Right now Rick is recovering from heat stroke. I'm happy to have my debit card. We're both happy to have actually made it to Montezuma. But first, a flash description of Liberia isn't complete wihout mentioning the city's park. By the time we arrived and settled in at La Riviera hotel, it was about 10pm. The park, just a couple blocks down from us, and buffetting the famous church, was quiet. It looked like any sketchy and under used park in North America.
It turns out, that when the sun goes down at it's cool enough to do something other than hide from the sun, the park is the place to be. Friends, those young and those weathered, sit on the distinct Guanacaste benches and talk. Inside the lit gazeebo, kids practice their b-boy moves. Kids with bicycles pop wheelies near the steps of the church, making way every so often for skateboarders. In the trees, Costa Rica's version of the crow (mom, I will know what exactly it is before I leave) gather and sing until they fall asleep. There is nothing dull or sketchy about this park. I actually wish our parks were used more frequently or that I used parks more often (except when it's cold and rainy).
Today we woke up at 4 am to catch the 5 am bus to Puntarenas. The scenery consists of farmland and grasslands (but then again I slept for most of the ride). This is regular public transit and I was surprised at how many people had somewhere to be so early. It seems that many people work long hours and in some cases far from their homes to make ends meet.
Midway through the drive: a crash. Little pieces of glass flew all the way to the back of the bus where I sat. The bus stopped and confused passengers pushed their head through their tiny windows. The man in the seat in front of me pulled his head back into the bus and said "un moto." Had we hit a motorcyclist? After the confusion died down it turned out that something had hit the driver's side window and shattered it. He was okay and continued driving. The motorcyclist had just witnessed the event. I still have no idea what hit the window and we made it to Puntarenas otherwise uneventfully.
Of course once we were in Puntarenas we had no idea where to go. We scrambled for directions a few times and eventually got tickets to the ferry just before the boa left. Now from Puntarenas you need to catch another bus to get to Montezuma. Rick took the lead and asked man with what looked like (and turned out to really be) some intense looking bar battle wounds. Of course this guy is a taxi driver. Of course we said yes.
His name is Dago. He certainly gives entertaining rides. He spoke Spanish and was patient as we tried to follow his stories about his bar brawl and the poor conditions of the road in Central America. Along the way he pointed out deer, a red macaw, an iguana, and the way people grow trees and use them as fence posts, but cut the tree at the knotts so it does not grow any taller. We zipped past pot hole laden roads, travelled on back roads and somehow made it to Luna Llenas. Phew!
Now the adventure begins. We dropped our bags and headed straight to town to grab a couple of boards. After all, this is why we came to Costa Rica. By now we needed to replenish our colones stash and hit an ATM. Debit cards are okay to use in Costa Rica. We rented boards from the friendly staff at Montezuma tours and set off on a 25 minute hike in 90 plus degree weather over rocks and through trails to get to Playa Grande. When we finally got there, soaked in sweat, I realized I left my debit card in the machine. Way to be the stupid tourist. Here I was so excited to see Rick's first encounter with warm ocean water. My heart sank as I trekked back, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do despite all resistance.
There's a reason why lonely planet recommends you rent from Montezuma tours. The staff called the bank who operated the ATM. They rarely come in to town and it may take them 2 to 3 days to make it to Montezuma. But as luck would have it about six other people had recently abandoned their cards in the machine as well and security was on it's way already. In abfew minutes I was reunited with my debit card. Had I resisted giving up what I wanted to do (witness Rick's first jump into warm water) and not done what was necessary (find my debit card...or a ticket back to Victoria), I might have had to wait several days to potentially get my card back.
Booking it back to Playa Grande, four howler monkeys leaped from the palm trees and near a hammock on the beach. They ran around and switched who was in the hammock.
But the highlight was seeing Rick get into warm water for the first time. He waited on shore for me, not knowing how long I might be gone, to do something he had been waiting to do for so long. His act of nonresistance was an act of resistance. At some point we should really nail down what resistance really means in light of this.
The water felt warm enough to be water from the kiddie pool. It's warmer than the water at Ala Moana beach park on O'ahu. Catching waves was no problem as the force was enough to push you forward with minimum paddling on your part.
But travelers beware. Always drink plenty of water. This is certainly our mantra from now on as mindfulness is mine as well.
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