El coche es fucked

Victor and I never did make it to the hot springs, we ended up spending the entire day dealing with the car, though we did walk to a local swimming hole which was lovely to me and muy frio to Victor. Bottom line - everyone agrees the car is muy peligroso to drive and is going to take some serious time and money to repair. Which means the next leg of my trip, to the southern Pacific coast and Corcovado National Park )which Lonely Planet calls the wildest off-the-grid part of CR) is on hold at least until next week. Stay tuned.

Victor-

Today I{m back at Casa Nicoya, safe and sound and able to relax a bit in the comfort and security of this comfy house and the wonderful Barrantes-Monge family, without whose warmth and generosity this trip would be much poorer.

Cesar took the car to a mechanic he trusts today - I think this will be the 6th Tico who will be nosing about my undercarriage, not bad for the first week.

El primero mecanico

Backing up a bit, here{s some pictures from Volcan Tenorio National Park and the Rio Celeste, so named because of its celestial blue color. I had a lovely 5 mile ramble along the river and got to soak in the hot spring - bliss!

I spent the night in a lovely little room on a hill above the river, and sat out front in the twilight surrounded by all the good parts of a tropical rain - the lovely sound, the fresh moist air, but kept perfectly dry under the eaves. A hummingbird fed at the red flowers beneath me, while the clouds thickened around the top of the volcano. I shared some goat cheese I had bought that morning at a farm with the French couple staying in the next room, and we all agreed it would go beautifully with a bottle of Sancerre and a bit of bread.

Despite all the hassle with the car, the trip to Fortuna and Volcan Arenal was worthwhile in several respects - first, Volcan Arenal is wonderful. It{s a live volcano, and it just sits there right above the town, majestic and worthy of awe. When it{s clear you can easily see the smoke coming from the crater at the top, and then the white fluffy clouds come in and cover the volcano, which is why the entire region is covered in cloud forest.



Second, Fortuna showed me what a highly touristed Costa Rican town is like, and reinforced my feeling that I want to stay as far away from tours and hostels as I can. I came to Costa Rica to speak Spanish and to be surrounded by Costa Rican people, not to speak English and be surrounded by aggressively athletic thrill-seeking Americans and Europeans, who insist on hurtling themselves off waterfalls and up hills and down ziplines instead of just relaxing and taking in this magnificent country. I shared a table at dinner with an American guy who had come for 8 days on a tour constructed for him by his travel agent. He spoke no Spanish, called the waiter amigo but never said por favor or gracias, and said he was ready to move to Costa Rica because the people were so happy and there{s no stress and it{s so cheap. All of this while the perfectly bilingual waiter is serving us. It was embarassing, painful and a good reminder of why I{d rather travel alone.

a

Last night I went out to a couple of great local bars with Cesar and his friend Marcos. Since people who live in Nicoya have lived here their whole lives, going to a bar with them means meeting lots of new people.

This is Marco and Cesar at Bar Eli, a great little place in a cool little barrio, where everyone comes out to enjoy the cool of the evening.