The Dillabaugh's in Costa Rica

Well it turns out I wasn't much more diligent with blogging than I was with my own personal journal...it's been 5 months! Oh well, maybe my life is just so boring there hasn't been much to report!We went on our first big family vacation this March Break. We've been camping and have travelled around quite a bit, but this was our first non-running related family trip....ever.....and we went to Costa Rica! Mommy's parents and her sister, Pam, and her family were heading down for three weeks to visit Hannah, Luis and Toby. Pam's husband, Dave, has been going to Costa Rica for a few years now as part of the "Light Up the World" project in which they bring solar panels and LED lights to the indigenous people so they do not have to rely on kerosene lanterns to light their small homes. It was a fun, relaxing and rewarding trip.

Sunday, March 9th - Day 1
Not the start we wanted. From Friday night to Sunday morning we got 40+ cm of snow. I woke up at 5:15am to start shoveling and didn't stop until about 11am. Luckily the neighbours came out to help, as I not only had to shovel the driveway, but the entire court to get out and some of the next road as well. It was ugly. Apparently the plow didn't come until the next morning so we would have missed our flight. Anyway, we got to Toronto and had supper and a swim and hit the hay pretty early.

Monday, March 10th - Day 2
Up at 3:30am and got to the airport about 4:30am. Check in was long, boring and uneventful until, just before it was our turn, Geran threw up. Luckily he gave us a few seconds heads up, with a whimper or two followed by, "I'm gonna be sick" and we managed to turn him away from everyone. He did manage to get himself and his jogger pretty good, but nothing a quick change of clothes, some water and paper towels couldn't fix. Once on the plane Geran became very animated and almost as soon as we were in the air he said, "I really like this."

We had a stop over in Charlotte, NC in which Geran tried to lose us in the airport (and almost succeeded once) and arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica about 3:30pm (2 hour time change). Our flight was almost one hour late, largely due to sitting on the tarmack in San Jose looking for a place to dock the plane. Gord and Pam met us at the airport with our driver Marco who drove us to Hannah and Luis' place in Turrialba. It was only about 65km due East from San Jose, but took us almost 3 hours because of traffic, the winding roads and the two stops we made to buy some food and foam for bedding. Had dinner at Hannah and Luis' and then Marco drove us another 20 minutes or so, to the house we had rented for the month for $150US. Oddly, they only needed the house for one night and one week, but it was cheaper to find a place to rent for a month than to rent a place for a week and find a place for all of us to stay for one night.

Tuesday, March 11th - Day 3
Mommy and I woke up early and went for a run in the mountains (although the road we were on was flat for the most part) and then Marco returned at about 8am and we loaded up the van to head for Congo Bongo, our jungle / beach paradise. We traveled about 100km mostly east (to Limon) and then south-east along the Caribbean coast toward Manzanillo. Once again the trip took much longer than it should have (about 6 hours) because along the way we stopped to visit a friend of Dave's in Limon for about 30 min and had a few stops - one to do some banking another for some grocery shopping, and a fruit stop along the highway.
Once we had arrived, we made sure our food was safe, put our swimsuits on and headed right for the water. The waves were great for swimming and bogie boarding and we all had a real good time. Supper that night would become pretty much the standard meal for my week there. Rice, beans (re-fried with garlic, onion and red-peppers), cabbage salad, avocado and natilla (a sour cream that is so creamy it's almost cheese) and Salsa Lizano (kinda like a salsa ketchup, but way better, spicy and very tasty). It was the best meatless meal I've ever had in my life, by far, although I'm sure the fact that I was so very hungry made it taste better. Hunger is the best spice after all. After supper it was pretty much straight to bed. The sun sets, year-round, in Costa Rica about 6pm and comes up very early(just after 5am) so we sort of kept our selves on Ontario time and went to be around 7:30-8:00pm (9:30 - 10) and got up just after 5am (7).

Wedesday, March 12 - Day 4
When I say we were at our jungle paradise I was speaking literally. Our house was built on a small clearing hacked out of the jungle. Our first night's sleep ended about 3:30am when the howler monkeys decided, for one reason or another, it was time for us to get up. Were they ever loud. The very first animal I saw was a picari, which wandered across the path, seemingly without a care in the world about 10 feet in front of me. Oddly I was looking for the monkeys at the time, which I couldn't see, but could hear very clearly. Since we were up early we went for a
nice 35 minute run, barefoot, on the beach. Felt so good and since in was before 6am, it hadn't started to get too hot yet. Had a nice nap after breakfast and since the water was much calmer today, tried a bit of snorkeling. Unfortunately, as soon as we started clouds rolled in so while we saw lots of fish, they were not as colourful as we would have liked. Took a second trip to the beach before supper and saw our first deadly creature of the day, an Eyelash Palm Pit-Viper. He was about a foot or so long, all curled up basking in the warmth on a tree along the path from our homes to the beach, then at supper time that evening saw another deadly creature, a scorpion (or at least thought it was), hanging on the wall right behind the dining table at Pam and Dave's house. Turns out that although it was part of the scorpion family, it wasn't very venomous, and it's sting would have been comparable to a bee sting, but we weren't going to take that chance. It also wasn't long before Darion managed to catch one of the many lizards / geckos that were kicking in and around our houses. They were every where - basking on warm rocks, climbing trees, on the screens of our windows and one enterprising little fellow even managed to work his way into a light covering to gobble up the bugs attracted by the light! Hannah and Luis (and Toby) joined us today. Hannah will stay with us until we go back, but Luis will have to head home on Friday for a Dr's appointment.

Thursday, March 13 - Day 5
Light Up the World Day! We spent the morning traveling to Shiroles, a small village in the mountains not far from the Panama border. In fact we came very close to Panama on the way and were able to see it across a small valley, which was filled with a banana plantation. Dave spent the morning training a crew of indigenous people how to assemble the solar panel units. It wasn't very exciting for the kids (ours or the students traveling with Dave), but in terms of the value the session had for the project it was well worth it. Instead of Dave traveling down every year and installing 10 - 15 panels once a year, now that these people have been trained, they will be able to install many more, year round. The kids did help out, stripping wires and assembling units along with the native people and it was fun. Although Darion and Tommy found it tough, they were very good at not complaining and amused themselves, playing together, while Katie and Adara worked tirelessly stripping and separating wires to be used with the panels. After lunch we headed off, on foot, into the jungle to install the panel. The family receiving the panel lived in one of the most interesting houses I've seen. It was built on stilts (to keep the animals away) and the floor dry in times of flood. Animals roamed at will around the yard. There were pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, a few cows (although they didn't come too close to the house) and several dogs. There were coffee plants, coca bean trees, banana trees and just about every other kind of fruit tree you could think of. Apparently this home was one of the nicer homes that had a panel installed on this trip as some of the people were very poor, but all of the indigenous people, just like these, relied on farming to grow their own food and some food to be sold to buy other necessities. After the install we headed back for home, getting home about 8pm. It was a long day, and not only for us, but for Gord and Peggy as well, who had looked after Geran, Amber and Beth for us while were gone.




Friday, March 14th and Saturday March 15th - Day 6 & 7
Two almost identical days. No plans other than some serious R'n'R. Up early for a quick run (Friday just Sarah and I along the beach and Saturday with Hannah and Pam along the Manzanillo trails). Breakfast after a little yoga on the beach (for Sarah....i just swam) and then we took all the kids down to the beach from about 9 - 11am. Played some ultimate, went snorkeling when it was nice and sunny and splashed around in the water. The kids are fish. As soon as we get to the beach in they go and they don't come out again until it's time to go. Adara and Katie managed to drag themsleves out of the water for a while to organize an ultimate games for us. Geran on the other hand parks himself on the beach and plays with the sand completely oblivious to all that goes on around him. Every now and then he'll drop what he is doing and head to the water to sit in the little waves for a bit. It has been much calmer the last few days. Not much at all in the way of waves to jump in or board on, but the water is still refreshing nonetheless.

We usually head back about 11am to get lunch ready, which other than day 1 in Manzanillo, has been our big meal for the day. We usually all gather together at one house and all pitch in and bring part of the meal with us.11-3 is usually the hottest part of the day so we spend that time in the jungle hiding out in the shade, eating, playing games, reading, or my personal favorite - napping. Then about 3pm we head back to the beach until 5 or thereabouts, until the sun starts setting. You don't want to get caught on the trail back the houses in the dark as you might not see the snakes until you step on them or until they bite you. We have a light supper and then visit until bedtime, which isn't usually too much later. Dave had to leave this morning as well as the student group he was with was heading back to San Jose for a Saturday flight home.

Sunday, March 16 - Day 8
Well Sunday was just that - Sunny. By far the sunniest and hottest day we've had and my last full day in Costa Rica. I was already burnt pretty good, but since it was my last day, I didn't care. Spent the morning at the beach and the only real difference of this day from the others is that we had a little church meeting (a primary lesson for the kids, followed by and adult Sunday school lesson) during our quiet time in the afternoon.

Monday, March 17 - Day 9
Well all good things must come to and end, and my family and I parted company today. While I had to head back for work, they stayed for an extra week. I was up at 4:30 and walked (Gord and Hannah joined me, that was awful nice of them) about 1km to Manzanillo to catch the 5am bus. Arrived in Limon just after 7am and caught the 7:10 to San Jose. The San Jose bus station was a Zoo, but I arrived there about 10:30am, after rehearsing my Spanish lines over and over. "Puede llevarme al Aeropuerto por favor" (Please take me to the airport) and "Quanto cuestara el viaje" (How much will it cost?). I got off the bus and headed for the taxis, but was spared having to butcher the Spanish language when a man asked me "You need taxi?" and he took me to the airport! I was way too early, but the 7am bus was scheduled to get me into San Jose at 12:40ish and if it was at all late, I might have been cutting it close.
The thing that is odd about being a teacher is that you often bump into students on vacation and strangely enough, this trip was no exception. While standing in line to buy some food at the airport I had to do a double take as I saw one of my track and field athletes walking down the concourse. I stepped out in front of him and asked him why he wasn't in class and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He was just on his way down for vacation and had just arrived with his mother. When he asked what I was doing I told him that the school had sent me, looking for students cutting school and that I'd found him!
The transfer in Charlotte was supposed to be 1 hour, but was only 40+ minutes. Luckily I didn't have any checked baggage, but had to go through US customs and then back through the screening process. Made it with only 10 minutes to spare. I'm a little worried about Sarah traveling the same flight next week as she'll have baggage to pick up and then re-check before and after customs, not to mention trying to do it with 3 kids in tow.
Got into Toronto just after 11:30 and got to the hotel to pick up the car shortly after midnight. By the time I was on the road it was about 12:30 and this was the part of the trip I was dreading the most....the long ride home. I blasted the tunes, bought a RockStar energy drink and made it home about 5am. Koko went nuts. It was good to be home. Now I'll be a bachelor for a week until I drive back to TO next weekend to get Sarah and the kids.