Catarata del Toro, Zarcero and Sarchi

Catarata del Toro, Zarcero and Sarchi

Day 17 - December 29, 2012

We got up early this morning to head out to see Poas Volcano, but alas it was too cloudy on the mountain.  Instead we headed for Catarata del Toro in the mountains of Bajos del Toro Amarillo with Richard, our host and Michael and Victoria our apartment neighbors.   We drove for close to an hour through the mountains and forest.  The road was perched on the edge of many steep drop offs.  We passed several mud slides that had covered the road during the past year.  We stopped for coffee and pastries at a small restaurant in the mountains.  After coffee it was a short drive to Catarata del Toro.  We were the only visitors.  It is a small, privately owned preserve that is not open every day to preserve its natural aspects.  While getting ready to go see the falls, we were treated to the sight of lots of hummingbirds.  Some were very big.  Our first sight of the falls was spectacular.  The water drops 300 feet into an extinct volcano crater. 

We worked our way around the crater on a beautiful nature trail through the rain forest.  The trees and flowers were spectacular.  The trees are covered in all kinds of bromeliads.

I think these flowers look like flamingos.

 

Then we headed down 377 winding, slick steps to the bottom of the waterfall. 

Eric the Explorer

We made it to the bottom!

These plants with the huge leaves are everywhere.  They are called "poor man's umbrellas" and the farmers around here actually use them for umbrellas. 

After enjoying the view from the bottom, it was time to head back up the mountain.  It was a long, hard climb back up in very muggy, steamy conditions.  We were glad that we had been exercising every day.  We stopped and looked at some of the huge rainforest trees on the way back. 

After we made it back to the top, we enjoyed a well deserved break in the lodge. 

After leaving, Catarata del Toro we headed out on a dirt road through a biological preserve.  We passed a couple of groups of bird watchers.  After leaving the biological preserve area, we drove quite a ways through an area referred to as the "Switzerland of Costa Rica".  It was beautiful alpine meadows covered with small farms and dairy cows. Calla lillies were growing wild all along the roads. 

We drove down into Zarcero a town famous for the sculpted bushes in its park. 

We walked all through the park looking at all the different sculptures made from plants.

We even found a beautiful nativity scene complete with a clothes line full of baby clothes. 

The cathedral overlooking the park was beautifully painted on the inside and out. 

Notice the lifesize nativity figures around the altar.  They were just gorgeous.  

After enjoying an ice cream treat in Zarcero, we headed back up into the mountains.  We stopped at a restaurant for lunch called El Mirador.  It was built out over the side of the mountain overlooking the whole central valley.  It was a great place for lunch.  I had fish and fried plantains and Eric had chicken with mushroom sauce.  Both were fantastic. 

Our final stop was in the town of Sarchi which is very close to where we are staying.  Sarchi is famous for its woodworkers and its painted carts.  We stopped at a souvenir factory outside of town.  We got a couple of carved wooden boxes and a Costa Rican coffee maker. 

Yes, that is a coffee maker not a sock dryer.  A cup goes under the sock.   Richard told us to get an extra sock so we could try it out.  It works similar to our Chemex coffee system and is supposed to make the best coffee. 

We stopped at the central park and cathedral in Sarchi.  The cathedral is exceptionally beautiful. 

Since Sarchi is famous for woodcarving, the interior of the cathedral was covered in beautiful wood carvings depicting the life of Jesus. 

Our last stop was the park in Sarchi which had a huge painted cart in the center. 

As late as the 1960's, the oxcart was the primary mode of transport through the mountains.  Around 1910, ticos started decorating their cart wheels.  Each district in Costa Rica had their own unique design and locals could tell where each cart came from.   

Days 13 through 16 in Costa Rica

Days 13 through 16 in Costa Rica

"Remember, living takes longer here.  Time is spent finding things, fixing things, cutting red tape and avoiding long lines.  But this pace allows more time for reading, observing, listening to music and just being.  In Costa Rica, we are more human beings than human doings.  Pura Vida!  Pure Life!"  This is a quote from one of our books on living in Costa Rica.  We have definitely embraced this slower pace of life.  We have really enjoyed spending time reading and exercising.  We spend a lot of time on our porch watching the clouds come down from the mountains, birds flying overhead and hummingbirds flitting around the garden.  We enjoy spending time on our porch and visiting with the neighbors.  Our life here is very simple, we eat a lot of fresh fruit and cook all our meals from scratch with two pans on a hot plate.  We only have two plates, two bowls, four place settings of silverware, two cups and two glasses so we have to wash our dishes as soon as we finish eating.  You don't want to wait anyway or the ants will come marching in to clean up the scraps.

On Christmas Eve, we sat outside on our porch listening to Christmas music and lit our tiny Christmas candle as the sun set.  We both commented on how much more we enjoyed Christmas without all the Christmas hype and commercials in the US.  At 8 pm we headed out to Sarchi to have Christmas Eve dinner with a Tico (Costa Rican) family that are friends of Richards.   I took a salad that I had made from avocados, hearts of palm, tomatoes, lime juice and cilantro.   On the way, we looked at the Christmas lights on many of the homes.  The brother of the homeowners, lived in the US and he and his children spoke English.  No one else spoke any English.  The family had a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in an area just inside the entryway.  We visited and ate chips and dip until dinner was served at 10 pm.  It reminded us of family dinners at home with everyone finding a spot wherever they could to sit and eat. We had chicken, pork and salad.  The meat was very good.  They said it had been marinated in Lizano Sauce, a Costa Rican favorite.  After a long time, the first dessert was served.  This was some kind of custard with mixed fruit.  It was very tasty.  I was looking forward to the next dessert, but Richard decided that it was time to go.  All 7 of us squeezed in Richard's little car for the ride home. 

On Christmas day, we made some phone calls back home to visit with family.  I made Wendy's Pineapple Crunch in the afternoon. I made it with fresh pineapple and used pineapple jam from a pouch instead of the sugar, flour and pineapple juice mix.  I borrowed Richard's oven to bake it in and it turned out great! It was nice to have a taste of home on Christmas. 

The next day, we were visiting with our neighbor Michael from Puerto Rico about using the buses here.  He and his girlfriend Victoria from Venezuela  have been using the buses a lot to tour the country.  Victoria loves to cook and he brought us out some arroz con dulche (sweet rice) to try.  It was wonderful.  Later in the day, he brought us some of her Lasagne which was out of this world.  We sent them some Pineapple Crunch to try.  Later Victoria brought back the plate with some chocolate - masa cake on it and a request for the pineapple recipe.  I wrote out the original recipe and then added my Costa Rican changes - so now Wendy's famous recipe will be heading to Venezuela.  I think we definitely came out the better in our neighborhood food exchange. 

Yesterday, we were planning to get up first thing and start searching the internet and making calls about a place to stay, so of course the internet and phone system was down.  When the internet was restored, we found a place that sounds wonderful and got it booked.  It is on a mountain overlooking the Orisi Valley.  One of our guide books called it the "Shangri-La" of Costa Rica.  I guess we'll get to see for ourselves.  We will be staying in a cabin on a farm run by some retirees from Georgia.  If you want to check it out they have pictures at www.vrbo.com/420142.   

Elias and Maria are planning a cook-out for all the neighbors sometime in the next couple of days, so we will head into the Feria (farmers market) and Maxi Pali (grocery store) to get some food we can make for the party.  I think I will make a salad and more Pineapple Crunch.  

I think we spend half our day watching Candela play.

I guess I better be careful what I wish for.  Henry the neighbor from Poland came over this evening with part of a bunch of bananas and part of a bunch of 'gineros' (not sure of the spelling).  The gineros are sweeter than the bananas.  I have been trying to give them away to all the neighbors.  I think we will be having smoothies for supper.

Days 11 and 12 in Grecia

Day 11 in Costa Rica

Richard had said that if it was clear today, we might go up to see the Poas Volcano, but it was super cloudy when we woke up.  There is a huge bank of clouds over the mountains.  Elissa had the day off so we had a nice long talk via skype.   

I picked some oranges from the front yard to add to my papaya refresco  and got stung by an ant - ouch.

Our neighbor from upstairs, Fluffy, comes to run in the grass outside our apartment every afternoon. 

Day 12, December 23

We got some new neighbors from Spain - Elias, Maria and their two little daughters, Candela and Lola.  They have moved here to look for work.  Elias speaks English and they are all very nice.  Our front patio has somehow become the complex gathering spot, which is alright with us.  The kids enjoy playing with Fluffy and we enjoy visiting with everyone.

In this photo, we were using the google translate on the I-phone to see what Joseph, the little boy behind me was trying to say in Spanish.  Joseph is the son of Richard's girlfriend and likes to play in our yard.

Joseph and Candela playing in front of our apartment

I made my first batch of Gallo Pinto.  Gallo Pinto is the national dish of Costa Rica.  The name translates literally as "spotted rooster."  It is a dish of rice, black beans and seasoning. I added sausage to mine to make it more of a main dish.  It really turned out well, but took a lot longer to cook than I expected.  I got a few cooking tips from Elias because he was visiting with Eric while I was cooking it.  The Costa Rican rice seems more like a wild rice.   

We are really enjoying our peaceful holiday in Costa Rica.  Most things have shut down for the weekend and on through New Years. We have been invited to a party in the home of some Costa Rican friends of Richard for Christmas eve.  We are really looking forward to seeing how they celebrate Christmas.   Richard has invited them all over here for New Year's Eve, so he has asked us to help him with some cooking and hosting that night.  

Day 10, December 21, 2012

December 21, 2012

We are waiting underneath a volcano for the end of the world or maybe it's just time for the Mayans to buy their new calendar. 

Richard came by about noon to see if we wanted to ride into town to the Feria (farmer's market) with him.  We decided to restock our supply of fresh fruit and vegetables.  We quickly made the rounds and purchased what we needed.  I had learned the spanish word for ripe, so I could explain that I wanted 1 ripe and 2 or 3 items not yet ripe to enjoy later in the week.  The avocados are so perfect here, I am going to have to see what else I can make with them besides slices on sandwiches and guacamole.   After making our purchases, we stopped at the "food court" and had a piece of yucca cake (not as good as it looked) and a cold chocolate shake.  We tried a sample of queque de Feliz (Christmas Cake).  It was a spicy cake.  Eric liked it and I wasn't too crazy about it. 

We walked to the bus stop and waited on the bus to take us back up the mountain.  When the bus arrived, we got up and politely waited behind this lady who looked like she was getting on the bus and then didn't, so the bus took off without us.  Instead of waiting another hour on the next bus, we flagged a taxi.  He spoke no English and thought my directions to where we wanted to go didn't seem correct, so he called an American who ran the Grecia Bed and Breakfast to make sure of our directions.  She knew Richard and told the taxi driver where we needed to go.  He gave us her card, so now we have another contact in Grecia.  The driver was very nice and stopped once to let us admire the view and pointed out the sugar cane and coffee fields. 

Later in the afternoon, we saw Henry across the way and waived to him.  He invited us over to see how much his chickens had grown. 

We took a tour of his hillside garden.  He has spent an incredible amount of time building up flat planting boxes in terraces all down the side of the mountain.

 He reminded me of dad with his garden - enriching the soil with compost and trying all kinds of exotic plants.  He is growing all kinds of lettuce and vegetables, fruit trees, berries, pineapples and bananas.  He is even raising tilapia in his "cement pond". 

pineapples

He said he will harvest his bananas soon and will share them with us.  Yum, I can't wait.

Days 7, 8 and 9 in Costa Rica

Day 7 and 8 in Grecia, Costa Rica

I got sick so these days went by in a bit of a blur.  I wasn't terribly sick just felt yucky and tired.  So I read and slept most of the time.  Eric said that they harvested the coffee beans next to us.  We were wondering when they did that, now we know.  According to Ursula, they bring in Nicaraguans to harvest the coffee. 

The coffee plantation across the valley from us.  The red tractor in the middle is hauling a trailer full of workers.

Ripe coffee beans

Day 9 in Grecia, Costa Rica.

On December 20, we headed into Grecia on the bus to buy a pillow.  I had had it with my flat, lumpy pillow.  We also decided that it would be good time to check prices on household items.  We scouted out a few of the local appliance and department stores located around the bus terminal and the square.  Prices seem to be about what we pay or a bit higher and the quality looks to be a bit lower.  Crock pots and rice cookers, though, were outrageously high.  We ran into our upstairs neighbors, Don and Deb eating ice cream in the park.  They had come in with Richard in his car.  We decided to buy some beverages at the store and send them back in the car with them, so we wouldn't have to carry them down the mountain after getting off the bus.    After seeing them off with our heavy shopping, we went to lunch at a restaurant Richard recommended that was located between the funeral store and the hospital.  Sure enough, there is a funeral store where you can purchase your casket and other necessary items.  The restaurant was nice with a great view of the valley.  After lunch, we purchased the rest of our groceries. We are already out of guava jelly, it is so good.  We also purchased egg nog and ingredients for pineapple bake for Christmas. I had to improvise a bit on ingredients, I'll let you know how it turns out.  On our way home down the mountain from the bus stop, we noticed the most unusual house. 

It is a yellow school bus with a house built around it.  The bus is on the second floor of the house.  Our neighbor, Michael said that they live in the school bus and built the building around it.  He had seen it on a TV program.     

As I am blogging, the clouds are starting to creep down the mountains and towards our valley.  I think it would take a long time to get tired of these views. 

The weather is just wonderful.  It is really warm in the mornings.  Then about 11:00 the clouds move in from the mountains and a cool breeze starts up.  The afternoons are just a perfect mid-seventies and partly cloudy with a cool breeze. 

Pura Vida

Day 6 in Grecia, Costa Rica

Day 6 in Grecia, Costa Rica

On Monday, December 17, we headed into Grecia on the bus with our neighbors from Kansas, Don and Deb.  We had to hike up the mountain to the bus stop.

 

A Tico-style home on our way to the bus stop

From there we caught the bus into Grecia.  We got off at the main bus terminal near the square in Grecia.  Deb had a doctor's appointment, so we went along to get a look at the place.  It was very nice and she was impressed with the doctor and the price.  We grabbed one of his cards. 

Bird of paradise flowers in Grecia

After the doctor visit, we went to the department store and purchased a cell phone that we could use in Costa Rica.  However, they were out of sim cards so we had to go to another store to purchase two sim cards with prepaid minutes. Each sim card has a different phone number.  We are not sure if we get a new number every time we have to get additional minutes, but we'll figure that out another day.  There was only a tiny bit of English spoken in those stores so it wasn't the place to ask questions.  We just know you can get more minutes at lots of places around town. 

We ate lunch at Cafe Delisias on the square.  It is supposedly the Gringo hangout in Grecia.  None of the staff spoke English.  We had some difficulty getting what we thought we ordered, but we all ended up with food.  The sandwiches and pastries seem to be the best things to order. They served Cafe Britt coffee which was an excellent local coffee.

After lunch, we walked to Grecia's main church.  It is a metal church that came in pieces from Belgium in 1897.  They had to haul all of the heavy metal pieces in oxcarts over the mountains from the coast to assemble it in Grecia.

The church is open all the time for worshipers.

Yes, this dog is laying in the center aisle of the church and looks like he is praying too.

Outside of the church was a pretty grotto area.

This almost life-size nativity was set up in the main square of Grecia in front of the church. It seems weird to be celebrating Christmas in this summer-like weather. 

We headed back to the bus terminal and shopped around in the indoor market adjacent to the bus terminal while waiting on our bus back to Arriba de Cajon (above Cajon).  After getting off the bus, we had to hike down the gravel mountain road to our apartments.  The road was so steep, we all slipped on the gravel at different times. 

Days 4 and 5 in Costa Rica

Days 4 and 5 in Costa Rica

We stayed up too late on Friday night at Lilly and Harvey's party visiting with all of our neighbors.

Eric and Lilly

  Harvey entertained us on the balcony overlooking San Jose with some of his musical talents. 

On Saturday, we slept in a bit.  It is hard to sleep past 6 with the sun coming in all the windows.  Deb from upstairs brought us some of her ceviche to try, so we made fish tacos with it by adding some avocado and wrapping it in a tortilla.  It was delicious!  Saturday was pineapple day, so we snacked on our pineapple from the feria off and on all day.  In the afternoon, we visited with our neighbor Jerry from Tennessee.  He has been buzzing all around Costa Rica for the past 7 weeks.  He gave us some of his insights on different places around the country. 

On Sunday, Eric didn't feel well so we just hung around the apartment complex.  Sunday was mango day.  I made a pitcher of mango refresco (milkshake) with a mango from the feria and an orange from the tree in our front yard.  The orange is more like a grapefruit.  Here is a picture of our limes.   They are orange inside. 

Here is our orange-colored lime by our avocado.

We did some research on someplace to rent for the remainder of our trip and worked on learning some more Spanish.  We were preparing for our first bus trip into Grecia.  We have discovered that despite everything we read, hardly anyone in this area speaks English.

As we were sitting out on our patio Sunday afternoon, we kept hearing a siren followed by a man making an announcement over and over again down in the valley below us.  We were hoping that they are not telling us to evacuate the area because the volcano is going to erupt.  We could hear some weird noise that sounded like water rushing coming from somewhere above us (we decided later we think the neighbors were watching a movie).  We didn't see any fire coming from the volcano so we just sat tight. 

Poas Volcano from our patio