Enga mellom fjella

A DAY OF CATCHING UP

ME:

I thought I'd ring in 2013 with 99 next to my name, but Wordsmitty ✍️ gifted me a merit badge for traveling a couple weeks ago. A very nice surprise. 100 suits me fine.

I'm catching up as I am under-the-weather and a morning of taking-it-slow was in order. I also have a good internet connection!

Everyone else is gone. I'm in Santa Elena (Monteverde) where there is so much to do. There's the cloud forest, zip-lines; serpents, butterflies and hummingbirds to observe; cheese factory and coffee tours.

I'm sitting in a place shielded from the strong winds today. In my turtleneck sweater! So much for tropical Costa Rica.

***sneeze*** ...twice...

Santa Teresa and Montezuma were on the beach (SW tip of the Nicoya Peninsula) and Puntarenas is a port. All places quite warm. Even a "cold" shower in Puntarenas was nicely lukewarm. I do not like cold showers...

I need to take a warm one today before everyone treks back. Slept with a blanket last night.

Day 51. Finances are still fine. Lodging has been consistently cheap. Bus prices have edged up. Food prices are rising too. Restaurants during tourist season? Ouch! If lodging ever goes up I'll have to reconsider whether I will be ably to afford to visit. There's always Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru ... they are cheaper.

I don't think I want to stay in Costa Rica permanently. Although... there's one neighborhood in Puntarenas east of the market, close-by to the bus station that entices me. Puntarenas is a "working" city. Lots of hotels and restaurants on the Avenida de Los Turistas ...but it essentially is a traffic hub, a fish market, a port suffering decay. My kind of town!

Staying in Hotel Cabezas was nice. ¢6.000 seemed high for a 6' by 9' room but it was clean, private, quiet, Tico. Nice owners. That counts for something. Near market, restaurants and bus station.

Meeting folks from all over. Lots of Swedes, Quebeckers and Germans. One man from North Island, NZ who works in Oslo, Norway. Two men form the hills of Limburg, Netherlands.

I'm keeping my promise to try all foods ...once. Had a churchill in Puntarenas (granizado, dry milk, ice cream [I chose chocolate], fruit). It was fine. Cost ¢2.500 ($5). Thankfully the street-side pincho (meat-on-a-stick) was only ¢1.000.

Taking photos but I must upload and delete daily as I've filled up more than 24 gb on three SD cards.

So many photos! So little time...

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