On this trip Joan and
I stopped at La Paz, Baja for 1 week to study Spanish so that we could practice
before the rest of the trip. Then we met up with our friends in Puerta Vallarta
for 5 days travel through Mexico. Then on to San Jose for our 11 day bus tour of
the parks around Costa Rica. On the 25th we left C.R. and started the
Flight home.
1/2/2011
Joan
and I departed OXR IFR on the 2nd of January. A cold front was moving
in very fast and we took off at 8:00 am in the rain. I was afraid of the low
freezing level so I filed IFR 4000 ft and the Catalina route. I didn’t think
they would give it to me but they did. I heard guys over by Burbank on the radio
asking for lower altitude because they had rime ice on their airplane. By the
time we were over Catalina Island we were in the clear. The rest of the trip was
easy going with a few in-route changes by ATC. I canceled IFR over Ensenada
because the next MEA was going to be 17000 ft. I made the rest of the trip at
9500 ft. to conserve on oxygen.
Our hostess, Vicky, met us at the airport and drove us to her house along with
all the groceries she had in the car, showed us the little apartment attached to
her lovely large home and was very gracious. On the first day of school in La
Paz we took the written and verbal placement test, and got our teachers who have
a good sense of humor. It was cold here. Not as cold as home, but cold for here
since one needs a jacket. Vicky provided a large breakfast and a 2 pm lunch.
Don was in a class
with Jennifer, (39) a nurse from Tucson, AZ and Craig (48 and retired) from
Kansas, and they liked having fun with the young female teachers who had a lot
of energy and made learning fun. Joan had her own teacher, Paulina, 22, who is
studying pre-med, and learned a lot.
One night Joan & I
went with Craig and Jennifer downtown for Chinese food to celebrate the close of
our school week. On Saturday our friend, Greg Keitchel, who has a house near Todos
Santos drove 1 ½ hours to have lunch with us. Sunday we departed for Puerto
Vallarta to meet our friends and fly south towards our destination: San Jose in
Costa Rica.
1/9/2011
– Puerto Vallarta
It was about a
two hour trip from La Paz. We had very good tail winds at 9500. I saw ground
speeds of 185 kts at times. We even got to fly over a restricted area (due to an
island prison) off- shore here. We closed our flight plan and waited briefly for
the other couples to land. When they arrived we hired a taxi van and went into
town to our hotel, Dona Susanna, a few blocks off the malecon. After lunch
overlooking the beach, we took a walk. We decided to stay for 2 days. There are
way too many tourists here, and vendors, as well. The sky is clear, and it was
nice and warm in the daytime but cold enough to need a light jacket at night.
We enjoyed
sightseeing along the promenade and the river. Especially appealing was a
lovely old church with beautiful music during the Sunday mass that we observed.
Joan got some Milagros in a religious shop to use in jewelry making. The sand
sculptures at the beach were fantastic. One young man had coated himself with
sand, every crease in his clothing and even his eyelashes, and performed a mime
in slow motion. He thanked us for the tip and deserved every bit of it for his
imaginative use of sand. We all went to PiPi’s for dinner by taxi, famous for
its giant margaritas. We had a rollicking good time to mariachi music, and Tobey
playing the accordion. It was totally a tourist joint, but good food. Don
watched the movie “Thank you for not Smoking” on his laptop but Joan was too sleepy. This town
has many expats, and it is probably a great place to live out of the noisy town
center.
1/11/2011 - Huatulco
We had a good flight
over here at 9500’ just skimming over the terrain with clear skies and just
light turbulence. The flight was about 4 hours and we had a head wind of 5 to 10
kts that slowed us down somewhat. The airport personnel here were very thorough
as were the military with our paperwork. It was quite a long ride to town and
cost about $45., which we split 3 ways for the ride into town. The van driver
took us to the Princess Mayev Hotel. It is very nice and overlooks one of the
bays. It is off season now so was only about $72. per night. The town center is
a couple of miles from here but the cab fare is only $2 per trip. We walked into
town the first day for breakfast and it got very hot. We found a Super Mercado
that is like a small Costco where we bought a few food items as well as red wine
from Chile and the local beer, Indio. We all went to the Oaxacan restaurant in
town for dinner which was wonderful! We got ice cream after dinner and are
hooked from eating it in La Paz where we enjoyed frequent chocolate and coffee helado. We got to watch
our favorite show, “The Closer” on the laptop before falling asleep.
Joan
wrote: Re the Xmas stuff mine will all be waiting for me to put away when we get
home. Here in Mexico, and Costa Rica tambien, the decorations stay up all of
January...Poinsettias, and Creches in all the churches too. It is very hot here
and humid - reminds us of Hawaii....we have a lovely new hotel with
pool...walked to town this AM for breakfast and to get Don some underwear and
sox. He left all his dirty clothes in the bedside table in P.V. The hotel said
none were turned in - so good, we won't have to stop there on our way home!!! He
also got a new tee shirt.
We
enjoyed getting fruit in the fruteria, bolillos and pastry in panaderia, and
cerveza y vino tinto in the supermercado...got a cab home with all our stuff.
Poor internet reception in the lobby so it is not feasible to write much online.
The second day the others rode ATV’s, but we went to town with our laundry and
picked it up after dinner at 8 pm. We got in a long walk looking for the
electronics store where Don got an adapter he needed for his Ipod, ate a lunch of fried fish in
garlic butter, salad and tortillas. We could not take the boat trip we wanted
due to high winds and rough seas. One who rode ATV’s had an allergy attack so I
was glad we didn’t attempt it. For dinner we went to a Mariscos place, and
bought and split a huge red snapper cooked in butter and garlic – wonderful!!
1/14/2011- San Jose
Joan & I departed
Huatulco around 10:00 am due to paperwork & clearing customs to leave the
country. Bruce & Darrell flew to Chetumal Mex for a river boat ride to Belize.
The flight was smooth at 11500 (had to change batteries in SPOT enroute) Just
past Liberia CR all hell broke loose about 30 miles out of Pavas. The worse
turbulence I have ever seen. It flipped the airplane all around and almost made
me stall. I am not exaggerating. It was very turbulent on the landing also and
Darrell was right - one hell of a sink rate on short final. After we landed the
people on the ground were very helpful and guided us through all the paper work
& customs. We recognized our plane handler from 3 years ago. He found us a good
parking spot for the next 2 weeks, next to where we left the plane last time.
We got a taxi to the Hotel Inca Real ($73, WiFi and breakfast) It was adequate.
The best part was the locale – a Clarion Hotel restaurant nearby for dinner, a
bank with cajero automatico (ATM), and the Jade Museum which was fascinating to
tour.
1/15/2011 Start of bus tour- San Jose
We checked in at
noon at the Casa Conde Hotel for the first night of our bus tour. WOW, fancy and
the suite includes a kitchen, and washer and dryer. We are isolated here though
as any shopping necessitates a taxi ride. Don tried to walk out the gate but was
stopped by the hotel guards. He was trying to see what was around the hotel, and
told the guard he wanted to go to the Pizza Hut and check it out. The guard
said to phone in the order and have it delivered. The surrounding neighborhood
is not safe. Had a buffet lunch
and later, after a hot tub soak, dinner on the lovely patio next to the pool.
Tomorrow we start our bus tour.
1/16/2011 Tortuguero
We were told to be
at breakfast at 6:00 am and the bus would leave at 7:00 am for Tortuguero. The
bus trip took 4 1/2 hrs. We gained elevation through the rain forest with fog
and rain – ferns and umbrella plants appeared. The guide told us that it rains
some 18 feet a year. The bus stopped for a second breakfast and we got photos of
a sloth nibbling on leaves in his high perch.
We and our luggage
had to be ferried on flat boats for about 15 miles, 35 minutes on the fast
moving river to the Evergreen Lodge in the jungle. Later, after lunch, we piled
in the boat again for a ride from our resort to the small town of Tortuguero. We
disembarked at the turtle preservation structure; saw a film on the man who
pioneered saving the giant sea turtle, walked down the beach where the turtles
lay their eggs and into town. This area is a long isthmus and has many stores
although sparse selections (no red wine in 2 markets). On the boat ride back to
the resort we saw lots of birds and one bright green Jesus Christ Lizard, so
named for its ability to walk on water. Our room is right next to a couple who
smoke, and they are doing so on our shared porch. At dinner Joan asked our guide
if we could move and it was arranged. Our sinus allergies cannot take any second
hand smoke. We got a separate little cabin in another part of the resort and
loved it.
1/1711
Day 2
The next morning we
were supposed to go for a boat ride to look at the wild life along the canals
but it was raining too hard.
Hola! We went for our boat ride this afternoon. They got us a bigger boat with a
top on it to protect us from the rain. The insurance paid off as it didn’t rain.
We saw a lot of birds & reptiles: Herons, Hawks, Iguanas, & 2 different kinds of
monkeys. It was exciting for a while but after 2 hours of hard fiberglass seats
we were ready to go back.
Tomorrow we leave here and head west to Sarapiqui. It is a small town in a
valley that is surrounded by rain forest. We don’t know quite what to expect but
we’ll find out when we get there.
1/18/2011 Sarapiqui
We arrived in Sarapiqui today. Had to leave to go on the zip line in the canopy as soon as we
arrived. We had a blast. We rode about 8 lines. It was Joan’s first time and she
really had a big smile on her face. It went fast and was
scary when you were coming to the other end and couldn’t slow down. The little
guides were quite proficient at their job and would catch us, even the hefty ones. We are in an all
inclusive resort that is really nice but Don feels trapped because we can’t leave
here. We do not really have much free time to walk or shop anyway. We are only
staying here for one night and headed for Arenal Park tomorrow.
1/19/2011 Arenal
Got an early start
as usual this morning and headed for Arenal. Stopped to see an Archeological
museum and recreation of a Pre-Colombian village. There was a botanical garden
there too with many herbs and a Noni tree. The fruit stinks (smells muy malo)
but is used to cure cancer, according to our guide. After a wonderful lunch we
resumed the journey. Next stop was to hike up a mountain trail with 14 hanging
bridges. That walk was slow due to frequent stops as our guide elaborated on the
flora and fauna. The views of Arenal volcano were spectacular. We arrived at the
hotel Los Lagos after dark. Some of the people had trouble finding their rooms.
The grounds are so huge that we had to ride a shuttle van to the hotel
restaurant for dinner. We had another long day, very tiring, and hit the hay
early.
1/20/2011 Arenal – day 2
Got up early as usual
for breakfast and to get ready for outings. Today we went to two fincas (farms);
one was a dairy farm and the other a small mango farm. The young manager (son of
the owners) spoke excellent English and gave us hands-on chores to cast the
grain on the sugar cane fodder and to milk 2 of the cows. The dairy also produces
cheese. This land is very fertile due to the volcanic ash, and very valuable.
Afterwards we went to a local grade school where we were treated to typical CR
dances by the children. For lunch we had home-made beef soup - really good. We
opted out of the afternoon boat ride around the lake. We asked Graven, our tour
guide, to drop us off in town where we shopped for awhile and caught a ride back
to the hotel. I checked e-mail and to my surprise Darrell & Bruce Lucy & Tobey
were in a hotel right next to us. We arranged to get together and had one hell
of a good time at the hotel bar. It was really good to see them again.
1/21/2011 Monteverde
This was the hardest
day so far. We traveled about 6 hours on the bus the long way around a very long
lake (roads too bad to take the shorter route) Had a bad tire on the bus so had
it checked and it had to be replaced. We all got off the bus at a restaurant
with macaws, spider monkeys and tall trees for them to cavort about in. This
turned out to be the best part of the trip. After hours more on narrow roads we
finally got a late lunch at our hotel and were taken to the cloud forest
preserve, divided into groups of 10 according to slow, medium and fast walkers,
with guides. Our “fast” group went for an hour walk as it closed at 5 pm and we
got tired of the dark, wet, slippery trails. We then waited about 2 hours for
two of the groups to return to the bus. It appeared that one of the guides got
lost. It was dark and everyone was in a bad mood. It was a real zoo trying to
get into our rooms with our bags everyone was so tired. Had dinner at 8 pm. It
is a nice hotel but there is no wifi in the rooms, only the lobby as was the
case with most of our hotels Tomorrow we are heading to the Pacific ocean on the
gulf of Papagayo, and will stay for 2 nights so it should be more relaxing.
1/22/2011 Guanacaste
We drove through the
large town of Liberia and right by the airport where we landed 2 years ago. We
stopped to let a vendor on the bus and bought a bag of roasted cashew nuts. We
arrived about 1 pm at the all-inclusive hotel, Sol Papagayo at Playa Hermosa on
the Gulf where we had a late lunch and rested. Don swam and Joan sat poolside.
We ate the buffet dinner with two Ohio couples on the trip.
1/23/2011 Guanacaste 2nd day
Today we got up with
Joan sick. Salad maybe? Don was just starting to feel bad but went on the 5 hour
ordeal bus and boat trip on the Tempisque River. He was feeling so bad by the
time he got on the boat he could hardly pay attention to the white faced
monkeys, crocodiles, and birds that were spotted. It was a good thing the bus
had a bathroom. He slept all the way back to our hotel and felt much better on
arrival. Joan was fine after taking Lomatil, and with no appetite ate lightly.
It was nice to just have free time to sit by the pool and read. Don waited to
start the meds so was sick for longer but eventually felt better.
1/24/2011- San Jose
We got up early again and headed
for San Jose. During the 5 hour bus ride there we stopped at a roadside restaurant to get a
sandwich to go which we needed for the long bus ride. The tour guide put it to a
vote whether to eat at the coffee
plantation buffet or stop and everyone wanted to get a small lunch. The tour of the coffee plantation was
interesting. It was given by a young girl who spoke good English and was very
enthusiastic. Don still just a little under the weather, and had to sit down
during part of the warehouse tour. We got to the hotel and had about 2 hours to
clean up before our big celebration. We drove about an hour and a half up
another narrow mountain road to a very nice restaurant. The lights of San Jose
made a sparkling background for the dancers. We thought the dinner was the best
one. During dinner musicians played and after dinner we were entertained by the
traditional dancers. The dancers surprised us by getting some of us to dance
with them including Joan & I. The tour group exchanged e-mail addresses.
1/25/2011
Tapachula Mexico
The hotel shuttle van
took us back to San Jose Pavas Airport for the long flight over the ocean from
San Jose CR to Tapachula. We flew back at 10500 and had to go around the 60 mile
Managua class B air space ring. We had to avoid over flying Nicaragua and not
talk to them on the radio for we had no prior permission. The prior permission
fee is $100. We stayed at the Hotel San Francisco in Tapachula Mexico. Had a
quick flight with a good tail wind, only 3 ½ hours. Our stop was good at the
airport with a friendly military check first. Then the other general aviation
paperwork which went OK, but we had to pay for a new multi-entry permit when we
left because we “needed one to come in from Central America.”
We ate an early
dinner in the airport cantina, Hawaiian chicken, rice, bean soup, and tortillas.
After getting our room we took a long walk around town, got ice cream, and
stopped in an Internet café as the one in the hotel was out of order. We had the
fastest connection so far on the trip.
1/26/2011
Guanajuato
Left Tapachula late
this morning. It was an uneventful flight except for flight planning around
restricted areas and Mexico City’s complicated airspace. Also we had to maneuver
around 2 very high volcanoes. I was at 13500 ft. Arrived late in the afternoon
at Leon Guanajuato airport. There was a bright red RV 6 A (Mexican Registry) there with “Flying
team” painted on the side. The friendly man flying it invited us to see him
perform aerobatics in Mazatlan on the weekend (Red Bull), but we were headed home with no
detours.
We took a cab to
Guanajuato which is an old colonial city on the side of a mountain. The taxi
driver found us a good hotel within walking distance of the city. Joan and I had
a late evening walk to and around the city. Joan did not like Guanajuato due to
the heavy and fast moving traffic through the narrow streets crowed with people.
There were several tunnels to walk through to get to the city center with narrow
paved stone walkways. We will have to come back and stay longer. We were both
tired from the long day which no doubt played a factor in her feelings about the
town.
1/27/2011
Guaymas
After a 4-½ hour flight
in partial overcast we arrived at a sunny, clear Guaymas. We are staying here in
Guaymas with our friends Gene & Jan Bourdage who have a 2 story house right on
the bay, with beautiful views of Guaymas bay. Took a walk on the beach before
eating the shrimp and pasta dinner Jan prepared. Fun to see the improvements
they have done to this large old home – very nice.
We left Guaymas today
about 1:00 pm Guaymas time. We flew to Calexico to check through customs, had
lunch, and then home. We agreed that we had a great trip but it is time to go
home.
1/28/11
Oxnard
We left Guaymas today about 1:00 pm Guaymas time. Joan painted on the
foot high numbers (kid's water based paint) as required by U.S. homeland
security. We flew to Calexico to
check through customs, had lunch, and then home. When we landed it was almost 5
pm and Jim Ayers and Bob Each were down at our hanger to greet us. We agreed
that we had a great trip but it is good to be home.
We were gone almost a month and living out
of a rolling suitcase gets old. The airplane is in its hanger with a few things
to tweak when I get around to it. Can you believe it - I am tired of flying for
a while. I am sure that will go away. I want to thank all of you who sent me
E-Mails to comment on the trip. It was fun and I would do it again. Anyway it
was a smooth trip home with a little tail wind, which was a change for the
better. Until the next time.
