Shelter from the Storm

 Day ten had us on another boat. This time with a bunch of locals, as it was Monday and everyone was going to work. We left Drake Bay, travelled up the coast, and up the Sierpe River to a small town called Sierpe. On the way, a pod of Spinner Dolphins joined us and the captain slowed the boat so we could watch. Later when we were going up the river the captain took a short detour through the mangroves. No crocs. 

At Sierpe, after a short wait in the riverside Las Vegas Restaurant, Diego delivered us our Suzuki 4x4. After lots and lots of paper work, we were on our way, now driving through Costa Rica. As we drove north the roads improved and the inhabitants increased, although there was still very little traffic. We passed through several small towns and stopped at a roadside stand to buy some fruit. For $1 we were able to buy fresh coconut water. The owner of the stand took a big machete, lopped the top off a refrigerated coconut, stuck a straw in it and handed it over. "Coconut Water au Natural." A great drink on a hot day.

Within an hour and a half we arrived at Shelter from the Storm, four vacation villas which are located between Uvita and Dominical. This is where we planned to spend our last five nights. The road up (and then down) to the villas is not for the feint of heart, but the view from the top is spectacular. Our hosts, Darryl and Donna greeted us warmly and, even though we were there before our scheduled check-in time, Darryl took us down to the rancho and whipped up a batch of his famous margaritas. We were joined by Kristin and Bill from Chicago who also happened to be checking in. Wouldn't you know it? Kristin is a Kindergarten teacher. Poor Craig. More teachers. We were staying in The Monkey House. We loved our 450 square foot, second floor home. Its best feature was the large covered deck nestled amongst the trees. It was like living in a treehouse. We didn't see many animals from this viewpoint, but we enjoyed sitting out there at all times of the day and night.

Shelter from the Storm is a relaxing place to stay. You can do as much or as little as you want. One day we drove into the mountains in search of hammocks. We were an hour and a half from the coast, and 3200 meters above the ocean which made the weather dramatically different. Not only was it raining, but it was cold as well. Other days we made an effort to visit several local beaches. Our favourite was Playa Arco (Arco beach). You access it, at low tide, from the Parks office at Playa Ballena. We spent several hours there and saw no one else. We had the whole beach to ourselves. Another day we went on the horseback riding tour to Nauyaca Falls. Neither of us are horse people, but after reading all the rave reviews in the guest book, we took a chance. We were not disappointed. Lynda was pleased with her calm, quiet horse who plodded along at a gentle pace. Craig's horse was a bit more spirited, but he was able to keep him under control. The horse that is. Once we arrived at the Falls, we had an opportunity to swim in the water. It was very "refreshing." The ranglers hooked up a rope system which allowed people to climb up the Falls and jump off the cliff into the water. Craig was quick to take advantage of this opportunity and filmed the 30 foot dive with his new "Go Pro" camera. With a little bit of encouragement (and peer pressure) Lynda jumped from 25 feet. She screamed from the moment she jumped to the moment she hit the water. It was all in good fun. (And yes, Craig filmed it from below).

Darryl and Donna are a wealth of knowledge and fun people to be around. The rancho contains a well stocked honour bar, a bbq, a tv and sound system, WiFi and a swimming pool. In the late afternoons, the guests seemed to congregate there to relax and chit chat. We elected to buy our groceries from the local BBM and make simple dinners on the bbq. Although it has almost been 3 years since our year of sabbatical, we rarely choose to eat out in restaurants any more.
It is amazing how quickly time flies. Before we knew it, we were back on the road and returning to San Jose. We had made arrangements with the car rental company to return the vehicle to Casa Bella Rita. Our drive into the city was uneventful, and we were happy that we weren't leaving town. With Easter Holidays approaching and schools on vacation, the Costa Ricans were all heading out of town. Four tolls later we arrived at Rita and Steve's for another enjoyable, if not short, stay. We are very grateful to Rita for arising at 4:30 am to make us coffee prior to our taxi pick-up. These are the little extras that have made their B and B so popular. Craig and Lynda are both in agreement that two weeks is not a long enough vacation. We loved Costa Rica and all the people we met, but with all the other countries out there, we probably won't go back.
Now it is time to start researching the next destination. At this point, we aren't sure where that will be. An added note: we volunteered to give up our seats on an overbooked US Airways flight to San Francisco on our way home. For our trouble we received travel vouchers. We were quite excited about it and are looking forward to using them soon.

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