From San José to Santa Cruz by way of the Volcano Arenal

January 31, 2015

I woke up in the Gamboa's house in San Jose to a strange sound across the street and I could not for the life of me guess what it was. I thought maybe cats were mating but it turns out is was just the cows in the neighbor's yard. I tried to get back to sleep to no avail, until I got a phone call from Marlen saying it was time to get up.
I got to meet the youngest brother, Jose (same name as his father) and he showed me all the trees and plants he's growing in the back yard. I tried some cas, a small, round, yellow tropical fruit in between the taste of a pear and a lemon and pineapple. It was a little bitter since it still wasn't ripe, but I was still glad to get a taste of something we don't have in he states.

We all ate breakfast together and the parents and I packed up to go on our trip to the volcano and finally to Santa Cruz. We said goodbye and I made sure to get pictures of everyone.

(Left to Right: Ezequiel, Jose, Marlen, Jose)

We started out on the road at 10:30am and Jose (the dad) predicted it would be a 12 hour day. We stopped early on in San Ramon to get gas and oil for the car and Marlen and I got an icecream bar. I was pretty drowsy during the beginning of the trip and tried to sleep a little on my camping pillow.

Next we stopped in la Bajo Rodriguez to shop at a recycled tire and plastic craft and souvenir shop on the side of the road. The owner was very excited to practice his English with me since he could tell I wasn't latina. Jose and Marlen bought various wooden carvings for birthday gifts and we admired all of the colorful creations surrounding the shop.

The shop owner advised us to get lunch along the road not in the next town but in the one after that, so we continued down the road until we got to a huge bridge in La Tigra de San Carlos where we had to wait for the cars coming the opposite direction to pass, since it is only wide enough for one car. The bridge crossed over a river at the bottom of a deep gorge and we stopped after passing over it to take photos, then decided to eat in the cafe next to the bridge since it didn't look neither too touristy nor too simplistic. We all ordered tilapia, although Jose and I got a grilled filet with French fries and Marlen got a whole fried fish with yuca fries. I drank cas juice and enjoyed it much more than the bite of cas I had tried that morning.

We continued on the road towards the volcano Arenal, passing through Fortuna and eventually driving around the whole volcano and the lake that sits next to it. We stopped many times to take pictures of the volcano, but the top was always covered in clouds so we didn't really get the full experience, although it was very majestic.

The lake is the source of electricity for much of Costa Rica and when it was constructed the community Arenal that lived in the land had to be relocated to a place called Nuevo Arenal.
On the way we saw some cars stopped on the side of the road so we slowed down. There were tons of raccoon-like animals called pizotes surrounding the car and approaching people that fed them. We stopped and walked around them, taking pictures and eventually feeding them from the car window. They were surprisingly comfortable around humans and let me pet their tails. One even put its paws up on my leg, begging for food, which freaked me out a bit since it had long claws.

The next stop we made to see a huge ceiba tree near the lake that Jose (the youngest brother) had told us about. We decided to stop but only Marlen and I ventured to the top of the hill to see it while Jose rested in the car. We set out with our cameras in hand up a mossy hill, expecting to see a park ranger or guide, but all we found was a small, empty, wooden hut. We still couldn't see the legendary tree so we just kept walking for about 15 minutes, struggling not to slip down the hill. As we climbed the view revealed more and more of the orange yellow sunset, mountains and lake in the distance. There were a few houses up the hill to the left but still no one showed up to direct us. We continued up the hill and finally found a huge tree covered in vines with branches out stretching up to the sky. We took pictures and looked around, then started back down.

By that time it was already dusk and we could barely see. The hill resulted much more slippery at night and we slipped so often we had to stop and laugh every few steps. At one point Marlen ended up sliding into a split and I slipped and fell down on my butt, covered in mud. We had so much fun trying to make it down the hill and imagined that the neighbors were watching us stumble down the hill and laughing from their houses.

EXCEPTIONAL TREE AWARD 2006

Ceiba pentandra

FOR ITS HISTORICAL AND BOTANICAL IMPORTANCE

LA CEIBA FARM

New Arenal, Tilarán

NATIONAL TREE DAY

June 15, 2006

My pants and shoes were covered in mud but I didn't change and just sat on my jacket the rest of the ride. We stopped once more for coffee at Restaurante Tres Hermanas in Limonal de Avangares and all enjoyed huge brownie sundaes that cost more than our lunch. We also took photos with a huge bull statue that Keilin has taken pictures with many times.

We arrived at their house in Santa Cruz at 10:30pm, exactly 12 hrs later, as Jose predicted, and we settled in for the night.