About a week ago we pulled into the lovely and calm estuary in front of the little town of Golfito. Finally a calm anchorage! Costa Rica is lush and beautiful, but it is not very friendly to cruising sailboats. After that very first anchorage of Santa Elena, almost every other anchorage has been rolly and choppy. The few marinas down here are exorbitantly expensive ($150 per night and up), and food prices are about 2x U.S. prices for anything other than rice and beans (which are still 2x more expensive than Mexico or El Salvador). Costa Rica has the highest per capita income of all of Central America, but I have to wonder how much is eaten up with the higher cost of living.
The rainy season is here with a vengeance. We have gotten at least a couple of big downpours a day, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Lightning is the big worry down here, if it hits your boat it can fry all electronic gear on board, and even possibly blow a hole in the boat!! We personally know of at least two boats hit here (does this make our statistical odds better :-) The rain though does make the rain forest lush and green. Over 25% of Costa Rica is designated a national park or reserve which makes for abundant wildlife. On just about any walk ashore we’ve seen howler monkeys, macaws and other parrots, lizards, lots of colorful birds, frogs, etc.
Howler Monkeys:
Exploring a little river by dingy:
What are you looking at?
2-toed sloth (it's there, really):
Little green frog:
Quiet Golfito:
LandSea, the cruiser’s hangout in Golfito:
We’ll be here a few more days then onto Panama. Looking at the cruising guides, there are only a few secure anchorages so we’re not sure how long we will take getting to Panama City. Our autopilot has died so hopefully we can get it repaired or replaced in Panama City. Without an autopilot, the passages will be very tiring, oh well; cruising is defined as “fixing your boat in exotic ports” :-)
Cheers,
Carolynn & Tom
We then headed back on the road. US president Barak Obama was currently visiting El Salvador and there were posters welcoming him all over the country. 
At one point we were driving along a major thoroughfare and came up to a traffic jam and road block. There was no traffic coming the other way but lots of security forces were guarding both ways. Soon we saw a motorcade coming surrounded by motorcycle security and SUVs. Hey, maybe it’s Obama! We did see a small U.S. flag flying from the middle SUV so maybe it was :-) 
Next stop was the Joya de Ceren ruins. This was a small Mayan village that was suddenly buried by a volcanic eruption, a central American Pompeii. They just found these ruins in the late 1970’s and have only uncovered a small portion of the village because of concerns in preserving the fragile structures made mainly of clay and wood. Because of the suddenness of the eruption and that it was only recently discovered, Joya de Ceren is the best preserved archeological site in the Americas. There was a museum telling the story of the discovery and housing some of the artifacts found. Jorge, our tour guide knew a tremendous amount about the site and explained each of the displays. 
The eruption was so sudden that the inhabitants fled without grabbing their food. No bodies have been found so far so they must have had some warning (unlike Pompeii). Corn cob: 
After the museum, we walked around the site. All of the excavated ruins are housed under large roofs with mesh walls to keep the rain, sun, and birds off of them. There are walkways around the ruins for visitors (we were the only ones there). 
The grounds were very beautiful and lush. 
However the trees were filled with very noisy insects called cicadas. Theye were so noisy that at times conversation was impossible and we had to cover our ears. Jorge found a husk from a recent molt. 
Here is the tour van getting ready to leave, it was the perfect size for our group, comfortable with AC. 
We then climbed up into the mountains for a view of several volcanoes. The clouds were rolling in so the views were not as spectacular as they could be but it was impressing none the less. This is where they grow coffee, one of their major exports (mainly Starbucks). 
We got ready to do some hiking, cruisers with sandals and socks, the definition of dorky :-) 
Marlin our guide accompanied us pointing out and explaining things, with English translations from Jorge. Marlin’s English was only slightly better than our Spanish, but we managed to have several conservations with him on the way. 
The trail up in the highlands jungle was lush and cool. 
There were lots of little critters around (these were the only ones that would stay still long enough for me to get the camera focused). 
After a pretty good loop, we piled back into the van and headed to another section of the mountains where Jorge dropped us off at a very nice hotel. 
There were very comfortable Adirondack type chairs in front of all the rooms and we spent the evening sitting and reviewing the day’s events. 
After a nice dinner in the hotel dining room, we slept well in the cool mountain air. The next day we were picked up and went to a coffee processing plant. The coffee beans are all picked by hand then brought to plants like this for cleaning, drying, and bagging. Most of the coffee harvest is complete, but there was still a little bit going on. At the peak of the season almost 200 people are employed here. Tom was interested in all of the equipment which looked like it dated from the 1950’s, but was in good repair. 
The grounds around the plant were very beautiful, this operation has been in the same family for several generations. 
We all got to try some of the coffee, a little bitter for my taste but the ambiance made up for it. 
After driving through several small towns, we got to the zip lining place! Half of our group chickened out, but there were four of us excited to “make the plunge”. 
Our “safari wagon” climbed up the mountain, bouncing up dirt trails and through coffee plantations, the ride along was pretty exciting. Up on the mountain we got harnessed up and the guide explained the technique. 
Then one by one we got hooked into the line and off we went!! 
Here is a picture of the 14 lines we went down. 
It was scary but very fun and we’ll do it again. The equipment was very good and safety was emphasized. It was pretty physically tiring though (or maybe it’s the death grips I had on the harness) :-) Next up was a visit to a small village with a market and artzy shops 
Here’s how they get firewood down from the mountain 
Then a quick stop at a supermarket in San Salvador then back to the marina, tired from two fantastic days. Looking back, we really did a lot on the tour and will be a wonderful memory. We'll do this tour again when my mom & brother visit!