Guayabo

Bella woke me up in time to shower before moving the car from the gas station at 7 am. Bill stopped by to let us know they were getting their car out and heading to breakfast. I took Isabella with me as Cristina started packing up the room with Alex and Sofia sleeping a little longer.

I got to the car around 6:50, but I was blocked in by another car. I waited till about 7:10 when someone came and moved the other car.

We walked a block or so to a little soda and had a gallo pinto breakfast. It was a little too crispy for my taste, but the eggs were good and handmade tortillas were a nice bonus. They gave us too much change back and seemed surprised when we caught the mistake and gave them the extra money back.

We finished packing up at the hotel, checked out, and headed out of Turrialba to Guayabo Monument Park.

Guayabo is the most important and largest archeological site in Costa Rica. Because of its central location between the 2 continents and its geographic structures (two mountains, one east and the other west, and two rivers running north and south) this area played an important role as a meeting ground between different pre-Columbian cultures and had influences as far away as Canadian tribes. Archeologists have only excavated 20% of the total area. What is visible now is several mounds, part of a stone road and several aqueducts. All of this was constructed without the use of beasts of burden or the wheel, between 1000 BC to 1400 AD. Simply put, it was all made by human exertion. All the stones were brought from the rivers down below. The aqueducts are still flowing today. Two cultures seemed to be the most important and were symbolized in a carved stone with a jaguar god and an alligator god. Very little is known about these people, including their name or the name of the city or translations of the many petrogliphs.

Cristina visited here when she was around 5 years old with her family and the Fallas family while they were living in Turrialba. At that time you could walk all over the ruins and nothing was roped off. The park was founded less than 2 months after Cristina was born.

It was a beautiful drive up the slopes of Volcan Turrialba, where Guayabo lays. The road is good-quality asphalt except for the last 4 km up to the National Monument. There it turns into a very steep, rocky road, where I decided to use the 4-wheel drive for the first time.

When we arrived at the park, we were greeted by several vendors and a park ranger and a guide. Once again, it pays for Cristina to have her cedula (national ID), as it cost about $3 total for all 5 of us and $9 each for the Sheridans. We decided to splurge on a guide, Gerardo, an archeology student and father of 2 children.

The guide was definitely worth it, because he pointed out things that we would have never noticed on our own. For example, there is a plant called sangre de Cristo (blood of Christ) that supposedly sprouted form the ground where drops of Jesus’s blood hit the ground when He was crucified. Gerardo told us this, and then lifted the leaves and showed us the underside. Each leaf had a bright red splotch of red on its underside. Another example was when he saw us spraying bug spray on the kids. He told us not to use it because it actually attracts bugs. Instead, he showed us a plant where you pick a leaf, crumple it up, and then spread it on your clothes. The mosquitoes hate the smell of it and will stay away. He also showed us a plant whose milk, when squeezed from the stem, can be put on itchy bug bites to make the itch stop. We definitely needed that. When he saw Alex’s bites, he tore off a good size piece and gave it to me for future use.

Gerardo’s English was pretty good, but when he struggled, he had Cristina to fall back on to translate for the rest of us. I heard him speaking with Callista a little bit. Her Spanish is getting pretty good. She’ll be fluent in no time.

The archeological site was pretty cool and we all learned a lot, but seeing all the wildlife and tropical rain forest around us was just as satisfying. Gerardo even pointed out a sloth, albeit pretty far away in a distant treetop.

We spent a few hours at Guayabo and then were ready to move on. Before we left, Cristina bought some hair pins made out of Pejibaye wood, an exotic hardwood. She paid 500 colones for the pair.

It was lunchtime and we were all getting a bit hungry. On the way back down the mountain we stopped at a restaurant called Dos Culturas (Two Cultures) that happened to be a Mexican/Costa Rican restaurant. We thought a little taste of home (Phoenix) would be kind of fun. The restaurant is owned by an older married couple, she from Chihuahua and he from Costa Rica. The food was good and cheap and we chatted with them for a while. Jennifer’s family is from Chihuahua, so there was that connection.

Sofia enjoyed her bean and cheese burrito so much she wanted a second one (which we got for her). Brasil was playing France, so I was keeping an eye on the game during the meal as well. I chatted with the owner a bit about the game and found he was rooting for Brasil (not a big surprise). I kept neutral, even though I always like to see Brasil lose.

I got out the map to check our route home. The owner offered a suggestion of a much nicer, picturesque way home. While he explained it to Cristina and Bill (Cristina’s the navigator…I just drive), the girls were dancing to an Irish jig that the owners were playing on the stereo. The woman owner danced with them, and I couldn’t resist video taping them. It was sweet.

We drove through the most beautiful mountains I think I’ve ever seen. Through little towns called Santa Cruz, Pacayas, and Cipreses. We ended up at Cartago, where we finally got on the autopista to San Jose. After the gorgeous mountain roads, the autopista was a disappointment.

Back in Pavas by 4:30, we said goodbye to the Sheridans and unpacked our stuff. Ramón and Maritza were not home. The kids watched some TV while I ordered a pizza from Papa John’s. Since we had a car, I thought I’d go pick up the pizza instead of having it delivered. I failed to get directions to the store because I thought I knew where it was. Well, it wasn’t where I thought it was. Cristina had tagged along with Alex and Bella (Sofia opted to stay home). Of course, Cristina was annoyed at me for not getting directions. I remembered the number to Papa John’s but we had no cell phone and the pay phones here only seem to take calling cards. So we had to go home and call for directions. It turns out the place is inside a grocery store. Who would have thought?

Back home, Sofia was feeling ill and wound up throwing up. Cristina was handling that while I was eating pizza in the kitchen with Alex and Isabella. About a half hour later, Isabella had the mother of all poops and when Cristina picked her up, poop squirted out of the back of her diaper. A little blob landed on Bella’s arm, and when Bella saw it, she thought it was a smooshed bug (it had a black bean in it) and she started screaming! Cristina finally calmed her panic when she convinced her that it was just poop, not a bug. It was hilarious. So within half an hour, Cristina had been up to her ears in throw up and poop. When it rains, it pours.

We got the kids to bed and Ramón and Maritza got home. We got good news from the mechanic: the car was done and ready to be picked up! We had toyed with the idea of extending the rental on our car but now it seemed that that would be unnecessary.