Manuel
Antionio was nice, but a bit touristy. The hotel was
great, with an awesome view and the restaurant was
first-rate. Next morning, we loaded up and headed south
toward Dominical and then headed into the mountains. The
mountain road
was steep, narrow and went through dense jungle. We had
lunch in San Isidro at some random road-side restaurant and the
food was outstanding. From there we headed deeper into the
mountains then into Cartigo. Our final destination for the
night was Turrialba on the southern flanks of an active volcano.
The photos below are what we saw.
The frog
that Kathleen spotted on the fan controller started waking up at
dusk. We saw him moving so got the flash for the camera
and took another photo. His sucker feet kept him secure on
his vertical surface.
The
morning brought some thunderclouds to the western horizon that
were visible from our balcony patio.
I was
sitting on the balcony and there was a huge noise on the roof
above me. Within seconds a troop of monkeys jumped onto
the roof next to the patio. I think they were Capuchin
monkeys and they were FAST. I grabbed the camera and was
able to get the photo above of a mother with her baby on her
back.
Once the
first monkey hit the roof many followed.
This
fellow was sprinting across the tiles at high speed.
This one
held still still long enough to get a reasonable photo.
The
monkeys were in continuous motion; they scraped the gutters on
the roof for bugs and then they hopped into the adjacent bush
and were gone.
This
mother was still for only a moment before launching onto the
adjacent roof.
We
turned into the mountains at Dominical and headed up steep
grades. Along the way we came on this "event" in
progress. The story in the photo above is
several-fold. First is the sketchy frame supporting the
water tank on the posts. There are no cross-braces on the
frame, so a strong wind should bring the whole structure
crashing to the ground. But the real story is the two
trucks. The problem is with the white truck.
When we
got past the "event" we could finally see what was going
on. Look at the top of the trailer and you can see that
the truck is taller than the power line. The driver likely
heard the wires hit his cab and stopped before breaking the
lines. The fellow on the ground is going to attempt to
raise the wires over the roof of the trailer to allow it to pass
using the window scrubbing brush. Good luck! We did
not hang around, but I would bet that he got shocked.
The
upper reaches of the mountain passes were fully shrouded in
clouds.
There
were great views of the valleys below through the breaks in the
dense brush.
The
valleys were lush and I can definitely understand the attraction
of the jungle.
The zones that lack trees have been cleared for cattle.
The
roads were constructed into the steep hillsides requiring
substantial revetments to hold back the slippage of the soil.
We came
down the east slope of the first range of mountains into San
Isidro and into the sunlight.
There
was a nice restaurant close to the road and we had a great
lunch. Close to San Isidro we spotted this icon on the
mountain side.
From San
Isidro we headed back into the mountains and the path of the
road gave us nice views of the valley below.
The
upper reaches of the highway were at 3300 meters (about 10,000
feet) and we were back it the clouds. Not surprisingly, it
was cold and we turned off the air conditioning for the first
time in 2 weeks.
As we
descended the mountain into Cartago, we spotted a wind farm with
big mills whirling way in the strong winds.
Breaks
in the road-side brush allowed us to see into the valley below.
Cartago
is a working-class town and like many semi-urban areas had the
pervasive stench of raw
sewage. We spotted this above-ground mausoleum
next to our path.
We
decided to stay to the east of Turrialba in the mountains and a
random-selection hotel. The choice was good and the food
was awesome. From the balcony we could see a portion of
Turriabla in the valley below.
Through
the brush to the northeast there seemed to be a boarding school
or university. Note the nets on the field.
After
dark we had light rain and fog but since we were in the
restaurant, I took a long exposure shot of Turriabla because
there was no down-side. You can easily see the moisture in
the air. This was 60 second exposure at f/11 and ISO200.
A bit
later after the fog cleared we were able to get a cleaner shot
of town.
The drive
from Manuel Antonio to Turrialba was the best drive we have had
yet on this trip. The scenery was super, low traffic, low
hassle. That said, the roads are steep and turney, so be
sure of your vehicle. We did not expect the 3300 meter elevation on the road; that was just a
plus.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2014, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.