Leaving Santa Rosa today

Yesterday, Dec. 12th, Fernando and Eva went out early again looking for their monkey group. Guillermo and I also went out, and started out on a new trail. We had a map that Fernando gave us of the trails but it obviously was a trail that isn't used very much, because we had trouble finding the flags that mark the way. Much of our time was spent saying, "Is that the flag, no it doesn't say anything. It's too small to be a flag. I don't see the next flag ANYwhere". So, we turned back and decided to do one of the trails that we had done with Fernando yesterday - which we knew were very well marked with flags. So we went back out to our car and started driving to the trailhead, but we got stopped along the way by mountain bikers who were crossing the road. So, the only thing we could do was just stop the car and wait for them to pass - seemed like hundreds of them. We waited quite a while for all of them to pass. When they reopened the road, Guillermo and I decided to go back to our room for a few minutes
When we got back into our car and we were headed back to the trails, we saw Fernando, Eva and MacKenzie standing right there alongside the road!!! They had found the monkeys!!!!! They were observing them right there by the road, and we got a good look at them also before we drove on and got to the start of one of the trails. This trail was well marked, except for in one place that looked like a landslide had passed through there. But other than that spot, it was a good walk. We saw a snake and we saw the woodpecker again.
We met Fernando and Eva again for lunch, and we helped them cook scrambled eggs and bacon, fried plantains, mashed avocado and chips and we all enjoyed cold bottles of coke!!! When we were done with lunch, we got in the car and headed for Playa Naranjo. Now that is and was an adventure with a capital A.
I have always heard Fernando (and Guillermo) talk about the drive to Playa Naranjo, how you need a good four wheel drive vehicle, how it´s far on a terrible road, that it's not an easy drive and how isolated it is. Fernando had driven on it several times, but Guillermo never had. Actually, the one time that Guillermo was going to go to Playa Naranjo, an unexpected emergency came up over night with one of the researchers, and Fernando came to Guillermo's room at like 3 in the morning asking if he could borrow the car to take a researcher to the hospital.
Well, both Guillermo and I got to go on the adventure to Playa Naranjo this time!
I never dreamed I would ever actually really see it myself, just hearing about the drive was enough to make me think that maybe it'd be a good idea to sit this one out, but we went out there today anyway. My goodness, I think I held on to the headrest of the seat in front of me so hard that I thought it would snap right off! Our car was definitely not what would be considered a good four wheel drive and the road tested that car to its limits. The three of us got out of the car a lot - to throw the bigger rocks out of the way, to have less weight inside the car, and to lead Fernando through what seemed to be the less damaging part of some sections of the road. The car hit bottom a few times and that sounded bad. It was a little worrisome because we were going absolutely nothing but downhill the whole way, and the sun was relentless. I just couldn't imagine having to make the walk back to the park with that incline and that heat. A bit of rubber was burnt in some places on this road, sending dust flying. But the closer we got to the beach, the more it seemed possible that we were actually going to make it.
We didn´t make it in the car ALL the way to the beach, because we reached a bridge that looked like it was just about to cave in, so we parked and walked gingerly across the bridge and then walked the short distance on to the beach. The beach was beautiful, but there wasn´t much to do there other than walk in the waves or down the beach a bit. The sun was quite hot, but the water felt so nice and cool.

Ohhh, that water felt good in the heat!

One of us got a little TOO wet!

You sure you don't want to take those shoes off?

Such a cute couple!

There was no one else around!

Then there was the matter of having to get back. We hit the same rough sections again, and didn´t have as many rocks to toss aside but we still got out several times to make the car have less weighing it down. It was such a relief to get back to the park, and so exciting to know that WE DID IT!!! I´m sure we all were a little tense on the way down and back, but Fernando was the one who drove it, and that couldn´t have been easy for him.

Driving back to Santa Rosa

And this part of the road wasn't all that bad....

But still, rubber is being burned!

Made it!  Now Fernando is waiting for us to get back in the car.

We ate in the dining room there at the park this evening.

December 13 - today
Early in the morning, I ran into one of the researchers who was looking for the lady who is in charge of the laundry room. I found out that maybe we COULD wash our clothes there this morning (and we had LOTS of clothes to wash). The plan had been to leave Santa Rosa, drive to Liberia and maybe wash the clothes there in Liberia. Well, if we could just get it over with before we left, that'd be so much better. The researcher was kind enough to let us do our load of clothes first, and meanwhile we packed up the stuff in our room and started putting things in the car. Fernando and Eva brought their stuff over to put in the car also, and then finally the clothes were ready in the dryer. Most of them were still wet, but we put them in a bag separately, packed the rest up and took off. We are driving to the Heliconias Lodge today which is close to the Volcan Tenorio.
We stopped in Liberia to have lunch at the Pizza Pronto place and enjoyed being there once again. The road to Bijagua was easy and we got to the Lodge in the early afternoon. This was a very nice lodge that was 3 kilometers off the main highway - all down a dirt road. It was nice and sunny when we arrived at the lodge, but almost immediately after we got there, it started to rain, and we didn't know it at the time, but that's how things were going to be the entire time we stayed at Heliconias.
They showed us to our rooms after it quit raining and what special rooms they were! We had thought we booked standard rooms, but the rooms they gave us were more like their superior rooms!! They were lovely!!! Huge picture windows on nice wide porches with views out to the trees, lovely bathroom that also had huge picture windows looking out on the forest, rocking chairs on our porches and very comfortable beds. The rooms themselves were very nice and large. The first thing we did was hang all those clothes that hadn't dried completely all around our room. We hung some outside on the rocking chairs, too. BIG mistake. We noticed a few hours later that all those clothes were wetter now than when we hung them up. It is just so damp here with the constant rain. Even our bed felt a little damp.
We did decide to go out on a trail that was close to the cabins and the walk was very nice - until it started to rain again. It starts out as a little drizzle, doesn't quit, and then the next thing you know, you're in a downpour. Then all we were interested in was getting back to our rooms, because the rain didn't let up, it just got harder.
We had dinner in their dining room that evening, ordering a bottle of wine, and saving half of it for the next evening. The wind blew fiercely at this place, and from the dining room it always sounded like the roof was about to be blown off. It rained on and off, too, and after dinner, we thought we were in for the night, but Fernando came and knocked on our door and said there's something on his porch that we might like to see. And sure enough, it was this HUGE moth that was absolutely beautiful. We are grateful to him for getting us out again to come see that. It was well worth it.