Time to wrap up the tales of this Costa Rica trip - because I am HOME!

I nearly missed my bus to San Jose from Santa Elena last Wednesday morning. I popped awake and thought that it felt later and lighter than it should have. My alarm was supposed to go off at 5:20am, leaving me with plenty of time to pack, check out of the hostel, and to walk up the street to catch the 6:30 bus. I looked at my watch, and it was 6:05! Checking the alarm, I had set it for 5:20pm! DOH!

Turbo-mode saved me, and I caught the bus just in time for the four hour bumpy ride to San Jose - most of the way through yet more pouring rain.

It was dry in San Jose, so I walked cross town to find the Hostel Pangea - a very funky $9/night place with every square inch of wall painted in a funky acid-trip Alice-in-Wonderland style. They also had unlimited free fast Internet - which I made way too much use of, catching up with friends in chat and via email.

I did manage to hook up with another traveler for a walk around town to find lunch (a vegetarian restaurant - cool!), and then I just chilled away the afternoon - not feeling particularly social.

Eventually hunger drove me offline and out the door, and I spent some time roving the streets of San Jose at night people watching - one of my favorite things to do no whenever I am alone in a city. I also had a pad and paper with me, and over some Costa Rican fast food for dinner, and did some poetry journaling.

More walking, more people watching, and I soon found myself passing the Hotel Del Rey that I remembered having read about in the Lonely Planet guide as the place where American sporsfisherman on vacation try their hand at catching a different kind of fish. Scoping out the lobby, restaurant, bar, and casino - it was indeed a surreal scene. Literally, 100's of "lithe young prostitutes" were roving the grounds, waiting to be chatted up by the also in ready supply American anglers on their fishing vacations.

I staked out a seat near the entrance off the beaten path so that I was able to avoid being constantly hit up for drinks or sex, and I enjoyed the show - the people watching in this nature reserve was superb. The contrast between the girls in their fashionable and revealing outfits and the men with their beer bellies, khaki shorts, and polo shirts was particularly striking.

The scene inspired some more poetry writing (just posted into this journal).

What kind of geek am I - writing poetry while people watching at the prostitute bar? *grin*

Around 11:30 I left and started walking back towards the hostel, only to discover that the neighborhood around it had been transformed. Every street corner now had one to three "women" (some clearly weren't originally so) working it - and this was a much more aggressive type of fish than the ones swimming about at the Hotel Del Rey. "Hey baby, yo baby, you want some of this? Hey baby, I'm looking at you... Take a look - you want this? Hey baby - BABY!" And so on...

Fortunately they tend not to follow you too far while dressed in tight skirts and high heels, and the streets were plenty well trafficked and lit so I never felt in any danger of being mugged. More amused than anything else.

I slept in the next morning, packed, and made arrangements for the airport shuttle. Then one final walk around San Jose to have a last Cassado for lunch, and to mail off my stack of postcards.

The flight back was pleasant - Ferris Bueller's Day Off was the in flight movie, one of my favorites.

Amy & Bill were waiting for me at SFO with my car, and by 2AM Friday morning I was home and at last in bed.

My first major trip is complete.
Now it's time to start planning the next one... :-)

The fish swim about in schools and alone -
eyes roving, praying for a hook.

The worm isn't so hard to swallow the second time around -
and this sea is strictly "catch and release"

The fish know what to do - they've all been caught before.


The anglers?

They are happy in their fantasy that the fish aren't in it only for the bait...

And trust that their fishing buddies will NOT repeat these fish stories back home.

Though the fear remains, of someday over a few too many beers -
being reminded of the "big one" that did not get away.


========
From the Lonely Planet guide:
"The Blue Marlin, attached to Hotel Del Rey, is mentioned here solely because some regard a visit here as a part of the country's wildlife experience. Aging anglers and lithe young prostitutes are the most common species."

I wrote this journal entry last Friday night after spending the day at Tabacon alone after Lindsay left. I finally had time to edit it and post it today.

=================

Today I witnessed a situation that was uncomfortably close to what I imagine date rape to look like. Perhaps it even ended that way.

Regardless, I am feeling pretty uncomfortable with the male species at the moment, and I think I have a much better sense of why women often radiate such a strong distrust of men...

Here is the story, with quotes as best as I can remember. Feedback appreciated. How well does this map to your own life experiences? (as a man or a woman)

=====
Location: Tabacon Hot Springs, Costa Rica (Lush place with a genuine hot river and pools straight out of the garden of Eden...)

Background: Lindsay left for home this morning, and I decided to spend the afternoon relaxing at Tabacon before moving on to whatever my next destination might be. No real agenda for the day other than to enjoy the hot springs, get a massage, and sometime in the early evening to catch a cab into Fortuna early enough to find a place to stay. First place I intended to try was Gringo Pete's hostel - recommended by a traveler a few days before.

Characters:
Hillary (prey. 22yrs old. cute... One month into a three month trip to Costa Rica. Boyfriend back home in CA...)
Ned (predator. 36yrs old... Single... From South Carolina... Financial Manager...)
Neal (The bachelor... Spending five days in Costa Rica with his best friends the week before his wedding...)
Larry(?) (married)
Friend #3 (married?)
Friend #4 (single - Ned's roommate at the resort...)
Me (bystander)

Scene #1:
A bit after noon. I am having a drink at the float-up bar in the main pool at Tabacon. A cute girl swims up and asks me how to buy drinks at the bar. I am tempted to offer to buy her one, but instead answer that she needs to either charge it to a room, or carry a credit card. She swims off telling the bartender she'll be right back.

I finish my drink and swim off. A bit later I see her return, buy a drink, and start chatting with two guys at the far end of the bar. I am pretty certain that that was the last drink she bought for herself all day.


Scene #2:
A bit after 4pm. I am fresh from a 90 minute Thai massage, feeling relaxed, and now soaking alone in one of the remote pools that Lindsay and I had discovered the day before. I do notice that the girl from earlier and the two guys are the only other people nearby, talking mostly out of earshot one pool downstream.

One of the two gets up to leave - I think I later learned his name was Larry. He later told me he left to get out of the picture so that his friend Ned could hook up.

About 15 minutes later - "hey, you - does this look stupid?"

I turn around and swim a bit closer - Hillary is calling me over and asks if the flower that Ned had just stuck in her hair looks stupid. It didn´t. We make a round of introductions, and I join in their conversation.

The conversation mostly focused around Hillary's boyfriend back home whom she was planning to move in with after the trip, and how she was thinking of cutting her trip short to be with him, and how she was fed up with her male friend travel partner and was wanting to be on her own and away from him, but how she felt uncomfortable being a female alone in Costa Rica without male company... And so on...

I also discovered that Hillary was staying at Gringo Pete's, and she told me it was great. I threw out the idea of sharing a cab into town later, and she was agreeable to the idea.

Ned had a waiter bringing him and Hillary a constant stream of drinks, and it was clear that they were both well buzzed. I told her that I'd be happy to make sure she got home safe, and she thanked me for the offer.

The conversation got increasingly racier, and Hillary started talking about how her sex life with her boyfriend wasn't really all that great, and that she was afraid to talk to him about the things she really wanted (exploring S&M and other stuff), and then she confessed that she was still seeing (and having great sex with) her ex behind her new boyfriends back... But she loved them both, and just was afraid that her new boyfriend would leave her if he knew...

I brought up the concept of open relationships and polyamory and the importance of honesty, and shared some of my own experiences. I also told her about safe places to explore kink. Ned shared some as well: "It is a biological fact - men are only attracted to a woman for three years - just long enough to raise a toddler. ... All men cheat, or want to... I'm very nearly a doctor, I know these things. They are facts..." And so on. But overall, we we're actually having a pretty fun, and playful conversation. (Ned was not coming off as nearly as big of an ass as I am making him out to be - I am only sharing his most boorish comments...)

Ned however did agree with me that either Hillary needed to break it off with her ex, or she needed to be honest to everyone involved so that they could make up their own minds.

Meanwhile, Hillary was being a bit touchy and playful with Ned in the water, and even a bit with me. But I did notice that every time Ned made a move she would back away, and he lent in to kiss her several times and she always turned her head to give him just a cheek. She was also repeatedly clear in saying that she "didn´t want to cheat on her boyfriend" and that she was already upset enough with the situation as it was.


Scene 3:
Larry returns - a bit aghast to see that I had joined the mix and "blocked" Ned. As Larry later told me, "when I cam back and saw you there, I mouthed to Ned "WTF?" and he raised his arms and gestured back "I dunno!"

Larry rejoins the conversation, now back onto less racy subjects. Soon after the other three from the bachelor trip join us, returning from a hike. Introductions are made all around, and we all swap travel stories. Hillary swims off to talk to Larry, now at the other end of the pool, leaving Ned and I now alone.

"So, tell me, what is your read on that girl Hillary? I've been trying to hook up with her all afternoon, and she has been bouncing around like a ping pong ball. One second I think she is good to go, the next I feel like she is not interested, and then I feel she is wanting to hook up with you, and now she is off hitting on Larry. Maybe she wants to gang-bang all five of us?"

It was like some sort of surreal time-out session in some bizarre guy game, and he was wanting to talk strategy with me. His whole demeanor had changed - he no longer had on his friendly game face, and he was now all business. It very much weirded me out. The whole scene suddenly felt creepy.

But I gave him my honest read on Hillary. I told him it seemed that she had been feeling sad and lonely about the situation with her travel partner, and today was her splurge to ditch him and go alone to the hot springs, and that she was definitely acting playful and flirty but that I did not think that she was at all interested in actually hooking up or in cheating on her boyfriend(s)...

He said he agreed, and that he thought I was right and that in the end "she would tease, and leave me hanging". He expressed some frustration at having spent the entire afternoon buying her drinks to no avail. But then he said "if I can't close the deal with a 22yr old, then I can't close the deal at all" - and with renewed determination he swam off to where Hillary was talking to Larry, leaving me aghast.

Indeed - she was sending mixed signals. But mixed signals to me ARE a pretty damn clear signal -- to proceed with extreme caution. And when you are getting mixed signals from someone who is drunk??? From someone you encouraged to get drunk????? Uhm - mixed signals might as well be a stop sign, right???


Scene 4:
Larry took his cue, and left Hillary and Ned alone at the far end of the pond. He swam back to me, where I was now talking with the bachelor, Neal. Neal seemed like a genuinely nice guy, and sensing my concern, he told me that Ned was harmless and to not worry about him and Hillary. Larry had come back to join us, and commented that it looked like Ned was making progress - and he made some sort of comment appreciating that I had backed off (???), and he told me that I was welcome to try if Ned couldn't manage. "But - I wouldn't want to have sloppy seconds after him, that is for sure..." (!!!!!)

I explained that I actually wasn't looking to hook up with Hillary, but that I was concerned about her getting safely back to town and to the hostel - particularly since we were planning to go to the same place, and I had offered to share a ride with her. (The bachelor trip guys were all staying at Tabacon.)


Scene 5:
Hillary swims back over to me, seeming a bit flustered and uncomfortable with the attention Ned had been giving her alone back at the far end of the pond. I pull her off out of earshot and ask her if she is ok, and if the guys had been coming on too strong. She said no, that she was fine, and that she didn't have any intention of cheating on her boyfriend and that she was just having a good time. I asked her if she still wanted to share a ride, and she asked if I was ok with catching an 8pm bus/cab into town...

But - she was pretty drunk, and pretty fumbly with her words and plans. Midway through the conversation she even forgot my name.

I am feeling a mix of concern for her, an obligation to take care of her - and a desire just to be done with the scene and to leave them be.

While we were talking, Ned has rounded up the group of guys, and he comes over to bid farewell to Hillary. I seem to recall he made some sort of snarky comment like "if you don't want to hang out with me, I guess we'll just move on and get some dinner..."

Hillary hops up and says "wait!" and soon the plan is changed to instead converge at the nearby cabana bar. The bachelor Neal invites me along.


Scene 6:
Nearby cabana bar, around 6:30pm. Somebody buys me a drink, Hillary takes pictures with all of us, and I get into conversation with Neal and Larry about weddings and being a best man, and other such stuff. Larry tells us his plan for Neal in San Jose (Costa Rica) -- the group is going to go to some famous club "full of prostitutes" and since Neal's wife-to-be is 27, he can't leave until at least 27 different women have hit on him and made propositions. (But he doesn't have to do anything with any of them...) Neal is amused by the idea, and he seem to think that his wife would be too...

Meanwhile, Hillary and Ned are at the bar - and Ned is touching Hillary a lot. She is stumbling drunk, and not seeming to object much.

I continue in conversation with Neal about a range of interesting topics, until Larry informs us that it looks like Ned is going to close the deal - and that it is time for the group to depart. I see Hillary and Ned leaving the bar and slipping into the nearest pool to lounge in the water.

I again express some concern to Neal, and he tells me not to worry and that Ned was harmless and that Hillary really would be fine. He and Larry then leave me alone at the cabana bar, where I linger for a while having a water and feeling disturbed, and wondering what to do....

After a while I walk past the pool to check on Ned and Hillary. They are sitting on the side cuddled up, but not overly intimate. It still seemed as if Hillary had been fending off Ned's attempts to kiss her, and I guessed that Ned would indeed leave disappointed. Ned saw me and gave me a wave and a thumbs up, and waved me off from coming any closer.


Scene 7:
I wandered the grounds alone for a while wondering what to do, and I eventually decide that I really need to hear from Neal what he means by "harmless", and to then potentially interject myself to give Hillary an out to leave if she wants to. I find Larry and Neal at the main swim-up bar, and as I join them they buy me a drink. I keep an eye out watching for Hillary and Ned, and I then ask Neal what he meant by harmless....

"Oh, Ned is harmless."
"What do you mean? Do you mean he's not actually trying to hook up?"
"Oh, he's definitely trying to hook up..."
"But then - what? Who is going to make sure that Hillary has a safe place to sleep, or that she gets back to the Hostel?"
"Oh - don't worry. Ned is really good at looking out for a girl. Well, other than for her virtue...."

Keeping an eye on the path that I assume Hillary and Ned would have to walk down to leave, I relate how I had told Hillary I would share a cab with her at 8pm. It was now 7:45... Should I wait? Larry again makes some crude comment about not wanting Ned's sloppy seconds.

As we are talking, friends #3 and #4 from the group swim up. Neal and Larry ask if they had seen Ned, and #4 says "yes - that he and Hillary have gone back to their hotel room... Ned is going to owe me big for this one." (They are sharing a room...)

Neal turns to me and says "I guess you guys wont be sharing a ride into town after all...."

I say farewell to all of them, and leave... (Feeling very disturbed now...)


Scene 8:
I walk back to the far pool to see if Hillary and Ned are still there, and they are not. I then go to the locker room, shower, and change - and catch the shuttle back to the Tabacon hotel where I had left my bag. I remember that one of the two rooms that the group had been sharing was room 501 (they had to say the number every time they put drinks on their tab), so walk past to see if they are there - not knowing what I would do if they were. The windows were open and the room was empty.

So I left, and caught a cab alone into town.


Scene 9:
I meet Gringo Pete - I tell him I am a friend of Hillary's. He tells me Hillary should have known that he had no rooms left - they had gotten the last ones that morning when they checked in. I depart and walk deeper into town, eventually finding a room for $12 (with free Internet in the lobby) at Hotel Fortuna. I spend the rest of the evening after dinner writing this account....


Tomorrow - I might drop a note with contact info off at Gringo Pete's for Hillary. I hope she didn't end up doing something she regretted, but then again - maybe that was actually what she was after for the night. I really don't know....

Maybe Ned just took her back to his room to tuck her into bed and let her sleep it off. Or maybe he forced himself on her... Maybe she was to drunk to even object further... I really don´t know. And did I even have a right to intervene? An obligation?

UPDATE: The next day I met a Dutch girl Saskia on the Volcano tour, and noticed she was staying at Gringo Pete´s. I asked, and she did indeed know Hillary, and had been out with Hillary´s travel partner the night before even - who had been worried when Hillary had still not returned to the hostel as of 10pm. But she had seen Hillary earlier that day lounging in a hammock - seemingly fine if a bit lethargic. I gave her a note with my email address to pass on, which she later told me she did...

==========

Ugh, yuck. These were (from all outward appearances) NICE educated typical middle class mid-30's guys, and I ended up feeling like I had been swept up into their hunt. There were plenty of other tasteless comments from the group -- one of them bemoaned having gone to Georgetown, because you could only tell who the pretty girls were in September - after that all the girls were wearing sweaters and you couldn't really tell how pretty they were through a sweater... (?!??!???? Hello, is there not more to a woman than breasts???) Etc...


What percentage of the male population thinks like this? And thoughts are one thing - I have plenty of tasteless thoughts of my own on occasion, though I am usually tasteful enough not to share them even to other men... But what percentage of the male population ACTS this way, plotting and co-conspiring to score? It was creepy, and disgusting, and dishonoring, and disrespectful in so many ways. I felt ashamed to share their gender...

If this is the sort of vibe that women so often pick up on beneath the surface - no wonder that some say that "men are pigs"... I was certainly feeling that way. Ick.


Men - How well does this match your experience?
Women - And you?

Everyone - How could I have handled this better?

Is this an icky / creepy situation, or am I overreacting at all?

Thoughts and feedback appreciated...

Santa Elena and Monte Verde are sort of the hippy-dippy artsy corner of Costa Rica. It has a very Northern California vibe around here - in other words, it feels like home.

I got to Santa Elena Sunday afternoon after taking the jeep-boat-jeep shuttle from Fortuna. I checked into Lonely Planet´s top budget choice - the Pension Santa Elena. (http://www.pensionsantaelena.com/)

The place is now owned by an american brother and sister, and it is full of cool and funky travelers. During the high season, he says he turns away 50+ people a day. This is I guess the place to be around here.

The dorm room cost $5 for a bed, and Sunday night I shared it with an American couple (Bernardo and Melissa) who are starting out on a 1 year trip, two german girls, and a swiss guy. It felt like being at camp - I even had a bottom bunk.

I napped in the afternoon, and then woke up hearing a familiar voice through the wall. Saskia, one of the two dutch girls who had gone dancing the night before, was checking in to the dorm next door. I popped out and said hello, and we later went out for dinner and some great conversations about Dutch and US politics and hot issues.

Tuesday morning Saskia and I went and did the Sky Trek Canopy tour, and it was WAY better then I imagined. A canopy tour isn`t about wildlife or trees, but rather - shooting through and over them on zip lines at up to 55mph. Sky Trek has the "highest, fastest, and longest" zip lines - shooting through virgin old growth cloud forest right at the top of the continental divide.

It was a blast - extremely cool.

Afterwards, we did the Sky Walk -- going through the same forest much more slowly this time on bridges, able to see the trees from all different perspectives.

Midway through the hike, it started to pour, and we got SOAKED.

(Notice a trend in my updates? Rainy season....)

Back at the hostel I spent the afternoon hanging out with my dorm mates Bernardo and Melissa, and a new one (another American) Laura. We talked a lot about Burning Man and Cirque du Soliel. I think all three of them are sold on Burning Man next year. We also talked a lot about extended travel... Bernardo and Melissa may never return to the US, and Laura is planning to move after three months of travel to Chili to be near her boyfriend and to get a job in the wine industry.

That evening I really got to experience to social joys of hosteling. Saskia and a German girl Pauline and I conspired to cook and share some pasta and wine for dinner, some of us went to see the nearby Serpentarium, and then a huge bunch of nine of us caught cabs to the Moon Shiva restaurant for more food and drinks and to watch the movie "Ray" on a big screen.

The whole evening was fun and social and very cool. I really love this hostel vibe.

Today (Tuesday) I slept in, and spent some time doing postcards and Internet updates. I gave Lindsay a call, and it was great to hear her voice and to learn the story of how she was delayed 24hrs in getting home - missing Neal Diamond in concert. (Yuck!)

The afternoon was rainy, but when it finally cleared up I went to check out the Frog Pond museum with Laura, and we saw some amazingly cool tree frogs. I can hardly describe how cool some of the frogs were...

Back at the hostel, I decided to try my hand at cooking - and I stopped in the market to get ingredients for a potato cheese onion pepper skillet mix. It came out great, and I traded some of it off to an Australian for his curry, and to Laura for her pasta. Was much fun to share a kitchen with so many cooks...

Tomorrow morning I catch the 6:30AM bus to San Jose for my final night of this trip.

I am excited to be heading home, but I also wish this trip wasn`t so close to ending....

It has been great to get my first experience of being a solo backpacker... I've always wanted to travel this way, and after a few days of it I think my fears of feeling lonely are mostly proving unfounded. I really wish I had more than six days for this segment of my trip - I'll just have to hit the road again soon.

When I had originally imagined this trip (when it was going to be my PalmSource sabbatical), I had hoped to spend some of it traveling with Rachael, some of it traveling with Lindsay, some of it fully solo, and some of it traveling jointly with new friends I made on the road. Rachael is a great travel partner, and I have been missing her a lot on this trip. I wish I could be sharing some of this with her. *ache*

I've also discovered that three weeks just ISN'T ENOUGH TIME for this sort of trip! So many of the other travelers I am meeting are in the midst of three month, six month, or even year+ long trips. Particularly the European travelers, where the notion of extended travel is common and readily accepted. I am getting used to this mindset, so much so that when I run into Americans trying to see Costa Rica in a week, I am starting to react with shock.

For example -- I ran into an American family (father/mother/daughter) doing a 10 day trip with more luggage than the other ten of us on the Monte Verde boat combined... When I told them I had three weeks, they said "wow - that is so much time, you must be able to see everything there is to see in Costa Rica in that amount of time!"

Uhm - I feel like I have BARELY gotten started!

The pace of life feels so much more comfortable when you can check into a place for 2 or 3 days, and not try to see the top sites in a hurried rush before scurrying out of town after just one night. I imagine it would feel even better to stay in cool places like Santa Elena (where I am now) for a week or two, but I just don't have time this trip. Or maybe even a month or two...

But.... I am really starting to feel like a real extended trip may be in my future. Perhaps in February once my apartment lease is up, I could become "homeless" and hit the road for a year. That would give me plenty of time to plan, purge, and gear up. (Note to self -- no more cotton, ONLY quick-dry fabrics next time!!!)

Ahhh, sounds nice, doesn't it? I'd love some solo travel mixed in with friends and family and lovers joining me on the road for a few weeks at a time.

I think I have enough saved up to do this for a while, and budget travel can be CHEAP (I am paying $5/night right now!) if you focus on saving money and only occasionally splurging.

So - why shouldn't I do this??? Hmmmm....

I spent Friday morning after Lindsay left watching CNBC to catch up on world news and to watch hurricane Rita updates. *yikes* New Orleans is suffering so bad, my heart aches.

I then checked out of the resort, and spent the afternoon soaking back at Tabacon Hot Springs. I had my first Thai Massage, and had some interesting (and disturbing) encounters with some other travelers that I may post about later... (If I decide to post it, look for an entry labeled "Men are Pigs")

Friday night I took a cab into La Fortuna, and found a great private room (with hot shower and breakfast) at La Fortuna Inn for $12. The owners were really great, and they helped me sign up for a day of tours Saturday.

Saturday morning I joined two Italian couples for a horseback ride up to the nearby waterfall and back. The Italians were passing a joint as they rode -- about the only words of English I heard all morning was them telling me that "this is a REAL all natural vacation for us!"

The guide didn't object to us riding the horses fast - I've never experienced riding at a trot before and it was SO much fun. Surely much more exciting that just walking along. I think I'd like to experience a full gallop sometime soon. Horses are cooler than I had imagined...

After spending some time swimming in the waterfall pool and river, we returned and I grabbed lunch. After lunch, I went on a volcano tour and rainforest hike. There were about a dozen of us on the tour - we hiked through a secondary rainforest (and got soaked - it started to pour just as we got there) and saw toucans and howler monkeys and even a spider monkey mother with a baby on her back. The trees were amazing, and the guide was great.

Then we went to two different overlooks to try and see lava coming down Arenal in the dark, but the mountain was clouded in solid. I did hear the mountain "harumphing" which was chilling and cool, and just as we were about to give up there was five seconds of glowing red as a lava-boulder tumbled out of the fog in the distance. It was a glimpse into the heart of the earth, and it inspired a poem as we rode back towards town. (I will post it later once I edit it...)

Then the group spent two hours at Baldi Hot Springs, which unlike Tabacon consists only of pools, not a hot river. The complex was crazy ornate, and under massive construction with more elaborate pools going in.

Saturday night I went out dancing with some new friends from the volcano tour -- see my "Get SEX tonight" post for a summary of that adventure.

Sunday morning I got picked up after breakfast for the "jeep-boat-jeep" transfer to Monte Verde. To get there by public bus would take 8+ hours, but by cutting across Lake Arenal the trip can be made in 3.5hrs.

Scenic trip - and I got a great view of the Los Hereos swiss chalet from the other side of the lake as we docked for the bumpy 2 hour dirt rode treck to Monte Verde.

More on Monte Verde and Santa Elena in my next post...

Scene: Volcan Look Discotech, near Fortuna and Arenal Volcano
(billed as the "largest dance club in Costa Rica outside of San Jose!")

All over Fortuna are posters saying "Get SEX Tonight", advertising a saturday night party at the Volcan Look. Up and down the road leading out of town are billboards saying the same thing. The tour guide on the rainforest and volcano hike I did Saturday afternoon said it was the place to be. So did the bartender at Baldi hot springs, who said he would be there immediately after work. "Everyone will be there...."

With such strong endorsements - four of us from the hike tour group decided to rendezvous at 10:30 after dinner to share a cab to go check it out. Two dutch girls (Seska and Inika) and Johanas, a police officer from Berlin.

The place was indeed packed to the rafters, with an almost entirely local crowd. I could only pick out a few other obvious tourists. Every square inch of the place was covered with signs and whatnot proclaiming "Get SEX tonight", and touting the sponsors -- Coca Cola Light, and a Costa Rican rum (Ron Blanco). Not to mention the matching T-Shirts and coats and tank tops being worn by all the staff.

The music was thumping - catchy Latin dance, and the dance floor was packed. Whenever the MC would come on, all my ears could decipher was "...... get SEX tonight -- Coca Cola Light! ......" Apparently Coke is now considered some sort of aphrodisiac. It was exceedingly amusing.

Particularly when the Baldi bartender recognized me, and danced over high-fiving me and proclaiming "I am going to find a girl, and get SEX tonight! Are you going to get SEX tonight?"

Woohoo, ok, party on dude!

The two dutch girls were fending off a constant stream of requests to dance - the whole vibe was amusing us to no end.

Then - the MC started making some noise, and the whole crowd moved to one side of the club where a stage was set up. And then - boom - an all black beefcake quartet hit the stage dancing and doing a routine to various one minute clips of Latin and English dance hits. Was bizarre, and entertaining. Particularly when they stripped their shirts off and did a mini Chip & Dales routine...

Next up, two gogo dancers appeared in cages and the music switched to hard rock and metal. Johanas and I were definitely digging the new music vibe, but before long things had switched back to Latin dance that started to feel monotonous.

Headed home around 1am, amused and thoroughly entertained.

Was a fun night out.

Tabacon (www.tabacon.com) hot springs is actually a hot river, and though there are "normal" man-made pools around (including one with a swim-up bar), most of the best soaking is done in one of the numerous pools and grottoes created in the carefully channeled and lusciously landscaped river.  It really is like a slice of Eden.

Imagine sitting in a hot water fall. One that you can duck completely behind into a sauna-like cave carved into volcanic rock.  Imagine the endless supply of warm volcanic mineral water gently pouring over and massaging your shoulders.  Imagine dozens of other pools to explore - many of them deserted.  Imagine spending the day doing so with someone you love.

Yeah, it is that nice.

(not my picture, found on Google.  It wasn't nearly this crowded...)

Lindsay and I splurged on our last day together, and Thursday morning we left Los Hereos and got a room at the Tabacon Resort.  The room included two days of access to the hot springs complex, so we ditched our bags at the bell desk and immediately headed over.

We spent the afternoon relaxing, sharing a couples massage at the spa, and drinking many Coco Locos (a great cure for sore tonsils!).  Much fun was had, and though the afternoon and evening rains did not hinder our soaking - they did put a damper on volcano watching.  Still no lava for us!

We ended the evening at the Tabacon dinner buffet - and then at last we picked up the keys to our room back at the resort.

The next morning was a sad one though...  Immediately after breakfast, Lindsay had to catch the shuttle back to San Jose to catch her flight home - leaving me to explore Costa Rica for one more week alone.

A charming chalet. A mountain chapel with bells that chime the hours. Hefty wood furniture. Window shutters with hearts carved in them. Fondue. Germanic accents. A narrow-gage train headed up the mountain. Cows and cowbells. A dairy. Lush green pastures. A view of an alpine lake. Oh, and a volcano erupting in the distance...

Other than the volcano bit, Lindsay and I could have been in Switzerland this week.

When we got to Fortuna on Tuesday, we had lunch, admired the volcano overhead waiting to someday smite the town - and started trying to decide where to stay. We wanted someplace romantic and relaxing and affordable and outside of town. Reading about it in the Lonely Planet Guide, Hotel Los Hereos sounded perfect - a Swiss chalet (of all things!) about 40 minutes away by cab on the other side of the volcano, on the shores of Lake Arenal.

And it was indeed as advertised... The place might as well have been teleported here from Switzerland, including the Swiss woman who runs the place. Being the low season, the place was almost deserted though. Only three tables were full in the restaurant when we came down for a fondue dinner, and we ended up meeting a charming Russian couple who were also guests.

The next day was super mellow... We spent a lot of the day sleeping, and walking the grounds, and swimming in the pool, and watching the cows. It was a perfect way to relax and let my throat heal.

Every afternoon it poured rain, and every night the view of the volcano was blocked by clouds - preventing us from being able to see any of the lava at night. I was also disappointed that the small train up the mountain to a vista point wasn't running on weekdays because it was the low season.

But overall the place was the perfect way to wrap up our trip together.

But there was still one final splurge -- Lindsay and I had decided to spend Thursday at Tabacon Hot Springs.

More on that later...

With some help from instructions I found online at DoItYourselfSurgery.com (endorsed by 9 out of 10 Alaskan fur trappers), I was able to extract my own tonsils yesterday - and I am pretty sure I managed to do it without too much loss of blood or damage to my vocal cords.

It really wasn't that hard, once I had a clean mirror and the right kind of spork.

Things are feeling much better today. My tonsils are only a little sore, and I can actually swallow without a grimace now. By tomorrow I should definitely be back to normal.

We never made it to Manuel de Antonio Sunday afternoon. Instead we spent the afternoon drinking Dacquiries and wandering around Quepos in the rain. When we got back to the Wide Mouth Frog, another traveler was sitting in front of our room with a guitar. His name was Les, his band is called Jukebox Heroes, he is originally from Texas, and he has spent the last two years making a living playing music for French tourists in Martinique. A very cool guy.

He explained that he was working on learning some new songs, and told us to shut him up if he made too much noise. Yeah, right - he was great! We listened to him as we swam in the pool in the rain - what a great evening.

Later that night a bunch of us watched the incredibly bad yet overly funny movie Old School in the hostel's TV room. This hostel was such a friendly and great place to stay - I could probably spend a week here just chillin and meeting cool people from around the world.

Monday we went to Manuel de Antonio even though the national park was closed, just to hit the beach. We rented a two-person sea kayak, were given some threadbare lifejackets, and pushed out into the heavy surf. It was my first time kayaking, and we weren't given much in the way of instruction... On the way out, a big wave sent Lindsay flying - she almost did a full reverse flip, and the "fricken paddle" has left a permanent imprint in her forehead...

Coming back to shore after an hour of paddling, we again caught the brunt of the ocean. Surfing a giant wave in towards the beach - "woohooooooooo shi...splash!" We tumbled end over end as the kayack nose planted and flipped.

We dragged ourselves to shore just as the incoming storm hit. The waves were crashing all the way over the beach and up to the road, and the warm rain was pouring down. So of course - I had to maximize my wetness, and I went bodysurfing while Lindsay froze patiently in the bus shelter.... It was a blast - warm rain, warm water, and huge waves. By the time we caught a cab back I was thoroughly batered and sore.

Back at the hotel, more torrential rain, and more swimming in it... Then drinks out with some of our new friends, and then dinner, and on the way home meeting and feeding the world's hungriest cat... (Costa Rica is ruled by dogs - this poor howling kitty was the first feline we've seen anywhere...)

Tuesday we caught an early door-to-door Interbus shuttle (the driver was a "wanker" for not being able to make change....) to Fortuna - the town in the shadow of the amazing (and currently erupting) Volcano Arrenal. More on that later...

The one downside of all that time in the rain and in the water... Now I have a sore throat, and swollen tonsils. Ugh. Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow...

The past week has been flying by.

Tuesday - Thursday night we spent on the Finca Tres Semilles farm in the hills south of San Isidro. The highlight there was the horseback ride through the jungle to swim in a river and slide down the natural water slides. Lots of mellow relaxing time too.

Friday we took a cab to the surfer town of Dominical - where there were more surf bums and gringos than locals. Very strange vibe - but we did meet an interesting American woman named Fiona who had opened up the first sushi bar in town. It was a slow night and she was about to "close due to boredom", but we ended up joining her for the best sushi I have ever had.

Saturday morning we caught the bus to Quepos. Getting on the bus, Lindsay recognized allready on board an older woman named Karen whom we had talked to briefly while changing planes in El Salvador on our way down. What a coincidence!

Her and her friend Merle (from Holand) were on their way to Quepos after having spent a dissappointing few days at a raw food retreat in Uvita. We joined them and they lead us to a great Hostel in Quepos called the Wide Mouth Frog (www.widemouthfrog.org) - where we met Karen's travel partner, a 76 year old Dominican nun from San Rafael named Mariam.

The group of us had a great dinner out last night. I never in my life would have imagined having an in depth conversation with a nun in Costa Rica about Burning Man - which she was actually very familiar with and supportive of. The conversations on all sides were extremely cool.

You meet the coolest people while traveling sometimes.

Today Lindsay is feeling a bit sick, so I am catching up on the net. Both the latest Katrina and PalmSource news is making my head spin.

After lunch, I hope we can head over to the Manuel Antonio National Park for some wildlife watching and maybe some snorkling or kayacking.

Tomorrow... Hmmm. Might stay here in Quepos another day, or perhaps it is time to work further north towards Volcano Arenal....

It is about the midpoint of our Costa Rica trip. We've been on the road 10 days so far. I have eleven more days of travel ahead of me, and Lindsay has five.

At some point I will be setting aside an afternoon to send a batch of postcards home to friends and family. If you'd like to get a postcard - please reply to this LJ post or drop me an email.

Since I am traveling without hardly any of my usual tech toys, assume that even if you think I should have it, I likely DO NOT have your address with me. LJ comments are screened, so feel free to post your address here so that I have it.

I am loving the trip but missing the people in my life. Best wishes to you all...

Tuesday morning we got up at dawn.

Walked across the dirt "streets" of Tortuguero - muddy paths in a town without cars.

Met a boat at a dock on the lagoon.

Were driven to another dock at the Toruguero airport - a tiny strip in the jungle.

Caught the only flight of the day - a Sansa Air flight to San Jose on a Cesna Stationair not all that different than the planes I fly - only this one was 14 passengers long...

Experienced scud-running throught the driving rain along the beach, just 500 feet above the surf to the next airport north. Turtle tracks could be seen on the beach below.

No one was waiting at the other airport, or perhaps the weather minimums were too bad, so the plane climbed above the clouds and flew an hour to San Jose past towering mountains and over beautiful jungle.

Landed at San Jose. Caught a city bus downtown.

Caught a cab from the city bus terminal to the MUSCO intercity terminal.

Caught the intercity bus to San Isidro - four hours on the Pan American "highway" up and over the twisty roads of the Mountain of Death.

Caught a 4WD taxi for the 1.5 hour ride into the countryside to the Fince Tres Semillas farm. Had to drive across creeks and through cloud forrests. Only the first 20m of the trip was on paved roads. Passed children riding horses home from school...

Hiked 1km through the jungle, crossing a rickity wire bridge over raging rapids, and wading a creek.

At last - at Finca Tres Semillas...


Not bad for a day's commute. It didn't even involve horses.


We stayed three nights on the farm. They had electricity (as of just 3 months ago), but the nearest phone was 10m by motorcycle away (after the 15m walk to the road). Almost all the food is organic and grown right on the farm. You could hardly get any more remote. It was great...

This trip has been amazing.

Now in the Pacific surfing town of Dominical. Who know's where next... :-)

I spent last night on a dark beach in Tortuguero watching in awe as a giant green sea turtle laid her eggs. Close enough to hear each grunt as a new cluster fell into the hole.

Later, I had sand thrown on me as she worked to bury her nest.

Meanwhile, just down the beach a dark shadow could be seen of another giant turtle slowly crawling up the beach to make her nest.

All lit only my the tiny red flashlight of our guide, a half moon partially obscured by clouds, and distant flashes of occasional lightening over the Carribean.

We live in such an amazing world...

Reporting to you live from Tortuegara, Costa Rica. A small town on the NE Caribbean coast with no roads and no cars and no broadband - but lots and lots of mating sea turtles.

Lindsay and I flew from SFO to San Jose, Costa Rica on the Taca redeye Wednesday night. Our travel agent was able to get us upgraded to business class for free, so we were able to sleep well on the plane.

We got into San Jose at 10AM, and skipped taking a cab in favor of using the public bus to get downtown, then we walked cross town to our hotel. We headed out for a walk through town, then later out to a nice dinner.

Early the next morning we got picked up by Exploradora rafting company for a two-night rafting trip down the Parquares river. Though there were several people taking a one-day trip, we were the only ones doing the overnight excursion, so we had an amazing VIP experience with a river guide and a safety kayacker dedicated just to us... The rapids were great, we hiked to a swimming hole by a waterfall, and then spent the afternoon and a riverside campground lounging in hammocks while it rained... Lunch, dinner, and breakfast were all superb - and our guide Roberto let us try all sorts of fresh native fruits.

The next day was another hike to a waterfall swimming hole, and then we joined up with that days one-day rafting trip for the rest of the day playing in the rapids.

We had the rafting company drop us off Saturday afternoon in Siqueres, with the hopes of catching a boat to Torteguero. There are no afternoon boats, so instead we caught a bus to Puerto Limon.

Limon was great. We got a room downtown, and then walked around and saw some amazing bands (drum cores) rehearsing for an upcoming festival. Next we walked along the seawall, and then had dinner.

We napped a few hours, and then went out dancing. Was much fun, though I´ve never had so much trouble ordering a drink in my life. (Orange ticekt? WTF?)

This morning Lindsay got me up early to catch the bus to Mion, where we then caught the water taxi to Tortoguero. Four hours in a small boat going through canals seeing some amazing wildlife....

Now we are waiting for dinner tonight at Miss Junie´s, which has to be ordered hours in advance so it can simmer all afternoon. And then later, we are taking a nighttime tour to see the sea turtles...

My appologies for typos, this keyboard is tough to use. More updates later...

Ok - just got back from a wonderful week's vacation in France. Yay!

I may even post a few details of the trip later.

But... One amusing thought I want to share....

I noticed on this trip that we American's drink a LOT more than most Europeans do. We have "super big gulp" sodas, huge beers, and we cart around liter-sized bottles of water with us all day, etc...

Well, this has the expected side effects. What goes in, must come out.

Sunday evening we watched the Tour de France's 13th stage end in Nimes, France. It was a circus - there were tens of thousands of people lining the streets to see the cyclists ride into town.

In America - a similar sporting event would have been accompanied by massive banks of porta-potties, and 10 minute long lines to use them...

In France - I only ever saw TWO. With no line AT ALL to use them.

I was blown away.

Europeans just aren't heavy bladder users, I guess...

Viva la difference!

More later,

- chris

So life has been running at a crazy pace lately.... An even crazier pace than usual even. In a word, whoosh!

First there was a week in Japan, then a second week split between Taiwan and Korea, and finally a third week in Singapore -with only opportunistic bits of time for fun (or sleep!) mixed in with the workload. (Though I did have some very good times in Singapore - that week went by way too fast! *grin*)

Finally returned home last Sunday, but there was no time to rest with an overly full week of work to get through, not to mention a robbery to foil (I will post about this soon)... I barely managed to get my laundry done in time before needing to start packing up my suitcase yet again.

This time, I am off for a one week jaunt to Geneva, and then I fly straight to Las Vegas for five days. Gah!


Now, I do totally love to travel. But getting such tiny little tastes of all these great places is oh so frustrating. I don't want to be spending my evening tonight in my hotel room in Bonne, France planning how to get into the Bill Gates ITU keynote tomorrow morning. I'd much rather be planning a hike through an Alpine meadow, or a drive around Lake Geneva.

Usually by the time I get some free time, all I want to do is sleep! I spent a big chunk of my free time in Korea catching up on sleep and fighting off exhaustion. And (frustratingly) my one fully free day in Japan was the only one it rained! All I had was a single evening free in Taiwan after wasting away an entire day catching up on email.... Etc.

Right now I am hoping to have this coming Friday and Saturday free to explore Switzerland and the French Alps. But I really need to pace myself, or all I might end up exploring is my dreams as I sleep away the daylight!

I also need to pace myself in general. All this travel has suddenly popped up at once, with trips right on top of each other. When I finally return in two weeks, I will have only been home in my apartment less than one week out of the past six! (No wonder I haven't made any progress unpacking and moving in!!!)

If I am going to be paying all this rent for a place I am not even living in, I should sublet!!!!


But.... The real thought that is going through my head right now is one of traveling at a better pace, with a focus on the trip and not upon workload (and the work piling up back on my desk and in my email Inbox...) It would be such a joy to head off on an extended one or two year long global exploration. I want to do this someday. I _need_ to do this someday. But when? *sigh* If only my job and my boss weren't so cool, I'd be oh so tempted to just quit and never return from one of these trips....


A few stories from Geneva....

I had a really hard time finding a hotel. All the ones that the searches were turning up were $400+ a night, and I just can't see paying that much - even if it is the company's money. And some of those outrageously expensive places were listed as 50km+ away from the conference!!!

But - on Orbitz I found a place called the Hotel Climotel in a tiny little town called Bonne, France - just 18km from the expo center.... For - just $40 euros a night! Wow!

But - since I am out off the beaten track, that means I need a car to get around. A weekly rental from Avis is just $300, so I am still way ahead.

I picked up the car at the airport this morning, and it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to get the headlights on, how to get the rear wiper off (after I had accidentally bumped it!) and how to get the car into reverse. Reverse was the real tricky (and most essential) bit. The car was a manual transmission, but to get it into reverse you have to pull UP on the gear shift lever while pushing it over to the far left. It took a LOT of trial and error to figure out that trick! (And each trial had me inching forward another inch towards the car in the abutting space! By the time I figured it out, the bumpers were almost touching!!!)

Then, driving.... I have a lot of sympathy for foreigners in America trying to get around not understanding the roads or being able to read the signs. It took a few trys, but I eventually found a freeway sign for Chamonix, and I knew that was roughly the direction towards Bonne. Using triangulation based upon bigger towns, I eventually found my quarry, and I am now booked into my cheap room - and it is great! (tiny and threadbare, but what more do I need?)

I napped the day away to make up for the sleepless night on the airplane, and then went out to find dinner. There are only two restaurants in this tiny French Alps town. A take-out Pizza place, and a middle-eastern cous cous restaurant. I went for the second, and had a great meal. Yumm! (though I do hate dining alone - one of the worst aspects of all this business travel is not often having company....)

A group of Americans came in after me, and I was amused to see one of them get intimidated by the menu (middle eastern food described in French, and a waitress who spoke NO english!), and he retreated next door to get something more familiar - a take-out pizza! How lame and unadventurous!!!! I wonder if the restaurant owner was insulted by that?

I could understand his fear though - sometimes you just crave something familiar. I even confess to a visit to a McDonald's in Japan - mostly because I just wanted a COLD drink with ICE in it. ;-)

Anyway - more later....

- chris

My hotel room in Tokyo has a bedside radio that tunes in 440 channels of digital music. Flipping around and checking out the channel guide - in addition to the expected collections of Japanese and international musical genres, I've found such great channels as:

+ The Birdcall Channel
+ "Japanese Cute Girls" -- Sounds like a channel of nothing but Japanese schoolgirls talking and giggling. I am NOT making this up.
+ "Whale & Dolphin Sounds"
+ Japanimation Songs Channel
+ "Highschool Girls Show"
+ "Music For On The Job"
+ "Naval Marches"
+ "American Mood Music" & "French Mood Music"
+ "The English Shower" ??? -- This is listed as a "learn english" channel....
+ "Certified Realtor Course"
+ The Horse Race Show Channel
+ "Birthday Song"
+ "Bedtime Stories"
+ "Mother's Heartbeat" - Nonstop, 24/7!
+ "Maternity Music"
+ "Music for Pets" -- What? Only one channel out of 440? Dogs and cats don't like the same stuff!!!!
+ "Counting Sheep"
+ "Merchants - Shop Greeting"
+ "Merchants - On Hold Message"
+ The "Auld Lang Syne" Channel
+ "Daily Exercise"
+ "Japanese Military Songs" - For when you tire of Naval Marches....
+ "Alibi Sounds" -- I tuned to this channel and heard the sounds of traffic in the background. I guess you could call your boss with this channel tuned in and tell him you are stuck in traffic and late for work???

But my favorites right now are "Pro Baseball Songs" and "Pro Soccer Songs" - channels devoted to the team theme songs of the various Japanese sport teams.

I love when in the middle of all the Japanese lyrics there is suddenly a random bit of English. Sometimes it even makes sense.

"To win is what we want. Together with real excitement...."

Go team!

I just love Japan..... :-)