EL PARQUE NACIONAL Y LAS TIENDAS

Today we are headed back to the national park: this time to find animals. Our guide picked us up at the hotel and took us to the entrance of the park. From there we went on foot. He walked around the paths, the guide showed us different plants and animals, and he informed us on a variety of topics. I won’t go into detail on everything we saw, but I will share the highlights. We saw seven sloths in the park, two toed and three toed, making a total of nine for the trip. We saw all three kinds of monkeys in the area: Howler, Squirrel, and White Faced Capuchin. Walking through the trees were several white-tailed deer, similar to the ones we have at home. They were not native to Costa Rica. The deer weren’t afraid of humans because they were reintroduced into the wild from captivity, so we got to see them up close. Along with these larger animals we saw many small ones as well. We couldn’t believe the guide was able to find these tiny animals and bugs in the midst of the trees. Dad suggested the idea that they were just slides in the scope. The tour was well worth it because we saw many things we would have never seen otherwise.

After our time in the sun it was time for a shower and lunch. Both were completed leaving our afternoon wide open. Not having done much shopping yet, we decided to go down near the public beach and national park entrance to look in the little souvenir stores.

By the second shop we went into, Jo found some things she wanted to get, and my Spanish was put to the test. These beachfront shops are all about negotiation. You ask for the price of an item and they give you a really high, ridiculous number. From there you must negotiate down the price. It turned out to be quite an experience for me, and I got a lot of practice with my Spanish. I may write a story about the experience because it is a good story, but, if I don’t, ask me the next time you see me.

The first time in I couldn’t get the price low enough to match the money I had on me, so we left and continued our search. Moving along, Mom asked a host at one of the restaurants a question. Somewhere in there a said something briefly to him in Spanish. He then proceeds to ask me if I speak Spanish. I respond, “Sí, mas o menos sí” (yes, more or less yes). I have been asked that question many many times on our trip, but no one has responded to that in a better way than him. “Me too” he responded simply. That was enough to make the four of us proceed down the road with tears in our eyes from laughing. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but I don’t know how else to put it: it was a “had to be there” moment.

Not finding anything worth purchasing at the other stores, I had to return to that second store and finish the business for Joey. Again, it ended up being much more eventful, and more comical, than I ever could have imagined: a story for another time.

We completed our walk around town with some pictures on the beach, and then we headed off to dinner. Not everybody was particularly hungry due to our late lunch, so we found a spot with a good view of the sunset. The sunset was hidden behind clouds, but you could see it poking through in a couple places. The clouds glowed with subtle colors, Pura Vida.