awanderingcanadian

[awanderingcanadian]

Heading to Crested Butte, Colorado

Our journey from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, to Crested Butte, in southern Colorado, was a two day driving affair. Both days our Google Maps lady took us on gravel roads, (which can be quite challenging when towing a travel trailer), the final one being over a mountain pass, topping out at 9900 feet in altitude. I was doing the driving on day two and let’s just say there was some colourful language over those gravel roads miles. In places, the road had washboard conditions, one lane traffic, no shoulder, and lots and lots of vehicles, a few of which swerved across the road right in front of me for a viewpoint. It had lots of excitement for sure.

However, the scenery was spectacular. We have arrived to full blown autumnal glory, with colours we don’t get to see on the west coast of Canada. While challenging, we managed to snap some photos along our journey. Thanks to Bonnie for the photo of our trailer traversing the road!

Why Crested Butte, you may ask? Well, it’s the home of my former housemate, and exchange teacher from Scotland, Jackie…and her husband Brian. Our travel partners are the other half of that teacher exchange, and her husband who she met on said exchange, and who hails from the same wee town in Scotland as Jackie, (they’ve known each other for years!) So, it was a reunion of sorts. Craig and I hadn’t seen Jackie and Brian since the spring of 2018 when we were living in Scotland, and they came back for a visit. Bonnie and Ewan hadn’t seen Jackie since perhaps their wedding, and had yet to meet Brian. The talk the first night was a lot of catching up, with the four of them knowing the same people, at different times, so it was very entertaining.

Crested Butte is at about 8500 feet above sea level, and yesterday we did a lovely hike to a ridge that was at around 10,500! The views were amazing, but the company was better. I love data, so let me arrange our grouping in a few different ways: there are 6 of us…3 born in Scotland, 2 born in the USA, and one born in Canada. Or…4 live in Canada, (and are citizens of Canada), while 2 live, and are citizens of the USA. Four met their respective spouses while two were on a teacher exchange, while the other two met while on vacation in Mexico.

In the end, us three women have known each other for 34 years. It’s crazy, but what a wonderful world.!

[awanderingcanadian]

Keeping Travel Fun in a Political Environment

If you travel at all, even within your own country, you’re eventually going to find yourself in places where the politics of the majority of the people there don’t match your own. This can make for an uncomfortable, and sometimes even an unpleasant, trip. I am currently in the United States, which as the world knows, is in the grips of a tightly contested election between two people with very different ideas of how America should be.

Now, I am quite a political person, so being here now could perhaps not end well, however, we have had lovely interactions with everyone we have met, from many different states. I think the reason for this, is that our conversations have only once been about politics. The rest have been about how the trail is, what animals we have seen, how the showers are, where each of us is from, etc? Through these conversations, you discover that we have far more that we all enjoy, and that politics doesn’t need to be part of every conversation. That doesn’t mean there aren’t important things at stake in elections: there are, but it means that we don’t always have to hit each other over the head with our differing views. Election boxes are how you actually do something that has an affect, not shouting at people in social settings.

Sometimes we all need to remember that beautiful places and spaces can bring about really lovely conversations…no politics in sight.

[awanderingcanadian]

Meandering in Grand Teton National Park

It’s been a lovely few days in Grand Teton National Park. With much warmer overnight temperatures then Yellowstone, and warm days, 24-25C, we’ve been enjoying our time here. I’m amazed at how different the scenery is from Yellowstone, yet there are less than an hour’s drive apart.

A few days ago, the four of us set off for the hike around Jenny Lake, (7.2 miles…11.6kms). It was a beautiful day. Due to my, (improving), hip situation, I purposefully only did half of the hike, getting to one switchback below Inspiration Point, before taking the ferry back across the lake. The other 3 continued on for was ended up being an over 4 hour hike.

Yesterday, we headed in Jackson, Wyoming, human population 10,600…winter elk population 7000! While very touristy, it hasn’t yet been ruined. We enjoyed a pizza lunch, as well as taking care of the necessities of banking, grocery shopping, and fuelling up, as we pull out early tomorrow morning. The ‘boys’ rode their bikes there, (60kms), while Bonnie and I took the truck, meeting them at the Visitors Centre and Elk Refuge. En route, Bonnie and I saw a mama moose and her calf, while on the way back we saw a bull moose who was posing for photos!

There is a big fire burning east of the park and yesterday the skies at times were completely smoky, obliterating the mountains completely, while at other times it was merely hazy. We took a side road on the way back to see the old Mormon houses and to get a good look at the roiling smoke cloud.

The park is in the process of closing. Today the restaurants closed after breakfast and the main bathrooms and showers here at Coulter Bay are on restricted hours, (two 2 hour openings: 8-10am and 4-6pm). As of today, the Coulter Bay RV park is the only campground remaining open. However, the scenery here is amazing, and we’ve made some good memories.

[awanderingcanadian]

Wandering In ‘Merica

I’m writing this from Grand Teton National Park, a quick 1.5 hours from our campground in Yellowstone. We spent 4 nights in Yellowstone. Having visited there 10 years ago during the very busy summer season, it was nice to come back when it was a bit quieter. Of course, it was significantly colder as well, with overnight temperatures getting down to 0C.

We walked the boardwalks of some of their amazing geysers, I rode my electric bike twice to Lake Lodge to get wifi…and one evening I had an amazing cocktall there as well…strictly while waiting for the slow evening wifi.

Visiting Yellowstone is like visiting another planet. The moonscape features of the hot spring geysers, as the ground underneath you is in a state of constant eruption, makes it a place like no other. Of course, Old Faithful is famous throughout the world, and it’s nicely laid out for a good walk around the many bubbling pools, but there are so many other amazing geysers to see throughout the park. Then there’s the wildlife: buffalo, wolves, bears, and elk to name a few.

We enjoyed our 4 nights in Yellowstone and are looking forward to our time in Grand Teton.

[awanderingcanadian]

The Start of the Road Trip

Thursday we headed out for a 28 day road trip. When you live on an island, off of another island, getting to the mainland is always the first big step. Thursday was our first night of 4 nights ‘off the grid’, although in the spirit of full disclosure, we spent it in a casino parking lot just north of Seattle. We enjoyed a restaurant meal, stocked up on some fruits and vegetables, and even had a little retail therapy…so much for roughing it!

The next two nights were spent in Hip Camps: the first just outside of Spokane, Washington, the second outside of Bozeman, Montana. Both were great in different ways, and both had small challenges. Unfortunately, I only took a photo at the first one. It was a farm, and our site was deeply rutted, but we made it work. The young man who owned the property gifted us a dozen fresh eggs! The second one was beautiful: cement pads for the trailer, a flush toilet, a solar shower, and two of the spaces even had electrical hook ups. Unfortunately, it was RIGHT off of both I-90 and the long distance rail lines, so if you were a light sleeper, this wouldn’t be the place for you.

Our last day ‘off the grid’ was at Madison campground, just inside of the West gate entrance to Yellowstone National Park. After a big mix up, where somehow they’re reservation system put both our site, and our friend’s site, (who were arriving 2 days later), under our friend’s name, (although I had booked all of them and had a printed confirmation in our name), we were permitted to stay. Our site was super tight: we had to position our trailer between two trees for our slide, but overall, it was a beautiful location.

[awanderingcanadian]

OMG, I'm Aging!

You can't wait to finish school, then suddenly one day you find yourself in university living your best life,

graduating and starting your career,

finding your "person", (that's not our baby...fyi),

owning your first home, watching nieces and nephews be born and go through childhood....even graduating from university themselves,

changing jobs, moving countries,

and traveling extensively,

You even get to experience a global pandemic...

In your mind, all of this has taken place over the course of a few years, and you're still young and fun, right?

Then suddenly something happens, and you finally realize that you're aging. It's funny what triggers that realization. I've lost quite a few friends over the past few years, but somehow I wasn't feeling old myself. The eldest of our nieces and nephews is in her mid 40's with 3 children of her own...nope, I still wasn't feeling old. Maybe my feeling of aging has been delayed because I am fortunate enough to still have both of my parents, (albeit it that my mum has dementia and is declining...this photo is from 2020)

There have been ups and downs over the years, even with my "person" that we have had to work through, but we were still youngish.

Oddly enough, it's been my nephew, (the 3rd youngest of the 10), getting his first "big boy" job, that has triggered the realization that I'm aging. I don't know why this was the catalyst. The reality that there are no more "littles" in our lives, that they are moving into their own careers, and our careers have ended...I don't know. Anyway, I'm still up for living life like a youngster...despite the fact that...OMG, I'm aging!

[awanderingcanadian]

Cheating at the Highest Level

I wrote this almost two weeks ago. While the Olympic Games have come to a close, I still wanted to post this.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll be aware of the drone spying scandal that has rocked the Canadian women’s soccer team in Paris. Personally, I’ve been all over the page with this one. My first response was incredulity, and frustration. I felt the team should be disqualified from playing. Then I was furious with Soccer Canada and the coaching staff…and that feeling still remains. However, my feelings about the players themselves are more complex. I so want to believe they didn’t know, but people from outside of Canada say they just don’t think that can be the case. I read Christine Sinclair’s post about never being part of any drone spying, and I want to believe her, because frankly she’s an international icon, and the most decorated soccer player in the world. When I saw Vanessa Gilles emotional post about the team not “being cheaters” it hit me hard: I went to the players corner.

I hate cheaters. That means that I think every coach, manager, person at Soccer Canada, and others, who knew about this should be fired. If the players knew, and continued to play, taking points, and the chance to advance, from other teams, they should be ashamed. And sanctioned. However, if they were shown video, (which I’m sure they were), without context, (“we cheated and took this”), then they epitomize the Canadian team slogan for these Olympics: “Be Brave”, because they were. Watching from a very outside view, this scandal may actually have helped the Canadian women: they closed ranks, shut out the outside noise, (because frankly it was all negative noise), and focussed on the job at hand. Isn’t that what they should be allowed to do, and protected to to, every time?

I’ve discussed this situation with friends who have either played soccer for Canada’s national team, or been high up in Sport Canada in a managerial role, and no matter how we cut it, it’s not pretty. I feel like this was soccer’s Ben Johnson moment. Sure, other teams cheat as well, but we always seem to get caught, and it doesn’t matter how you cut it, cheating isn’t okay. This scandal has tainted not just soccer, but the Canadian athletes across the board, and that’s not okay either.

Here’s to the Canadian women for being brave in the face of adversity. I just wish this was the end to cheating also.

After I wrote this, Canada went on to advance to the round of 16. I watched the game against Germany, and we played like lions. However I think the round robin play was where Canada felt they had to prove themselves, and although I was sad to see them lose in PK’s, I also think that any medal these games would have felt like a tainted medal.

[awanderingcanadian]

Adventures with a New RV

A few months ago we took our ‘new to us’ travel trailer out for our highly anticipated shakeout trip. The purpose for the trip was to find out how everything worked in our new trailer. We were so excited to get out and enjoy it. We deliberately chose a nearby provincial park, without hook ups, (no electricity, water, or sewage), so we could check out our newly installed solar panels. Armed with two brand new batteries, we were eager to see how we fared over the 4 nights. Unfortunately, it turned into the worst trip ever.

This is our second travel trailer, and we had to live in our last one for 5 months during the pandemic when we returned home early and our house was rented out, so we’re not newbies to rv life. The first problem occurred when I turned on the water pump, filled the hot water tank, then turned on the hot water tank…and water stopped running. My husband frantically shouted, “turn off the water, it’s pouring out of the storage compartment.” Turns out the housing on our water pump had cracked, despite the trailer being winterized. Now, we don’t know if it was cracked when we bought it, or if it happened during our week of record breaking cold, (-15C), when we were away, so we figured this one was on us. A trip back to town and $165 later, Craig was back installing the new water pump, (in a small box with not much space for maneuvering).

Then on night one, we forgot to turn down the heater, (normally we do this to stop if from repeatedly coming on during the night as this is a big energy waster). The next morning, our batteries were dead. We were surprised by this quick drain, but we had both a brand new generator, and the new solar panels, so we figured we could make it through. That was not the case. To make a very long story short: two new batteries, a new solar panel, a new converter, and lots of cash later, things were fixed. The culprit: one of our brand new batteries had a dead cell, and it basically shorted out everything else. To add insult to injury, the front end of the truck started making weird noises as we were limping the trailer to the repair shop…the left front bearings had to be replaced.

Our second trip was a few weeks later. We did the 3 hour towing trip to the west coast of the Island. This is my favourite place in the entire world. We had full hookups, and perfect weather. What could go wrong?? Well, the other side of the front end went. At the end of our week, we made the 3 hour trip back, towing, while the truck noise got louder and louder. This time we paid the big bucks and had the entire front end rebuilt.

Another few weeks later, and we returned to the scene of the crime, Rathtrevor Beach, with a group of badminton friends. Again the trailer refused to accept a charge from the generator. We hooked the generator up successfully to another trailer, and we tried a different generator on our trailer. No dice. It turns out there was an open ground?? I don’t know that that means really, but whatever, it’s fixed now.

We’ve now done 2 great trips with the trailer: a 2 week trip to Invermere, via Christina Lake on the way out, and Cultus Lake on the way back, as well as a weekend trip to unite with my sisters and McGuire cousins. As we’re relaxing with the new trailer, we’re finally enjoying it. Here’s to many more adventures!

[awanderingcanadian]

Anniversaries of Sorts

As we move towards August, I have several ‘anniversaries’ coming up that bear recognition. I haven’t written for a while, in fact I’ve been absent really for the better part of a year. That’s not to say I haven’t written a ton in my mind, I just haven’t done anything with a keyboard. I don’t know why that is, but maybe it was to do with working through my losses and getting my head back in the right space? Who knows?

Back to the point of this post: August marks some significant anniversaries for me. Ironically, I seem to defining this as ‘before COVID’ and ‘after COVID’. Can you believe that in just 5 months we will be marking the 5th anniversary of the start of the pandemic? Where did those years go? I feel like we lost 3 years of our lives, but my 19 year old niece tells me differently. For her, she was finishing high school, graduating, and starting university: all significant milestones in a young life, but for me, they were the ‘lost years’. Perspective is everything. Again I digress…

August will mark 7 years since we moved to Scotland, and the start of a strange 3 years. Seven years!! It just seems like a few years ago. The plan, for those of you who don’t know or forgot, was that we live 2 years in Scotland, (with me working and Craig retired), then we would travel for a years. With that in mind, we signed a 3 year lease with the Crown, and on June 30, 2017 left our beautiful home for what was to be 3 years of fun and adventure.

Early August of 2017 we made the move. Having being born in Scotland, and having returned many times to see family, I thought I knew how it worked, but I didn’t. We spent the first 10 days chasing our tails: we couldn’t open a bank account without a UK address, we couldn’t get a phone plan without a bank account, and we couldn’t rent a place to live without both of the above. I had to get a National Insurance number, (the equivalent of a SIN or SS number for my North American friends), which ironically was the easiest part as I had a UK birth certificate. Within the first two weeks however, we had it all sorted, and had bought a car, a tv, and countless other items. Our big score was buying an inexpensive blender and getting a voucher for a case of wine for £25! Gosh, those were stressful, but heady days.

August, 2018 I unexpectedly returned to Canada, as Craig was denied a spousal visa. The short story is that the website was misleading, (that’s now been fixed), so we applied incorrectly, and the Home Office wasn’t lenient at all. Craig had to leave in June or be deported. We were the lead story one night on the news. But enough about that. Having no home to return to, we lived in our trailer off an on for months, and wintered in the home of a friend who went to central and South America for 4 months.

August, 2019 found us leaving for 11 months of travel. We booked flights to Heraklion, Greece and rented an apartment for a month, giving me a chance to rest up after leaving my job, and packing all of our belongings yet again. We bought insurance for a 330 day, multi-country trip, and we were off! What could go wrong?? Some of you might remember this time in our recent history…

August 2020 was a wash, nothing doing. August 2021 saw the border with the U.S. open from the Canadian side, but the same Americans who had been clamouring for the border to be open, decided to keep their side closed, (insert eye roll here). August 2022 we returned to Greece, yippee! August, 2023 we stayed home and had lots of people visit us!

But my favourite August anniversary will always be this one.

[awanderingcanadian]

My Hipster Story

Today I received my long awaited cortisone shot in my hip. After a long period of ruling out what wasn’t the problem, (hip replacement not needed, surgery not needed), as well as trying less invasive ways to fix it, three different types of physiotherapy, massage, core strengthening and stretching classes, (all of which has their own benefits, but didn’t rid me of the original problem and it’s accompanying pain), in April 4th I was scheduled for an April 6th cortisone injection. Hallelujah! Until a few hours later when I received the cancellation call. They needed to order a new probe, it was back east…& on back order. It finally arrived just over a week ago, but then the technician who uploads the software wasn’t available until this past Wednesday. Yesterday morning I finally got the call I was waiting for: could I come in at 9am this morning? I was ecstatic…but honestly a bit nervous as well.

I was the first patient to have the new probe. The specialist physician was to have been off today, but she came in to clear the 5 of us who had been waiting. I think I love her.

She said to take it easy for the remainder of the day, so I came home and relaxed by taking a 90 minute nap! I did do some light raking in the yard, but I’ve postponed finishing painting the outside columns and staining the porch decking until over the weekend.

I’m so excited to already be feeling the benefits, but am having to consciously undo the adaptations that have become habits, to accomplish simple things like exiting the car, walking up even a couple of stairs.

I start targeted physiotherapy at 7am on Tuesday morning, (thanks to our fabulous physiotherapist here on our little island), and I’m back at my core strength and fitness class on Monday morning, (despite it being a holiday weekend). I’m excited to see what I can do again!

Here’s to life resuming after a few years of curtailed activity. 🥂

[awanderingcanadian]

Local Travels!

While I often blog when I’m travelling out of the country, I rarely blog about some local travels. Last weekend I had the opportunity to go visit my niece up in central B.C. While B.C.has had a lot less snow this year, it was still beautiful to fly over our coastal mountains, and to see Vancouver from the air.

It was also good to be back in Prince George, catching up with a good friend as well as my niece and her housemates. The complete lack of snow there was a bit disconcerting though.

This past Easter weekend we hosted family, and on Saturday we went to the very close by DeCourcy Island. I’ve lived to close to it for 2 decades, and while it’s only accessed by private boat, I’ve been to the provincial marine park there several times, but this was the first time I had walked the island. The weather was perfect and the views amazing.

Sometimes when you live in a gorgeous place, you forget how amazing it is. These past two weekends were good reminders.

[awanderingcanadian]

Too Many Losses

I’m afraid this isn’t a travelogue post. Nor is it a sports related post. It’s a post about the unacceptable number of friends/family I’ve lost in the past few years, and how I’m struggling a bit with it all.

I’ve lost elderly family, and my best friend since childhood in somewhat expected timelines. Those losses have been heartbreaking, but what’s compounded my coping challenges are the unexpected losses of 4 friends who were all healthy…and young, (by today’s standards). Putting these senseless losses beside the more expected ones has pushed me a bit. I go through times when I think, ‘they were healthy, and my age…this could be me at any time’, and while that’s true, it really doesn’t help my mental or physical health by dwelling on it.

It probably hasn’t helped that I’ve had a couple of nagging injuries for quite some time now. I’ve had a hip issue that’s been getting worse for a few years, and while we’ve tried various ways to solve it, (it’s not a hip replacement problem), on Tuesday I finally saw an orthopaedic surgeon. The good news is that it doesn’t appear to be a surgical solution, but instead a cortisone injection, so here’s hoping that works. In addition I’ve had bursitis in my Achilles for a few months, and the prescription cream hasn’t fixed it yet, although in fairness, it is better than it was. These things grind you down.

I guess it’s fair to say that these nagging issues, coupled with these losses, have me struggling a bit with my mortality. It’s a weird place to be for an almost 20 year cancer survivor who has always stayed upbeat, but I feel like this past week has had me starting to move through it towards a more positive mind space.

Here are a few photos of some of the people I’m missing these days.

[awanderingcanadian]

Freda Kahlo and the Museum of Anthropology

When we owned our property on the east coast of Mexico, (a 16 year labour of love), my husband qualified for a Mexican seniors card. Unfortunately, when I reached that golden age, rules had changed, so I’m still paying “extraños” rates, (foreigners), for entrances to museums, tourist attractions, movies, and bus fares. Today though we took full advantage, and visited a couple of Mexico City’s more well known museums.

Flush with our metro success from yesterday, we caught the metro out close to the Kahlo museum, then caught an Uber from there, arriving 30 minutes early for our appointed entry time. With Craig’s magical card, he paid a mere 10% of my entry, but the way I look at it, he’s covered the Uber costs! With time to spare before queuing to enter, we read a bit about Frida Kahlo’s life, so that we weren’t total idiots upon entry! We opted not to buy the photo pass, ($30MXN), as we figured we wouldn’t get the photos we wanted anyway. The pass only applies to inside the museum and there were only a couple of times I wished I could have taken a photo.

The Kahlo museum is quite a ways out from Centro, so we hailed another Uber and headed to the National Museum of Anthropology. While I paid a measly $90MXN, Craig was free, (he’s a cheap date). My main goal was to see the original Aztec calendar, but we actually spent a good couple of hours enjoying the museum. It’s very well done. While there I found out why things are closed on Mondays, (I alluded to this in my previous post). Apparently historically, people were expected to donate time to maintaining their community, and Monday was that day. Who knew?

The museum is one of 5 in the area, and most are in or around Chapultepec Park, so we wandered off in search of a quick lunch and some relaxing park time. Unfortunately, neither was to be, as our lunch was by far the worst food we’ve had in decades of Mexico visits, and the park is filled with hawkers. We did go to the castle, as apparently it’s the one castle in the Americas, (although I can’t attest to the verity of that claim), en route to the metro.

Our metro station was hilarious! It was under major construction, with tons of people walking in both directions on one half of a stairway without any railings. At the bottom we walked through a half finished underground corridor, while the other half was busy being worked on. Dust filled the air as workers moved dirt, sifted dirt, cut tiles, and welded, (with huge sparks seen from quite a distance). This would definitely have been a closed work site in Canada, but it gets better: the actual station was closed. Yes, there were no trains to be caught. People were using it to go under a busy road…that’s all. Fortunately, I’m good with the Uber app! However, after driving in many cities, and riding in taxis and ride shares, today I was scared by our driver. I was so tense I got a cramp in my leg, and gave feedback to Uber about his erratic driving practices.

We returned to our hotel for me to calm down, before heading out to enjoy a great Italian meal with all of the savings Craig had today!

[awanderingcanadian]

The Yin and Yang of Mexico City

We’re 4 days into our 5 day stay in Mexico City. This is our first time here, (having had to cancel a trip scheduled for April, 2020), and we had heard so many things from several sources about the city, so I was excited to get here, albeit a little worried about an oversell. What I’ve seen in my short time is this: CDMX has something for everyone.

If you love the architecture of Madrid, (or don’t think you’ll get to Madrid), then Mexico City can be for you. If you love good food, then Mexico City can be for you…although we had the worst lunch EVER today in Chapultepec Park.

We spent a few hours of day one on the hop on/hop off Turibus. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we enjoyed getting a feel for the city while relaxing on the open top deck.

Yesterday was a Monday, and everywhere we planned to visit, was closed…even Chapultepec Park. How can a park be closed…and why, (we found out why today…but that’s another post)? After moving to Plan B and taking a very expensive Uber to Xochimilco, we enjoyed a 70 minute slow boat ride down the canals, passing so many colourful boats, some with Mariachi bands for hire.

We recouped some of our money by going on a big adventure: taking the metro back to the Centro Historico, (where we’re based). We boarded at the start of the line, and rode it all the way to the end, before changing to another line back to home base. Where we started, there was no way to buy individual trip tickets, you had to buy a transit card, and after a few minutes of struggling, a lovely woman came back and said her son would pay for us with his card. $3MXN pesos each later, ($0.24CDN), we were on our way! Fortunately, we were able to buy tickets for the 2nd line, (a whopping $5MXN…$0.40CDN), making our trip less than $0.75 per person. Part of the adventure was being squished into the cars, heads under armpits, bags pushing into your kidneys, you get the idea. It’s when we really became aware that Mexico City is home to 22 million people, almost 2/3rd of the total population of Canada! It’s been a while since I’ve felt another body that close to mine, (excepting my husband, of course, lol!)

We ended yesterday with a nice meal, in a sparsely decorated restaurant, but with spectacular views of the Zocalo, (the main square), feeling pleased with ourselves for navigating our way around!

[awanderingcanadian]

Tortuguero National Park

After returning to the Puerto Viejo area for 6 nights, we were off to Tortuguero. Famous for its sea turtle hatching, (between July and November…so not now), it was our most remote stop on our tour of Puerto Rico. In fairness to the village, we had 2 days of torrential rain, (although we managed to skirt the rain during ALL of our outings), and as we all know, nowhere looks its best in the rain. However, the rain here is amazing: so loud and so ferocious!

For me, the highlight of the trip was the boat ride from La Pavona to Tortuguero, and back. It’s usually between 75-90 minutes in duration, (depending on tides and weather), and it’s amazing! It rained on both trips, but you have a hard roof over your head, and it’s still warm outside, so you can enjoy the scenery.

I had never seen a signpost on the water before!!

I felt the night hike was completely oversold, and underperformed. Maybe that was because we have already seen so many cool animals, (sloths and monkeys to name two), up close and in the wild, that I’ve become jaded to these more distant sightings? Or maybe it was because it basically followed a 3-5 metre ‘road’, complete with street lights for the first part, that I didn’t feel Ike I was in the tropical rainforest at all? Having said that though, I was terrified of the idea of being in a jungle setting at night, so a small part of me was relieved, lol. We dressed for rain, and for nasty snakes that might bite us. Neither nightmare happened.

One morning, we were up before 5am, for a 5:30 meet up for a canoe trip. It turned out that the “canoe” sat about 8 people, of which we were 4, and the guide did most of the paddling, although 3 of us helped out sporadically. We saw loads of birds, lizards, and even a cayman, but what I enjoyed the most was paddling in the quiet, through the marine byways. It was like being in your own version of Jurassic Park!

Right now, Tortuguero is in a place of what looks like unchecked growth, (albeit it on a small scale), without the infrastructure to support it, so it looks a bit tawdry. It will be interesting to see how it copes with this growth, as I feel much money will be needed to bring the infrastructure to where it needs to be, and as everything has to be brought in by boat, it won’t be cheap. The organization in play from the moment you arrive at the secure parking in La Pavona, shuttling you to your correct boat, being met by a hotel representative, getting your tours booked with their affiliates, is phenomenal. They are all incredibly efficient, but the infrastructure of Tortuguero itself, puts all of this at risk. I’m glad I visited, but it will be interesting to see how this place moves forward.

[awanderingcanadian]

Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast

We’ve spent the last week and a half travelling down the pacific coast of Costa Rica. Full of national parks and beaches, it was really hot, but lovely. Costa Rica has protected much of its land through some progressive, (and at the time, controversial), legislation. Today a lot of land that was previously farmed, (both agriculture and rice fields), has returned to its natural state and is a habitat for all kinds of wildlife.

We joined our friends, (who had a flown in the night before), at Playa Hermosa, a small village close to the airport at Liberia. While it currently remains quaint, the cranes on the near horizon foreshadow what is coming. The first thing we noticed was the jump in restaurant prices, followed quickly by how much warmer the ocean water was. Sunsets also became a ‘thing’ again, after spending our first week on the east coast, and they were beautiful.

Making our way down the coast, we spend a few dusty days in Santa Theresa on the Nicoya Peninsula, stopping to meet friends for lunch in the developed Tamarindo. Accommodation has ranged widely from basic but clean, to disappointing, to fabulous, and the accommodation in Santa Theresa was fabulous! Unfortunately, the town was laden with dust and the sodas in town had lots of food obsessed flies. However, we did a day trip to Montezuma, so the more able bodied of us could hike to an amazing waterfall, and we were wowed by this little town.

Continuing south, we made our way to Quepos, the town adjacent to the most famous of Costa Rica’s national parks, Manuel Antonio. After driving for 90 minutes, we jumped on a ferry to get us off of the peninsula, and made stops at what’s known as Crocodile Bridge, (where it seems you are almost guaranteed to see crocs at least on one side), and for a late lunch in the ‘interesting’ town of Jaco. Jaco was quite developed, but its overabundance of sex shops and ‘massage’ places sent me to look up what this town is about…and yes, it’s known for its partying, prostitution and drugs. Good job we only stayed for lunch and some banking!

Our Quepos accommodation fell firmly into the category of “disappointing”. We had booked a lovely looking AirBnB several months earlier, and a few months later the host asked us to switch accommodation as he had an offer of a longer staying guest. After a few days of several communications, where I said we needed the same level of accommodation or better, we settled on one that looked good in the photos. We were concerned from the start as this place had no reviews, but we were assured that was because it was new to the rental market. Well…the AC didn’t work in one bedroom, the patio furniture was so gross or in such disrepair that we couldn’t use it, and there was an old siding glass door, and it’s casing piled up on the patio. And it was way out of town. The bright spot was the lovely condo complex pool.

Manuel Antonio park was a good and busy day. Due to my bad hip, I stopped hiking at a certain point and agreed to watch a couple of our friend’s daypacks while relaxing at the beach, so they could continue on with just their water bottles. Little did I know I would be involved in my own version of Planet of the Apes, and Night of the Iguanas simultaneously! I had to quickly move everything 5 times in 90 minutes as I had white faced monkeys stalking me on land, and a HUGE iguana on the tree above me. I couldn’t leave for a swim, and a German man came and helped me chase away the iguana, who had eventually come down from his tree and was quickly approaching. Yikes! By the time the group returned, sweaty and ready for a swim, I was feeling the same way, having been engaged in my own little war.

A highlight of our time in the Manuel Antonio area was the kayak trip we took through the mangroves. The short video at the top here is from the trip. We learned a lot about how Costa Rica has taken steps to reclaim and protect its ecosystems.

Our final stop on the pacific coast was the small town of Uvita. Everything else here was overshadowed by my need to find a laundromat, lol! Fortunately, we found one right away, and right after dropping off our clothes, we found an amazing bakery! It was a good day. Close to town there was an easy to reach waterfall, so even the hip-challenged me was able to enjoy a cooling swim!

[awanderingcanadian]

Yesterday was a hard day. We learned that a friend from my high school and college days died suddenly from a heart attack, while another good friend set a date for early next week for his medically assisted death. It’s been a lot to deal with, and there have been many tears as 2 lives are sunsetting. Today we spoke to our friend and said our final goodbye. He seems ready, however, we are not. As for my other friend, while we were no longer close, we still ran into each other on occasion on the street on in a local Starbucks, and it was good to see him. Regardless of how many years have passed since we used to hang out, he was part of many good memories from my younger days, and a reminder that only today is promised.