Costa Rica, Take II

About 5:30 this morning the throaty, piggish voice of the howler monkey broke the otherwise quiet morning sounds of insects and light rain. Fortunately they were far off, and the sound was interesting enough that I opted against earplugs and tookit in. Better than the barking dog that had also disturbed the night's peace. Five of us have been sleeping outside, but it doesn't make a lot of difference, noise-wise.

I arrived in Costa Rica on the 28th of November mid day, after a full overnight flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta then another full flight to San Jose. Alicia and Josh were waiting for me with a little rented Suzuki, and we picked up Peter C in Manuel Antonio. I felt pretty good for getting along on both hours of sleep. Docta P and Ariel were already at Josh's house, which was next door to the one we stayed in last year. It's a lot bigger and has the same view.

On the way here we stopped at the Mother-in-law bridge- there are large crocodiles below. We tossed them our young coconut discards but they weren't very interested. But it was fun to see these huge, seemingly slow loungers jerk with sudden quickness at the splash of the fruit.

We had our opening dinner at a restaurant in Dominical with a dutch-trained kitchen crew. Josh's mom is here too. The food tasted amazing; I had tapas dishes of filet mignon - just cooked a little - and a shrimp pineapple dish.

Yesterday Josh, Alicia, both Peters and I ran the Rio Savegre. We had a driver and two cars, minimizing shuttle headaches. I was still too out of it from traveling and tiredness to grasp it, and was a little bothered by my lack of ability to get into a small wave at the put-in 3 out of 5 times, and once had a hard time catching the eddy. My strength was not anywhere near it was this summer when I was riverboarding a couple times a week. Truth is I haven't felt right since the end of August but think I finally got the right diagnosis and treatment. Recovery will be slow. I found out my dad died from what I have, it's just that he never treated the 15 years he suffered from it.

Peter surfing, looking down from a bridge.

The river was a class III with a couple steep holes for play spots. All of us were on hydrospeeds except for Peter C, on his Carlson, and we had one Prijon, bought from H2O adventures in Quepos. They'd been sold by some Europeans needing money to get home. I wasn't able to stay in the holes; the current was pretty fierce. Peter C had the longest rides.

The highlight of the run was a waterfall. It was a short walk up the trail and delivered a great shower. Maybe at higher water it would have been possible to run; the drop was over 30'.

It began raining pretty hard when we got off the river. The sun was starting to go down and we chased a double rainbow for several miles. On the way back we stopped for some coconut water. Josh's mom cooked dinner for us; we enjoyed a healthy chicken dish with black beans and rice.

Today we might get in a river that has a section that must be done above the surface to avoid curious cayman.

Day 2