Back with Fernando and Eva

So, right now we are in Santa Rosa National Park, got here yesterday, Dec. 10th. We drove from Puerto Viejo all the way up to Upala on Highway 4. It's a little highway, it's out of the way, but it turned out to be a good choice because we saw a lot of beautiful countryside and most importantly, we avoided the mess that the PanAmerican highway can be. We drove through Bijagua, hoping to see the signs to Las Heliconias Lodge so that we would know where to turn when we came back through here in a few days, but we never saw that sign. When we got to the PanAmerican, we turned left to go have lunch at the Rio Corobici again. Then we drove on to Liberia, where we were so excited to be picking up some last minute Christmas things for Fernando and Eva from the grocery store. We bought them some things that they would like to buy, but usually don't because those items are a little pricey. We bought some Cranberry Juice, some bottles of wine, and some Christmas bags and bows. Then we were so happy to finally be on our way to Santa Rosa.

When we got to Santa Rosa, we parked by the guest quarters but we didn't find our name on any door, so we had to go ask which room was ours. Our room was closest to the bathroom, which was nice. Inside our room were 4 bunkbeds, so eights beds in all, and Yay!, there are two fans in the room!! We both picked our beds and then set about bringing our stuff into the room and wondering when and how we would be meeting up with Fernando and Eva. We walked outside our room a little later and we were so happy to see Eva and Fernando coming down the road to meet us. They took us back to where they live and showed us around a little. Then we took a short hike to the casona. The casona was roped off, but we went up anyway and enjoyed the view and the wind blowing so nicely to cool us off.
That night, and it is pitch black here, no lights from ANYWHERE unless you turn on your own.  It was a VERY eventful night because Guillermo and I locked ourselves out of our room!!!!  It was my fault, because I assumed that the door automatically unlocked when you turned the knob to go out. But it doesn't. So, there we innocently walk over to the bathrooms to brush our teeth, not knowing what is about to happen to us.   We go back to our room when we're done, try the knob and were HORRIFIED to find that it was locked!!!  Guillermo only in his pajama bottoms, me in some dinky sandals, and just one small flashlight between us. We were truly panicked for several minutes because we knew we were on our own, the people with keys were gone, there was no one around to ask and we sure didn't want to walk all the way over to the researcher's quarters and bother Fernando. Ok, so we had visions of maybe sleeping in the car, but no, we couldn´t even do THAT because the keys to the car were locked in the room, too!! We were getting ready to admit defeat and were going to go to Fernando's room.  But before doing that,  Guillermo took the flashlight to the backside of our room and I followed him a few seconds later in the dark, in total disbelief of the position we were finding ourselves in.   How do we get ourselves out of this?!?!?!?   When I got around to the back side of our room I saw Guillermo sticking his arm inside one of the windows. I felt a slight glimmer of hope!! He had checked the window by the back door, and saw that the screen was torn there, so he reached in and he could just BARELY reach the door knob. He stretched his arm as hard as he could in sheer desperation and just using the tips of his fingers, he was able to turn the lock on the door. Oh My God!!! Whew!!!! We felt such incredible relief and seeing the inside of the room was like winning the lottery. So, evidently this exact same thing has happened to other people in the past, as evidenced by the torn screen right there closest to the doorknob.  What a few scary moments we had.

With the lights on in our room, a lot of insects were attracted. There were all kinds of little things on our sheets and on the floor and walls. Guillermo even saw a big spider crawl in under the door. So, we decided to stuff plastic grocery bags underneath the doors, and maybe that would keep SOME of the insects out. That night, I kept thinking something was going to crawl on me, but nothing ever did. The fan felt so good during the day, but during the night, it was actually quite cold with the fan going. And like during the day, all night the wind outside blew like a hurricane.
December 11th
It is so interesting here in Santa Rosa National Park. Fernando and Eva were spending the morning working, trying to find their group of monkeys, so they had hit the trail early. Guillermo and I drove back into Liberia to pick up a few more groceries, buy some blue Christmas lights for back home and get more money out of the ATM. It was a little strange to be in the little Christmas stores with the weather so hot!! We also tried to find a laundry to wash clothes but couldn't find one anywhere.
When we got back to the park, we met up with Fernando and Eva, who had no luck finding the monkeys that morning. We had lunch and after lunch, we geared up to join Fernando and Eva for the afternoon monkey search. We split from Eva, and the three of us went one way, and Eva went in another direction. We did quite a bit of walking that afternoon, starting at about 2:30 and ending at about 5:30. The walk was fairly easy except for the quebradas, which were quite steep to go up on, and we had to cross two of them. We never did find the monkeys and Eva didn't either. But along the way, we did see the Pale-Billed Woodpecker, a Tinamou and 3 Tyras chasing each other around. That was so exciting.
Back at our rooms, we showered and then went back to the researcher's place and helped Fernando and Eva fix dinner. We were actually going to have our Christmas dinner this evening! We hung up the Christmas lights we had bought around the dining table and they looked so pretty there that we wanted them to stay there. We had a nice dinner of pasta and beer and then we exchanged a few presents. And that was our Christmas with them!!! :-) We couldn't have enjoyed it more.

Walking to the Casona

 Up at the Casona.  You can tell just how windy it was by our hair!

But that wind really felt good with how hot the weather was.

Getting ready to go on the trails to look for monkeys.

The researcher's quarters

Fernando and Eva's room is behind those thin bushes.

Looking towards the dining area

Eva getting ready to string up the blue Christmas lights.

Fernando starting on the pasta

Fixing Christmas dinner together

Taking a break

Can't remember what we were talking about there...

Eva getting our dishes for the meal

Ok, time for Christmas Dinner!

It was a very merry Christmas!