crows to burnaby

We needed to be back in San Jose for our flight on Wednesday morning, so we considered whether on Tuesday we would take the Interbus and ferry back to San Jose, or fly with Sansa Airlines. The bus trip is about six hours, and the flight is half an hour (plus an hour for the taxi drive & waiting time at the airport). We decided that the view from above would be staggering and the later departure would give us a few more precious hours in Montezuma, so we booked a flight and made the most of our last morning.

It turned out to be the right choice, because it was the first chance we'd had to really look at Amor de Mar's tide pool. Seemed that every time we gave it a real thought, the tide was in and the rocks were being pummelled with waves. Now the tide was out and we could head down for a swim.

I think if we'd discovered the tide pool on our first day, we would've rearranged our schedule to fit the tides better. Imagine a gigantic bathtub filled with lukewarm salt water in which you can gently float. Add in several dozen little yellow & black fish, a handful of bright blue fish, a few tiny sculpins, and a healthy assortment of hermit crabs. Line the bottom with sand and water-worn seashells. Add self. Relax.

The only thing that got us out of the tide pool was the promise of a magnificent waterfall nearby. The path is directly behind Amor de Mar, and we were told it was about a 15-minute hike. (It probably is a 15-minute hike if you don't miss one of the arrows that point you to the path, but we did, and even though scampering along the rocks up the river wasn't unreasonable, it's no match for a simple dirt path. We got it right on the way back.)

We emerged to yet another stunning tropical scene; the enormous waterfall spilling into a gentle, swimmable freshwater pool. The pool was wonderfully cold and refreshing - I wished it'd been somewhere along our jungle hike from Sunday! We saw basilisk lizards (better known as "Jesus lizards") dart across the water on their hind legs. A crayfish pinched my finger when I grabbed its driftwood home. We saw hints of fish below, in the murky deep water.

Eventually we wandered back to our hotel and said goodbye before a cab picked us up. Another quick review of Amor de Mar, for anyone interested: excellent, excellent place. Perfect location, beautiful building & grounds, amazing breakfast, and some of the friendlier people we met in Costa Rica.

The airport in Tambor is basically just a thin strip, and the plane was actually the smallest I can remember being in. So that was exciting. The coastline is indeed gorgeous from above. As soon as we reached the mainland we ended up in a thick, thick bank of fog and rain, with turbulence that probably wouldn't rattle a commercial airliner but did send us bouncing around a fair bit. If you're at all claustrophic or afraid of flying, I would have to advise you not to take the flight. I even got a bit nervous at one point and I've been flying since before I was born. Still, it was only a half-hour, and we were very glad we took it.

We stayed at the Hotel Brilla Sol, a district of San Jose called Alajuela, near the airport. San Jose confuses me. From our few short hours there, I couldn't figure out if any given neighbourhood was good or bad; all the houses have massive metal fences and/or barbed wire, even if they seem clean and in good repair. A run-down shack stands next door to a bright, new home. I wasn't there long enough to get my bearings and it didn't really appeal to me.

The van pulled up at the gates of the hotel and a huge door pulled aside like something out of a movie. Hotel Brilla Sol makes a great first impression - hidden behind the tall gates and high walls are beautifully maintained grounds, with lush trees and flowers. The rooms are nice and new and well looked-after. There's a pool out back, and a restaurant.

Unfortunately, nothing measured up to that first impression. On the day we were there, the hotel appeared to be run by a bunch of indifferent twenty-somethings. I've never seen less effort put into a restaurant menu - they were old photocopies stuck in a plain manila folder, and no prices on them so you can't see how vastly overpriced the food is. Our dinner was accompanied by radio in one ear and Spanish TV soap operas in the other. We never got our morning wake-up call - not that it mattered since we'd already been woken up by barking dogs and a loud family hollering back and forth in the courtyard at 5:30 am. No one was at the desk when we checked out the next morning; we'd paid in advance so Greg just dropped the key off.

But if that was the only hiccup in our travels, it wasn't a bad deal at all. Our flights back went fine and we were ready to be at home. We had such a full and active week there that we didn't really feel we needed any more time - though we would certainly go back! - and it's good being home in the cool, damp air of Vancouver.