Settling into Pura Vida

Waking up to warm sun after some rest was just what this crew needed.  We’ve been taking full advantage of the climate and time to relax and enjoy after the last few weeks of insanity.  In all honesty, though, it’ll take some time to be able to adapt to such a big lifestyle change.  At this time, however, an extremely popular activity is having mom or dad document interesting jumps into swimming pools.

Madeleine and Henry enjoy the weather

We ventured towards Grecia for our first dinner here and stopped at the first soda (‘typical’ restaurant) we found, Rancho La Tencha.  Here is Erica’s dinner:  Casado con pescado.  Casado is almost like a house plate and often contains beans, rice, fried plantain and salad.  Washed down with an Imperial beer, of course.  Everyone had plenty to eat and we left after considerable griping about not being able to have ice cream.  Can anyone relate?  I wanted to get back to the hotel before it got dark.  Not that I was worried about safety.  Just wanted to be able to find our way back.  Street signs are not exactly popular in Central America.

We ventured out this morning to Los Churros, a local park whose prime appeal is a beautiful river and its waterfalls to enjoy.  Actually pretty similar to some spots in Oregon, only with quite different flora and with warmer water.  Seems like every family in the entire country was there with us to enjoy the lovely spot.  Interestingly, entry was $4 each, which is typical here for park admission.  Although a quarter of the land in Costa Rica is preserved as parkland, it seems that park users bear more of the cost than in the US.  The catarata was striking and splashing in the water was much appreciated.  Passed a large group singing and clapping to celebrate baptisms in the river.  They were singing "When the Saints Go Marching In" each time somebody was baptized.  In Spanish, of course.  We asked and were told that this is not done every Sunday.

Una catarata en el Parque Los Churros.

Guardians of the trail.  Kids were just a bit leery after watching some bull riding/bull chasing on TV last night.

Today I was shocked by the number of bikers cruising the roads we were driving.  Yes, there were kids on bikes but I was blown away by the number of serious cyclists on nice road and mountain bikes.  Not sure if it was because a Sunday morning brings everyone out, if the road is a really popular route or if there simply are more bikers than I realized.  But a great surprise anyway.  Longing for my mountain bike about now.

The ice cream urges were satisfied and more swimming and lounging ensued.  Exactly how a Sunday should be spent.  As a final bonus to this great day, even the Super Bowl has become entertaining.  But we’re not understanding as much of the commentary and the local commercials just are not the same.  A small price to pay.  Tomorrow we head north, in the direction of Lake Arenal, to the hot springs of Termales del Bosque for my birthday.