Costa Rica Day 4: Hot Springs and Road Trips
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Day 4
This morning we were up again at 5:30am. Costa Rica might want to consider a little daylight savings action... it is light at 5am and dark at 6pm. If I had a vote, I'd vote for light by 7am and dark by 8pm. The sun and the birds and howler monkeys make it really hard to sleep past 5:15 or 5:30am. I guess it makes me feel NOT lazy on vacation! Costa Rica is on the same time as Utah so maybe when we get back we'll be up this early and I should start running in the mornings? Maybe.
La Fortuna is famous for their hot springs that come from the Arenal volcano. But they're also really expensive. People have set up spas and resorts around the river and made beautiful hot springs but I think the cheapest one is $35 per person. Our guide, Pablo, said "you can't come to La Fortuna and not go to the hot springs!" So he told us about "Tabacon Pobres." Tabacon is the most expensive spa in the area but there is access to the river just below the resort so the locals go and just sit in the river. For free! That sounded just about right for us so we put on our swimsuits and headed over. It was a little sketchy. Lots of beer cans and beer bottles. But it was early in the morning so it was mostly harmless. A few families even had babies. It was totally fun exploring up the river. We had to climb under a fence so I'm sure we were trespassing but there were no signs so it was fair game to us.
And speaking of votes, today was the Costa Rica national elections. There were voting booths set up in every rural town and the happiest political supporters out waving flags everywhere. Kids. Adults. Teenagers. It was like a festival day. And it was all over the country. I feel like we should know since we drove 6 hours through the country today. We drove on tiny, windy mountain roads through barrio after barrio. Somehow the GPS got off course and "rerouted" us on the closest roads, not highways or main roads. It was a little sketchy in some spots but eventually we made it. We made a few small stops. One on the Tarcoles Bridge so we could see the crocodiles. We stopped for dinner in Dominical, a little surf town on the southern coast. It's definitely a backpacker's/surfer's spot and our crowd of kids seemed a little out of place after dark on the dirt roads of Dominical as we pulled up to the San Clemente Bar and Grill for some dinner. The food was slow but good and it was still pretty empty so we were fine. Mikey got pretty friendly with the feral dogs...yikes! For the first time I actually pulled out the hand sanitizer before he ate. Normally I'm not a germ-a-phobe but....
After dinner we headed up to our new place. In the dark. Probably a bad idea. It was 18 "clicks" (km) up a windy mountain road (again) and then 3.4 km DOWN a bumpy dirt road. In the middle of NOWHERE! This is seriously remote. It's cool and beautiful but a little scary being up here by ourselves. It was originally built as a small, boutique hotel with 5 rooms. The rest of the space is open air (which is nice). Our kids have been juggling the soccer ball in the old reception area. But each room is separate so the kids and us are in separate rooms open to the outside. They lock but we aren't connected. We had all 5 kids pile in the master bedroom which is a big circular, attic room with 2 king beds and a bathroom. Jeff and I chose a room as close as possible to theirs but it still made me a little nervous to be in this remote jungle lodge not connected to my kids. They thought it was a great adventure!
Day 4
This morning we were up again at 5:30am. Costa Rica might want to consider a little daylight savings action... it is light at 5am and dark at 6pm. If I had a vote, I'd vote for light by 7am and dark by 8pm. The sun and the birds and howler monkeys make it really hard to sleep past 5:15 or 5:30am. I guess it makes me feel NOT lazy on vacation! Costa Rica is on the same time as Utah so maybe when we get back we'll be up this early and I should start running in the mornings? Maybe.
La Fortuna is famous for their hot springs that come from the Arenal volcano. But they're also really expensive. People have set up spas and resorts around the river and made beautiful hot springs but I think the cheapest one is $35 per person. Our guide, Pablo, said "you can't come to La Fortuna and not go to the hot springs!" So he told us about "Tabacon Pobres." Tabacon is the most expensive spa in the area but there is access to the river just below the resort so the locals go and just sit in the river. For free! That sounded just about right for us so we put on our swimsuits and headed over. It was a little sketchy. Lots of beer cans and beer bottles. But it was early in the morning so it was mostly harmless. A few families even had babies. It was totally fun exploring up the river. We had to climb under a fence so I'm sure we were trespassing but there were no signs so it was fair game to us.
And speaking of votes, today was the Costa Rica national elections. There were voting booths set up in every rural town and the happiest political supporters out waving flags everywhere. Kids. Adults. Teenagers. It was like a festival day. And it was all over the country. I feel like we should know since we drove 6 hours through the country today. We drove on tiny, windy mountain roads through barrio after barrio. Somehow the GPS got off course and "rerouted" us on the closest roads, not highways or main roads. It was a little sketchy in some spots but eventually we made it. We made a few small stops. One on the Tarcoles Bridge so we could see the crocodiles. We stopped for dinner in Dominical, a little surf town on the southern coast. It's definitely a backpacker's/surfer's spot and our crowd of kids seemed a little out of place after dark on the dirt roads of Dominical as we pulled up to the San Clemente Bar and Grill for some dinner. The food was slow but good and it was still pretty empty so we were fine. Mikey got pretty friendly with the feral dogs...yikes! For the first time I actually pulled out the hand sanitizer before he ate. Normally I'm not a germ-a-phobe but....
After dinner we headed up to our new place. In the dark. Probably a bad idea. It was 18 "clicks" (km) up a windy mountain road (again) and then 3.4 km DOWN a bumpy dirt road. In the middle of NOWHERE! This is seriously remote. It's cool and beautiful but a little scary being up here by ourselves. It was originally built as a small, boutique hotel with 5 rooms. The rest of the space is open air (which is nice). Our kids have been juggling the soccer ball in the old reception area. But each room is separate so the kids and us are in separate rooms open to the outside. They lock but we aren't connected. We had all 5 kids pile in the master bedroom which is a big circular, attic room with 2 king beds and a bathroom. Jeff and I chose a room as close as possible to theirs but it still made me a little nervous to be in this remote jungle lodge not connected to my kids. They thought it was a great adventure!
Calvin working on his spanish/english journal.
May or may not have been trespassing....
Enjoying the hot springs.
Sunday is soccer day in Costa Rica. We passed countless games in progress along the way.
Election day in Costa Rica. I was trying to get a picture of the dog but couldn't get it fast enough. He was weaving through the crowd of pedestrians with a huge raw steak in his mouth. Someone's in trouble!
Isaac at Tarcoles Bridge watching the crocodiles below. We threw some beef jerky down to them. They weren't impressed. (The rules are different in Costa Rica).
Mikey LOVES all of the dogs.
Dinner at San Clemente Bar & Grill in Dominical, Costa Rica. The kids loved their bottled sodas with straws.
Isaac is always looking for a minute to practice his soccer moves. While we were waiting for our food at the restaurant, he got his ball out of the car and juggled around in the lobby area of the outdoor restaurant. That ball was probably the best thing we brought on the trip!
Adventure Times10!
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