As was routine it stormed the entire night and early into the morning. As we were getting ready I heard a scream from one of the kids about a bug. At home my daughter is terrified of even an any it's been a huge change here where she tried to even eat the termites at the refuge. (On purpose). As Josh was chasing a cockroach I heard frantic shrieks in my bedroom and entered to find my daughter huddled on my bed quivering behind the mosquito net. I still didn't have me contacts in so I couldn't see anything. Josh walked in and got a horrified look on his face. He jumped back and said he wasn't touching it. Great. Apparently it was more than 3 inches long had wings and looked like a leaf. Josh carefully guided our friend out the front door and things settled.
We headed down to breakfast early to avoid anymore run ins. Alejandro was already down there before the morning cow milking. We stayed put since there was still a heavy rain coming down. I spent the time talking with the ladies about the food, finding out what the bug was, learning about the staff, etc. Being the only family has spoiled us. I'm not used to being taken care of like this. This trip I have gotten to spend do much more time with the people. For me I feel like its a thin line to walk. I want to learn as much as possible but still be respectful and not come across like an intruding privelaged American. I've been told that speaking Spanish, or atleast attempting it, is a good start.
I continue to be amazed at how the entire staff bends over backwards for us but does it in a way that makes it seem effortless. They begin meals whoever we choose to stumble down for a meal. If my daughter wants to set the table they let her. If I want to learn how to properly slice a mango they show me. Not once have we seen them at our cabin. But everyday our cabin is cleaned and every might candles our lit when we return from dinner.
After breakfast the rain had stopped so we decided to head out for our hike at Rio Celeste. I remembered it being a highlight before but also remember it being a hard hike. I had already read in the lodge book that the hike to the waterfall was 1.2 km and figured we would just do that part. Cutting out the vistas and blue lagoon we had done before. Alejandro had told us the night before he thought they could make the waterfall trek.
As we were putting our backpack on and filling up water bottles the kids ran up to Alejandro and begged him to go with us. I felt bad because I wasn't sure if he wanted to or he was supposed to. I told him the kids were very slow and he said it wasn't a problem. So all five of is loaded up into our car and made the 20 minute drive out to Tenorio Park.
Again kids were free. Josh and I paid $10. A great deal considering we also had our own private guide. No clue if we are supposed to be paying for an excursion but we figured we planned on taking care of the staff at the end of our trip.
Alejandro pointed out the pile of walking sticks to the kids and they each grabbed one for the hike, having no clue what to do with it other than stick it in holes, the last thing I thought we should be doing with it. We started the walk into the jungle and he immediately started pointing out plants, sounds and talking about the area. He whipped back a tree branch and unveiled a birds nest with an egg in. I of course forgot the name but he showed us the picture in a book. It looked similar to a parrot. I wanted to know if the nests are in the same place and that's how he knows to find them. He said no but that he has done this hike everyday for 15 years. Crazy. That turned into a conversation about how he enjoyed it because it was the time of day he got to interact with people from all over the world, not just be a cowboy. Or that is how I translated it.
It wasn't too far into the walk when Josh and my daughter, who were behind my son and I started screaming. I'm talking terror. I had no clue what was going on so I kept walking very fast. I turned around and Alejandro was approaching a skinny bright green snake towards the side of the path. Apparently he had lurched at my legs when we walked past and scared the crap out of them. Alejandro did some snake charming thing with the guy before moving him over and letting everyone pass. He later told me that snake bites but he isn't poisonous. Oh wonderful.
Next thing I know. Listen! Toucans! Now the guy at that refuge says they made ugly noises. These were quite pleasant and loud. Before I know it Alejandro had disappeared off the trail and was following the sound. Now he was beckoning us? What? After that snake? Ok. We trudge through God knows what to get to him. He points out the visual path we should follow to see the toucans. None of us see. Why aren't we smart enough to lie? He goes jumping deeper into the forest and beckons us again. This time, clear as day two Toucans are sitting high on a bear tree singing with their heads cocked back. I found out later Josh never saw them but was so scared he lied and said yes.
On we go. Next up Tapir tracks. We didn't see any of the large animals. We did however find their tracks. My son wanted to track them through the jungle. Luckily we all agreed that was a very bad idea.
As we got closer to the waterfall the kids were becoming more fixated on Alejandro. They insisted on holding hands with him. When we got to the final descent that consisted of hundreds of steep stone stairs the only way my daughter would go down was with him. It was cute to see how they took such an instant liking to him. They usually reserve that for females. Maybe the fact that he has three sons and knows how much energy they have. He even stayed patient as they brutalized his name. If only they were Lady Gaga fans. He sang her song to try and help them with his name.
The waterfall was beautiful. All of the rain had minimized the turquoise blue color some but the flow was heavy. I don't remember if people were swimming here last time but it is definitely not allowed now. Someone died and they discovered a 16m hole under the waterfall. It scared me enough to keep a good grip on the kids.
I'm not sure how they did it but the kids managed to walk back up all those stairs. Josh had to give some shoulder rides to get a certain 3 year old back to the car but we made it. Great hike. Adventurous, scenic and good butt and calf workout.
The best part is that when we started Alejandro bribed the kids. He said Good hiking = another horse ride. Bad hiking = no horses. That was motivation. So the whole way, "is this good hiking?" At the end he said to me that my daughter is quite the hiker and adventure taker. Oh yes she is.
Covered with mud and wet from our hose down we returned back to La Carolina. We thanked Alejandro at least 23 times so that we had an excuse to talk to him and that is the one word they know. Our goal was to get everyone through lunch and to naps without a meltdown. We were pretty much successful.
Everyone must have been exhausted because they were down for over a 2.5 hr nap. I used my quiet time to do some photography with my real camera. If it's not obvious. All the pictures I'm posting are shot and edited with my phone. Sometimes they are super blurry (like the hiking or horseback with Alejandro) but the moment was too special not to want to visually remember. I also gathered every map the rental company had given us, our lodge map and grabbed the 2001 guidebook I found in the main building. Piecing everything together I laid out our route for tomorrow. Again the rental car maps are worthless. I wish I had remembered to bring one of our many guidebooks from home. I shot a couple pictures from a few pages in the book and good laminated country map La Carolina had. Let's hope I'm right.
After lunch Alejandro had told me to bring the kids down to the barn around 3 or 3:30. At 3:15 everyone was still sleeping and I was worried we were going to get rained out so I woke them up. We were all thankful that the staff had offered to do a load of wash for us that morning. Perhaps we smelled really bad. We each had only brought one pair pants and those had all been covered in cow poop and other farm specialties. The idea of putting them on for a third time was not appetizing. Luckily they were nice and clean.
Josh was still trying to figure out how he could get away with not having to ride again. I convinced him that if our son was going to be a cowboy at the age of 5 his dad needed to get slightly more comfortable on a horse. Alejandro said he didn't mind taking our son so I jumped on my horse and grabbed our daughter. 10x easier than the day before. I could actually take pics today. I heard some grunting from from the men as they got our son on. "Big Boy" ha.
I had warned him not to talk Alejandro's ear off. That went straight out the window. Until now we thought the baby howler monkey at the refuge was his favorite part of the trip. Now we knew it was this. Being a cowboy with Alejandro. Whenever he started talking too much, Alejandro would take a hold of him and start galloping across the fields. Yes, I mean gallop. Our son would let out shrieks of joy followed by uncontrollable giggles. I quickly realized we weren't doing the normal trail loop but rather helping tag along on his afternoon checkin with the animals. It was very cool and by far the best horse ride I've ever been on. The horses are so well trained and are responsive. We saw a few howler monkeys and then an entire family of cappuccino monkey, something we hadn't seen in the wild yet. We watched for a bit as they swung high in the trees. The boxer, who we have decided is their monkey spotter, was hot on the trail that day. We decided Tonka would be a good monkey spotter.
After the horseback riding we headed down to the hot tub for one last dip. It was almost 5 by now and the kids said I looked like I was going to fall asleep right there. It was obvious my body had finally adjusted to vacation mode. If there was an ideal relaxation spot made for me, this hot tub would be it. Wood burning fire + hot tub + rushing water = I'm already getting depressed at the thought of leaving. I wonder if Josh has sketched the plans for this tub yet?
We were still the only guests tonight do we made our way down to dinner a little after six. We noticed all the guys heading out on their horses before dinner was served. They normally stick around but I'm guessing they had enough family time with us today. It was just us and the two ladies. So quiet and peaceful. As we sat and served our meal I watched as the women started to light the candles around the property. Josh and I noted how crazy and humbling that was. They must realize that each night we walk straight up the stairs and go to sleep. However, they still treat us as if this is a full resort and still do every detail. No short cuts. They even made a delicious chocolate dessert because they heard our daughter talk about how much she loved chocolate.
For those who are wondering - it was under $600 for all four of us to stay here in our own private cabin for three nights, all meals cooked for us, two private trail horse rides with guide, cow milking, use of boat, a guide to the waterfall and a lodge to ourselves. I'd say that deal is ridiculous for this type of service and experience the kids were provided.
Tonight even I was in bed, and asleep, by 7.
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