April to August 2000

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Costa Rica is a small mountainous country on the narrow Central American isthmus. It’s only a day’s drive from its northern border with Nicaragua to neighboring Panama in the south, and can be crossed from ocean to ocean in only a few hours. Tree-lined tropical beaches hug the coast and its warmth is only exceeded by the friendly people who live here. Lush jungles are filled with spectacular birds and flowers whose intense colors rival those of an erupting volcano. Costa Rica’s stunning scenic heritage unfolds in an ever-changing panorama of steaming volcanoes, forested mountains, scenic lake views and dramatic skies. Lush lowland jungles give way to rolling savannas. Pacific surf crashes against rocky headlands, in sharp contrast to the tranquil palm-fringed beaches. The climate is idyllic in any season. The lowlands, which are dry in the Pacific northwest and humid elsewhere, the daytime temperatures range in the eighties to nineties F (high twenties to mid thirties C). Rainfall is different in each region. From November to April the northwest has a fairly well-defined dry season (“verano” or summer). Even though July is during rainy season it tends to be a dry month on the Pacific slope. Rains usually falls in afternoon cloudbursts, leaving the mornings sunny and the night sky filled with stars, this period is called “invierno” (winter or rainy season and also green season).

Yeah, we’re in Costa Rica!!! The BAHIA SANTA ELENA area is a very isolated and peaceful land and is part of the Santa Rosa National Park. This dry, tropical forest region is home to five species of cats: jaguars, margay, ocelot, puma and jaguarundi. The many caves here are home to over 60 species of bats. This bay is in deed very beautiful and should not be missed, the magnificent scenery and the untouched solitude give a feeling of nature at peace. Early morning birdsong, coyote yelping in the night, and colorful birds such as green macaws let us know that we are not the only ones here. The macaws really are very fun listening to, when they talk to each other, it sounds like a foreign language.

Our first stop in Costa Rica and we had visitors already. I never told you the story when we met Manana in Z-Town. When they found out that Sid was a retired cop, they told us that they only knew one other cop, they met him cruising and his name was Bill Jones. BILL JONES!!!! You should have seen Sid’s face when he heard that name. Many moons ago, Bill had his boat on the same dock as Sid in Marina del Rey. Bill retired LAPD almost 20 years ago and sailed off into the horizon. He was cruising for about 10 years, when he and his wife Jeanette ended up in Spain, someone offered a lot of money for his boat and he of course took it. Him and his wife, then flew back to the States, spent about all of the money on a truck, a camper, tools and other useful stuff and drove all the way down to Costa Rica, bought some property and over the last 8 years built a beautiful house and are living happily ever after.
After Manana gave us his address, I wrote him a letter and two months later we received a huge envelope from Bill, with photos, some Costa Rica charts and the question if we had Single Side Band. Two weeks later we were on an almost daily radio contact. When Bill heard that we just arrive in Costa Rica, he told us that he’ll be there the coming weekend and sure enough two days later, Bill and Jeanette drove 5 hours to see us in Bahia St. Elena. It was such a great reunion. They were just the best, bringing us all kinds of fruits, including lemons, (haven’t seen lemons in years!) She also baked a huge chocolate cake and bread for us and brought lunch on top of that. Fried chicken from Burger King, what a treat. We celebrated this very special occasion with a very good bottle of Champagne, which was just waiting for a moment like this. Unfortunately a couple of hours later they had to drive the long way back.

We’re definitely in Papagayos land now. The wind can blow out of anywhere with 30/40 knots gusts for days and days. Frankly, I think this bay has some gusty winds all the time, it’s just a local condition. The bad part about the wind was, that it blew around a hill and sometimes hit us from port and two minutes later on starboard and we were dancing pirouettes.
One early morning Reliance and us decided to go for a monkey walk and left for shore at 6AM. We had a great walk and saw many, many different birds, no monkeys, but we found some foot prints of a huge, huge cat. It must have been the tracks of a jaguar. There were a lot of green macaws everywhere as well.
Across the bay, I found paper nautilus shells, which we haven’t found anywhere else. Later down the road, Geisha told us that there is a waterfall in that area as well. It’s about a 2 hour hike and there are giant fresh water prawns in the pool. I sure wished we had known about it, when we were still there. Oh, well, next time!

Talking about Geisha, they are such adventurers. They go deep into the jungles where they get lost, or hike for hours and have to be driven back by rangers, etc. Scott said one day that he gets lost in a four bedroom apartment! Sharon found some marignon trees and picked a whole bunch of cashews. At home, on deck, she cracked them all open and washed them, getting water all over her and the deck. A few hours later she was covered with a terrible rash and the deck was stained from the cashews toxin. Yes, the cashews are very toxic. The right way to handle them is to let them dry for many days and then to roast in a special oven, because they are highly flammable. As a matter of fact, the oil which is found inside the shell is so pure, that it is used for space shuttles.
Another time walking through the jungle, Sharon found some fruit, which she thought she bought in some stores before and so both ate some. A couple of hours later their lips were blistered and their throats were burning like fire. The fruit is from the black thorn tree, which is highly poisonous and when it rains you better don’t stand underneath the tree either, because the sap that will drip down is highly toxic as well.

We stayed in Elena for about five days, before heading around the corner (25 miles) to Potrero Grande. The trip was quite busy. We had to fight 25 to 30 knots wind, 5 to 6 foot swells out of the anchorage and turn left. All I can tell you, the whole trip, we had every possible angle of sail and 25 to 30 knots gusting winds to deal with. We sailed with a double reefed main and still did 5 to 6 knots. I was steering and Sid was on the sheet for the main, it needed constant attention. It was actually a quite exciting trip, since it needed our attention every single minute. Another thing we learned on this trip is, not to trust the charts, they are off. Where we had one of our way points, was the rock we were warned about. Just good we didn’t go strictly by our way points, besides we saw the tip of the rock out of the water perking now and then. Then arriving in Potrero Grande we anchored where Charlie’s Charts said the best spot was. We were there for 35 minutes. We got such a terrible backwash from the shore that it felt like being in a washing machine. So we moved into the middle of the beautiful beach, the wind finally calmed down and we had the most peaceful sunset in a long time.

POTRERO GRANDE, also know as Ali’s Point is tucked into the extreme NE corner of the Golfo de Papagayo. There are on facilities ashore, the only structure being a Turtle Observatory almost hidden in the trees. This isolated beach is a nesting site for olive ridley turtles. This is a favorite bay for surfers and when swimming it is a good idea to have quick access to a dingy, as occasional crocodiles are sighted in this anchorage.

The next day Blondie and Reliance followed our footsteps, or not quite, because they didn’t hug the shore as Sid and other before had told them. They had a lousy trip, 40 plus gusting winds and a lot of water over the deck. We didn’t stay that dry, but at least we only got the spray off the waves, the seas were relatively calm for us, because we hugged the shore.
The next morning Blondie and us mastered the rough shore break ashore and went for another monkey walk. Still no monkeys, except for the shaking tree branches by them, we still didn’t see one. We even crossed the mangroves over a fallen tree, which was quite tricky, that put us on the side of the monkeys. Then Sid (with his machete at home, where it belongs, right?!) was leading the way into a thick and thicker jungle and we were soooooooo close to the monkeys. We did hear a lot of monkey howling and also some wildcat roaring and the hollow echoing cluck of crocodiles in heat. Back to the beach, we found all these turtle tracks and the holes they dig to lay the eggs. We did find some empty eggs shells as well, which where probably dug out by coyotes. We also saw a beautiful Caracara falcon walk just a few feet away from us.

Happy Easter from Potrero Grande everyone!!! We had a very relaxing Easter Brunch on Reliance. Actually we started it at two in the afternoon and it lasted, I don’t remember until when, but we had great food, cold drinks, great company and a wonderful time. Sid got to enjoy it a bit longer than we did, he had a terrible headache the next day.
The nights were so clear and the phosphorescence in the water just so incredible. It looked like a reflection of the stars in the water. There were millions of twinkle lights above and below us and every big set of waves crashing onto the beach, looked like someone turned a neon light on all along it, it was just incredibly beautiful.

Easter Monday, we left for BAHIA HUEVOS, which is just around the corner from Bahia de Culebra. A neat and excellent anchorage. Not just is the Bahia Huevos a very comfortable and beautiful bay. From our anchorage we watched howler and capuchin monkeys roam the near by beaches and trees. A fairly big mangrove with giant roots sticking out of the water, with lots of different bird species, invited us to explore. The beach before the mangroves provided us with clams and also offered great place for shelling.

One day we walked across the peninsula from Huevos to Mata de Cana, which is in the next bay over, Bahia Culebra. As a proud owner of a machete Sid didn’t’ forget to bring is this time. We did go to Cana which is full of coconut trees and Sid had the idea of getting us a few. He got the longest stick he could find and like a spear he started tossing it up at the coconuts. He missed and missed and missed and after a while practicing, finally hit a coconut. Of course the coconut stayed in place, but the stick bounced off and came flying back at Sid. He tried to jump back to avoid it, but bumped into another palm tree and the stick hit him in the ribs right below his left arm pit. The bump into the palm tree knocked the wind out of him and left a big bruise. The stick left a nasty cut and bruise and his ribs were sore for weeks to come, result a scar for life. A few days later, we ventured into that area again, and what does Sid want? A coconut!!!!!! Well, this time he did it right and a many long minutes later we were sipping on the refreshing coconuts.

After many, many months searching for crystal clear water, we finally found a place with somewhat clear water and used the opportunity to go snorkeling. We got lucky and found lots of snails, murex, octopus, hog fish and lobster the size of shrimp. I filled a bag full with snails and murexes. As we headed back, very exhausted, we realized that we had spent almost 4 hours in the water. We were pooped! I hung the bag with snails over the side of the boat, that they could purge themselves. I forgot one murex and added it to the others, I had to undo the knot for this. A while later Sid went to get the goody bag filled with snails, to cook them as an appetizer, we had promised to bring over for dinner at Blondie’s. Where was the goody bag? Oops, Manuela forgot to tie the knot again and the full bag slipped way into the water to be never seen again. Luckily Sid had caught a fish, which we used instead.

One of my favorite things to do is to go shelling. Unfortunately there haven’t been too many good beaches. I actually can count them on one hand ever since we left. The beach hear was finally a great shelling beach, so I thought. Every time I bent over and tried to pick up what looked like a keeper-shell, took off and walked away from me. No wonder I can not find pretty shells, they are all inhabited with hermit crabs!
We stayed about ten days in Huevos, before we headed around the corner into Culebra or Snake bay to Playa Panama.

CHECK IN PROCEDURE IN COSTA RICA: Playa del Coco is the first Port of Entry and by law you should go there to check-in before entering any Costa Rican anchorages. Of course nobody does that. Since St. Elena is one of the first anchorages and miles away from Coco’s, we all ignored the rules and didn’t check in until Playa Panama. Four of us from different boats, got a ride into town so that we could check in with the port. We did our check-in with Immigration first to get our Costa Rica stamp in our passports. Then we ventured over to the Port Captains office. Since I was the only female, he took me first, but immediately told me that I could not check in since I was the Co-Captain, demanding to get Sid here right away. He wanted to know where he was, I told him on the boat, now he wanted to know where the boat was and when I told him that it was just around the corner in Playa Panama, he yelled and asked me where the boats of my friends were. When he found out that all our boats were in Playa Panama, he got so mad he ordered us to get the boats there right now to check in. Since it was two in the afternoon already, it was impossible to get back before the office closes and I had to argue with him over that. After a long back and forth and explaining that our ride wasn’t going to pick us up until 4 PM and that we wouldn’t be able to get here before six, when the office closes unless of course he would like to work overtime. He did not like when I said that, but obviously didn’t like to work overtime either and in a really angry voice he ordered us to be back the next morning 8 sharp! Yes sir!
We were there at 8 sharp and of course the Port Captain wanted me to translate, so I told him: “you don’t want me to check in I don’t translate”, and left the office. We knew that he spoke perfect English so Sid didn’t have any trouble with the language barrier. He wasn’t happy though that he would not let me check in and asked the captain if I was on the ship document as captain, if it was OK for me to check in then. He said no because Sid was the owner. Now Sid told him that I was the owner too, and he still said no. Sid looked at him and cynically said, “ahh I see it’s a male thing”. Boy did that Captain give him a dirty look, but he agreed. At this point we just checked in and out, so that we didn’t have to face him again and went right back to Playa Panama. We weren’t too impressed with Coco’s, the anchorage was full of pangas and fishing boats and besides we’ve been warned not to leave the boat at night, they have a lot of theft and we sure don’t need that.

PLAYA PANAMA is in the Bahia de Culebra, one of the most spacious natural harbors in Central America. Named after the numerous snakes in the area, Bahia de Culebra provides excellent anchorage for vessels of all sizes. There are two popular anchorages, both with easy beach access. The first is a short distance east of Punta Buena where the rocky shores give way to the hard, sandy, dark beach off Playa Panama. Surely a very beautiful area, with this beautiful long dark sandy beach and surrounded by just forests. We spend quite some time her, met all the very nice local Ticos and made friends with Hiram and China. They were the owners of the Costa Cangrejo Restaurant, which was well hidden behind some palm and tamarind trees, we could barley see it from our boat. The two of them were the best and so accommodating to cruisers and made us feel very welcome. They are very pleased that more and more boats are stopping here and spending some time with them. Hiram liked us cruisers so much he invited us on a tour around his home place, northern Costa Rica. On May 8th at 6 am in the morning, ten of us got into a our rental van and took off for a two day tour to explore the northern terrain. The drive took us between two active volcanoes (Volcan Rincon e la Vieja and Volcan Miravalles), which are used for electricity. Past the Volcanoes we stopped at Hiram’s friends house. They paint the most beautiful birds, animals and landscapes onto wood, which is then lacquered and sold all over the country to tourists. Of course we bought some souvenirs as well. Another hour later we arrived in Upala, where China grew up. China’s mom and aunt were already waiting for us. Two tables were set up for breakfast on the pasture, and horses were settled and ready for us to go for a horse back ride through the jungle. The ride took us through a beautiful tropical area and we saw several snakes disappearing in the bushes. After this fun adventure a hearty breakfast was waiting for us.
Our next destination was Volcan Arenal, a very active volcano spitting rocks and lava over the side. We were told that if we’re lucky we’ll be able to see it. Our hotel was located on the foot of the volcano. Higher above the hill was a lake and some great paths to hike. We followed the one which brought us to the lava wall, a giant wall of lave, which had been flowing at one time. It was kind of strange, you could here and see rocks tumble down the hill and sometimes even hear the hissing and burping of the volcano. As we drove back to the hotel after our hike, the sun was just going down I happen to look up to the top of the volcano, which unfortunately was hidden behind a cloud cover, I saw something amazing. The cloud cover started to glow in a fiery red, I screamed to let everybody know. Hiram stopped the car, we all got out and watched as glowing red rocks tumble down the hill. Spectacular! There was so much of it, it almost looked like a waterfall of lava. Back at the hotel, everybody put swim suits on and headed to the thermal pools, which were a real treat. They even had long and fun water slides. Later that evening we all took our chairs outside and watched the hill side. Unfortunately the cloud cover came way down and hid the falling rocks. But there was plenty to see around the hotel. Giant moths, grasshoppers, beetles, lightening bugs and even an armadillo. I got so close to him, I could take a good picture. There was also a bird, which is one of the most beautiful birds I’ve ever seen. It’s the size of a sparrow and its body is fiery red and the wings black, what a contrast to the green jungle background.
Early the next day we drove around the beautiful lake Arenal. The scenery changed from tropical, (we stopped here and saw howler monkeys in the tree above us and a rare sight of Toucans flying through the branches, what a treat),into an area which reminding me very much of Switzerland, to an area dry looking like the Paso Robles area in Southern California. From here we took a 31 Kilometer dirt road up to the Monte Verde area.

MONTE VERDE also known as the Cloud Forest, the forests on the upper slopes of Costa Rica’s mountains and volcanoes are frequently draped in mist and clouds. Algae, mosses and lichens get foothold on the constantly wet surfaces, providing a place for orchids, bromeliads, ferns and innumerable other plants to cling to. The growth is so thick that bare branches are virtually non-existent. This is the home of the most beautiful bird in the world the Quetzal sitting quietly overhead, its long feathery tail swaying gently in the breeze, is a scarlet and emerald bird that seems to embody the spirit of the cloud forest.
Have I mentioned yet, while Costa Rica covers a mere 0.03% of the planet’s surface, the nation is endowed with over 5% of all life forms on earth. Of Costa Rica’s 850 bird species, visitors usually spot the big or colorful birds such as hawks, ducks, toucans and tanagers, plus the noisy parrots and macaws. Monkeys, coatimundis, peccaries, agoutis, armadillos, sloth, deer, squirrels and bats are the most commonly seen mammals. Also frequently found are iguanas, crocodiles and various species of lizards, not to mention sea turtles. Bizarre and colorful insects, vast numbers of flowering trees, shrubs and plants in every color of the rainbow are part of an infinitely rewarding experience with tropical nature.
We had about two hours to spend and decided instead of hiking in the forest to take the cable tour. It’s a cable tram which is electrically operated. Each tram has room for two people. The tour takes you along the canopy top, so that you can see the forest from high above and into the tree tops as well. The tour takes about 1 ½ hours and you can stop the tram at any time you want and look at things. You can see all kind of tropical animals, from sloth, monkeys, coatimundis, squirrels, toucans, other exotic birds and hundreds of butterflies.
Well, for most of us it took 1 ½ hours except for one couple, she always takes her sweet time, it took them 2 ½ hours, while the rest of us impatiently waited. Pour guys behind her tram, almost fell asleep. Due to that, we had to drive down the mountain in the dark, which is a very poor road, with big boulders, pot holes and steep cliffs. John, from Windsong, was driving and I tell you, he scared the living you know what out of me. Since I get car sick, I got to sit in the front seat with China. The rest couldn’t see the road and didn’t see what China and I saw. John had such a led foot, that we drove at high speed towards sharp curves, with just steep downhill cliffs behind them. The road for most of the time would disappear, but his lead foot accelerated. How could he see the road when China and I couldn’t. Well, we survived the ordeal and I’m sure he hated China and myself for constantly telling him to slow down. He’s wife later told me, “now you know why I never sit in the front seat with him anymore!”

A couple of days after our trip, we had a very pleasant visit again by Bill and Jeanette. For that special occasion I got up extra early in the morning, took the dinghy across the other side and sat on the beach at 6am collecting clams, which we indulged for lunch. These clams are very easy to get and within no time I had a bucket full. They are small but just the best little buggers we’ve ever had, that’s what we named them “little buggers”.

What is it with these parrots. They all seem to like me. China and Hiram had a red Lora, her name was Lola and she just totally took to me. The minute she met me she would not react to her owners anymore and the minute she heard me, she started to scream and talking and gets all excited. She is so tame, that I could pick her up and hold her like a baby in my arms. She even fell asleep while I was holding her. I sure spent much, much time with her. Hiram and China wanted to give her away and really wanted me to take her, but with two cats on the boat would have been a disaster. They found a home for her the day we left. Her new owner was a retired NASCAR driver living in Costa Rica. Unfortunately they had her for only a couple of days, when they left her unattended outdoors and a coyote got her, poor thing.

On one of the occasions, Hiram had a party of 150 people, all working for the supermarkets in Costa Rica, we met the chef Gerardo and his wife Vicky. Since he came back in a few days to deliver some food, he wanted to see a boat and we invited him to do so. It should have just been a one hour deal. One case of beer and one bottle of tequila later, they both got back to the beach, pretty drunk, but we had fun.

Rainy season is getting closer, we’ve been watching the thunder clouds moving closer day by day and on May 5th we had our first rain. Although it was very pleasant after so many months to receive some rain, I wasn’t sure how much I liked it, since it will bring a lot of lightning storms too, which can be very scary down here.

Have you ever heard such a thing as a border closing the gates at night? Neither did we until we were underway with a tour guide to Nicaragua to visit Granada and Masaya. We learned that the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua closes the gates every night from 8 in the evening until 8 the next morning.
As we got to the border there was this huge line of trucks and non of them moving. Some of them had hammocks hanging between the front and back wheels and a sleeping driver in it, the others had people sitting on the street. That should have given us a clue. So our driver passed them all, that's where we should have gotten our second clue, no oncoming traffic. A short time later we were stuck in traffic. After sitting there for about twenty minutes, we found out the reason for the delay. One of the borders, we don't know with one, was on a strike. The reason, a truck load with onions tried to get from country A to country B. Country B didn't want onions and refused to let him in. Since country A didn't want the onions either, they went on strike and closed the border. We didn't think it was a good idea to wait, for the border to open and didn't like to be stuck in this mess and so we turned around and went back to our boats. Although we never visited Nicaragua, but we learned two things: there is such a thing as the border closing during night time, the other thing we learned: neither Nicaragua nor Costa Rica like onions!!!

THE FACE PLANT OR THE RISE AND FALL OF A FULL MOON :
(the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Written by Gonzuela)

In a place far from where they lived, in the search of a thirst quenching drink, some cruisers found a Monkey Bar. Through the night many stories were swapped and lies were told and many Margaritas disappeared. Going back wasn't as easy as getting there, for most of them where staggering around. Pedro had a hard time, keeping his head up, for some reason the margarita weakened his neck. The others where a little dazed but where doing OK, so far. The trip back was a very bumpy ride, so I guess the margaritas were pounded in and by the time they reached civilization, they could not recognize it. Since the world at this point looked a bit foggy to everybody, Bonita had a great idea, she thought we needed moon light. Sly agreed and offered to help her. There they stepped onto the beach which had a gentle slope into the water. Facing the ocean, down hill they both started to bend over, not realizing the mooning rules. Number one: never moon when your drunk, Two: never moon up hill, Three: always have control of your underwear.
Bonita and Sly bend over to moon the group and Bonita kept bending and bending and ooops, we saw the moon rising and promptly saw it fall into a face plant. (For those who don't know what a face plant is, next time your drunk, bend over and tie your shoes!)
The funniest thing about that was, it kind of happened in slow motion, she would have had enough time to let go of her underwear, but they were too busy trying to pull the pants down. Bonita was a trouper, never to let a job to go undone, staggered up and promptly completed her elected assignment. I'm sure she wondered the next morning how all that sand got into her face, mouth and ears, but we know that Pedro didn't sit on her face.
The moral of the story is, never be thirsty when looking for a drink on a moony night!
End of Story

PS: Bonita didn’t remember the next day and had a hard time to believe the story!

May 17th, Sid decided we should have dinner a shore, since we were leaving the next morning to visit Bill and Jeanette. We should have it early around four, so that the mosquitoes wont get us, he meant. OK, no problem. At four arriving on shore I noticed that all the other dingys where ashore as well, but didn’t think anything of it. So I started walking towards the restaurant, when China came running towards me, hugging me and starting to talk to me. Then when we finally entered the patio of the restaurant. Peter with his digital camera came running towards me, taking photos. Weird?! But then I looked a bit more around and what do I see sitting on the wall. HA PP Y 40 ! and as I looked closer I saw that it was written on 5 full moons. I screamed, that was the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen. They wrote the letters with magic markers on their butts. How funny! That sure was a great surprise Birthday Party. The restaurant brought a whole bunch of nibble food out and we all had a great time and I got spoiled with presents. They also told me some funny stories about it. As Carl’s but was finished he stood around the back garden so it could dry, at the same time Hiram’s 64 year old maid came out walking around the corner and saw Carl with his pants down. With a squeal she turned around and hurried into the kitchen and there was her boss Hiram with his pants down, all she could do was squeal some more and head out to the front of the restaurant. China calmed her down and told her what was going on. We’re sure that nothing like that has ever happened in this woman’s life, I just hope there were nor lasting ill effects. When she understood she thought it was quite funny.

The next day early Bill picked us up. It’s about a two hour drive to his house. They lives in Guastamatal which is near Nicoya on the Nicoya Peninsula. You should see the property, he owns 50 hectares, including a whole mountain. What a beautiful and peaceful place. There is nothing really close by, they are all by themselves with three dogs, two cats and 30 heads of cattle. The view from the house is just spectacular, looking over most of the property, across the valley to the other side with several waterfalls. There is no power either, but Bill has everything hooked on solar power and Jeanette even has a solar oven. On my Birthday the 19th, we got up really, really early in the morning and headed down to the corrals. Bill, Jeanette and a helper herded the cattle into the corrals. Sid’s job was to start a fire and I was the photographer. Then we were part of the branding and name tagging the new born calves and also watched how all the cattle got their semi yearly shots of medication. You should have seen the size of the needle, one was the size of a gun. One of the male and female babies where named after Sid and I, that was very special.
Jeanette’s Birthday is just two days away from mine, so we celebrated them together. I cooked us a wonderful Fondue Bourgignonne and we had a great time catching up on old stories. On Jeanette’s Birthday we had a fun BBQ, where we met some of their friends. We had so much fun and the time went by too fast and before we new it we were driving back to Playa Panama.

As we returned to our anchorage, we saw that Art on Liberte (we met him and Ocean Quest on our way down to Cabo), and Steve and Lucy on Breathless (from our Yacht Club), finally caught up with us too. Steve and Lucy where only going to stay for a few days. But I think they got our Turtle virus, they staid for three weeks in Playa Panama, as a matter of fact, they still were there when we finally left.

Again, of course, Sid was the only one able to catch dorado from the anchored boat. All the others are wondering how he does it and what the secret was. They kept trying and trying, but no luck for them.
On another day, while having an ice-cold beer at the restaurant, we met a very nice couple, Dick and Barbara from Florida. It didn’t take long to figure out that they were boaters as well. In the week they vacationed in Costa Rica we got together several times and had a wonderful time. Ever since than we’ve been staying in email contact and we’re looking forward to meeting them on the other side. It’s always great to make new friends.

On June 5th,we rented a car for one week while Bonnie kept an eye on the boat and cats. We drove to Nosara, to visit Randy and Brenda Bombard. (The Bombards ran the Isthmus in Catalina Island for many, many years.) They left Catalina Island about the time we did and had been living here ever since. You should see their place, it’s absolutely breathtaking. With a beautiful swimming pool and several small houses with big rooms for guests, a souvenir store and the restaurant with excellent food. He mainly has surfers and sport fisherman staying in the hotel. Guess what the name is: Harbor Reef! (just like in Catalina). Brenda is known as Doctor Doolittle, all the locals bring her injured or abandoned animals. They have a howler monkey baby, her name is Magi and is just like a little baby. She even gives kisses, just like a little kid does. They also have a parrot they rescued. All kind of other wild animals come to her house, knowing that Brenda will feed them. Brenda and Randy spoiled us rotten, we had a great time, thanks!

Two days later we left and drove the dirt roads over mountains, through some of the most beautiful countryside and scenery I’ve ever seen. It was a wonderful drive, which took us back to Bill and Jeanette’s place. We spent another three days there, fulfilled with lots of good food, drinks and playing Mexican train (Domino game). I think we got them hooked on that game too. Shelly, Jeanette’s friend from Australia was there for a weeks visit as well. From her we learned a wonderful mango receipt, cut the mango into bite size pieces, sprinkle with any kind of hot sauce and rice vinegar, marinade for several hours before serving, it’s a great appetizer.

Back in Playa Panama, we had one more trip to do. All the remaining 9 boats, Hiram and China, drove to Gerardo’s (the chef) place. He wined and dined us all day long with Costa Rican specialties. Next to his place were two rivers. One with refreshing cold water and the other came from the volcano. The water was full with sulfur and had a bluish color and was quite a bit warmer then the other river was. We had a great time and almost exploded from all the wonderful food. Unfortunately most of us felt sick for the next few days, guess the wonderful food wasn’t all to fresh or clean.

June 10th, the one year party for the Costa Cangrejo Restaurant came up. Hiram had 150 invited guests for the great event. The buffet looked great, although I didn’t get one bite to eat. Since it is just Hiram and China running this restaurant I knew that they would need help and so I offered to bartend for him. He was really glad I did, he didn’t think that this many people could be so overwhelming. It was a busy night for me bartending but I had so much fun and by the time I got a brake all the food was gone.
Hiram also hired a live band and the surprise of the evening was Charro Cañero a famous Costa Rican artist who sings while riding his dancing horse, quite a show. The fiesta lasted until the morning hours and most of the cruisers gave me dirty looks for several days to come, because they hurt themselves pretty much on my drinks. Boy were they hung over the next day, but they didn’t blame me for long.

On the 12th of June we (Breathless, Dreamer, Four Winds, High Drama, Kestrel, La Roja, Blondie and Paradise), declared Costa Cangrejo to be the “Costa Cangrejo Cruising Club” or “CCCC” and we presented China and Hiram with their own burgee. They were so honored. The burgee immediately was hung up on the wall. Our PMYC flag is hanging right next to it, as the first burgee of any cruising boat. (Another one hanging in the Zihuatanejo Yacht Club and the Marina Barilles in El Salvador).
Hiram and China were just wonderful to us, we spent a lot of time with them. On their day off (Tuesdays), we usually got together, had them either on the boat or we went ashore and cooked dinners for them in the restaurant kitchen. It was a very sad time to say good-by, many tears where shed, but we know we made friends for life. Hiram and China, thanks so much for all you did for us, we sure will miss you guys.

Playa Panama has been a great, beautiful, relaxing and a very safe place for us. It is a must stop! Costa Rica is well known for it’s unsafe anchorages and all the crimes, especially petty theft. Playa Panama is probably the one and only place to leave a boat safely. (The funny thing about the crime here, it is done by Costa Ricans, but they blame it on the neighbors from Nicaragua!)
Costa Cangrejo Restaurant, run by Hiram and China has been the highlight and the best. They sure know how to spoil boaters. They offer pretty much everything a boater needs. From Laundry facility to diesel-, gas- and propane runs and especially their friendship. Hiram will sell you sodas, beers, milk. He now has cable TV hooked up as well and the boys got together to watch sports, while the girls chit chat. The food is excellent and there is always a reason for a good party. A farmer stops by on Fridays with fresh produce and the German bakery stops twice a week. A one hour bus ride takes you into Liberia, which is a great place to do all kind of shopping and Internet stuff. Coco’s is a shorter trip and can be reached by hitch-hiking, which is no problem here.

June 15th, couldn’t believe it, we actually were leaving Playa Panama after almost two months. We were afraid that the bay would drain when pulling the plug (anchor), or that we would be stuck on our own coffee grounds. But all went well and three hours (18miles) later we anchored in beautiful Bahia Brasilito.

BRASILITO is just south of Playa Flamingo. Within the bay are three separate beaches. On the north is the beautiful wide and white sandy beach of Playa Blanca with flamboyant hotel development which reaches up to the ridge. The middle beach, Playa Brasilito, is marked by some rocks and reefs near a small islet. On the southern shore of the bay is Playa Conchal, where we anchored and is the only shelling beach in Costa Rica, so they say. As we went in to collect some of those beauties, we couldn’t find any except for a 10 colones coin, well better then nothing. Near by are some nice reefs to dive on and surprisingly the water is pretty clear as well.

The first morning as we hopped into our dingy to go to the beach, Sid noticed something along side the boat. We turned back and what we saw was unbelievable. A giant turtle was swimming along side the boat. It was checking out the chain then surfaced right next to us, taking a couple of deep breaths, looking at us and then submerging again. A few seconds later, the turtle came on the surface again, looking at us and disappearing again. So we moved away from it, but it followed, so we stopped again and it came up right next to us again, taking a couple of breaths, looking at us and disappearing into the deep again. This time I got to touch it. How neat. Unfortunately we couldn’t recognize what kind of turtle it was, the shield was overgrown with moss.

We bypassed Tamarindo, Garza, Samora and Carillo, the anchorages are too open to the weather and the swells making them very uncomfortable. This time of the year the swell is out of the south, in the fall these places would be great. 93 miles further south, an overnighter, we arrived at 5am in beautiful BAHIA BALLENA, which is on the southern tip of the Golf of Nicoya, on the Peninsula side. The wide entrance of this large bay is between Punta Piedra Amarilla and Tambor. There is a detached reef off Punta Amarilla and the entire head of the bay is a wide sandy beach. There is several anchorages, but at this time of the year, the best one is at Playa los Muertos and anchorage can be taken off a very pretty rocky beach with palm trees and a jungle overgrown hill in the back ground. As in all the anchorages in Costa Rica, early in the morning and before sundown, the howler monkeys are making their presents with their loud howls. The village of Ballena is owned by the Heart family, as in Heart Inverters. After designing the inverters, he sold it and retired here, in Costa Rica. Honey his wife, brings every Friday, the freshest organic herbs and salads, which was just an incredible treat. Yeah, Christmas every Friday! This place offered us quite a few things to do. A narrow road follows the coast to Punta Piedra Amarilla: this is a nice walk. Early morning a bus can be taken to Montezuma, which is a quite resort with a beautiful hike to a 100 foot waterfall. We enjoyed that one with a bottle of wine, fresh bread and cheese accompanied by Blondie, Breathless and Four Winds.

Sue J, sent us an email that her and her brother are coming to Costa Rica. After I had called her, we arranged to meet her in Playa Naranja, which is 40 miles further into the Golf of Nicoya. June 24th we motored a further 18 miles into the Golf to ISLA CEDROS, which is between Islas Tortugas and Islas Cedros. This was a very pleasant stop-over, there is absolutely nothing there, except for some families living in the jungle. One of the families kids came out on a dug-out canoe and offered us a bucket full with Mangoes. In return I gave them some school material and candies, which they happily took. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and very tropical looking.
The next day, we headed on to 5 mile distant to ISLA GINANA or also known as Isla Muertos another picturesque anchorage. Breathless and us did a fun hike to a village which could be reached over a steep hill, you should have heard the moaning and groaning in the heat of the day, but we all got rewarded with an ice-cold beer.
The same day we received an email from Alex, stating that Sue and her brother are in the Hotel Puente Isla near Montezuma, so the next day we motored back to Ballena. There I tried to find out where that Puente Isla Hotel was, but nobody knew anything of it. The very next morning early I took the bus into Montezuma, but no such hotel around. Later that day, finally an email from Sue, they were up in Samora at the Punta Islita Hotel. Alex, how did you come up with the other one and Montezuma?
On Friday Sue arrived at Hotel Tambora. After a 1 ½ hour walk along the very hot road, we arrived at the hotels gate at 1.30 PM to greet her, but bad news, they would not let us into the hotel, it’s one of those all inclusive places. To make a long story short: First we were told that Sue was there, then she wasn’t, so we walked to the near airstrip to greet her there. There we found out that she was in the hotel after all, walked back and two hours later we finally were let through the gate and met Sue in the Lobby. But that was as far as we could go. After the 3 ½ hours to finally see Sue, we were thirsty like hell, but couldn’t buy a drink, nor get a glass of water. What a place. Since we couldn’t visit with Sue, unless we bought a $ 55 day pass, we decided that I would spend the next day with her at the hotel, since there was no other places close by. We had fun and ate and drank all day long and after the evening entertainment and some dancing, I snuck into her room and spent the night there as well. Unfortunately out of the planned 4 days, we only got to see her for one. Better than none.
Then again we headed up to Isla Muertos, did some hiking through the jungle of this little island, rewarded ourselves with fresh coconut milk and took some wild growing mangoes home. The next morning we left for Playa Naranja, a further 10 miles up into the Golf. We ran through a lot of currents and rip tides, sometimes it felt like going up stream of a river.

PLAYA NARANJO is 8 ½ miles across from Punta Arenas and another pretty anchorage. This quiet anchorage enjoys a beautiful change of colors as the different kind of trees and palapa roofs of the nice resort of Oasis del Pacifico, owned by Lucky and Agie. For $ 5.00 fee, cruisers can use the facilities: mooring buoy, swimming pool, showers, laundry tub, fresh water, trash disposal and access to the restaurant.
Hiram and China came for a days visit, which was great to see them again, we had a lot to talk about. Another day later we had another great visit by Bill, Jeanette and their friends Lisa and Walter. Jeanette again spoiled me with fresh produce out of her garden. She also gave me two orchid plants. One is a miniature orchid, when blooming is only 1/8 of an inch big, but has all the features a big orchid has. The other one had a flower bud and it opened two days later and bloomed for three weeks. I sure hope they would make it on the boat, so that I could enjoy them every year when they bloom. Unfortunately they only bloom once a year. Both survived until Cartagena where it was too cold for them inside the boat, due to the air-conditioning and too hot out in the cockpit.
Thursday we took the ferry to Punta Arenas and had a great shopping day. Most of the cruisers don’t like Punta Arenas, we didn’t think it was all to bad. It’s just another City with great shopping possibilities.

Friday, July 7th our 26 mile motor ride took us through many, many scum lines. Due to the daily rains, all kind of trash and especially tree trunks are being brought down rivers into the Golf and build quit a hazard to boaters. Some tree trunks are as long as 60 feet. Definitely no place to be sailing during night time.

PUNTA LEONA: Approximately 20 miles SE of Puntarenas lies a significant transitional zone. Rio Tarcoloes is considered the unofficial boundary separating the dry tropical forest of the north from the wet tropical forest of the south.
The beautiful anchorage adjacent to Punta Leona is well worth a visit. The niche formed by Punta Leona and the coast to the north is backed by a soft, sandy beach, Playa Manta. This soft beach is the breading grounds for hundreds of manta rays in January and February.
The many buildings seen near the beach belong to the very large Punta Leona Hotel and Beach Club, which as well welcomes boaters. It is a very nice place and offers 8 different, great trails for hiking, three guided tours daily (bird watching and all about plants for medicinal use), tennis, swimming pools, restaurants, grocery store, showers etc.) On our bird watching tour, we were very lucky to see a very rare bird the red legged honey creeper, actually there were 5 of them. The name sure doesn’t do justice, for it is a black bird with a blue band around the neck and down his back and has a turquoise cap and red legs, very, very pretty and very tiny, but it is an endangered species.
Unfortunately this beautiful place has a very loud disco, which booms late into the night, disturbing our sleep. Have I mentioned yet, that we, go to bed between 7 and 8 PM and we do get up around 5.30 in the morning, go to bed and get up with the sun.
The weather has been pretty good, July is known as the dry season and sure enough it was. In two weeks we only had two days of rain, although it is very humid. Temperature is around 85, but due to the high humidity it feels more like in the 100. The nights are surprisingly cool, sometimes we needed a blanket to stay warm.

Here is a little trivia! Do you know how many species of flora and fauna exist in Costa Rica: 850 Birds, 35,000 Insects, 9,000 Plants, 1,100 Orchids, 208 Mammals, 220 Reptiles, 160 Amphibians and 130 freshwater fish. There also are 112 Volcanoes, including two on Cocos Island; four are currently active; Poas has one of world’s biggest crater; Arenal is one of the world’s most active.

Another thing I haven’t mentioned yet, Navigation Tico style: for some reason Costa Ricans rarely use standard directions when guiding someone to a location. Instead of saying “take the first right, and then turn left” a Tico will probably say “head south and then go east”. Another confusing thing about Tico direction is the use of “100 meters” to describe one city block. No matter how long a block is - could be between 30 and 300 meters - when giving directions, a Tico will always use “100 meters.”
They also don’t use the street numbering system, instead they give directions from landmarks. Try this: “300 m. south of Burger King, 100 m. west to the bomba (gas station), 200 m. south and then 300 m. west. You can’t miss it.” Hmmmm…… good luck! And when they tell you something will take 5 minutes, it means: you definitely wait 5 minutes, which is about 30 minutes plus for sure!

July 14th and 5 miles further south we’re anchored next to Geisha in BAHIA HERRADURA, which I don’t have to mention, is another very pretty anchorage, and of course great to run into Sharon, Scott and dog Geisha again.
The Herradura anchorage is one of those feared, rolly anchorages, not unless you anchor tucked behind and next to the breakwater of the new marina, which was in the process of being built. While Geisha was rockn’ rolling, we had a comfy and quiet stay. Herradura is a very small tourist place, with only a few stores with limited stuff to provision, but it’s a great area for many beautiful hikes along roads with mandarin lime trees. The limes in Costa Rica are the best we’ve ever had. They call them mandarin limes and they sure have a slight taste of mandarin mixed in the sour lime flavor, the flesh is also the color of a mandarin and they are the juiciest buggers. Not need to tell you, that we picked them where ever we found the trees.
Sheran is a masseuse and wherever we caught up with them she insisted on giving us a massage on deck of her boat, now you can’t beat that.
On the 18th of July we pulled the anchor again and sailed (spelled: motored), 35 miles to Quepos.

QUEPOS is a Port of Entry and a major tourist place, which we recognized as soon as we bought our first beer a shore. The prices here are as they are in the States, boy, we sure are getting ripped off here. I was a bit leery about checking in an so when I walked into the office my first question was if he dealt with women, but of course he said and like a gentleman got out of his seat and pulled my seat out and offered for me to sit down. He was very casually dressed and had a very friendly smile. Checking in was easy and whenever he saw me walk by the office he would come out and ask if everything was OK and if he could help us with anything.
The anchorage is on the rolly side, since it is wide open to the West and a stern anchor is advisable. The setting is very pretty, with steep mountains in the background, which create its own weather. Which meant, rain every afternoon. So far we’ve been pretty lucky with thunderstorms, we haven’t encountered many yet and could still count them on two hands. No complaints about that, they are a sail boaters nightmare, especially when you’re the only stick in the anchorage or the tallest one. During our stay here, Sid built us a rain catcher and our water maker was pickled for the time being. It’s actually amazing how fast the tank will fill up in this rain and of course it tastes just wonderful.
Our plan was to stop here for a couple of days to provision and to check out of the country, but that changed, when Sid found the heat exchanger was leaking salt water into the engine. A new one had to be shipped down from San Diego, which was sent to San Diego via the East Coast first. 12 days later we had the part. Getting it was another story. Since Quepos has no DHL office, we had to somehow get to San Jose. The bus takes 3 ½ hours each way and costs about 9 bucks round trip, but the return bus doesn’t leave until 6 PM which would get us back to the boat around 10PM, which is way too late for the protection of the dingy and boat. So bus was out. Flying with Sansa is only 20 minutes and a $80 round trip. Arriving in San Jose at 9am and leaving again at 1pm, also not enough time to pick up the part and return the same day. Renting a car, here you have to rent it for three days minimum or you end up paying more for only one day than for the three together. What to do now? Dany, the friendly worker at the Internet Café, had a friend who offered to drive us for 85 bucks to and from the airport. Deal!!! Then I started to call DHL on a daily basis with all kind of questions. We were told that our part was in and that we could pick it up on Saturday, so we arranged it with Dany’s friend as well. Luckily I had one more question for DHL and called them on Friday late and found out that Customs is closed on Saturdays. Now what? I called DHL one more time and asked if I can pick the part up myself, since it was under Sid’s name. No problem, if Sid would authorize it in a written note with his signature. So I took the bus into San Jose early in the morning arrived at the DHL office just before 10. There I was told that I couldn’t get the part since we were a vessel in transit, I had to get a special agent and sent me to another address. After a 20 minutes walk I arrived at the agent and found out that they can not help me, I would have to order the part through them in order to get it from them. They also told me that it wasn’t necessary for me to get an agent DHL should be enough. Back at DHL they still wouldn’t help me, so I told them to give me the darn paper work and I would get it myself form customs. Now I was told that they needed Sid’s signature. That did it I was fuming. I asked the clerk to give me pen and paper, which she did and I practiced Sid’s signature until it was a pretty good forgery and signed the paper right in front of her and she handed me over the paperwork. I requested the address for the customs office and had them call me a taxi. A few minutes later I was on my way with the good luck wishes of the clerk assuring me that I will never get the parts myself. 15 kilometers further I entered the custom building and had to wait a full hour before the friendly officer showed up. He filed some paper work for me and sent me to the airport customs. Luckily one of the officers had to go there and gave me a ride. Another 6 kilometers further I waited another hour in the very busy customs office, until my paper work was done. Then I was sent back to the other customs. This was long walk back the main road to catch a taxi. A van pulled over and a friendly voice invited me for a ride to the bus station. The friendly person had seen me earlier at the custom building and knew I had to get back there, together we took the bus back to customs. There I had to walk another 20 minutes back to the office. Now the officer was gone again and I had to wait another hour for him to finally sign the papers. Done, but now he sent me to the next building over to get another signature. There I had to pay a fee of 12 bucks and finally at 4.55PM (5 minutes before closing I had the part in my hand!!! And DHL thought I wouldn’t be able to get it at all, ha! (She was indeed surprised to see me waltz into the office telling her that she was wrong.)
After that ordeal I took a taxi back to the street were DHL was, Paseo Colon and stopped at the first hotel I could find, the Caribe Inn and found the nicest owners and a
Clean and big room for 25 bucks. Across the street was a super mercado and a Chinese Restaurant, so 20 minutes later I was enjoying a bottle of red wine and Chinese food in the hotel, I sure deserved a treat. I was so proud of myself for what I did today, especially since I forged Sid’s signature in front of officials 5 times. At noon the next day I took the bus back to Quepos. My plan was to immediately check out after arrival, to provision and to get the heck out of rockn’ rolly anchorage as fast as we could. It would have worked, if the bus didn’t get stuck in a major traffic jam, due to a broken car on the bridge, which had only one lane and is shared by both side traffic. Due to that we arrived in Quepos two minutes before 4 and customs closes at 4. Sid was already waiting for me and meant that we should check out the follow day and for me to rest first from my trip. The next morning as I was at the Capitan de Puerto office, he told me that today was a holiday and everything was closed! He must have seen my disappointed face, he knew already about our uncomfortable stay here, so he picked up the phone and a few minutes later he told me to meet him in one hour in front of the Immigration office. One hour later, he arrived with the immigration officer, opened the office just for Paradise and with a happy face checked us out of the country. I gave him a bottle of red wine, which he appreciative took. Then the Capitan drove me to his office and checked me out as well, that was worth another good bottle of red wine. I have to add, that this Capitan is the nicest we’ve ever met. He is very casual dressed and goes out of his way to help cruisers. He doesn’t even mind when women do the check in.
While I did all the provisioning, Sid worked on the engine and at 7PM exhausted but happy to be able to leave, we decided to call it a night. Sid now unpacked the laundry we had washed and picked up the same evening, to find out that one sheet was missing! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Somebody really doesn’t want us to leave. OK, we lowered the dingy again, mounted the engine, Sid drove me ashore and at 7:10 PM I walked the 20 Minutes back to the laundry place, but of course they were closed by now. I noticed a piece of paper hanging on the wall, it said house for rent call this number. So I called the number and did I luck out it was the same people who owned the laundry service. 20 minutes later I had my sheet back.
Being stuck in Quepos for almost two weeks was not too much fun, the anchorage was very rolly and rough, some days more then others, with swells up to 10 feet. One day, the swells were so high, they almost broke behind our boat, which gave us no choice, but pull the anchor up and tow the boat with our small dingy into deeper water. We had some highlights here too, we had the greatest company waiting with us. Thanks High Drama and Geisha for bobbing around this uncomfortable place with us. The town was fun to shop, although expensive. We really enjoyed visiting the famous Manuel Antonio National Park, which on our first attempt with High Drama, we learned that the park closes every Monday! A couple of days later, we did a second attempt, this time Sharon on Geisha joined us. The Park, established in 1972, covers 688 h (1,700 acres). This tropical wet forest has an annual rainfall of over 3.75m (150”) and is home to many animals such as squirrel monkeys, three-toed sloth, wild boars, coatimundis, snakes, and iridescent moths and butterflies.

Our two buddy boats had left days before us and gave us a great report about our next destination, DRAKES BAY. According to them it was 70% better then Quepos. We really looked forward to a calm, quite and peaceful anchorage and 54 miles later, we anchored in beautiful Drakes Bay to find that it actually wasn’t 70% better, but 70% worse. The wind was blowing straight into Drakes. Although the anchorage is protected from the ocean swells, we did get some choppy and nasty wind waves, which made the boat pitch, still not able for us to get that long awaited sleep. At 4am I woke Sid up and we got the hell out of Drakes.

64 miles further south finally a calm and quite anchorage JIMENEZ, which is across from Golfito in the Golfo Dulce, very nice and protected. Blondie was waiting for us and had dinner ready. After anchoring we hopped into our dingy and went over to Blondie. Not even there for ½ hour, the wind started howling and we got dumped on by a whole bunch of rain. We clocked the wind at 35 knots plus, and Paradise disappeared in the heavy rain, leaving us hoping that we closed all the hatches, which we did.
We spent 4 very relaxing days here and finally caught up with our sleep. We did a guided tour through the Corcovado National Park, also known as the Amazon of Costa Rica. That was quite interesting, instead of sparrows in the tree tops we saw red scarlet macaws in all the trees. It’s just absolutely beautiful to watch them fly and disappear in the tree branches, where they can’t quite hide with their bright red, yellow and blue colors. What a beautiful bird. Other animals we saw, toucans, squirrel monkeys, all kind of lizards, poison arrow frog, spider monkeys, white falcons, caracara falcon, frogs the size of little finger nail, leaf cutter ants destroying a bush within just a couple of hours, morphoes (large blue butterfly) and lots of bugs. One of the most impressive bugs, was a two headed butterfly. Yes, it had two heads, or at least it looked like two. But when the butterfly moved or flew, it seemed like flying backwards, a very interesting camouflage.
This was the end of our stay in this absolutely beautiful country. Although we had some eye openers such as how Costa Rica really is a third world country and not as Costa Ricans like to believe it isn’t one. We came to believe that it actually is more primitive then Mexico. They are very much behind with a lot of things. The whole country is experiencing daily power outages and lots of areas still without power, poor telephone services and if you want a phone in your house, it may take you months if not years before you get one. Roads between big cities are still not paved, which leaves a lot of little villages with just the bare essentials to live on. Although the literacy is very high here, the kids only attend school up to the sixth grade then it’s up to the ones with money to continue, the rest have to find low paid jobs.
Don’t get us wrong, we absolutely loved Costa Rica and we could even imagine one day after our sailing career, when we’re in the 90’s, to live here, we’ll always think fondly of Costa Rica, but are also looking forward to many more beautiful countries to come.

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