Wednesday - DEC 11 2013

A home day. After our great day yesterday we needed to enjoy the house. We were going to return the rental car tomorrow but we extended it a day. So, tomorrow we are heading back to the coast.

Clear morning, various views of the house

Views below the house

Working on a building pad

Cruise day in Puntarenas - Golden princess. The Regatta was in Puntarenas on 12 Dec.

The exercise equipment. Some of it was out for repair

Ken & Mary figuring out thursday

Pastries... Our favorite part of the supermarket

These are really good sugar cookies. Not to sweet. We looked everywhere for them.

Beautiful sunset

The evening really looked cool when the clouds dropped below the house

Central Valley

Still planning on what we are doing tomorrow

Thursday - DEC 12 2013

At this time of the year the Southern Cross is up during the day. To see it you have to look after 4am. It's located to
the RIGHT of the red tower light. It's the 4 stars in a cross shape leaning to the left. Very cool.

This was our extra car rental day.

On ramp to 27 (Costa Rica version of a road built to Interstate Highway Standards) and I love the NO OXCART sign and the guy riding his bike up the ramp.

Nice road and more bikes

When you get on CR34, this sign gives the distance in kilometers to:

Quepos - 101 - where Manuel Antonio National Park is located
Palmar Norte 202 - Not far from Corcovado National Park
Paso Canoas 295 - which is the border between Costa Rica and Panama

We found that the parks are very well marked here. Carara 14km & Manuel Antonio 109 km. CR34 is an excellent road.

Cool "watch the critter signs" around the parks

Monkey Mangrove Tour

Our last day we decided to attempt the Tortuga Island Tour. But when we got to Los Suenos we couldn't find the boat. We then headed to Jaco and found a vendor who explained the boat left before 7. So we looked at his brochures and decided to go on the Monkey Mangrove tour. The vendor called Chino and he told us where to meet north of the Quepos area. We finally found it and the 4 of us boarded the small boat.

Monkey Mangrove Tour flyer Monkey Mangrove Tour web page

The well marked sign along CR34. We had some confusion as to where this place was. As usual we had no address...

Interesting that the boats have "China Tours" on them.

Along the small stream

Our first friendly monkey encounter - Monika is the Guinea pig

Now its Dave's turn

Because of where Mary was sitting she did not get any front photos so all we got was monkey balls on her shoulder

Caiman. Depending on the species of Caiman they are typically smaller than alligators and crocodiles. This is probably a good thing considering they tend to be the most aggressive of the three and as such, they are not afraid to sink their teeth into anything that gets too close.

The common basilisk or Jesus Christ Lizard named for its ability to run on the surface of water. The common basilisk is named for the creature of Greek mythology made up of parts of a rooster, snake, and lion which could turn a man to stone by its gaze: the basilisk. When startled, the common basilisk escapes by speeding to the nearest edge of water-and continues sprinting. The lizard runs on only its hind legs in an erect position, holding its fore legs to its sides. This basilisk is so adroit on water because its feet are large and equipped with flaps of skin along the toes; when moving quickly, the lizard can cross a surface of water before sinking.

One of the most wide-ranging shorebirds in the world, the Whimbrel breeds in the Arctic in the eastern and western hemispheres, and migrates to South America, Africa, south Asia, and Australia. It uses its long, down-curved bill to probe deep in the sand of beaches for invertebrates, but also feeds on berries and insects.

The guide said this is a mean monkey so he doesn't get close or let the passengers feed him. He was loudly warning us that a caiman was in the mangrove and we saw it.

Various boat views - The tour company has to go out when the tide is right.

Back to Refugio Nagional De Vida Silvestre De Playa Hermosa. We saw black-bellied whistling-ducks in the wetlands along the way.

Ken & Mary out on the beach. Dave & Monika were hiding in the shade.

Lot's of Iguana's here

Guy riding a horse along three in the bends

Another excellent sunset. And a cruise ship in Puntarenas today

The lights of Puntarenas coming on

Our second trip to Ristorante Pizzeria el Paraiso de Alida - Very good ! Very thin authentic Italian pizza.

Friday - DEC 13 2013

Our last full day. We had to return the rental car to Supermercado Coopeatenas in Atenas at 10 am so the big thing for today was to walk around the Friday Farmers and Atenas market.

Thunderstorms down the coast

Checking out the rental car - Toyota Rav 4 - No problems but its had a rough life as a rental.

These old toyotas were everywhere.

So, we returned the rental car and walked up to a local restaurant in Atenas. I got a super hamburguesa (with ham)
It was too much to eat and I should have stopped... And the only meal that bothered me a few hours later.

I do wonder about restaurants that have posters with photos of the food on them decorating the establishment

Our last dinner at the house

Last night of the bugs. Nothing will be alive in 24 hours when we return to the artic wasteland of SE Pennsylvania.

Saturday - DEC 14 2013

Interesting butterfly that we caught inside the house and released.

Last Breakfast

Various house views

The master bedroom had a long hall to a strange sitting room. Not useful in our case

Cloud-covered Poas from the upper sitting area

Seldom used TV area / Kitchen / woodwork with recessed lights. Nice place

Sitting area

Two dead tarantula's in the pool area.

Various property views

Walking around the property we discovered this very complex wasp nest up on a tree. Like many of the wasps we have seen here these guys were very small. I figure that if they are capable of building a complex nest like this that they would be very organized in attacking me. So, we left them alone.

One of the things I don't like done here is the burning of trash. Sure, I burn at home all the time but my property and burn area is far from other people's houses. Not here. The neighbor would burn every few days and it would blow right up over the house. And this was not wood.. It was plastic ! I am not faulting this house as this happened in April at the other rental location north of Atenas.

Was told that I could have told the gardener and he would have asked for it to stop but by the time I would have done that it would have been over anyway. Just keep this in mind when you come here. Yes, they are into a healthy lifestyle but in many cases but they do burn trash.

You can see the fire against the reddish roof

Really clouding up quick today. Last of the house views.

On the way to the airport we checked out another house which is located NW of Atenas. It's a bit closer to town and is a rather large piece of property with two drainages (streams) crossing the property and some large fields.

It's a vrbo property Quinta Colina Paula: Your Tropical Vacation Destination in Cr. We will consider renting it in 2015.

With the large multi-acre fields it would be a very interesting place to bug light.

The house even includes a dog.

The flight home

We headed west and made a large turn to the north east. We flew right over the house but being below the plane we could not see it.

The Atenas Exit on CR27

Orotina, CR27 and the Tarcoles river

Tarcoles river where we were on the crocodile tour

Puntarenas. It's interesting that we saw all the areas that the house looked on when we departed.

Leaving Costa Rica. Looking down at the border of Nicaragua where the Rio San Carlos comes into Rio San Juan

Sunset near the Cayman Islands

Sunday - DEC 15 2013

Back to reality - We drove home in a ice storm.

Orange happy we are unpacking