By Friday, December 27th, we had decided we would visit the Caribbean Coast…..rain or no rain. Thursday night I listened to rain pound the roof of our villa and I silently worried about the trip over the mountains to Puerto Limon. The roads in CR are extremely narrow and winding…..I'm not sure which is more dangerous the roads with their pot holes the size of Texas or the Tico drivers. The bus drivers are like Madd Maxx, they ride your rear end and pass on the curves. They pass 3,4 and 5 cars at a time…on a curve. Think about it…..Tico's have been driving less than 10 years in this part of the country. There are three times more cars now than there were then and the roads have not changed in those 10 years. My neck and shoulder muscles are in a constant spasm from gripping the "Oh Shit" handle above the door. At 5 am I got up and put the coffee on and wondered how I would break to Ray that I thought perhaps we should rethink our journey to Limon. As you might think……at 7 am we were on our way out of Orosi Valley. Every excursion brings new and amazing flora and fauna in this country. Although it rained every kilometer of the way it was totally worth the drive. Around every curve is another expanse of vibrant greens……there are far more shades of green than Crayola knows about. The terrain changed from farm land, to forest, to raging rivers, to the plains with fields of bananas and sugar cane.
The Caribbean is like another country……the people are Afro/Caribbean and make up about 2 % of the Costa Rican population. Once we reached Limon the rain began to lighten. We headed south out of Limon following the ocean toward Caquita National Park, the first beach area on the map. We lived in St. Thomas, USVI in the early '70's and Caquita (sounds like Caweeta) reminded us of a typical Caribbean community. December and January is high season in Costa Rica and it is summer for this country with the children on their yearly break. The atmosphere was mostly young back packers and adventurers, very relaxed and colorful. The roads were filled with Costa Rican families…..some in vehicles and some just walking down the middle of the road.
After a short walk on the beach and an Imperial Beer we headed back towards Limon. We had noticed what looked like a new hotel, beach bar and restaurant in the small community of Westfalia just south of Limon and decide to take a look see. We were greeted with a beautiful smile as we entered into the gates and told to make ourselves at home. The beach here is a wood lovers paradise…….in fact the whole country is loaded with different hardwoods. The ocean itself was very angry, rough and churning. They told us that normally the ocean is the beautiful tidy bowl blue that we imagined it would be but that a storm at sea was causing all the rough waters. The ocean is always magnificent to me, I have respect for her enormous power and rejoice in her healing energy.
Back at the beach bar we meant the new owners of Hotel Westfalia. The 7 rooms were just opened this past September and the restaurant and beach bar had just opened in the past week. Michael and Marilyn are from St. Petersburg, Florida and bought the property three years ago. They own a hotel in St. Pete and are in the antique show business. They are the folks that book the shows all over the country. Michael's parents were in the business and he's been working the shows since he was nine years old. Very interesting people. They introduced us to Marty and his two boys from California, who now live in Turrialba. Turrialba is a mountain community between the Caribbean and Orosi Valley. It is known for its cheese, organic coffee and white water rafting. Marty is a retired Lawyer turned river rafter. After spending a couple of hours in the sun with these folks we made plans to return for New Years Eve and bring in the New Year with our new friends.
We did return to celebrate the New Year and had a grand time. The staff at the hotel is like family and very accommodating. We are especially fond of Bryan. He's the eighteen year old bartender who works very studiously at his English. Every drink appeared to get 4 or 5 limes, plastic mermaids that hung from the side of the glass and towers of pineapple, cherries and umbrellas. He worked meticulously at the garnish and presentation before he ever started on the drink. He was so proud of himself…..I took a picture of him holding up his creation and everyone applauded. Michael didn't have a room for us so we spent the night in their soon to be home on the property. It is only partially finished and was pretty sparse but wonderful all the same. We were right on the beach! New Year's Day the sun made its appearance in all his glory as if to say "It's a new day and a New Year". We spent the morning on the veranda. I working on my blogs and Ray reading his book……Retiring in Costa Rica. The time was very relaxing and comfortable…….giving us a taste of times to come. At noon the wind kicked up….the clouds rolled in and the rain came down. We packed up and said our goodbyes "hasta luego" and promised our return to Westfalia and the Caribbean.