Day 3, Sunday, March 23, 2014 I took an unexpected dip into Lake Arenal this morning when the kayak I was in, flipped. Today was the day we went to see the Poas Volcano. Because of the cloud cover at the top, we never saw it. The day began cool in the El Tucano Hotel, some 15 minutes outside San Carlos. A little drizzle was falling when I left my room at about 6:15 AM to get some Costa Rican coffee before the rest of our crew reported to the dining hall at 7:00 AM. I was disappointed to find that, although delicious aromas were coming from the building, the doors were locked. So, I accessed my e-mail while sitting under a covered walk-way just outside doors. I visited with a teacher and a few of his students from Illinois, also waiting for the mess hall to unlock. In just a few minutes I lost the Wi-Fi signal and could not get it restored. This has been an ongoing issue at the El Tucano. I do not know if it is their system or the lack of consistency in the Internet provider. As remote as we are out here, it could be a number of issues. I cannot even get any bars on my phone most of the time. When the Internet failed, I got up and strolled between a narrow passage between buildings, where the ice machine is located. There was a sort of back lawn. I was clear to me that it was not intended for guests. There were leaves and branches pushed over the edge of the steep incline at the back of the lot. The was enough debris left for me to walk out about four feet when I heard voices below, at the bottom of the hill. At first I thought someone was calling for help. I could hear the sound of rushing water. As I maneuvered closer to the perilous edge, I could see a rushing mountain stream that was rushing noisily from my right to left. I continued to hear voices, but could see no one. The stream turned away from the hill at a right angle after a short white water section that cut noisily around large and small boulders. As I followed the water upstream, I saw a person. I could not tell if it was a man or a woman. As I continued to look, I saw another person who appeared to be a woman, float into view from the greenery covering the stream. As I continued to listen for voices and watch the two people I had already seen, several more individuals floated into sight. I watched for a few seconds. I do not know how they got into the stream or where they had come from. I was obvious to me that they did not come from the El Tucano. I would not see any of our students until after 7:00 AM. I was the first inside and got a hot cup of fresh coffee laced with hot milk. After going through the breakfast line, where I got cereal with fruit, rice, an omelet and sausage-like links, I sat by myself for about five minutes until Phyllis Wells and her roommate Sue Marco joined me in the now filling room. We visited for several minutes and were joined by Brenda Koenigkramer and Ily Angell. One my one, room by room, the students from Niceville and Boyle filtered in for breakfast. We began loading the bus at about 8:45 AM, but not before taking several photos. As more and more students walked up the three-story incline to the parking lot, we began account for those of our group who were not yet at the bus. We had one delay due to a digestive issue common to travel in some Central American countries. Thank goodness we have not had major issues of this type previously on the trip. After the missing member joined us, we were off to Lake Arenal with no further problems of this type. I think everyone has been drinking the water at the hotels. It is purported to be good and I have little evidence to dispute this. It tastes good. After feeling quite dehydrated, I broke down and began to drink the water from the tap in my room. I think it is as safe as it could be. We left the El Tucano on time, around 8:50 AM. After turning right onto the highway, we traveled for about 15 minutes up and down the mountain, around curves and across one-way bridges to the city of San Carlos, a rather large city. As we left San Carlos we approached a large valley, would our way to the bottom of the mountains and headed for Lake Arenal, still at least an hour away. The scenery was new today. We traveled through different landscape where beef cattle, mostly Brahmas, are raised. Yesterday was the day for milk cows; Herefords and Holsteins. Today we were talking meat. The land in the valley is most flat, especially when compared to the mountains we experienced yesterday. There were always mountains to our left, several miles away, as we encountered long stretches of straight highway. This gave our coach driver, Juan Carlos, to reach speeds of 60 miles per hour, or more. However, there was always a severe curve, a narrow bridge, another vehicle or a pedestrian or bicycle rider in the road, unworried about the traffic that could snuff out their life in an instant. The customs of the drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians amaze me in this Latin American country. They are unperturbed by other cars, big rigs and buses that fly down the highways. With their backs to the oncoming traffic, walkers will stand a foot or two onto the road. Often, they have small children in their arms or little ones walking behind them. They just do not move. If standing, they are always within reach of a mirror. The bus has moved a thousand times, stopped or slowed down to keep from hitting them. No one is phased. I do not understand. Cars will stop right in the lane, people will get out and leave the car sitting there, often with the drivers door open. The double yellow line in Costa Rica means nothing. I cannot remember a two-lane bridge. There are no rules. Few people seem to get upset. Just because you are first in line to cross the bridge does not mean you will go first. Cars will pull into the road and stop. They would have not even checked to see what is coming. There are more rules in Wal-Mart than a Costa Rican highway. Today, I saw cars stopped on the other side of the road, on a narrow mountain highway, just past a curve one in the lane with the trunk opened and several family members feeding out of the back of the vehicle. Instead of going to the far side of the car, they opened doors and strolled on the highway. To make matters worse, they were feeding a family of coatimundi, a raccoon-like animal. This is illegal and immoral. You can see the reasons not to feed this wild, sociable animal. I think you can see why it is stupid to park on a major highway. Several other cars were parked along the side of the highway behind this idiot. I just do not get it. I am sorry that I cannot adequately describe this traffic issue. It just makes me nervous to watch. Back to our day, we drove through the village of La Fortuna to reach Lake Arenal. The lake is the largest in Costa Rica, built between 1972 and 1974 to generate electricity. To get to the place where we would get to the pontoon boats that would take us to the kayak marina, we had to cross the kilometer long dam that caused the lake to form. The place, just on the other side of the dam, was a dangerous place to unload the bus. First, we had to cross the highway and second the oncoming traffic, coming down mountain and around a corner, could not see us. The place where we were parked was on uneven ground. It was dirty. The other side was treacherous in terms of slippery gullies, loose rocks and big rocks and chunks to trip on to descend the concrete ramp that ended at least 70 feet from the water due to low water conditions. Our group struggled down the incline in patches. The pontoon boat took the first ten or twelve down the shoreline to a little cove where the kayak marina was located. I waited for the second transport. In all, there were three trips to the marina, a distance of about two hundred yards. Most everyone had a kayak partner. I did not. My roommate, Larry, had paired up with his daughter. My Niceville parents teamed with their roommates. Most of the kids did the same. Once at the marina I partnered with Stephanie Bergmann, Boyle mom of two boys and the Canadian chaperone. She had kayaked. I had not. But I was the biggest and got the back seat. There were at least 15 kayaks and we all used the paddle to the tower that allowed water to flow from the lake to learn what to do. My paddle was too short. I thought when I selected a paddle that the short one was best. However, the back person needs the longer paddle. All went well for two miles or so. It was just a task to paddle. In the front third of the pack, we rowed on until everyone reached a cove and a time to swim. Along the way Sue Marco and Phyllis had to be rescued. The following pontoon boat did a mid-lake pick-up, not an easy task in a kayak. In the cove I was determined not to get into the cold water. Alberto had told us that the lake was extremely clean, one of the cleanest lakes in the world. Clean and cold are not the same thing. Mrs. Bergmann decided she wanted to swim with her sons and slipped over the edge. I took Kathryn Rampleys GoPro and videoed her and her friends as they swam. After about ten minutes, Stephanie had had enough and wanted back in the kayak. So, I paddled over to Larry Irlas (Boyle group leader) kayak where Stephanie was holding onto the side of his kayak. She tried several methods to get back into the kayak. Nothing worked. Finally she decided to throw a leg onto each kayak and roll into the boat. Trouble struck. My kayak rolled over toward the other kayak and the next thing I knew was I was in freezing water still videoing with Kathryns GoPro. I actually felt my diaphragm contract and all the breath left my body. As required, I had on a life vest that kept me up. My sunglasses remained on; my hat was held on by the strap and I was unscathed. Neither of us could get back into the kayak. So, our guide towed the kayak with us holding on to shallow water. Cold and wet, the entire pod of kayaks headed back to the marina and then the bus where the boys changed clothes on the bus first, followed by the women and finally the girls. After thirty minutes of getting out of wet clothes and into dry ones, we were off to La Fortuna for lunch. Lunch was another buffet in the middle of town at a restaurant filled with people. Rice, chicken, pork, beans and tamales were the lunch fare. It was all good. A man came by our room, stuck his head through the window and sold us all little musical instruments made of clay. We were supposed to stay in La Fortuna until 5:30 PM. By 4:00, all had had enough. We got on the bus and headed back to San Carlos where we stopped a the Costa Rican version of a Sams Club where we bought things for a school that we will visit tomorrow. Dinner was at 7:00 PM; again ... good. All is well. The kids are happy and playing. We did not get to see the volcano. I think I was one of the few disappointed. Swimming in the pool at the El Tacuno has been fun for the students. Soaking in the thermal hot springs scented with suffer, even better and,healthy to boot. More when I can .........
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 05:11:30 +0000
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