Saturday 6/22- Remember that leaky roof on the rental property that Ramie manages? After some back and forth with the contractor and with Adam and Katie a plan was agreed upon to replace it. The only problem was, this wasn’t going to happen until about the 4th of July. Even though it was so far out, Ivan wanted to purchase all of the materials and get them dropped off at the house so that when the time came to do the job, everything was ready to go. He was scheduled to drop off the steel and roof metal this morning, and fortunately Ivan’s guys made it to the house and it didn't take too long to unload the materials, because they finished up and left just in time before the guests who were staying at the house over the next few days arrived to check in. Now, let’s just hope that it doesn’t rain too much in the next few weeks and that plastic on the roof helps keep the house fairly dry for the upcoming guests.
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| Progress pic of our Bananas |
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| We cant forget about our pineapple |
Sunday 6/23- Today we were scheduled for another adventurous day!
We would be going on a long Dusti ride, back to the cacao plantation that we went to when my army girls were visiting back in February. Of course our gracious tour guide (and nephew of the son of the cacao plantation) Deiner would be leading the pack, and along with us would be Geoff & Tracy, Juan Carlos, and another of Emilio & Julio’s brothers, Guillermo, who they call Memo.
The plan is to pick up Geoff and Tracy at about 7:30 and make our way to Don Emilo’s for a cup of coffee before hitting the road. We arrived at the plantation right at 8am and were greeted by Juan Carlos and Memo who were chit chatting where the ATVs were parked. Juan Carlos gave Ramie a look and held up a bottle of rum with a smirk on his face, and Ramie immediately knew what kind of a day this would be (but truly, it's not surprising at all!). ‘Ya gotta start some time, so they poured Ramie a shot and then proceeded to ask the rest of us if we wanted one too. Once we all had that first shot in our system we moved inside for a fresh cup of coffee while everyone chatted and finished gathering the supplies needed for the trip.
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The plantation doggies
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We were loaded up and left the plantation around 8:50 to make our long drive south through the mountains. Today’s convoy would be our ATV, Deiner & Memo each on a regular 4 wheeler style ATV, and Juan Carlos on his motorcycle.
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Today's lineup
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Once the sun was high in the sky, the cool mountain air plus the hot sun on my skin felt like the perfect temp, not too cool in the mountain because of the sun, not too hot in the sun because of the cool air… Goldilocks would have called it “just right”. The roads weren’t nearly as dusty as they were on the February trip because they’ve had some rains in the last few weeks, so instead of needing goggles and the face masks up all of the time, the sunglasses were sufficient and you only needed the face mask for some parts of the trip that were a little bit extra dusty. We made some quick stops where Deiner pointed out some of the beautiful views, and since we had made this trip once before, we knew that we would be stopping at a small convenience store for a refreshing pit-stop beer and to grab a few extras to drink while we’re at the waterfall.
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Tour Guide Deiner
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We witnessed an entire herd of cows being led down the road.
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This is what happens when Ramie gets a hold of my camera while he's waiting around!
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There are a lot of pink houses in CR, every time we drive by one, a particular Mellencamp song starts going through my head.
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According to Deiner, this may be one of the oldest convenience stores still standing in CR. Too bad it isn't still open. We'd be stopping at a different convenience store further down the road. (That sign above the door is supposedly for a hangover remedy)
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Creeper Ramie had to go peek inside!
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After only being back on the road for a few minutes after leaving the convenience store, Deiner noticed that Juan Carlos & Memo weren’t following behind and we pulled over to let them catch up. After waiting for a little while longer he eventually got a phone call, then turned his ATV around to head back to the store, but told us to wait here. It was probably about 10 minutes later when Ramie’s phone rang. It was Deiner saying that they couldn't get Memo’s ATV to start and asked us to come back to the store. I don’t know if Deiner knew that Ramie knows his way around a motorized vehicle as well as he does, but when we got back to the place where Memo was parked, it was clear that none of the guys there really knew anything beyond the very basics. Ramie jumped in right away and started asking questions about what they tried and what the ATV was (and wasn't) doing. The problem: it would crank but it wouldn’t fire. Ramie checked all of the fuses first and swapped a couple around just in case it was a fuse that didn't look bad but actually was. That didn’t work. The ATV was brand new and is fuel injected, so unless something is seriously broken it should NOT have these problems.
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I think Tracy wanted to drive Deiner's machine the next chunk of the ride?
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I think she was getting a little bit bored
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The convenience store where we were broke down was right across the street from a church, maybe those of us not working on it should go in and say a prayer?
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Ramie concluded that it was either a fuel issue or spark issue, and without some tools, possible replacement parts, and some time to work on it, there might not be a whole lot we could do for him right now. Memo asked the store owner if he could push the machine to the side of the store and off of the road, leave it here for the day, and deal with it later. I’m not exactly sure what his plan was for it beyond leaving it here for the day because we were about 1.5 hours from his home and the coffee plantation.
Ramie, being the fixer and puzzler that he is, wanted to keep digging into it a little more. Unfortunately there wasn’t a tool kit with the ATV, but Ramie is always prepared and got his small kit out of Dusti. The next thing Ramie wanted to check was the spark plug to see if that was working properly. He pulled the side panel off to get to where he thought the spark plug would be, and of course the spark plug was on the opposite side. He moved over to the other side and removed that panel too. Once it was out of the way he noticed that there was very little room for him to work, and that the plug socket that fit Dusti was too long and too small for Memo’s ATV.
At this point Ramie was gathering quite the crowd, all of us were standing around watching, because what else was there to do, plus some of the locals guys that just happened to be hanging out on a picnic table out front, and the store owner were all now watching what was going on with the ATV.
Ramie asked if anyone had a different socket, Deiner was able to translate, and the store owner went to the back to check what he had. He came back out with two, they were the right size, but both were too short. One of the local guys who was observing picked up on what was going on, must have figured out what was needed, left on his motorcycle and came back about 5 minutes later with a socket and ratchet. This would be our last hope at trying to see if the sparkplug was even the problem. Thankfully it fit, and Ramie was able to remove the spark plug and test it by holding it against the engine block and trying to start it. There was no spark, but does this give him the answer that he needed? If we could get a replacement spark plug, could we could get Memo’s ATV going again? Ramie handed the plug to the store owner to see if he had the same one in stock.
I think we were all doubting it, I mean what are the odds this little store in the middle of the mountains has the correct spark plug? Lo and behold, the store owner walked out with a new plug in hand! WOW, we couldn't believe it. Ramie hooked it up, set it on the engine and cranked it over. There was that spark that he needed! He installed the new plug, cranked it and it fired right up. Memo was ecstatic. You could see on his face that his brand new machine being broken was a huge let down. Once it started again a huge grin spread across his face, he was so relieved! Ramie saved the day. Or as Tracy coined it “Ramie’s Repair’s saved the day”.
Ramie and Memo thanked everyone that had tried to help and returned the ratchet to the stranger before we hit the road again, this time with all 4 of the vehicles. This whole side-adventure took about an hour of messing around but we were all loaded up again and ready for the waterfall. Things like this are one of the reasons that we love Costa Rica so much. The people here are so friendly, willing to help out however they can. If it wasn’t for some random guy who just happened to be at the convenience store and lived close by, and was willing to go out of his way to bring a tool to help some strangers fix their ATV, this day would have gone in a completely different direction. Thank you random guy at Las Delicias convenience store!
After some more time on the road, we made it to our next way-point: a field where we had to drive the ATV's down a very steep narrow path.
Slowly we made it to a small area were we all parked, and from here is was on foot to get to our next destination. We gathered our bags, and those extra drinks that we picked up at the convenience store and started down the trail to the waterfall. When we were here in February it was dry, but since we’ve been getting rain for the last few weeks it was wet and quite slippery so everyone had to watch their step or risk wiping out on this mountain trail. Overall, this part wasn't too bad. When we made it to the bottom, I opted to stay at the lower waterfall while the rest of the group continued the climb to the upper waterfall. I wasn't feeling very adventurous in the slippery mud so I didn’t climb to the top like I did last time, I know my comfort zone and limitations, and Josue, Deiner’s cousin from the cacao plantation, stayed in the lower part of the falls with me. Ramie had my phone with him, so I couldn't even snap any pictures, so I just sat and enjoyed the quiet tranquility while everyone else was adventuring.
The water was flowing too fast up at the upper waterfall and it wasn’t safe to jump in like we did last time because it was quite possible that if you tried, you would have been swept out of the pool and right over the second waterfall. After taking in the view and seeing what was all up there, they came back down to the lower falls.
Deiner wasn't shy and decided that he was going swimming down here (it didn't have another drop off like the upper one did, so it was safe here) and jumped right in. His next goal was to convince the rest of them to join him. Ramie, even though he was not wearing a swimming suit, jumped in next. Eventually all of the guys were swimming whether they had swimming suits or not. No, fortunately they weren't naked, they just jumped in with their clothes on. After spending about 10 minutes in the water and writing their names on the wall with a rock, it was time to get out and move on.
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Notice it was only the guys, not the girls, who decided to swim. I mean, who wants to sit around in wet clothes the rest of the afternoon?
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We were all hungry and our next destination was lunch at the cacao plantation. When we arrived we were greeted by Julio (Emilo and Memo’s brother), his wife Miriam (Rita’s sister), and their daughter in law Angie, who is married to Josue. They were all smiling from ear to ear and were very happy to see Ramie and me again. We were served a traditional lunch of chicken, rice, beans, yucca, salad, and Miriam’s famous patacones. Of course, the moonshine that Deiner brought with was passed around too. A toast was made in honor of us as guests for making the trip to the plantation to spend time with them, and in honor of them as hosts gracious enough to invite us back to their plantation for this adventure.
Once we were finished with lunch, it was time for the tour. Since we have done it before we just tagged along at the back and let Geoff and Tracy get right in there to watch and learn.
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| The cacao beans coming out of the roaster |
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| Spreading them out and letting them cool. They were delicious to eat just like this and smell SOOOO good!! |
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| With the beans cool, it was time to bring them to the grinder |
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| Grinding the beans, Round 1 |
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| After the 3rd grind, it is now 100% pure fresh Chocolate. |
When the tour was done it was time to go back to the hang-out area and kitchen to make our own chocolate treats, drink fresh homemade hot chocolate, and of course, work a little bit harder at that bottle of moonshine.
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| Juan Carlos, stirring the hot chocolate the traditional way by hand. Ramie of course making fun of him. |
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| Cute little chocolate treats |
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| Ramie, wanted to help Deiner stir the hot chocolate |
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I'd like to place an order!
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| I got to choose my own colors, flavors, then mix and pour into the molds |
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What do you do with the leftover chocolate once the mold is full? Give it to Ramie with a spoon!
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Needless to say, there was a ton of laughing, which eventually even turned into dancing. These guys really make you feel that you are now part of their family! Deiner and Juan Carlos taught Tracy and I how to dance the bachata and another dance that I don’t remember the name of. Would I ever be able to dance it again? Only if I had a good dance partner like one of our Tico friends! Ramie even got in on the dancing, that was probably the moonshine doing it’s work!
In addition to the great time we were having hanging out with the humans, Ramie found the puppy that he fell in love with on our first visit and he made sure to spend time playing with him.
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No, this isn't Skye, this is the little boy dog that is just a little bit smaller than Skye who we met our last time here in February.
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As it was starting to get dark and we still had a 2 hour ride home, we began to wind down the party and say our goodbyes. Before we left, though, they wanted to get some pictures with all of us in front of their sign and reiterated that we are always welcome to come visit anytime.
We ended up leaving the plantation about at 5:30, and by 6:15 it was dark. Even though it wasn’t raining, Tracy bundled up with her garbage bag rain jacket just in case it started and to conserve some body heat. Both Tracy and I used our beach towels that we brought with just in case we did get stuck in pouring rain to wrap up our legs and stay a bit warmer. Off in the distance there was some amazing lightning, and we somehow we managed to stay just behind the rain the whole way back.
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You can see where the towns are better at night than during the day because of the lights.
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The only downside to being behind the rain was that it made the clay roads super slippery. Although the Ticos we were with wouldn’t be able to make the comparison, Ramie said that it was like driving on a skating rink. We had to go real slow for some parts of it, and Juan Carlos actually even dumped his motorcycle (very gracefully I will say) at one point. He wasn’t hurt, and as quickly as he fell, he was right back up again and continuing on. We arrived back at the coffee plantation at about 7:30, checked on Juan Carlos to make sure he was ok and that his bike hadn’t been damaged, and then the 4 of us in Dusti continued on our way since we still had about a ½ hour ride home and we wanted to make it back before the next round of rain caught up with us. We said our goodbyes, got back to Geoff and Tracy’s to drop them off, and kept going to get home right before the rain started. We arrived home to a very, very happy puppy. We took fast showers, cuddled and played with Skye for just a little bit, and went straight to bed not long after we got home. It was a long but super fun day, and we slept very well that night!
Monday 6/25- Even after a full night of sleep, we were both still exhausted from the big adventure yesterday. Unfortunately, I had to work and I will admit that it was a struggle, but somehow I made it through the day.
(*Thank you to Tracy & Deiner for the photos that you contributed to this blog.)
Pura Vida!!!
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