from the mountains to the ocean to the homestead white with snow

Friday was a holiday at my brother's school, so the family had a three-day weekend. We took the animals to the vet for boarding and loaded all six of us into the Space Wagon. We drove west toward the Pacific Ocean.

The two-lane road (one lane in either direction) goes up a mountain, through the fog and clouds, then down the other side. The road is in fairly poor shape; people walk on either side on the non-existent shoulder, and there are many small and large trucks and buses on the road with all the passenger cars. As a result, there's lots of jockeying to pass, and the ride can be fairly tense. Add to that the concern that the Space Wagon has started to overheat on long uphill drives, especially in hot weather, and the driving was fairly tense. Oh, and there are little fruit stands, Artesan shacks, and miradores (restaurants with a view) along the way, though we didn't stop at any of them.

There's another road that goes by the shore, but it's in horrible shape -- it's unpaved and contains many cobblestones, so the going is extra rough. Apparently, there are political concerns about keeping the mountain road as the main road, so the seashore road doesn't get improved.

We finally arrived in fairly good shape and found our hotel. It turns out that it's way up on the hillside overlooking the seashore plains and the beach. So we started to climb and climb and climb, and it was then that the car overheated. Four of the passengers continued the last few feet of the journey on foot, while I stayed with my brother and we waited for the car to cool down.

Our hotel was in a beautiful location with some fabulous quirks. It's managed by two Argentinians who are in the business of scouting out hotel locations, overseeing construction, and training staff for two years before moving on to the next project. They're very pleasant, sweet, and interesting. At the top of the property, there's a reception desk, a covered dining patio, and a two-level pool (one shallow for kiddos and the other somewhat deeper) with a stunning view of a whale-tail shaped land mass in the ocean.

Further down the hill, we found our rooms -- there are probably fewer than twenty on site, all with balconies. And, because our rooms were on the first floor, our balconies had an abundance of flowers around them -- the kinds that butterflies and hummingbirds can't resist.

For the rest of the first day, we just hung out in and around the pool, watching the kids. We went back to our rooms for a spectacular sunset, then went back up the hill for dinner.

The next day, we found a delightful outdoor roadside restaurant for lunch, and then went on a boat ride. Ostensibly, we were looking for whales and dolphins. The whales were nowhere to be found, though there had been recent sightings. We did see one dolphin and a large sea turtle that unfortunately was dying. We also saw some pelicans and monkeys (including a baby monkey -- very cute) and we got to ride through a couple of sea tunnels (big holes in the rocky cliffs). Besides just getting to ride around in the boat, a big highlight was snorkeling. One of the boatmen accompanied me, so I had my own personal snorkel guide. I'm a little spoiled (we've had fantastic snorkeling experiences in the South Pacific and in the Galapagos Islands); nonetheless, it was a good expedition and we saw a lot of interesting fish.

We finished the day with a delicious dinner at a Thai restaurant run by two men, one from North England and one a Tico. They were -er- very handsome, and I, at least, imagined them to be a couple. The food was incredibly good; Trish (my sis-in-law) said that she usually detests Thai food and loved this. My fantasy is that they'll open their second branch in Boston's Metro West.

Yesterday, the kiddos had more pool time while the grownups talked, and then we started back towards home after a brief stop on a small local beach. For some reason, the way back seemed longer and more difficult -- the kids were exhausted and not quite on their best behavior (when Santi and Paloma weren't picking on each other, Santi was picking on me). We were concerned about the car, though we did keep things under control and there were no overheating incidents.

Today, we took a long walk and ended up at Bagelmen's -- one of three bagel chains in Costa Rica. I've finally learned my way from my brother's house to the main street where the shop is; it took a while, perhaps because there are several ways to get to my brother's neighborhood. I think I know the basic route now, for our next visit.

And I'm finally feeling more confident about my Spanish. My comprehension is not perfect, but it's in the 50-75% range. And I feel more able to express myself, though again, my vocabulary is not terribly strong.

Tomorrow we go home. I've mostly been running around in tee shirts, shorts, and sandals. It's hard to believe that it's snowing back home and that we're returning to winter; the sun and breeze and light rains here are quite easy to get used to. And then "real life" starts up again -- retrieve the cat, go back to work, replenish the larder, run errands. This has been a great vacation.