Days 7, 8 & 9

Hi!

Well - still stumped on the comp business, I am afraid we are not going to get it going this trip so we will have to suffer the slow hotel computers and the internet cafes.

Nick brought us up to another travel day. We spent Day 7 driving to Monte Verde - a long 4.5 hours covering aout 40 miles: slow, bumpy, gravel. Reminded me of some of the backwood Missouri roads... well, about 5 times as bad. A day of driving, not getting in a hurry, and watching for monkeys and toucans. We saw a few, expected to see a lot more and a little disappointed when we didn't. But the scenery was pretty incredible.

We pulled into Monte Verde at about 4:30 local time. We stayed at Cabinas Los Pinos, charming setting, and pleasant hosts. After dinner recommendations we drove back into town to find some food and make plans for the next day.

Another word re. the Costa Rican pallate, they seem to have a soft spot reserved for the deep fried version of everything and an especially sweet ketchup and some type of mayonaise - again, seemingly served with everything. Zach was looking forward to his first cheese taco in a week and here is how it came out:

Deep fried with a(n) (un)healthy dose of ketchup and mayo. I think he took one bite. And hidden behind the taco is a batch of fries with more ketchup and mayo.

We have all been surprised at the seeming discrepancy between what we think we are ordering from the menu and what shows up at our table. I spotted fajitas on the menu at one soda. I asked the waiter in my broken Spanish whether these fajitas included tortillas and whether they are served with onions and peppers. He assured me in his broken English that they were. Whoot! Finally something I could sink my teeth into. Fresh grilled vegetables and the smell of flamed tequilla.

The fajitas show up with tortillas and onions all right... but they also happened to be served smothered in a mushroom based gravy. And french fries. It didn´t taste too bad, but not at all what I was expecting. Never thought that our family would ever get tired of french fries... but here we be. We have found a couplke of safe bets: either the hamburger or Gallo Pinto.

Funny how food has this effect. Maybe you have to be an Oxley.

But Monte Verde is a special place, no doubt about it. We set up an early morning canopy tour (both hanging bridge and zip line) for the next day and had an incredible time. The hanging bridge came first and our guide walked us thru the local plant and animal life.

 In retrospect, the version of the hanging bridge tour we went on would not be recommended. The best tour would of probably been self-directed and in the Monte Verde park itself rather than the one we took which turned out to be on private property. Our guide was great, but we were with a group of about 8 other English speakers we didn't get to hang out on the bridges or see as much wildlife as we would of liked.

The zip lines were a special treat - simply incredible. Imagine zipping thru the rain forest canopy for a half mile over 750 feet in the air. Zach and Micah were a little intimidated at first... in fact we all were after the 'Disobey This Set of Rules and Die' list. But it turned out to be a matter of not touching anything. The guides were very professional and very funny. We had a blast.

 

 

This was the final and longest one, there is someone coming down the line, but they are too far to see. This cable offered the 'superman' option - face down and spread eagle. Much to the boys' disappointment, none of them met the minimum weight requirement.

Anyhoo - this brings us to the Manuel Antonio area which the boys will be posting about. Take care and thanks for tuning in! And yes, we need more pictures of the photgrapher...