‘You’re kidding’ I thought. Our sixteen-year-old guide had suggested we climb up La Escalera Cascada, the Staircase Waterfall, to continue our hike along the Seven Waterfalls Trail. ‘Heather, please say no ‘ I willed her to answer. This was her idea after all. I had been content sitting at our guesthouse in Juayua, sipping Pilseners, the El Salvadoran beer, and admiring the view of the volcanoes and other mountain peaks that were visible from the grassy terrace behind our accommodation. Instead, we had spent the last two hours, in the searing heat, descending a narrow goat track that passed for a hiking trail, then waded upstream past the first two waterfalls to reach this point. We hadn’t intended on getting to all seven of the falls, as that would have taken half the day, and we had only allotted a couple hours for the hike. “No” she said, to my great relief, “this is probably a good point to turn back.” So we reversed course and climbed back out of the narrow valley to the dirt road that would take us back to town. We don’t typically hire a guide for hikes, but we had been cautioned that other travelers had been robbed, at machete point, along this very trail, and our guide would provide a measure of protection, as well as lead us along the path. Such is travel in El Salvador, the country that spawned the notorious gang MS-13 and had a reputation for violence that seems to have deterred many travelers.

We started our visit in Suchitoto, a small colonial town overlooking Lago Suchitlan. Heather had Google-mapped the route, with the most important factor being our desire to bypass the gang-infested capital city, San Salvador. Just before sunset we cruised into town, rattling over the cobblestone streets, squeezing our way through the narrow lanes to our guesthouse at the end of one side street just a few blocks off the main square. The Mayan Grouper guesthouse has no sign – really no indication whatsoever that the place offered lodging. We sat in the car wondering if Google Maps had led us astray when a face peeked out of the man door in the massive wooden gate. The woman who owned the guesthouse beamed when Heather answered to her name and the gates swung open to reveal a beautiful hacienda surrounding a garden with stunning views to the surrounding hills and Lago Suchitlan in the valley below. We were warmly welcomed, the car was parked and we were shown to our room – an inviting space in a large traditional wood and stucco room with just the right amount of modern touches. After settling in and with assurances that town was safe to walk around, even after dark, we strolled into town, did a lap of the main square to take in the weekend activity of vendors and locals out for the evening, found a nice meal and returned to our extremely comfortable beds soon after. In the morning we sat in the garden enjoying the view before we were served our tipico breakfast of eggs, refried black beans, cheese, fried plantains and rolls. Pleasantly stuffed, it was time to walk through town once more before checking out, then driving the short distance to the nearby lake for a quick stroll along the shore before heading west to our next destination. Suchitoto was a real charmer – we left wishing we could have stayed longer to enjoy its small town charms and generous hospitality.

The view from the Mayan Grouper guesthouse.

Street scene in Suchitoto.

Ladies offering pupusas, stuffed corn dough snacks – found all over El Salvador.

After a lunch stop at Lago Coatepeque, a volcanic lake surrounded by second homes of San Salvador’s well-heeled residents, we continued on to Santa Ana, the country’s second largest city. Despite the glowing reports of bloggers describing Santa Ana’s attractions, we weren’t that impressed. At least by the city. Our accommodation was, however, delightful. We had a private room in a hostel located just two blocks off of the main plaza. The hostel occupied an old posada, with the rooms off an open-air tiled courtyard, boasting fifteen foot ceilings and a collection of antiques giving one a sense of the privileged life of Salvadorian elites. We ventured out into the plaza, saw the grand cathedral, the national theater building, the mass of vendors surrounding the square and decided we had seen the highlights of Santa Ana and it was time for a beer. Grabbing a table at a second floor restaurant, we were able to enjoy the views of the plaza, the cathedral and the accompanying flock of pigeons (every cathedral has its flock of pigeons) while sipping a couple cold brews. In the morning we grabbed coffee and some pastries from a nearby bakery, ate our breakfast in the hostel’s courtyard and made our way out of town headed to the hills and our guesthouse in Juayua.

Lunch stop above Lago Coatepeque.

Las Rutas de las Flores (The Route of the Flowers) was the destination for the next two days. One of El Salvador’s most visited areas, the ruta runs about twenty miles from the town of Ahuacacan to Sonsonote in the western part of the country. Following the rainy season (which ends in October) the area is in full bloom and the small towns that line the ruta are ripe for strolling cobbled streets, admiring the work of the local artesanias (artisans), viewing the murals for which the villages are famous for, and enjoying tipico cuisine. We checked into the Hotel Juayua (Wah-who-ah) on the outskirts of  town. We filled the afternoon by exploring town and the plaza before returning to the hotel to plan our drive along the ruta the following day. After breakfast we drove to the southern end of the ruta, visiting the market town of Nahuizalco, admiring the wooden furnishings displayed at the roadside shops (the town is specifically known for its furniture making), strolling through the fresh market set up on it’s main street and ducking into a couple other shops to check out the indigo-dyed clothing, which Heather found irresistible. Next stop would be the Alicante Termales, one of two hot springs in the area. Not believing our luck, we pulled into an empty parking lot, paid our $5 entry fee, and spent close to two hours moving from one pool to the next – ten in all of different sizes and temperatures. From the pools we had views of both the mountains lining the ruta on one side and the valley on the other, framed by luscious foliage, palms, banana trees and flowering vines. Following our relaxing soak, we reinvigorated ourselves under a cold shower and hit the road again, headed to Concepcion de Ataco, our planned lunch stop. After feasting on roasted chicken, rice, salad, tortillas and fresh pineapple juice, we hit the cobbles to walk around town and see more murals that adorned the sides of almost every building in the center before returning to our hotel in Juayua. As elsewhere in the country, we were always warmly greeted with a buen dia or hola or buenas tardes from each passing local. It was the next day that we found ourselves tromping through the stream of the 7 Waterfalls hike, which did at least offer some relief from the scorching heat of the sun.

Volcano views from Juayua.

Market day in Nahuizalco.

A mural in Concepcion de Ataco.

Heather enjoying a soaking – Alicante Termales.

Our last stop in El Salvador would be the beaches of La Libertad, which stretch across approximately twelve miles of the Pacific coast, with the real action (both in the surf and on land) centered around El Tunco, roughly in the middle of the strip. We elected to stay just east of El Tunco, on the beach at Playa San Blas. This proved to be a blessing, even though we wouldn’t be amongst the crowds of international backpackers sporting man-buns and the latest surfer fashions, have access to all the hip cafes for organic vegan menu options, or struggle through the narrow streets of town which were undergoing a full reconstruction, dodging heavy construction equipment, jackhammers and clouds of dust. Instead we were happy to be the only gringos on our beach, walking the long, wide, black sands in the morning (as opposed to El Tunco’s rocky shore) then watching as the Salvadorian families came out to play, vendors set up their carts selling ceviche or shaved ice from under colorful umbrellas, local fisherman beach their boats after the morning run and even the occasional cowboy on horseback made a trip along the shore. Couldn’t have ended our week any better.

Yeah, a good time to turn around – rather than up! Seven Waterfalls hike.

Playa San Blas – fun, fishing boats and a cowboy.

Twelve days of house and dog-sitting had left us refreshed, relaxed and with a pack full of clean, machine-washed clothes. We bid goodbye to Chile and Spot – they seemed unimpressed by our leaving – loaded our gear into the dreaded panel van and pointed it south. We had a loose plan to visit a couple beach towns on the southern Pacific coast as well as the crown jewel in Costa Rica’s national park system – Manuel Antonio. Back in the fall, as we were planning our Central America journey, a visit to this park was one of the first things we added to the Costa Rica itinerary. It’s known for stunning beaches, wildlife-spotting walks along its forest trails and being the most-visited national park in the country. We thought we’d start by spending a couple days in Dominical – a laid-back, hippieish surf town, then move a bit further south to Uvita for snorkeling at Isla Cano, then finish with three or four days at Manuel Antonio. Thankfully, our plan fell apart almost immediately. Rolling into Dominical along one of its dusty, potholed roads, seeing its beautiful stretch of palm tree-backed black sand beach (which many reviewers dissed as unattractive for some reason) and finding our accommodation, which offered a decent, if not fairly basic room, but in a fantastic garden setting only steps from the ocean, we were instantly enchanted by this little gem. After getting settled in our room we headed out for a better view of the beach and then strolled into ‘town’ to find a watering hole that would slake our thirst and offer a sunset view. Tortilla Flats fit the bill perfectly. The friendly staff served up ice cold beer, the largest wine pour we may have ever seen, opened a tab to allow us to take our drinks out to the beach for sunset viewing, and, upon returning offered us complimentary shots. I mean, is this place heaven on earth or what! Turns out that’s how you win our business for the length of our stay. Which ended up stretching from a couple days to four and then to six. Uvita for snorkeling? Turns out you can do that as a day trip. Manuel Antonio National Park? Better as a day trip due to the traffic-clogged, narrow, twisting access road and massive crowds. Suffice it to say – Dominical just made the list of favorite places. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not just the cold beer and generous wine pour. This place is the poster child for ‘laid-back’ beach towns. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in town comes out for sunset. There are great cafes serving up amazing breakfasts (Mono Congo and Cafe Ensuenos). There are cool smoothie stalls blending up mouth-watering combinations of fresh tropical fruits. First-rate taco joints – check (Del Mar Taco Shop). Local fare at low prices – got those too (Rincon de Domi). An abundance of yoga classes and studios – duh, of course. Oh, and a craft beer brewery if you ever get tired of the Imperial.

Dominical turns out for sunset.

A favorite smoothie stand.

The marketplace in town, just off the beach.

We made the trip down to Uvita in about twenty minutes one morning to meet the gang at Costa Rica Dive and Surf, who would be taking us and a group of sixteen other folks out to Isla Cano’s marine reserve for a snorkeling tour. To say these guys run a professional outfit is an understatement. From check-in to the moment we left the shop at the end of the day everyone was courteous, friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and, most importantly, proud and protective of their little corner of paradise. They stressed the importance of being respectful to the sea and the reef – touching nothing, taking nothing and leaving nothing behind. We made two stops for snorkeling with a beach break in between. While the reef wasn’t the most colorful (we are a little spoiled after Indonesia), there were certainly ample amounts of fish, including white-tip reef sharks, olive ridley and hawksbill turtles and a snowflake eel. Following our snorkeling, we feasted on a tasty lunch of veggie rice, salad and tortilla chips, washed down with ginger lemonade, before returning to the mainland and the drive home. All in all, a great day on, and in, the water.

From the beach on Isla Cano.

A friendly local off Isla Cano.

On our next to last day we made the thirty minute drive north to Manuel Antonio, which had been described to us as a bit like Disneyland, according to some other guests in Dominical. Great. Driving the panel van along the narrow, twisty road to the park’s entrance, touts would step into the road to get drivers to pull into their paid parking lots, while guides would solicit their services through our open windows. We got through the gauntlet, parked, and made our way to the ticket office, where we waited in line to purchase our entrance passes. Passing through the gates we immediately ran headlong into large tour groups stopped on the trail, surrounding their guide, who had set up a spotting scope in order to show the group some small insect. Along with families with loud, screeching kids we knew that seeing any wildlife in this park would be a remote possibility. Walking in the 90+ degree heat with high humidity had our shirts plastered to our bodies in no time. Finally breaking free of the main crowds we settled into a nice walk, taking in some views of the ocean, catching glimpses of howler monkeys and an occasional sloth. Following the large loop trail we eventually reached Manuel Antonio beach and what seemed to be, for most park patrons, the sole reason for their visit. One can’t dispute that this beach, and neighboring Espadilla Sur beach, are beautiful. Their brown sands stretch between rocky headlands with small offshore islets and clear blue waters lapping at the shore. The palms and sea grapes that back the beaches are patrolled by white-faced capuchin monkeys ready to snatch an unguarded bag or picnic lunch. The water was a welcome relief from the unrelenting heat and we were able to find a shady patch of sand for a rest and a few, guarded, bites of our leftover breakfast burritos. Refreshed, we swapped our sneakers for flip-flops and strolled the last stretch of trail to the park entrance and back to the van. While Manuel Antonio wasn’t our favorite park we visited in Costa Rica – due to the crowds, noise, chaotic entry area and lack of wildlife compared to other parks, it does offer some nice walking, a chance, however slight, of seeing animals, and the reward of a swim at a beautiful beach is certainly nice. Contemplating finding a stop along the winding, traffic-choked road for a smoothie, we opted instead to head straight back to Dominical for a fabulous smoothie from our favorite stall, some hammock time in our hotel’s garden and eventually sunset at the beach.

Iguana in Manuel Antonio NP.

White-faced Capuchin monkeys at the beach.

Playa Manuel Antonio.

After five weeks we regrettably leave Costa Rica. After one night back in San Jose we’ll catch a flight to San Salvador to start our one week El Salvador road trip – which you’ll hear about in our next post.

We don’t believe in the ‘is the glass half full or half empty’ philosophy. Why not fill it to the rim?

A Playa Junquillal sunset.

“Let me get this straight” I said to Heather. I wanted to be sure what we were getting into when we were accepted for our first international housesitting gig, which we had applied for through our membership in an online community that matches homeowners (in this case, Joan, an American ex-pat) with qualified house and pet sitters (us!) who are typically traveling. Heather had just finished a phone interview with Joan while we were back in Cocles, on the Caribbean coast.  I continued, “We’re staying at her two bedroom house in a gated community for twelve days, surrounded by forest that contains howler monkeys; we have to walk the dogs in the morning, then while they lay around during the heat of the day (which pretty much lasts from sunrise to sunset), we can take long beach walks and play in the surf with the boogie boards she’s left for us; later, after we’ve spent the afternoon at the community pool we have to DRIVE the dogs around the complex in Joan’s golf cart before we go back to the beach for sunset. Do I have this right?” “Yeah, that’s pretty much it” she replied. ‘Well, someone’s got to do it’ I thought.

Joan had given us our instructions over the course of the day and a half we spent together before she left on her trip. Spot and Chile couldn’t have been more sweet – or more lazy. They literally wanted to do nothing during the day after their morning walk and before their chauffeured ride in the late afternoon. The huge pool at the community center, along with the yoga studio and fitness center, were almost always empty, due to the fact that only five or six homes in the thirty unit complex were occupied. The beach at Playa Junquillal was uncrowded – on a Saturday visit we saw perhaps fifteen people along it’s mile-long strip of black sand. Lazing on the beach on the evening after Joan left, I remarked “It just doesn’t get any better than this.” I was watching another spectacular sunset (one of my favorite things to do and Costa Rica has some of the best I’ve seen – along with Hawaii and the Philippine island of Boracay) and Heather had just returned from her stroll down the beach to witness a release of Olive Ridley turtle hatchlings as they made their way out to the ocean to start their lives at sea (one of her favorite things to do). So things were definitely going well for us.

Spot, Chile and the chauffeur.

Hello? Anybody else out there?

Heading to sea. See you in 10 to 15 years!

Until tomorrow . . .

A week into our housesit and things are going well. We’ve gotten into a nice rhythm of rising early; feeding and walking the dogs; spending the morning doing trip planning for our upcoming segments to El Salvador, Mexico and Cuba; enjoying the pool and sunsets at the beach each evening, and going up to Tamarindo a couple times to shop for groceries and have a meal out. Joan returns on Sunday and we’ll head off in the panel van to another national park and another beach town down south for a week before leaving Costa Rica. We’ve also been communicating with folks about another upcoming housesit. Over Christmas, while we were back in Panama, we had applied for and been accepted to sit for a couple on the Big Island of Hawaii – for three and a half months. There we’ll care for their house on the southern tip of the island as well as their dog, Snickers. There will be beaches to visit, hopefully some paddling on our SUPs, island villages to explore and, of course, those killer Hawaiian sunsets. Someone’s got to do it.

Note: We use TrustedHousesitters to arrange our sits. If you’re interested in becoming a TrustedHousesitter, contact us for a referral that’ll get you a discounted annual membership.

Reluctantly, we left the Caribbean coast and headed inland to Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose. The city held no interest for us, but it did hold our intended rental car, which would whisk us through the rest of Costa Rica over the next four weeks. While Heather had been busy over the last week researching flights for upcoming legs of our winter trip and putting together our visit to Cuba for the end of February, she assigned me one task – find a rental car in San Jose. ‘How hard could that be’ I thought. I get online, find a local company, pick their cheapest vehicle, make the reservation. ‘Gonna save us a bunch of money’ I thought. Mission accomplished. Time for happy hour.

We spent the night in a wonderful B&B in San Jose that Heather found for us, with the added bonus that it was located within walking distance to the rental car office. After a nice breakfast we strolled the short distance to grab our car. As we entered the small lot there seemed to be lots of traffic in and out – folks picking up and dropping off cars. Not surprising, given its the height of the season here. We were greeted by a nice guy who spoke perfect English and he immediately called up our reservation on his computer. He seemed a little perplexed when he saw my vehicle selection. “I’ve never rented this vehicle before” the attendant said. “This is really for work” he added. Turns out I had rented a panel van. A cheap panel van. For a month. While Heather walked away and put her head in her hands, I asked if it were possible to substitute any car in place of my new work vehicle. “Nothing else is available since it’s high season” he told me. Panic started to set in. We went to inspect the van which was big, boxy and all white. He opened the rear door to expose a large, windowless, metal-encased cargo space, completely closed off from the driver’s compartment, which would have to hold our bags, as there was no room in the front for anything more than a cup of coffee (not even a grande). The seats didn’t have any adjustment. With no rear-view mirror and limited visibility through the side windows, I would have to roll down the windows in order to check traffic or attempt to back up. Trying to make light of the situation, he joked to Heather that we could save even more money by sleeping in the back. “That’s exactly what my husband will be doing” she deadpanned. Left with no alternative, we saddled up and drove out of the lot into the San Jose traffic, headed to the mountains. “Think of it as just another adventure” I offered. “Think of it as your bedroom” she retorted. But, true to her nature, after a half hour on the road, she smiled and began laughing at my screw-up.

While the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve is the most well-known, and most-visited, park in the area, there are several forest and wildlife preserves around Monteverde. Being the weekend, we decided to visit two other parks and leave the main attraction until Monday, when we thought the crowds would be lighter. On Saturday we headed to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. This park offered a variety of walking trails through dense cloud forest at the top of the mountain range. Immediately upon entering the preserve we marveled at the dense jungle, clouds swirling amongst the treetops, the sound of water dripping from the canopy above the only noise to be heard. We walked slowly and quietly and spoke in hushed voices, the magnitude of the space and the surreal beauty commanding respect and hushed admiration. “Magical” Heather said. “And I never use that word to describe something that’s not underwater!” ‘Mystical’ I thought – and I never use that word to describe something that’s not in Lord of the Rings. We crossed paths with only a half dozen or so folks, reinforcing our decision to avoid the more popular park over the weekend. We tried to make comparisons to other places we’ve been, but nothing really comes close to a cloud forest. It was a palette of greens, as the leafy trees were all covered with a layer of moss, and then entwined by creeping vines, which surrounded the trunks and cascaded from the branches above. Only occasionally would a lone flower make an appearance when an opening in the canopy allowed a small amount of sunlight to penetrate to the forest floor. Beyond the sound of dripping water, no animals could be heard. This was forest – primeval and awesome.

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Preserve – feeling small in a mystical place.

Fern tips.

Our next day took us to the Curi-Cancha Reserve, a lower elevation park, hence drier and with more open views. The Reserve is known for it’s birdlife, in particular as home to the brightly-plumed, and highly-sought (by birders) quetzal. This was the primary reason for our visit – to hopefully catch a glimpse of this bird. Luck was with us this day as minutes into the park’s walking trails we came across a small group gathered near an immense old avocado tree. Sure enough we were able to spot a male and female pair, resplendent in green, blue and red, with the male having an especially long and delicate tail. After an hour and countless photos later, the pair departed and I was able to convince Heather to move on to the rest of the park. Soon after, white-faced capuchin monkeys were spotted frolicking in the trees overhead. Continuing on, we walked along the well-maintained trails with our heads on a swivel, scanning the treetops for more wildlife. Our luck continued to follow us this day, for I just happened to glance down at the trail and was able to stop short – just two paces from a palm pit viper that was crossing in front of us. I could hear Heather suck in a breath as I put my arm out to stop her too. But as scared of snakes as she is (and who wouldn’t be scared of a pit viper) she instinctively brought her camera up before even moving a step back. The snake slowly crossed the trail and slithered off into the forest while we slowly began to breathe again. Returning to the avocado tree from earlier, we once again spotted not two, but three, quetzals. Later, as we passed through the park office on our way out we chatted with one of the naturalist guides. Seeing Heather’s photos of the viper, and given that we had seen five quetzals, he remarked “you are the luckiest visitors in the park today”. We know.

The elusive quetzal.

A female.

Can you spot the monkey?

Danger!

Our final day brought us to the famous Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve. Given our incredible visit to the previous parks, and the number and variety of animals we had spotted, we weren’t holding out high expectations that we would be wowed again. But wouldn’t you know it, within the first minute upon entering the park we came across another pair of quetzals. Quite a welcome to be sure. After another hundred or so photos I once again persuaded Heather that we still had a big park to see and we set off on a series of trails that one of the rangers had suggested for us to follow. Beyond the quetzals the wildlife was scarce in the rest of the park and it was hard to get away from the crowds, but when we did the cloud forest here was equally impressive and inspiring. Also, we crossed a hanging bridge that allowed us to walk at the treetop level of the canopy, high enough that we couldn’t even make out the ground below.

A good view of the elongated tail of the male quetzal.

The hanging bridge through the canopy.

A peaceful waterfall near the end of our Monteverde hike.

All in all our visit to Monteverde far exceeded our expectations. Once again we were able to tick off another animal-sighting experience (or two), we enjoyed the wonder of the cloud forest and got in a good bit of hiking along the way. Now it was time to load up the ol’ panel van and hit the coast for some beach time.