Hotel Los Volcanes, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Agouti. Well, I finally cleared up that mystery. That rodent/rabbit size creature that keeps dodging in and out of the jungle and across my path has a name! At 5 this morning Ned and I hung out on our covered veranda and just listened to all the jungle activity. (Those howler monkeys! They sound like a fighter jet) Some other creature was gnawing and chomping hard on something. My guess - it's an agouti. I watched several of them scurrying back and forth along this path while I hung in the hammock. Still not able to get a picture, they are sooo quick! But I did steal one off the internet.
I just keep thinking how much Stella would love it down here. She wouldn't even have to move that far to have a field day with the myriad of colorful and interesting creatures. I can't wait to show her some of my pictures of insects.
I finally caught a picture of the agouti, but it's blurry. I just wanted visual documentation of these guys scurrying about!
Nearby is a zipride thru the jungle. There are two rides you can do - the 15 minute slow ride, kinda like riding a go-cart. You control your speed with a throttle and also have a brake. It's fun to kinda fly at a leisurely speed and ride in the tree canopy. It was a little scary at first, but I soon got used to it and just loved it. I stopped along the way several times to take video. Ned went first (cause I wasn't going to!). He saw monkeys running along the zip wires, but by the time I got there they were already gone.
Ned taking off and me getting suited up.
Okay, that wasn't so bad. Now for repelling..
That definitely got my attention!!
Okay, okay I'll try the zip line roller coaster, but Ned is definitely going first!
Ahhhhhhhhhh!!
And, yes, I did it barefoot.
We hired Fernando to take us back towards San Jose. I forgot about his death defying bus and car passes over the mountains. Oy...makes the roller coaster zip line seem like child's play. Actually, he's a really sweet guy and we so appreciated him driving us all over the country.
We're staying in the city of Alajuela tonight. It's adjescent to San Jose and very close to the airport. This city has a lot of colonial influence. I booked us in a hotel that is acutallly an old colonial house built in the 1930's. It's a mix between a bed and breakfast and hostel. We got the "upgraded" room with a private bath, comes with breakfast and a ride to the airport.
We arrived around 4:30 and decided to walk around the city and take it all in.
We decided on a late lunch/early dinner and had fun just wandering around taking in the sights and trying to pick a restaurant. While reading one of the menus, a gregarious fellow talked us into trying out his Colombian restaurant. I recognized his accent and it turns out he's from Queens. Norman was born in Columbia, raised in NY and moved to Costa Rica 20 years ago. His place, "Sr. Patacon and Dona Arepa" is amazing!! I got the Patacones, made with fried plantains and comes with chorizo, guacamole and pico de gallo. Ned got Arepas. Think of a thick tortilla stuffed with pork, diced onions, tomatoes and cheese.
We enjoyed chatting with Norman and talking about chocolate, politics and life in general. I just love traveling and meeting such interesting people. Anyway, if you're ever in Alajuela definitely check his place out.
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