My Mother Drives Like a Bat Out of Hell

No matter what country we're in. Though I must say that I don't think our trip to Costa Rica would have been the same without the Puentes en mal estacion (bridges in bad condition) and the potholes the size of our little Volkswagon Fox. Costa Rica is amazingly beautiful, though dramatically different from Honduras. Tourism is obviously much more established, almost everyone speaks some English, but the roads (oh! the roads) are not nearly as well developed and maintained as I have seen in the cities of Honduras (hence the adventures in driving). We spent two days at Los Lagos Resort, nested at the base of the active Volcan Arenal. There we got to ride horses, take a canopy tour of the jungle on a series of zip lines, and climb down to a beautiful waterfall (517 stairs, thanks to my compulsively counting mother). That day we wound up in the tree that was home to a group of howler monkeys, one of whom was carrying her new baby. We toured the jungle (mom had this ongoing obsession with sloths and monkeys) and saw an amazing array of plants, but little fauna. The last day was spent at Manuel Antonio National Preserve, which was a good four hour drive halfway across the country (YEAH! More fun driving! More bad bridges!). The Pacific coast was beautiful. We searched for a hotel called Mono Azul, because mom heard that they had monkeys AND sloths, but couldn't find it, so we wound up across from the beach, with a patio that looked out onto the water (I know, how did we ever suffer through). Later, we drove through town four times before we finally arrived at the restaurant/ hotel Mono Azul (it only had about 5 signs in front, two of which I remember reading part of), but there were no sloths or monkeys. Our last full day, I started the morning by learning how to surf! This cute kid named Juan took me out at low tide and was blessedly patient with me as I fell into the ocean time and time again. I actually got up about 5 or 6 times. I have decided that I could definately be a surfer. Lastly we headed into Manuel Antonio park to find mom's wildlife. It wasn't long before I spotted a three toed sloth (they aren't going anywhere too quickly, it wasn't difficult). They are interesting looking creatures-almost cute, but not really at all. We spent most of the rest of our hike chasing down these colorful crabs that I wanted a picture of, but I felt really badly about the fact that mom still hadn't gotten tosee her white-faced monkeys, and I could tell that she was getting disappointed. Then, at the last second, a group of playful white-faced monkeys came running down to the beach to make their appearance and see what was going down. All in all, it was an amazing trip. I got to see a toucan (which, by the way, looks little like toucan Sam from Fruit Loops commercials), mom got to see her sloths and monkeys (howler, squirrel, and white faced), and I got to see a face from home to fend of the impending homesickness. It was interesting, too, how during this week away I have connected home with a little one bedroom apartment in a land that I never thought I would visit, let alone call home. I look forward to being back there.