March 2, 2012

March 2, 2012

Today was a very long day and it is only 4:30 in the afternoon. It started before sunrise with my husband informing me he was going to walk to Tango Mar, did I want to go. My answer summed up the mixed feelings I was having. I said “yes and no”…yes I want to go there but I don’t know that I really want to walk that far. We figure that it is about 2.5 miles but not much of it is flat; lots of up and down and once we were off the main road, very dusty. I decided I did not want to sit home alone so got up and got dressed. We were on our way at 5:45.

On the other side of Tambor there is a steep incline that seems to go on and on. But the morning was still cool enough and the views are very beautiful. We also got to see some mono chongos (howler monkeys) in one of the trees overhanging the road. David was even able to make their noise well enough that the male responded with a call. But he was even more vocal when a truck went by.

As we were walking I thought that our trek would make a good life illustration story. Let’s see how it sounds.

We have a destination in mind and we know that it is beautiful and peaceful and a place we want to go to. On the way, we calculate how long it may take us to get there and we know that we need to be prepared. We take an apple each and a bottle of water. But even with preparation, there are more hills than we remember and the grade is very, very steep at times. But there are distractions along the way that make the walk worthwhile. There are spectacular views, and interesting wild life and amazing flowers to brighten our day.

Finally after much hard walking we come to a sign that points in the direction we are wanting to go. But we must go off the main road and travel a dirt road that has much less traffic. As far as we can tell we are the only ones walking. Here we walk in the quiet, until a dirt bike or car passes us, kicking up so much dirt that sometimes we have to stop and turn our heads in order to breath. But even here there are beauties to discover. A quaint pastoral scene with cows and horses help us enjoy the peace and quiet. We come to a turn in the road; one way offers refreshments but the other our destination. We continue on and the road gets narrower. The walk is broken up by the discovery of a beautiful orchid. Finally we come to a gate and we pass through, knowing that we are welcome here and the gate is not meant to keep us out. Inside the gate the scene changes with well manicured greens for the golf course and some nicer homes along the way.

Once more we come to a fork in the road. We know our destination is straight ahead, but off to the right is a road that leads to a waterfall. For some reason I have a desire to see if we can get to this waterfall easier than the one in Montezuma. So we take the side road and I say if we don’t find the waterfall in 15 minutes we are coming back. Off we walk, again up and down hills until we come to a trail. At the trail I meet a dog out for a stroll and he generously feels it his duty to show me the way to the waterfall. So following my new friend I head up the path. I do finally make the waterfall…it had taken 20 minutes instead of 15, but was worth the view. Could not really see the fall as I was at the top of it. So I get on my hands and knees and look over the edge as it fell directly into the ocean and I could see the surf and the sand and the land as it curved around to the west. Also, I could see straight out to sea for miles and miles. So I sat on a boulder in the shade and the dog sat in the water and we enjoyed the peace and the noise of the water falling and the surf crashing. As we sat there a couple of water taxis went by but they were far enough out that I could not hear their noise and the people were just dots. I cannot imagine a more tranquil place to be.

Walking back from the waterfall to get back to our road I was thinking how sometimes God gives us time of refreshing along our way. But we need to be careful and learn the difference between a time of refreshing and when we have just gotten off track. Anyway, back on the road we make it to our destination. (End of illustration)

At the resort we take advantage of the restaurant and have a batido de sandia (watermelon drink). Afterwards I sat in a hammock while my husband traipsed all over taking pictures. Unfortunately, he was not happy when he came back as he had lost his little camera to the surf. It had fallen out of his pocket and was sweep away before he knew it.

It is now 11:00 and hot away from the ocean breezes. We struggle to get back to the road, taking lots of breaks whenever we would hit a shady spot. We make it back to the main road by 11:40 and Hallelujah as we turn to walk up the road we hear a bus coming. Actually, we were not sure if it was a bus or a truck as we could only hear it. It is a bus and it is going to Cobano, so we stop it and get on.

We go to a little fast food place we had eaten before and had some cold drinks and their version of nachos. The bus to Tambor passes while we are eating so we know that we have about 2 hours to shop. So we take our time at the restaurant and then head out to shop Costa Rican style.

We go to the panaderias and get something yummy for later. One is stuffed with caramel and the other with cream cheese. Then we go to the hardware store and get a key made. On our way make to the main intersection we notice a church. We stop by and a young woman informs us that it is evangelical and that they have services on Sunday at 10. We are thinking we may try it and see what it is like. Then we go to a little Market and I buy some tonic water…supposed to repel mosquitoes…we will see. Then we went to a produce market and got a couple of things. We then went to the carnecerias and bought two kilos of carne molido. Finally we stopped and bought a bag of oranges and 2 pineapples off the back of a truck for 2 mil colones ($4)

Then we went to the bus stop and waited and waited. We figured he was about a ½ hour late. We finally got back to Tambor. I have showered and put on clean clothes and am listening to some Tenth Avenue North while writing this. But my mind is on those pastries I just mentioned.