San Jose and a Real Filibuster

I joined most of our group on a tour of Costa Rica's capital city, San Jose, but Julie stuck with her decision to relax at the hotel.

An expert on San Jose and Costa Rica's history joined our group for the short bus ride to the historic downtown, where we proceed to walk between sites.

He did a great job describing the historic significance of buildings.  I took many photos, most of which I will not share because months later, as I write this, the specifics are vague.

I don't feel like looking up random details based on unidentified photos, which otherwise would be rather non-descript.  I will just say there is a good mix of old and new on what proved to be a pleasant walk through lovely areas with interesting descriptions. 

In addition, I'm never 100% sure of what I heard.  For example, we walked past a blue building that came with a story about the coffee plantation owners building this first opera house to attract world class cultural entertainment.

Our guide's story as I remember it was that an internationally famous opera diva refused to sing in such a shabby place, which was a terrible insult, so the plantation owners built a better one.

Reading online, however, it says the first theater burned down.  So, what was that blue building?  Perhaps built on the site of the original theater?  I could find nothing about the snobby singer snub leading to the new theater being built, though I didn't dig that deeply.

In any case, San Jose's new opera house, Teatro Nacional, is a gorgeous, world-class structure.  Trump will have trouble beating it with his Whitehouse Ballroom, but my guess is that he will, unless the project is stymied by political opposition.

I think the underlying truth, regardless of the details, is that coffee plantation owners became extremely wealthy in the 19th century and wanted to enjoy the finer things in life closer to home.  Cheap labor helped make this extravagance possible.

The practice of bringing in Nicaraguans to work in the fields seasonally for lower pay helps maintain the coffee industry.

As you may recall if you've followed my blog posts, Costa Ricans are very proud of the fact that they haven't had a military since 1948.  Essentially, Costa Rica has relied on the United States Monroe Doctrine to deter invading militaries.

However, we were told about Costa Rica's only war, a victory over William Walker's "filibuster."  Not the kind of filibuster where a Senator talks nonsense for hours upon hours to delay voting on a bill.  This was an attempt to take over the country of Nicaragua, which Julie and I initially learned about on our Panama Canal cruise a few years ago.

I don't recall Costa Rica being prominent in that Nicaragua-centered telling of the story, but Costa Rica's military joined Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Cornelius Vanderbilt's Accessory Transport Company to oust William Walker, a Tennessee doctor-turned-journalist-turned-mercenary.

Walker was like a nemesis James West might face in the old TV show Wild, Wild West.  Obviously brilliant but a bit off, Walker graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Nashville at age 14, then earned a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania at 19, continuing his medical studies in Heidelberg and Edinburgh. He also studied the law.

He taught himself sign language when he fell in love with a deaf woman. Upon her death, he became recklessly ambitious in defiance of the fickleness of fate.

In the telling of the story by our guide, Costa Rica's military had a great victory over Walker.  So, I'd say they retired from wars undefeated, with a record of 1-0.

As an aside, the Monroe Doctrine was established in 1823, so the American Walker went against his own country's policy in the 1850s.  This led to condemnation by the U.S. and most of the world.  Then again, Vanderbilt, whose company stood against Walker's filibuster, was also a U.S. citizen, and significantly Vanderbilt was the richest American of his era.

A highlight of our tour was a visit to the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Museo del Banco Central, where we spent an hour exploring exhibits, both guided and on our own.  This is one of several large museums in San Jose.

Perhaps the focus on pre-Columbian gold is primarily a marketing ploy among museum choices, but there are great examples of gold jewelry and artifacts, with amazing, intricate workmanship from pre-historic people. 

In most ways, I would call it a museum of history or anthropology.

There's also a special exhibit by a modern sculptor that's a surprising counterpoint.

At the end of our tour of San Jose, we boarded the bus and headed for dinner at the other Hilton in La Sabana (not the Hilton Garden Inn La Sabana), where our driver had initially taken us from the airport when we first arrived in Costa Ria.

Julie walked over from our hotel and was there to meet us for dinner.

We proceeded up the elevator to the The Cloud, a beautiful restaurant with panoramic views on the 18th floor.  This time, not wanting to miss the views, Julie and I grabbed seats at a long table looking out the window.

The other folks at the table were part of the California contingent, which I mentioned previously happened to all have been born in China.  By this point in the tour, their numbers had thinned, just as the similarly sized Pennsylvania contingent had when travelers on shorter tours had departed.

All but one couple were born in Shanghai.  We discussed how much we enjoyed our vacation there, and the story of the kindness of the storekeeper who helped us find our hotel when we wandered around that huge Chinese city one night.  They were delighted that we enjoyed our stay in what they seemed to still very much consider to be their home country.

Dinner was delicious, a final exclamation mark on the culinary delights of farm-to-table found in Costa Rica.

I had the Catch of the Day, which was outstanding.

Julie's Chicken Caprese was also good, but the Tiramisu dessert was her favorite part of her meal.

It was a festive evening to close out our Costa Rica tour.

With a 6:30 AM flight the next morning, we got in the elevator extremely early to meet our taxi.  It was too early to eat, so we turned down the boxed breakfasts rather than discarding them at the airport.

Leo was waiting outside the elevator to make sure the early departure folks like us made it safely on our way.  We told him that wasn't necessary, especially considering it had been his birthday the day before.  Nonetheless, it is good to know that tour companies take care of their clients.

We enjoyed our terrific vacation in Costa Rica.

Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge

Upon awakening in La Fortuna, we walked over to the restaurant for an excellent buffet breakfast.

The combination of American standards like cereals, pastries, pancakes, scrambled eggs and toast are complemented by local entrees, including the always available beans and rice, plus on this particular morning carne asada, made with that delicious lean, grass-fed beef that Costa Rica should be famous for. 

The dining room's glass walls allow wildlife viewing.  Many tropical birds fluttered around while we ate.

I can't say I had paid particularly close attention to our itinerary for our two-night stay in La Fortuna in advance. 

During the river rafting trip on our first day in Costa Rica, one of the young ladies raved about their visit to La Fortuna, where they had seen so many animals.

Wild hogs grazed along our hotel's road.

Rather than spending our one full day in La Fortuna focusing on the immediate area, we would soon board the bus for a two-hour ride to Rio Frio in the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge.  In retrospect, I can't help wondering why we went so far rather than just focusing on nearby Arenal National Park right from the outset.

In fact, if Julie and I would have been on our own rather than with a group, I believe we would have only had one stop on the road to La Fortuna, so that we could have begun exploring the park the prior afternoon.

However, as Wayne Dyer used to say, "you can't woulda-coulda-shoulda." We live in the present moment.

Our driver Luis often stopped to get a better look at wildlife.

Besides, we were scheduled to hike in Arenal National Park the next morning.

It is just a fact that to get the economies of group travel, we accept compromises, including making extra restroom stops or trying something we wouldn't have considered trying.

As an aside, I will add that in looking at Globus Journeys, which is a pricier tour company with more options included, they focus more on La Fortuna during their full day allotted on a similar trip.  My best guess is that Gate 1 found a cost advantage in taking a bus ride using a driver and bus already included, even if it did burn some gas.

So, rather than a 20-minute drive to Arenal National Park, we left at 7:45 AM for Los Chiles, which is on the border with Nicaragua.

Leo didn't mention this tidbit of history, but in the 1980's, what had been a sleepy fishing region became a major supply route for Contra rebels as they fought to overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

Adapting to the times, the area now hosts Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge catering to tourists.

Arriving on schedule at 10:00 AM, I think the restroom break took a little longer than planned, but we used the time to stretch our legs and take photos of the sign for Los Chiles near the river where we would board our boat.

The boat safari on Rio Frio started out slowly.

Leo said there were nine mammals within sight and challenged us to find them.  We all noticed two humans in the distance, but it took a while for us to figure out that black spots on a tree were bats.

Bats are black on the bottom side of the main trunk.

We spotted some birds and worried this might be the extent of wildlife viewing.

Then some howler monkeys called out and appeared, if rather obscured by leaves, in trees.

It was spider monkeys swinging on vines from tree to tree that got our group excited.

By starting slowly, knowing we had to look carefully, we appreciated what we were able to discern fully.

Animals camouflage into their surroundings as natural protection from predators, so finding them was frequently a challenge, despite everyone else pointing at the hidden prey. 

While our photos aren't particularly vivid, they're pretty good for playing a variation of "Where's Waldo?"  Can you find the animals in our photos?

Now you're getting the hang of the game!

We don't have big zoom lenses like a couple of folks on our tour, and it was not a movie where a director could focus our sights on exactly what we should look at.

As such, our photos rarely did a good job capturing what we experienced, but Julie and I were both very much engaged in the moment, as were the others in our boat.

We finally came to a much-anticipated Jesus Christ Lizard, which gets his name because of large feet that allow him to scamper short distances across the river like he is walking on water.  We saw him perform the trick a few times.

Look close to see the green lizard in the brown twigs.

A large caiman/crocodile showed up around the same time nearby.

It's hard to spot the Crocodile unless you know it is there.

Playful white-faced monkeys were in the trees at the same time.

A drama played out where monkeys watched the Jesus Christ Lizard looking for the perfect time to strike, while the crocodile looked up hoping either the lizard or the monkey would fall in the water as a meal for him.

One of the monkeys became distracted by our boatload of people, jumping onto the boat and making a few attempts at grabbing smartphones.

That half hour of high drama and hijinks was the highlight of the trip for all of us.  Julie and I were so busy watching and laughing that we failed to get any good photos.

The 2-hour river boat safari had been a success.

We walked back to the restaurant where we had stopped to use the restrooms to eat lunch.  I don't recall it being a very impressive menu.  It seemed to take longer to hit the road than it should have, probably because Julie and I wanted to get back to La Fortuna in time to take a taxi to Arenal National Park to take the waterfall hike before closing time of 5 PM.

Most of our group had signed up for the optional evening at Eco Termales Hot Springs with much-touted buffet dinner.

Traffic on the way back slowed us more, but we arrived about on schedule.  However, we second guessed our plan and decided to just walk around the small town before riding with the group back to our hotel.

Julie and I enjoyed our free time on the property.  With most of our group gone, we had the hotel grounds to ourselves.  We hiked up to a little treehouse behind our cabana to take in the views.

Dinner at the hotel's restaurant was again excellent.

I had fresh fish and Julie selected chicken with rice. We split a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

We had enjoyed champagne and pizza on our actual anniversary back home, but this night out was a good time for a romantic meal.

Regardless of our hindsight second guessing, it had been a great day.

We looked forward to a "brisk hike" through Arenal National Park in the morning.