In prep for trip merch, sketched a caricature of Kurtis as G.D. bear; got it printed on aquamarine scuba-coozies & tee's in a mix of blues, greens & tie-dyes. Found a '72 Olympics patch, and coupled with it - star-printed banana hammock & Stop Pre shirt: Americana, 70s, lewd. We packed up the merch, the gifts, Hoka hiking shoes, other shoes, running clothes, sidekick tool, speaker, toiletries, and all of M's things in a checked bag. In my personal - bathing suits, 1 running set, dainty silks, flamboyant tees & 1 pair of Mach Turbos.
Rant of travel logistics & continual disappointment of Alaska Airlines here (highlight if you like to read about stress?) Splurged to fly out of Bellingham. From BLI > SEA we were delayed by Blue Angels. At SEA we had under an hour to make our connection to LA. Made it. I was curious if our bags would make the transition just as quickly. Sat there for a while before the pilot announced that a part of the plane needed to be fixed, that it would be about 15-20 minutes. Our 2nd & final connection would be LA > San Jose, and it too only allotted an hour. With a 20-minute delay we'd be cutting it close. Then, the pilot announced it would actually take hours to fix. In it taking that long, they needed us to de-board & the connection became obsolete. 2 hours transitioned to 5, and they had to take the bags off the plane to aid in whatever they were fixing. We waited in an Alaska Airlines customer service line for a spell (staff looking bedraggled, underwhelmed, apathetic), and were told that there were no more flights to LA, nor San Jose, and that we'd need to wait for the delayed flight later that evening, head to LA like we were supposed to, and hop on the mirroring flight to SJ the following afternoon, which would have us missing the van the group rented to take all 16.5 of us to Quepos, 4 hours away from San Jose, and eat a day of our vacation. We'd also rented a hotel in San Jose that first night so we could get groceries/necessities for the house, and because it was within 12 hours of original arrival, they wouldn't let us cancel the room. In one delayed flight - a dominoes of shit. Researched other airlines that we could transfer to, to get to CR in time to meet the group - found one through United & decided it was worth it to spend the money to save that day of our vacation. Went back to Alaska Airlines, and found someone helpful, who was able to rebook us on United sans cost. It felt like a big win. Went to the gate to see about collecting our checked bag from the original flight; they were very Can-Do; said that they had to unload all the bags anyway & that they were in talks with other Alaska Airlines staff to remove our bag specifically, and bring it down to the Alaska baggage desk @ baggage claim. Next, a little elated, we had to exit the airport, go to baggage, collect the bag from Alaska, then go to ticketing, complete the transfer & recheck-in with United. We were told to give it about 45 minutes for the bag to go from unloaded off the original flight, to dropped at Alaska's baggage desk. We waited for over an hour. They called up for it, said they were backed up, told us we had time since our new flight didn't leave SEA for 12 hours, took our phone number & said that if it wasn't there by 5p, they'd personally go and retrieve it & put it on our new flight with United.
We headed to United & completed check-in. Tried to go to the Alaska Lounge (members), telling them our situation - how the plane had broke, we'd missed our flight, we had to rebook, how we'd lost out on the hotel & had to wait at SEA for 12 hours - they said, "Sorry, we took the day pass option away. This is only for 1st class customers." So M bought a bottle of red & we sipped on it. For 12 hours. Until others in our party arrived for that same flight, and we bought another bottle and we started to feel in the trip-mood. We hadn't received confirmation on our bag having transitioned, and no one was picking up at the desk downstairs, so, in hoping for the best, we put our faith in them. Boarded, this time en route to Houston. Quick stop down there, then on the final leg to San Jose, Costa Rica - an international flight where they give you 1 cup of water & a Biscoff. No chargers. No nuts. But we were going to make it.
Once landed in San Jose, we found that our bag had not in fact arrived with us, and there wasn't a United baggage service desk at SJO, so we exited and entered the ticketing side to talk to a United rep. They were not helpful & suggested we call the service line. From what they could see, our bag was perhaps in LA. Which would mean it got back onto the flight we were originally on, with Alaska.
We had a little time before those who had arrived the day previous, and those arriving just after us would converge. Sat at a top-floor café, had Stella Artois & played gin rummy. Purchased booze from Duty.
Picked up via passenger van, the top rim & back seats filled with boxes of groceries acquired from our earlier arrived friends. From San Jose to Playa Caimito = 155-165 km. Our driver stopped at La Casita del Café in Atenas - an open air café perched on a cliff's edge off the winding 3 highway, with deep green views of the rolling hills, banana & coffee bean trees, dotted with white cattle. Mist & clouds blocked the depth, which, on an unobscured day, would reach the Pacific. The server brought a small bowl of coffee beans beneath our noses. Ordered 16x Imperials & a round of café chorreado capuchinos.
To Mi Rancho Los Cocodrilos to see the mud-baked crocs at Rio Tarcoles & the market of fresh fruit (pineapple, dragon fruit, bananas, lychee), salted plantains & souvenirs. Apparently back in the day there was little to the lip of the bridge & people would tight-tope to catch sight, so they installed a pedestrian bridge. "There’s still the running of the gauntlet of t-shirt, pipa and cell phone charger cord vendors to get out of the parking lot – you could get poked in the eye with one of those straws – but the serious adrenaline rush is no more." The cocodrilos themselves are American (Crocodylus Acutus), and they like to gather in the mud where the Costanera (Hwy 34) crosses the Tarcoles River. Jean Lea picked out a variety of fruit & a piña colada. Several hours passed. Our driver pulled over for a nice view of the ocean & we groaned, anxious to get to Caimito. Met Mefi off the side of the road for a welcome. He was very Can-Do too.
It was 5-6 hours before we landed at the Villa Caimito. The sky dimmed & the rain pissed. We dragged water and looked around in awe and drew numbers to choose rooms. M & I landed in a room facing the jungle on the 2nd floor. Two chefs, led by Jeinor, were already at work in the kitchen, steam from their pots in deliquescence on the wall of windows.
Villa Caimito - 618 El Cerro, Provincia de Puntarenas in Quepos - is an estate property in the tropical rain forest, in a private & secluded section of Manuel Antonio, minutes from the Marina Pez Vela, the main beach & Nat'l park. It's walking distance to the secluded Playa La Mancha. Has Pacific Ocean views, 9 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, 4 stories, a cozy washed concrete breakfast counter, tropical hardwood dining area, 8-person whirlpool, bean-shaped swimming pool, private chefs & a concierge team.
48-min of aqua jogging in the villa pool, the sky dark & damp with fits of thunder.
Casual dress for dinner: lime-saturated gauc, plantains, homemade chips, salsa & ceviche, breaded/browned mahi, broccoli with cheese & almonds, baked potato balls with breaded crust, shrimp sauce. Dessert: upside down warmed hostess cupcake with chocolate drizz, strawberry ice cream with sliced strawberries & 2 chocolate & vanilla wafer sticks. Paired with bubbles & fresh mulched blackberry/raspberry juice.
For personal bar - Cream dulce, finca las moras pinot grigio, ketal one, milagros, aviation american gin, flor de cana, bacardi hurricane, jose cuervo especials, tierra-noble tequila blancos, adobe reserva cab sauvs, dibon bruts, modelos, blue nun 24k, sangria, red tree pinot grigios, bavaria masters, titos, tecates, marques de caceres, +
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6 -
7:30a run of 20 miles (3 @ 7-7:05, 4-17 @ 6:40-45, 3 @ 6:55-7) - one of the more rough runs of my life, eccrine and apocrine in constant tide; stopped often under small patches of shade to cool. Found an outdoor sink outside of a closed chicken shop and scooped mouthfuls of water thinking potential beaver fever the last of my worries. The run was honkerific. I love honks. Observing locals at work in fields, sawing, dogs jetting across highway, chicos playing soccer on grass fields. I appreciated experiencing Quepos by foot, but it was over-stimulating.
Back at the house, stood under the outdoor shower to regain myself, enjoyed cold coke. M would spend hours trying to source our bag. Brunch by the pool: breakfast tacos of beans, eggs, greens & hot sauce, savory pastries, papaya, pineapple. Rental cars delivered @ 1p. Poolside cocktails, platter of cheeses. White-faced monkeys leapt from tree to tree beyond the pool, breaking coconuts & scooping the juice. Grocery run: more spirits, fresh vegetables, ceviche, ice. For dinner: The house made pasta, grilled chicken & "shrimp surprise," dotted with bowls of "anus crackers," cheese puffs & white wine. Cocktails on the top deck playing games before a saunter to bed.
SUNDAY AUGUST 7 -
B,C,D,J,K,L in kitchen making desayuno, prepping for a day out on the ocean, pesca. 5:45 am run, headed toward Manuel Antonio Park, 3.3 miles from the house. From Calle Vieja > Via 618, past lush sections of jungle, peakaboo Pacific, past Q'Tuamis, El Lagarto, Mare Milagro, Agua Azul, Jommy, El Avion, Tierrazas, Mar y Sambra, igloo alojamientos, descending down to the end of the path at the foot of the park: white sand beaches & felled coconuts. My father had asked that I collect some sand from CR to take back & set at my grandfather's grave; he said my grandfather had always wanted to go to CR. Back towards Quepos, running the residentials to roosters calling for morning. Grandes colinas. Breakfast - coke, coffee, soft boiled eggs, toast, potatoes, hot sauce.
A group headed out to Dominical to check out the small surfer's village, while M and I hung back. Day by pool reading "Running the Rift" snacking on salty Rumba Chicharricos con limon & sangria. Lunch of tostadas with black beans, rice, cabbage slaw, queso, salsa picante.
The fishing troupe caught a 185-lb tuna that took 2 hours to reel in, plus sailfish, mahi, bonitos. Celebrated with dinner of fresh mahi soaked in soy, ginger, jalapeno, guac, cucumbers, salad, white wine, bubbles with gold flecks. In bed early.
MONDAY AUGUST 8 -
5:45 am run. Observations: kids in uniform, all walked to school by guardian, armed guards/police only visible around schools, weedwacking = major job, lychee sold on every street corner, grocery stores are minimally stocked.
JL in kitchen making birthday breakfast. Raining. Ran towards 34 again. School traffic. Catamaran pickup @ 8:10a. Driven to marina. Driver rammed ladder into marina building. Sky stopped its wet as we boarded the Boomerang V. Upon boarding, handed a shot of firewater (guaro). Then we felt flush con riqueza from 9-1:20p.
Stopped at coves along M.A. park, spotted with umbrellas & dwellers, jumping fish, humpback & her baby, sailboats like pirate ships, turtles several miles from shore. Leapt from low deck, laid out on net, circling rock and small island clusters, stopped at another cove for swim & snorkel - visibility minimal. Bloated and floating in the ocean with mojitos, beers & tequila refreshers. On board for almuerzo - an interesting assortment of mashed potatoes, cold pasta salad with fresh tuna, chicken legs, greens with cucumbers & tomatoes, pineapple, kiwi, mango. Diva caught a skipchak. The whole thing felt meaningful - a group of healthcare workers, public servants, teachers, sheriff's, merchants, attorneys in swimwear, leaping giddily into the thick wet salt, being cared for, attended to. You know, like well-filling. Oh, save for M, who definitely needed a saging; poor guy got ocean-sick & spent his day napping away the green sweats in the '90's decor'd cabin's quarters.
Afterwards, reddened, we made another grocery/pharm run. Had drinks in the pool, played volley, ate fresh ceviche with plantains. Kurtis napped while all 15 of us went to Pub El Avion in his honor.
El Avion is off of Via 618. It sits 150 meters above the beach & boasts a pretty panorama. The famous CIA/Iran Contra plane rests there. "She has gone from the Cold War to sunsets and cocktails in paradise," said A. Templeton. The plane has an interesting history (read HERE). We sat on the upper deck at a long table with a view of the Pacific and all that we'd traversed earlier. Ordered picante margaritas, piña coladas, white wine sangrias, the mass of which needed a rolling cart to be delivered.
Back at the villa, chefs prepped for Kurtis' birthday dinner. A salad of greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, heart of palms, chips, ceviche, tuna tar tar, roasted carrots, tomatoes & broccoli, sliced baguette oiled & herbed, large slices of tuna lightly browned. Decorated the top floor with ribbons & streamers, glow in the dark habiliments & blacklight impedimenta. A projector played either WSP or GD. And after that lovely dinner we headed up to celebrate. The fridge stocked with Imperials, tequila, red wine (chilled). A lot of Tequila Squirts happened. That night we'd find, as Kurtis turned 50, that Newton John passed away. that Miralago was invaded by FBI.
TUESDAY AUGUST 9 -
Jean Lea, Marjanne & Becca would horseback ride this day, while the majority rest spent it at the public beach outside of Manuel Antonio. Before the beach, Gray drove me to the 34 so I could skip a portion of the most stressful part of the run. Ran out towards Dominical 5 miles, and back to the house. 3E, 6T (6-6:10s), 3E: humid-to-rain, hair wrapped circles around my arms & jarred the carriage. After a quick shower, we caravan'd cars to Espadilla Beach, set up under large tent with sun loungers ($30 for the day).
Playa Espadilla goes from Puntas Quepos to Puntas Catedral, forming an arch that is divided into 2 parts by an estuary. The rock formation, Roca Tortuga, separates Espadilla Sur Beach from Manuel Antonio Beach. Offerings of: surf lessons, catamaran rentals, banana boats, kite-sailing, vendors pushing fresh coconuts (pipas), teak bowls, snowcones, sunshirts, chicken skewers. Surfing warm waves with body & boogie, sunning, drinking beers & fresh cold coconuts. Piña Coladas from a bus just off the beach. Walked the length of it, through town with its trinkets & bars. Monkeys would swoop down and steal packets of ketchup & mayo.
Home in time for early evening rain. Monroe took a sink-bath to rid her skin of sand. Rosé on the top deck, playing everyone's least favorite songs. For cena: leftover ceviche, tuna, salad, pasta with pesto, chocolates.
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 10 -
Ran around Quepos City, skatepark de quepos, boardwalk statues, paseo del mar & parque nahomi past the nat'l coastguard. Ready by 7:45 am for ziplining (Marjanne, Brian, Kurtis, M & I). The rest, save for JL, would go on a buggy tour. Picked up via mitsubishi; Kurtis said, "I need a little breakfast." Seconds later our driver pulled in front of a bakery & birthday babe acquired some traditional pastries & a red-sprinkled custard donut. On the hour+ drive into the jungled mountains of San Antonio de Damas, a spider-cricket took board. We passed teak forests (2nd most expensive wood), a basset hound deep in the jungle, ferns growing off palm wood. Our guide called himself "Danny Gonzales Escobar." The drive was wild, slow moving. The driver would cross his chest in religious gratitude after every successful crested climb. M would fondle his gear shaft to confirm it's gear & the driver would eye him with playfulness.
The zipline tour was through Amigos del Rio/ADR Adventure Park. It incorporated a nature walk, narrow cliff hike, dry rappel, waterfall zippel, ziplining into waterfall with a free fall into a river pool, a tarzan swing, 3 jungle zips & 2 canyon zips. We walked the borders of the canyon attached to the walls by ropes, outfitted in harnesses, heavy metal carabiners hanging chunky. The first zip line was long, high & swept the canyon; made you realize you had to trust a person. The second was fleeting. A 13-meter rappel. A 35-meter waterfall. The free-fall. How awakening it felt to control your own drop, the plunge of it, the ascension. To the La Galeria - a natural platform where we did a mix of rappel & zip along a 60-meter waterfall. We stopped at a mid-jungle bungalow after the final zip, for sliced pineapple boats & Cremas Pozuelo cookies & cold water in metal cups. Hiked uphill alongside leafcutters, back to our cars. Drove to Quepos headquarters for lunch, a homestyle meal of white rice, black beans, mixed salad, steamed veg, tortilla chips, salsas, chicken & iced tea. Over lunch we watched a slideshow of pics & vids from the day's tour, which also included a tag-a-long group of 50-something body-builders from TX, which also profited a slideshow of one large implanted peek-a-boob en-waterfall-plunge, to which her husband wanted us to know should be seen, as he paid a lot for them. Tipped the team in a motorcycle helmet they'd set before us.
It's such a small-but-large pleasure to be surrounded by monkeys. The squirrel variety inhabit lowland rainforests (restricted to the northwestern tip of Panama, near the border with CR & the Central & Southern Pacific Coast of CR, primarily in Manuel Antonio & Corcovado Nat'l Parks) & scurry between tree branches in the jungle understory & bound across the forest floors. They tend to be part of 30-member troops & possess one of the most egalitarian social structures of all monkeys.
THURSDAY AUGUST 11 -
Slept in to dreams of brushing my hair, it falling out in clumps, and racing the 100k (in my dream I'd run 7:10). Ran straight towards the harbor, out 235 to 34. Had 3E, 15x 1/1, 3E - seedy sudor. Diva helped me to coffee, oj, a toasted cheese sandwich.
Carfuls to Manuel Antonio Park with to-go mimosas. "As you travel the road between Quepos & Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, the din from roaring buses, packs of tourists and locals hunting foreign dollars becomes increasingly loud, reaching its somewhat chaotic climax at Manuel Antonio village." Belinda scooted past the schwindlers to park nearer the park entrance. In Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio the air is heavy with humidity & scented with thick vegetation. Protected as of 1972, it was preserved from being razed to make room for a coastal development project. Only 600 are allowed entrance each day.
Solicited an official card-carrying tour guide for the park, a professional naturalist. Our guide - Jorge Armando Picado Masis - came with telescope. A deluge drove cotton to intimate second skin with garbage bag laden lucky few. A warm wet. Diva assisted Jorge, holding an umbrella over his scope. It was near nebulous how Jorge would walk, stop, set scope & within seconds say Look at this Howler, or These Bats, or This Poisonous Snake, and you'd squint & see it among an immeasurable amount of green. Like slides. But then the thing in question would move.
In the park there are 109 mammal species, 184 bird species, brown basilisk lizards, fruit bats, whiptail snakes, toucans (emerald toucanets, collared aracari, firey-billed), scarlet macaws, white faced capuchins, mantled howler monkeys, 2 & 3 toed sloths, black spiny tailed iguanas, ghost crabs, red land crabs, mouthless & hermit & halloween, crab eating raccoons, white nosed coati (pizote) (coatimundi), hummingbirds, american crocs (25-30 ft in length); Caimen , Basilisco (Jesus Christ Lizard), spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys (mono titi), poisonous dart frogs, blue morpho butterflies.
Spotted fruit bats in a cluster beneath frond, glass frogs on rain-drenched leaves, howler monkey in the tree, a small viper snake & colorful blue & red crabs scurrying across the forest floor. Jorge guided us for 2 hours with savv & jungle acumen. After him, we split to explore the sendero elevado el manglar, catarata, Peresozo, Sendero playa gemelas, puerto escondido, congos, miradores, punta catedral, playa espadilla sur. Hiking the Sendero Miradores was a strange commitment: scads of stairs, midway viewpoint, platform with view of playa espadilla sur, higher view of ocean along southern coast of MA & Punta Semicho (Saw Tip) that juts out from the mainland.
The dense forests in M.A. are made up of guacimo colorado, madrono, cenizaro, bully, cedar, locust (including endangered sura black locust), cow & silk cotton trees strung with vines & lianas. Along the shore there's a mix of manzanillo, beach almond (import from East Indies), copey & coconut palms. Nearer the entrance is a small arrangement of mangroves (red, buttonwood, white). The viscoyol (Bactric Major) - the ground of the trail - spends most of the year covered in water, allowing an endemic plant of the wetlands.
We walked down the slippery manglar trail to the park's entrance/exit. Pounded coladas until the caravan picked us up. Belinda, M and I took the car to fill up at an all-woman gas station, grabbed snacks, one-off beers, ice, meds.
The sky broke open in a rush. We hung at the pool, swimming, sipping, aqua jogging on our last night. Reading beneath a soggy umbrella. Secured the chefs for a final dinner + a bartender. Bartender arrived at 5p, setting up on the rooftop deck bar; made delicious raspberry & passionfruit mojitos with globules of sweet fruit & green herbs. Belinda passed out mustaches & party hats. Sampled Piña Coladas. Fire water shots. Tequila shots. Empanadas were brought up. Then a dinner of coconut rice, grilled steak, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms, shrimp with buttery garlic sauce.
Made a list of all animals seen: squirrel & spider & capuchin & howler monkeys, 2-toed sloth, raccoons, crocodiles, white-tailed deer, fruit bats, toucans, scarlet macaw, pileated woodpecker, red & blue land crabs, humpback whales, tree frogs, centipedes, iguanas, red-eyed frog, glass frogs, rainbow grasshopper, leaf cutters, viper snake, spider-cricket, Giant red-winged grasshopper, leaf cutter ants y más.
Places/things sad to miss:
coquetteplumeleteer
fer-de-lance
Christ Lizards
olive ridleys
littoral
cloud forests y dwarf cloud forests with bromelias, lichens, mosses, sooty robin, quetzal
Golfo Dulce
Olla de carne
Gallo Pinto "Spotted Rooster"
Tamarindo
Agua dulce
Viveros & sand spits
Playa Savegre, Matapalo & Baru
La Meseta Central
Cordillera de Talamanca
Fila de Bustamente
Reventazon River Valley
FRIDAY AUGUST 12 - SATURDAY AUGUST 13
"Is this Jamiroquai?"
"...it's Stevie Wonder..."
"...ohh."
"That's your new name - Jamiroquai."
= Mini-Roast
The drive from Quepos to San Jose via the coastal highway withheld:
km after km of African oil-palm plantations
Graves above ground encased in white tile tombs
Parrita
White truck full of bananas (green to yellow)
Corrugated tin roofs in degradation
Lots of lavacars
Dogs tied to trees
mud-floody yards
goats, white donkey
waterways, streams the color of thai iced tea
esterillos centro
Colorful laundry hung to dry
rice fields
Pulperias
Jaco
Lighthouse (inland)
Pipa fria
Cornfields
Tarcoles
Said goodbye to Gray who had a place in Alajuela. Culled in the lobby, playing Phase 10 with hotel wine, round of drinks & plantains with dips. Napped while Diva, Belinda & Johann gambled next door (won $500). Shuttled to the airport in kind of a glaze, a trance, narcosis.
In our travel back we got to hang in the Alaska Lounge in LA en route to Seattle (them dismissing the elitism of 1st class travelers only I guess) and thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of sparkling rosé, lattes, chia pudding, fruit, almond croissants before the trip's true end.
Addendum: Mid-September we received a call from Costa Rica that our bags had made it there...They shipped it from CR to BLI, and the following week, late at night, we giddily drove to the airport to collect our beloved Hoka bag, which had gone on a vacation for a month and a half.
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