Clara's Visit

Folks,

Apologies for the radio silence last week. My sister Clara had arrived the previous Wednesday, then we were away for the weekend, and then it was into a really busy week in work with the mid-term evaluations. Apologies also to people who have sent me emails and have got no reply. I hope to catch up next weekend.

Arrival from Cuba
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Clara arrived last Wednesday week, following a 3-week holiday in Cuba. She had an amazing time there and really loved it. She arrived here on the Wednesday. She had had a stopover in El Salvador, which she hadn't expected. She was most impressed with the views of what she thought was Costa Rica when landing. All was sorted out, however, at the baggage belt, when her luggage didn't arrive and she was redirected to the queue for the flight to San José.

Arte Vive
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We went to Puerto Viejo last weekend. I love this laid-back Caribbean town, and our trip was made all the more memorable by co-inciding with their Arts Festival. We had marching bands, live music and a fire show.

On the Saturday, we decided to hire bikes and cycle to Manzanillo, a beautiful beach 13km south. It was a great journey. An easy flat cycle, and we stopped for a beer in an eco-lodge, which the lady American owner tried to sell to us. The lodge, not the beer. A snip at $350,000.

As we approached Manzanillo itself, the heavens opened and we were drenched in a tropical rainstorm. Even though we were soaked, myself and Jack went for a walk on the beach, leaving Clara happily in the bar. Jack tripped over a tree and broke his flip flops, so it was difficult for him to walk in them. Then on the way home he got a puncture. So he had an inoperable bike and unwalkable flip flops. He had to walk most of the way home in mine, which were way too big for him.

Mr Lava Lava
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This weekend, myself and Clara headed up to La Fortuna for the Arenal Volcano. We met a hostal owner when we got off the bus, called Mr Lava Lava (slogan: Feel the Heat). He was a wonderful find. The hostal was cheap and clean, and he dropped us to a wonderful hot springs for the afternoon. For the price of the hot springs entrance he'd drop us there, collect us, bring us to the volcano, and drop us back for an evening in the springs. He said that if we still hadn't seen the volcano, he'd collect us at 10pm, and bring us back to the volcano.

The springs were fantastic. They weren't the same ones I'd been to before, but it's the height of luxury to bathe in hot springs sipping your cocktails. I've been to La Fortuna three times now, and we had the best view I've seen of the volcano from the town during the day. But you can only see the lava at night. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be that night. For our trips at 7pm and at 10 there was really low cloud, and we didn't see a thing. It's amazing that we could get a great view of the beautiful full moon that night, over 380,000km away, we couldn't see the volcano only 1km away.

Manuel Antonio
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After the disappointment of the volcano we decided to head to Manual Antonio, my favorite village on the Pacific Coast. It's off season, so quite a bit quieter. But we had a a really beautiful relaxed day today, just lounging on the beach, reading, and popping in for a swim in the very powerful waves every now and again. I saw the lifeguards have to go into action several times.

Clara got dreadlocks in her hair earlier, so now, after a few beers on our hotel balcony, we're off to have a meal in the old Oliver North plane smuggled into Costa Rica to help the contras during the civil war in Nicaragua.
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I have a couple of days off, Monday and Tuesday, and Thursday is the Culture Day bank holiday, so I've an easy one-day-week ahead. So until next week,

Pura Vida,

Éamon

Sunday's headline from La Nación: Alterra (airport development contractors) confirm that they don't have funds to pay the banks