Perils of Polly: Accompanied by heat, rain and fear on the road to Costa Rica
Editor's note: Polly Crawford was a reporter and associate editor of The Peninsula Clarion from 1985-1988, when she wrote "Perils of Polly." She also wrote a series of "Peril" columns in 1998 about her Australian adventures. Her perils continue in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
My first glimpse of Costa Rica included big city, heat, rain, and fear grasping my heart at the possibility of not connecting with my friend, Maralee. After an hour in the rain, driving from the airport in Alajuela, the taxi finally pulled up in front of the downtown Budget office.
I dragged my two carryons through the downpour and into the office. I quickly glanced around. Still no Maralee. I shrugged. I'd have to get the car and go on my own. As I parked my bags and went up to the counter, in dashed Maralee. One look at her sent me into peals of laughter as I dashed up to hug her in relief. She was totally drenched, as in having been swimming or standing in a shower. Of course she had been in a shower.
"You wouldn't believe" she started.
Yes, I would believe about anything. Anyway, bus connections, rain, her schedule, everything conspired to make her late. I didn't care anymore.
Finally, with a free upgrade to four-wheel drive because they were out of the cheap cars, we headed back into the rain. Now it was my turn at the wheel, and traffic was thick. I had to head back exactly the way I had come -- back to Alajuela -- in order to get to our destination, La Fortuna and Arenal Volcano. Maralee had been living in San Jose for about month, so knew a little of the city, but she only took buses. And she knew more Spanish than I did. I was glad to have her in the passenger seat.
Another hour back toward the airport. I kicked myself for not having rented from the airport office. Maralee could have easily taken a bus there. It would have shaved off about three hours and an huge headache. Hindsight is great. Finally we sailed past the airport and took the exit to La Fortuna. The rain slowed down, the views got great, and the road got narrower. I got comfortable. I'm fine with paved mountain roads.
After several hours on the road, we pulled into La Fortuna. Maralee had already gotten some ideas of where to stay, and for $20 per night, we found a tiny room with a view of the volcano. We were only going to stay two nights. We had to pack a lot of activities into two nights, so we immediately headed to the tiny downtown area and looked for activities. With my cajoling because Maralee does not like horses, we booked a combined horseback/zipline trip for the morning and a riverboat ride for the afternoon.
By now it was dark, so we headed toward the volcano. We wanted to see the lava flowing down the side. We'd been given some directions, but the dark plays tricks. We headed up a very bumpy, rocky road looking for a place to view the volcano. Travel, even with a four-wheel drive, was held down to about 10 mph max, sometimes even five. We drove, and drove, and drove. Of course, it probably wasn't that far, but at 5 - 10 miles per hour, it sure seemed like a long ways! We had passed a sign advertising parking for pay, but knew there was a free spot, somewhere! Finally, we turned around, pulled out our wallets, and paid.
We paid for a spot in the woods. We were the only vehicle, and the man smiled happily and took our money. Then he pointed to a path in the dark and told us to walk up there. Neither of us had flashlights, so we began stumbling up the side of the mountain. In the rain. We looked at each other. Was this worth it? Of course it was.
We got to a little cleared-off platform, and there, far above us, visible despite the light rain, was lava flowing down the mountain. We gazed in awe for a little bit, then headed back. Another vehicle was now in the "parking lot," and the man was quite happy. He told us where we could find little frogs in the dark, and so I waded into the brush and soon found the glinting eyes of frogs, took my camera from its dry hiding place, and snapped a few shots.
We crawled back the bumpy road to La Fortuna. First on our agenda was an ATM for Maralee. The city seemed excessively dark as we approached. Suddenly we realized that the electricity was out. A few locals were out walking, and I felt very nervous dropping Maralee off at an ATM machine in the dark. I couldn't park, but had to drive around the block. I saw a couple of men walking the same sidewalk as Maralee. I whizzed around the block. She wasn't done yet--and in fact, I couldn't figure out what she was doing. The men were still there. I wondered if the machine would work without electricity. I whizzed around the block again, getting more agitated.
When I got back, she wasn't there!
Check back next week for the next part of Polly's perils.