us.
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In the next block from the legislative building was this interesting piece of graffiti. These "Ticos" can draw!
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We only stayed at La Posada one night. The vintage building had character, but it also had an unnecessary amount of grime. A commuter train ran every 20 minutes about 30 feet from our room until 9 p.m. at night. The noise bothered Shirley. But what kept me awake was congestion all night, possibly caused by the room. You can't always trust those guide book testimonials.
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The hotel was vintage and well located, but a commuter train ran right past this corner.
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Two bedrooms--enough space for four, but in need of a good scrubbing.
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On the other hand, the National Museum was right across the street, and we made a point of visiting the day we checked out for cleaner digs.
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The museum: The tower is there because this used to be a fort, until a revolution in 1947 that was a precursor to Costa Rica's decision to abolish the army. Now, instead of weapons the building houses, among other things, a stunning butterfly exhibit.
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The tower is pock-market from bullets fired during the revolution.
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Perching on a leaf, this butterfly displays a brown pattern with its wings folded.
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But this dying butterfly revealed the iridescent color of the back of its wings as it struggled along the stone floor of the museum.
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This cart style is so common it has become the symbol of Costa Rica. It is pictured here with machinery for extracting juice from sugar cane.
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Stones like these were crafted from granitic rocks. They represented status and may have been arranged to convey a celestial meaning.
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The largest sphere is represented by the image on the wall. Shirley illustrates the scale.
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Behind Shirley in the prior photo are what appear to be funerary slabs, one of which is topped with this interesting (and whimsical?) carving.
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This is a rattle.
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The museum includes stunning pre-Columbian pottery.
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Tripods were a common theme in stone work and pottery.
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On Wednesday, Nov. 12, we didn't just visit the Irazu volcano -- we also visited the first capital of Costa Rica, Cartago. There we saw a lovely basilica, whose Spanish influence included echoes of Moorish design, as well as the Lankester Botannical Garden.
This map will provide a sense of where some of the places we visited are. On the upper right is Tortuguero. In the center of the country, the red star indicates the capital, San Jose. Cartago, the original capital and the location of the basilica and Lankester Garden, is southeast of San Jose.
Our final day involved a city tour and included a visit to two museums. First, a walk from our hotel to the Natural History museum, which impressed Shirley for its breadth, but not for the condition of some of the stuffed animals on display. Here were some of the better items.
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A bear.
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A saber-toothed cat.
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The butterfly exibit was so resplendent as to be exhausting.
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In the afternoon, our city tour included a visit to the neighborhood of the national government offices and a nearby statue that presented a surprise for the Americanos: A representation of William Walker, an American adventurer who, well after Costa Rican independence in 1923, tried to lead a private army to take control of Central American countries. The Monroe Doctrine, established coincident with Costa Rica's liberation, apparently didn't apply to adventurism. With some support from the American south, Walker hoped to create slave-holding countries in the region. Google William Walker. It's an eye-opener.
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Trapped in infamy, the stone figure of William Walker makes an unsuccessful attempt to flee the firing squad.
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There was also a brief stop at a stunningly beautiful hotel, which included, in its cultural artifacts, a pair of small coffee tables fashioned from the colorful wheels of the nations traditional farming carts, pictured below.
Well, it's time to talk about gold. How about a visit to the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum?
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I have trouble imagining that someone really had gold ornamentation that big. I use loops like the one in this figure's lower lip to secure a ladder before I go up on the roof.
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Two of the images below depict crocodiles. The gold objects reflected the world around the artists.
The Last Word
Well, I think that's enough photos. There's just one thing left to express--
a great big thank you
to Shirley Ganse for inviting me along on the trip she discovered via Groupon. It was six nights of lodging, guides much of those six days,many meals, visits to Turtle Town and the surrounding waterways, an unforgetable zip line flight that still has my knees knocking, and a whole lot more. The cost was $1,200 for two, an almost unbelievable price. Shirley, thank you for inviting me--and Wilson--along.
Sincerely,
Robert,
and Wilson
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