You say tomato...
My dad and his wife are visiting Costa Rica again this week and I'm joining them for the weekend. Tomorrow morning we're going to the Hanging Bridges of La Fortuna. Or some hanging bridges around La Fortuna, I forget the exact name. According to my dad, we're being picked up from the hotel at "O-dark hundred." Which turns out to be 7:30AM, or as I described it, "Mid-afternoon." (I'm not a night owl in Costa Rica!) We agreed to get up at 6:15 to go to breakfast at 6:30, at which point he pointed out that the hotel rooms have no alarm clocks (nor phones for wake up calls). I pointed to the trees outside our rooms. "You see those trees? They're full of birds. Who will go off at a quarter to six tomorrow morning. That's your alarm clock." I promised to knock on their door at 6:15, but if they manage to sleep through the birds they're sounder sleepers than I've ever managed. The birds here are LOUD! Fortunately there don't seem to be any chickens around, because the roosters go off about fifteen minutes or so before the rest of the bird-brains.
I actually spent part of this week and last in Boca del Toro, Panama. Which is another story entirely. Getting to Boca del Toro and then getting away from Boca del Toro were both...interesting. Mostly due to what might be best characterized as piss poor prior planning on our part. In our defense, who ever heard of a border crossing closing at 5PM? On the other hand, walking over the old railroad bridge to cross the river marking the border was challenging enough in daylight--they may close the border before sunset just to reduce the number of people they have to fish out of the river. There are planks laid between the old trestles, but they're not what you'd call even. Or continuous.
I actually spent part of this week and last in Boca del Toro, Panama. Which is another story entirely. Getting to Boca del Toro and then getting away from Boca del Toro were both...interesting. Mostly due to what might be best characterized as piss poor prior planning on our part. In our defense, who ever heard of a border crossing closing at 5PM? On the other hand, walking over the old railroad bridge to cross the river marking the border was challenging enough in daylight--they may close the border before sunset just to reduce the number of people they have to fish out of the river. There are planks laid between the old trestles, but they're not what you'd call even. Or continuous.