February 23, 1998 - Monday

River of Warmth

I got up at 7:30 today and showered briefly before heading out to the restaurant for breakfast. Elizabeth was still asleep when I left the room, as were John and Fabio. I slept in the single bed and it turned out that the smaller bed was much better to sleep on. Breakfast was buffet style with the normal continental offerings plus some fresh fruit and papaya bread puddings. John and Fabio joined me and then I headed down to the spring first because they had to go back and get changed.

I knew from past experience that they usually take a while to do anything. The water was surprisingly warm all over the river and there were a couple of pools formed by big rocks that contained water as hot as a hot tub. I swam and sunned and soaked for about 45 minutes before John and Fabio finally showed up again. Fabio ventured downstream while John stayed with me for a little bit. I felt little nibbles on my feet and was surprised to see those swordtail-like fish swimming around my feet, picking on it. John surmised that they might be mad because I'm stepping on their nest, but they are not egg layers. I managed to net about 7 of them and left them in a bag to observe. I was really surprised that they could survive in this very warm acidic water.

Ambush!

After collecting the fish, John and I sat in a very warm pool and laid back and relaxed in the tropical humid air and the sound of rushing water. All the sudden, a spray of water came down on us from the treetop. I thought it was just some rainwater trapped between leaves that fell on us. I left the area and went back to the main river. John joined me after a few minutes and said that he smells like urine and shit. He thought there was an animal on the treetop pooping on us, but we didn't see anything.

He left to go find Fabio and I soaked in the cooler water of the main river for a little bit. After staring at the treetop for a while, I managed to see a silhouette of a small monkey, probably a white-faced monkey, slowly sneaking away. He was way too far up on the treetop for me to do anything anyway. I want back downstream to find John and Fabio and found them playing in a very large pool of water with a waterfall. The river dropped about 10 feet into this pool. John was sliding down the river into the pool like a waterslide and I took some pictures of the area. We played there for a while and then went back to the hotel to check out.

Return to Paradise

We left the hotel and drove toward the volcano again. We had lunch at the spa that we visited yesterday, and Fabio said they had an interesting menu because it was a neuvo Costa Rican cuisine. Elizabeth had been very comical at every meal so far. She usually ordered a light beer or a diet coke, but always ordered a glass of ice with it. She'll sometimes say "ice" and proceeded to spell it out in English to the confused Tico waiter. Sometimes, she'll use the Spanish word for ice, but she badly mispronounced it every time.

If the waiter or waitress even appeared to not comprehend what she was saying, she will say it louder. Her voice was very loud in the first place so it sounded like she was screaming when she said it louder. Oh well. We finished eating at the open-aired restaurant and then drove by the Arenal Volcano before going around the large lake next to the volcano. By the time we left "lunch", it was 4:00. After the lake, the road took us through the city of Canas and then Puntareas.

We stopped by a small town to stock up on drinks and snacks for the condo, and got some desert also. Elizabeth and I went off to look for a market but couldn't find one right away. The town was laid out in a typical fashion where there is a large square at the center of town. The square is usually a park with trees and trimmed lawn for people to enjoy. There were hundreds of black birds here that night and they squawked nosily in the approaching dusk. We still couldn't find a market so Elizabeth decided to stop a poor Tica and asked her where the market was. When the Tica couldn't understand what she was asking, Elizabeth raised her voice and repeated her question slowly but loudly in English. She then started spelling out "Market" but I pulled her away after saying thanks to the Tica.

We finally found one and got some munchies for the night and met up with John and Fabio again and continued on. Still on our way to Punta Leona, we stopped at a restaurant with a huge open-aired tent-like structure that sat on top of a hill over looking the port city of Puntareas and ate dinner there.

I had some very nicely seasoned grilled pork chop. The air here was humid and warm, with the buzzing of insects meandering through the night air. It was about 10:30 when we finally arrived at Punta Leona and the place had not changed much since I visited last. After a short tour of the hotel grounds, Fabio drove us up to his parent's condo on the cliff. It still looked and felt the same, and after a few minutes in the condo, it felt like I had never left it. A nice breeze wafted through the balcony with the sound of crashing waves below. It was a nice starry night with the constellations showing brightly in the night skies. The moon was gone, to be appearing next day for the eclipse. We sat on the balcony and enjoyed the view and chatted until 1:00. I got my old room back and I fell asleep to the sound of the crashing waves again.