Good–bye to the friendly Cabinas Eddy

We say good-bye to the friendly Cabinas Eddy in Monteverde and take the utterly bumpy road to La Juntas. Well, all roads leading to Monteverde are bumpy. Ursula compares the road with a streambed – I have to balance the car across blocks of stone. We drive through hills with pasture and cows. The landscape reminds us a bit of the Jura in Switzerland.

It seems to me that we ride on a balcony and far below us is the Pacific Ocean.

After an hour we reach La Juntas and smooth pavement. We soon enter the Interamericano, have a coffee and a budin (“pudding made out of bread, milk and raisins). Then 1…2…3… around lunch time we are in Curubandé.  We have reserved a room in the small El Sol Verde lodge that is run by a Dutch couple.

Our room is cosy with a balcony overlooking the dry landscape. We hear lots of birds and howler monkeys. It is very hot, some 36 degrees. We need a siesta.

Later I walk to the river where the young people from the village have a swim.

We have dinner in the Rincón del Café just round the corner.

The friendly lady-owner of the Rincón prepares excellent jugos and casados (the typical Tico lunch and dinner with rice, salad or vegetables, meat and – always – with red beans or “frijoles”. We share the round outside table with a bony slim retireee from California that has spent the winter in Costa Rica to avoid the cold winter of back home. We are the only three tourists in Curubandé. We are far from the tourist crowds here. But this small village has a church, a school, a mini market, two restaurants and a bar… all we need.

For tomorrow we plan to visit the Rincón de la Vieja and for the day after tomorrow the dry forest of Santa Rosa/Area de Conservación Guanacaste.