Sunday, April 27 - Arenal Volcano and Tobacon Hot Springs
Woke at 7:30am to Alice's knockings (a huge tree with shrieking birds had woken her up). She was bored, she wanted us to get up. Went downstairs to the jungle patio for a tropical breakfast-papaya, watermelon, cheese, french bread. We also tasted this odd fruit, orange and round, with seeds inside similar to a passionfruit. The crunchy black seeds were coated by a slippery translucent jelly. The cheese had a light taste and a texture like fresh tofu - really good.
We were told that we would have a private van to ourselves for the first drive but when our van pulled up in the morning, there was a family of four (we couldn't figure out exactly who was what but it seemed like an elderly mother with her three daughters) already settled in. Pleasant drive on the paved highways, with a warming morning breeze. Nancy and I sat in the front with Luis and sporadically asked him random questions. One section of the highway was flanked by a cookie factory on one side and a vinegar factory on the other. Luis told us that we would smell either sweet or sour depending on the direction of the wind. After saying that, we felt the sharp sting of vinegar. No cookie for us.
On our way to Arenal, our first stop was Sarchi, a town known for their rosewood products. Stopped at a store where we took pictures with decorated oxcarts, their specialty. There were a lot of great wooden products but would I really want to lug around wood for the rest of my vacation? Not really. So just browsed. They had some great rocking chairs with affordable shipping prices - something to remember when I'm 60. Our van was back on the road for two minutes before one of the ladies from the dysfunctional family (they said so themselves) discovered she had lost an important camera piece. So we did a U and went back to the store so she could look for it. (She did not find it.) This single event caused much strife between the sisters for the rest of the day. The seven of us had to listen to grumblings and complaints from that family until evening. But otherwise, they were an interesting group of women.
Woke at 7:30am to Alice's knockings (a huge tree with shrieking birds had woken her up). She was bored, she wanted us to get up. Went downstairs to the jungle patio for a tropical breakfast-papaya, watermelon, cheese, french bread. We also tasted this odd fruit, orange and round, with seeds inside similar to a passionfruit. The crunchy black seeds were coated by a slippery translucent jelly. The cheese had a light taste and a texture like fresh tofu - really good.
We were told that we would have a private van to ourselves for the first drive but when our van pulled up in the morning, there was a family of four (we couldn't figure out exactly who was what but it seemed like an elderly mother with her three daughters) already settled in. Pleasant drive on the paved highways, with a warming morning breeze. Nancy and I sat in the front with Luis and sporadically asked him random questions. One section of the highway was flanked by a cookie factory on one side and a vinegar factory on the other. Luis told us that we would smell either sweet or sour depending on the direction of the wind. After saying that, we felt the sharp sting of vinegar. No cookie for us.
On our way to Arenal, our first stop was Sarchi, a town known for their rosewood products. Stopped at a store where we took pictures with decorated oxcarts, their specialty. There were a lot of great wooden products but would I really want to lug around wood for the rest of my vacation? Not really. So just browsed. They had some great rocking chairs with affordable shipping prices - something to remember when I'm 60. Our van was back on the road for two minutes before one of the ladies from the dysfunctional family (they said so themselves) discovered she had lost an important camera piece. So we did a U and went back to the store so she could look for it. (She did not find it.) This single event caused much strife between the sisters for the rest of the day. The seven of us had to listen to grumblings and complaints from that family until evening. But otherwise, they were an interesting group of women.
posted by pc at
1:42 PM
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