Costa Rica and the New Year

We left early in the morning to cross into Costa Rica at the Penas Blancas border crossing on the Panamerican hi-way.  We had decided to drive to the Costa Rican highlands at Lake Arenal and enjoy New Years in a nice hotel overlooking a lake and a majestic volcano.  

Southern Nicaragua was quaint and pastoral

The crossing went smoothly for the most part. We checked out of Nicaragua and cancelled our car import permit.  All border crossings had been an arduous 2-3 hour process and this was all of that because we had to wait through a lunch break on the Costa Rican side. Entering Costa Rica we cleared immigration and picked-up our temporary vehicle import permit and car insurance.


Once across, we noticed right away how much wider the highways were.  No potholes and even shoulders!

By the time we reached Liberia, the second largest city in Costa Rica, we were on 4-lane divided highway. Considering it was comparable to any freeway in Calgary we were a little mystified by the 80 Km/hr speed limit.

Adhering strictly to the speed limit (no, really!) we headed south and east into the higher country to get to Lake Arenal. There were some odd trees in the distance, reminiscent of those on the prairies of Southern Alberta.  This is a very bad sign!

Before long the vehicle was being buffeted by strong wind gusts and the omen of wind turbines on the horizon was fulfilled.

Entrance to the Lake Arenal Hotel & Microbrewery

Passing over the edge of the huge crater we drove into the basin of Lake Arenal and its environs. Our hotel was on the windward side and the town of Nuevo Arenal was on the leeward & rainy side, just across the west end.

We reached our home for the next few nights, the Lake Arenal Hotel and Microbrewery. Our room was very nice but, being a lakeview room it was nose into the wind.

The 1/2 kilometer access road to the hotel

What we found out, amidst the roar of the gale, was that we had chosen a nice day on the lake for this time of year!

What also became apparent was that the region had many, many micro-climates making for a huge variety of fauna and flora between us on one end of the lake and the volcano looming at the far end.

Leona in front of the view from our hotel room

Well, as I said the hotel was very nice, clean comfortable and with all of the amenities one would need to enjoy New Years Eve.  Happy wife happy life! It came with some interesting fixtures too: a very modern brewery using local grown ingredients and pure spring water sourced right on the property; a brilliant if somewhat quirky owner from Louisiana whose fascination with renewable technologies and sustainability complimented an advanced degree in engineering.

Brad try to decipher Spanish texts from the cell service provider

The hotel had a large lobby/restaurant area that served a continental breakfast included in the room.  There was a solar heated pool and 'hot tubs' that we never tried because the weather was not amenable.

The beer was a bit pricey but very good for all but European tastes.  Not being beer drinkers we rarely partook but did sample all of the brews.

A tree frog on the waiters arm

What was more interesting to us was the wildlife, and I mean WILDlife.  The staff were always on the lookout for interesting critters to show us. At dinner one night the waiter appeared with a red-eyed tree frog perched on his arm.  It was a harmless species and not one of the 'poison arrow' frogs that are also quite common in the area.

Tarantula Hawk

The next day we were having lunch and a huge wasp was trying to get through the screen and escape to the outside.  The staff told us that this species was the largest wasp in Costa Rica and that it preyed on, of all things, tarantulas.

Well, actually they eat fruit and nectar BUT the larvae hatch and feed on an entombed and paralysed tarantula provided for by mommy.  Although fierce looking and delivering the world's second most painful insect bite, they are by nature placid and docile. Gotta love the tropics, eh?

We reconnoitred the area around the lake a few times for when we would bring the girls to the other side of the lake in a week. We had booked a house near Nuevo Arenal for five days.  As the road wound around the lake it was paved but narrow and had many potholes.  The many bridges were all one-lane and crossed creeks that were fantastically overgrown.

On our first outing several cars had stopped for no apparent reason on the road.  We pulled over anticipating anything from a flat tire to a UFO siting.

Luckily it was just a troop of howler monkeys making their way through the trees at the side of the road.  I couldn't help thinking what the locals must have thought of a cluster of cars full of tourists, parked on a blind corner on a mountain highway, transfixed on a bunch of monkeys at the side of the road, ignoring the imminent danger posed by cars hurtling around the corner at full speed.

Monkeys are about as interesting to Ticos as gophers are to a guy from Medicine Hat.

With that in mind, here's another monkey picture.... The weather here was not what we expected. We knew the higher elevation would be cooler but we did not expect the whole 'Cape Horn' experience.  The locals informed us that this weather pattern was quite normal for the area at this time of the year.

This did not bode well for the girls visit but we were locked in and would have to make the best of it.  Thanks TripAdvisor!

On one of our trips to Nuevo Arenal we stopped and ate at a tiny 4 table family run Italian place called Los Platillos Volodores.  They made homemade pastas and sauces that were outstanding! The owners, Emi and David are a lovely Italian couple who have been in CR for 20 years.

When asked about a good place for New Years Eve, Emi suggested The Gingerbread.  It was just 10 minutes up the road and she was taking her family there for the event.  She warned however that Chef Eyal would need to talk to us before a reservation would be accepted.  Really, Arenal has a Soup Nazi?

So down the road we ventured, as much at this point curious about the chef as the New Years event. The Gingerbread was a world class restaurant with a world class character at the helm.  After a 40 minute discussion, and with a twinkle in his eye, Chef Eyal confessed that he could size a client up in 20 seconds.  Had we not been a fit for dinner at his table the conversation would have been over long ago.

View of the volcano.... this time of year

In the car after our 'interview' Brad had to recount its similarities to a favourite joke of his: where the invitation to a party is prefaced by all kinds of warnings, such as "there may be heavy drinking, there may be some drugs, there may be some fighting, and there may by some forced sex... but don't worry it'll just be you an I at the party."

We were both a little worried about how out of hand this soiree was going to get.  As New Years Eve approached a banshee wind howled at night and a thundering rain threatened to wash us away. The lashing continued off and on right up to the afternoon of New Years Eve when, as though a pact was signed in the underworld, the heavens cleared.

Dressed in the only semi-finery we had packed we prepared for the worst.  Even though we may have been the only people there who were not from the community, we were given a warm welcome and everyone helped us work through the dining options presented.








Wanting to test Chef Eyal's range we opted for the Moroccan chicken tajin.  It was simply incredible.  Others dined on pheasant or sweetbreads but we had a measure of our progress with our own tajine, which was much in need of refinement.

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening, the atmosphere, and the restaurant. It was a community gathering of the locals who welcomed us to dance and enjoy

 live music,













socializing,












a drum circle, fireworks. and

Happy New Year!

each other.

Our gracious host, Chef Eyal... yeah, its a joint

Hoe-down! Check out the cowboy boots and pigtails.

We were happy to be heading towards Playa del Coco and a little warmth.  We were both tired of wearing pants and sweaters every evening.  On our way we missed the turn to Coco and made an inadvertent detour through Sardinal, where it appeared there was a festival happening. Folks were dressed in Western duds just like the Calgary Stampede! We never found out what Saint was being honoured or what rodeo was happening but it was fun to watch for a bit!

Brad knew enough to slow down on the booze
when he saw the stairs to the bedrooms.

Before the girls got to Costa Rica and all hell broke loose we had decided to try to continue the mission of discovery on the Guanancaste coast. Since we had stayed in the southern area (Nosara) for a week some years ago, a visit to the north seemed appropriate.





We booked a condo in Del Coco for a week and splurged on a three level condo with an extra bedroom, in case Leona's sister Chris, who was visiting a friend in Costa Rica, would be in the area.  Yeah, in case...

Brad in the living room getting ready to hit the beach.

The condo was great and we enjoyed thoroughly, except for Brad who didn't enjoy the two flights of stairs -steep and steeper- to the rooftop patio.  And those were nothing compared to the mountaineering required to ascend to the hilltop pool. 

Well worth the effort for the view!

We spent the first part of the week enjoying the pool, visiting beaches, doing laundry and catching up on our very delayed blog. The agreement was we would stay here only if Leona agreed to cook every day! She held up her part of the bargain.



So, more on that Sister Christine situation.  Later in the week we found out that a friend who had been living in Costa Rica for well over 20 years and had raised her family here was coming to visit her daughter in Coco before she picked up said Christine the Sister only a half hour away at the Liberia airport.  Jeannie was an old  friend of Brad's family and loved by all Petricks.

My sister, Chris on the right and our friend, Jeannie.

Coincidences create opportunities and Jeannie doesn't miss many of these.

She saw an opportunity when her errand to get Chris coincided with our sojourn in town and that Chris did not know where we were in all of Costa Rica.

She conspired to whisk Chris over to our place on the pretence of an errand and walk her into a strange condo to meet unknown persons, us.

Chris' reaction was totally unpredictable and priceless:  a prolonged, slack-jawed silence!

Jeannie's daughter, Julissa and Fabian

So with Jeannie visiting her daughter, Julisa for the next couple of days we had a chance to reconnect with her and meet her beau.  Fabian is a local boy who runs a local tour boat.  He skippers a forty foot sailing catamaran running groups to the many beaches and dive sites close to Coco.  Julisa and Fabian were so welcoming and provided a wealth of information on the area, the beach communities, and current events along the coast.

We took advantage of Fabian's offer to visit the beaches and travel by boat to several hidden coves only accessible by water. Everywhere we went the waters were warm and inviting and the beaches were fine soft sand.

When driving, getting there was not always as smooth as the beach sand.  The roads can be a real challenge in some of the back country roads.  When a map calls the road Monkey Trail or Donkey Trail take note and buckle up your seat belt.

Following are some photos of the beaches and our jaunts along the northern Guanacaste ocean playground. PuraVida!

The beach at Playa Del Coco

Playa del Coco with the tide out is wide and flat enough to play soccer

Brad, myself, Jeannie and Chris. Guess who just arrived!

Brad, playing hot-rock hopscotch

So after a week at Coco we were getting very excited to see our girls, who arrived at the Liberia Airport, only 20 minutes from Coco, at 7:00 in the morning on a WestJet direct flight.

All was ready to pick them up and head off for a few days at Lake Arenal, a cooler climate allowing them time to acclimate and get ready for the whole tropical rain-forest treatment.  Last thing to do was check the weather forecast.... Oh Oh!

To be continued:  B&L