...that seems to be the theme of this blog so far. Someone once said, Life is Chaos. Which aptly captures the meaning of the Costa Rican national motto, "Pura Vida," or Pure Life. Pure chaos as a daily existence. It explains the prevalence of rum.
Anyway, yesterday we made the drive cross-country. Said goodbye to Lake Arenal and the cooler climes. Still can't get enough of the view.
Very breezy at the west end of the lake, one of the top spots for wind-surfing in the world. They harness the wind for electricity; the locals think the towers are ugly, but I've always thought they seemed kind of...I don't know, graceful, maybe. A hell of a lot better looking than telephone poles and electrical lines.
Our goal was to visit Monteverde cloud forest on the way, but were deterred by 30 kilometers of bad road. Seriously, their gravel contains rocks bigger than your head. Seriously. We tried, but the fastest we could travel was about ten miles per hour, making it a four hour round trip. We were very disappointed, but we are learning to roll with it. The locals think we are loco; I'm beginning to think so, too.
We stopped in Puntarenas for lunch, a seedy port town that caters to cruise ship passengers. Lots of little beach huts with vendors selling trinkets. Lily thought it was too hot, a good sign here near the equator. Sam has been joking about busking in one of these touristy towns, and grandpa talked a local tico band into letting Sam jam with them. Quest fulfilled.
Back on the road, we were caught in a random police inspection site, where they checked our papers and visually inspected our car. A little nerve-wracking, even though the guidebooks warned about the possibility. I took no photos. Loco, but not stupido.
Later, we crossed a bridge where everyone had pulled over and were looking over the railing. It turns out that this is a popular hangout spot for alligators.
Made it to our house around six, then ordered a pizza and picked up groceries. Jaco, the town we are staying in, is a popular surfing/party town, like a year-long spring break. Perfect for us.
A long day.
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