Semana Santa continues

I wish that the lack of blog posts the last few days meant that we were wildly busy with adventure, but not so.  We have been keeping busy, but this spring break will probably not be one we remember for years to come.  Yesterday was our most adventurous.  We visited the Termales Los Laureles hot springs near La Fortuna again, but this time it was with crowds of Costa Ricans enjoying the Semana Santa holiday.  We’d had the place mostly to ourselves the first time we went, the day before our kids started school.  Yesterday the place was a zoo, in spite of cool weather and lots of rain that has moved in recently.  I was surprised at how many people could (and were willing to) cram into the pools.  We did not see or hear any other English speakers, which was kind of a new experience.  We had a few stares, but mostly felt quite comfortable, just crowded.  We stayed long enough to feel that we got our money’s worth, then headed on toward Arenal Observatory Lodge.  We stopped at a crossing of the Agua Caliente River to see a bit of early evening sun and watch a tiny frog do some rock climbing.  Portland friends of friends, the Kents, were staying at the Lodge (where we had stayed in October), so we joined them for dinner to exchange stories.  We thoroughly enjoyed meeting them and were grateful for the excuse to venture out for the day.  The drive home was dark and rainy but uneventful.

A small sample of the very large crowds at Termales Los Laureles.

Agua Caliente rest stop

Frog watchers

Rock-climbing rana

Today we were meant to help with a fundraiser for Madeleine’s sixth grade class.  They need to raise money for graduation, and today’s fundraiser was collecting money from campers at the lakefront park in Nuevo Arenal in exchange for using the bathrooms.  Apparently this week is a traditional time for families to camp.  We have heard that March is usually reliably sunny and nice.  This March is different however, and today was just about as cool and rainy as yesterday.  We arrived to find no campers, only a small group of sixth grade families huddled by the bathrooms (to stay out of the rain) having a picnic.  We checked in, said hi, established that they did not need our help and left.  If we were more confident with our Spanish, or if Nik had been with us, we probably would have stayed to chat for a while.

Back at home we worked on our naturally-dyed Easter egg project, which is still underway in the fridge.  Photos to come later.  Our super highlight of the week comes on Sunday with the arrival of Gram!  We may sneak in an Easter morning beach visit near Liberia before her flight arrives in the afternoon.

One of our many outdoor meals

Madeleine's shot of the full moon this week