Dominical 2

El Abuelo y mi familia in happier times

 My week away from our Central American adventure was challenging. I won’t get too much in to the details, but I am really glad that I went home to spend a week with my family in California. Mi abuelito is one of the best human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and when I got news that he wasn’t doing well, I knew immediately I needed to be there.

El Golfo de Fonseca

The trip home was bizarre. After months of SLOW travel—winding our way down the narrowing continent towards Costa Rica, being in close contact with local people, the smell and feel of the places, I felt really connected with where we were. Traveling over land roots you to the place. You use the same paths that the trucks and buses and cars and cows and horses use. You see very few tourists. I knew exactly how far from home we were—and that was pretty damn far. But when I got on a plane in San Jose, it tore me right out of that world and threw me high up in the sky; my face pressed against the plastic window, staring down at the landscape below. The people around me were Americans. They were excited to get home—to familiar restaurants and English and dollars and road signs. As we headed North, I picked out each landmark below—volcanoes, beaches, and lakes. In minutes, we cruised effortlessly over mountains that had taken a day to drive around. It took a mere 10 hours to get from the San Jose airport to my grandparents’ house in California. Never before have I been so aware of the surreal nature of airline travel.

Montana de Oro, CA

As my week in CA came to an end and I prepared to get back on the plane to return to San Jose, I knew it would be difficult to jump back in to the rhythm of Central America. I left a little piece of my heart in California, but it was time to get back to Cade and Rok and Chomo the Chalk Van.

Sobre Mexico

The return trip was not quite as smooth. I just barely made it on my flight from Phoenix to San Jose. The US Airways employee that was in charge of checking everyone’s passport and onward travel information at the gate demanded a return ticket out of Costa Rica and was quite prepared to stop me from getting on the flight if I failed to produce one. I had asked about this very issue in immigration as I left Costa Rica a week prior and was told it wouldn’t be a problem. She thought it was a problem. After I told her that I had asked at immigration before I left, she reminded me repeatedly that I should have asked at immigration. She would not accept my entry visa from the land border crossing or my copy of our vehicle import permit as proof that I had onward travel plans. She has been doing this for 15 years. My visa is apparently not a ‘real’ visa. It’s just a stamp that they give you at the land border that allows you to be in the country for 90 days. She told her boss on the phone that my vehicle import permit “looked pretty official.” Finally, as the flight attendants were closing the doors, her manager called back and told her to let me on the flight. As I hurried down the jetway, I could still hear her yelling after me…. “They’ll hold you for questioning! They don’t have to let you in! They can send you back!” I spent most of the 5-hour flight remembering to appreciate the very friendly people at the land borders, even if their internet and printers and computers never work and they get to sit in their air conditioned offices as you sweat outside for hours in the sweltering sun. Upon arrival in San Jose, the immigration agent spent about 5 and a half seconds looking at my passport, smiled, stamped it, and welcomed me back to Costa Rica. Pura Vida.

Playa Dominicalito

Soaring over Dominical

Cerro de la M

Cade and Rok were waiting for me just outside the airport, where I sucked a big breath of sweaty tropical heat back in to my lungs. Time to find that rhythm again. We headed back to Dominical, where Cade showed me around. Although the transition back to Central America felt a bit harsh, it was nice to have the casita to settle in to. We spent the following week flying over palm trees, howler monkeys, and loud ass jungle white noise. We swam in the ocean and our little local waterfall swimming hole, Poza Azul. We hiked to launch (sweaty stairmaster), got an unexpected visit from our good friend Orly (love!), saw a sloth in a tree, and drank many papaya, passion fruit, pineapple, and mango smoothies. We made rice, beans, and tortillas in the casita and made a few new friends. We watched many a gorgeous sunset from our quiet little beach. We shared the sky with Grandpa Ninja and friends and Nick’s crews. We chased giant green grasshoppers with red wings out of the casita at night. We crossed paths with a fellow roadtripper, Wendy from LivetoFlytoRide, who is riding her moto solo to Tierra del Fuego. Awesome! We also took a drive up the Cerro de la Muerte, the highest road in Costa Rica. You can leave the coast, ascend 10,000 feet to the continental divide, and drive back to the beach in 4 hours round trip. Definitely one of the coolest drives we’ve seen yet.

Hanging with Wendy

Baño with a view

Grillo

Sea of dreams, Costa style

Orly and Cade launching

Sloth!

Love

Birds eye view of Playa Dominicalito

On glide to Dominical

Re-united

We also had some unique and necessary stops at the vet and mechanic. It turns out Rok’s heat rash was actually a skin infection due to the moisture and all that ocean swimming. He got some antibiotics and some antimicrobial shampoo, which seems to be helping. We also gave him a fresh mohawk. He’s not too excited about all the extra baths, however. The vet was really excited about our trip and gave us his brother’s number in El Salvador. He told us if we ever need anything there….

Just another sunset at la playa

We took Chomo to a local mechanic for a routine tune-up. After 5,000 miles, he was ready for some love. An oil change, tire balance and rotation and a coolant flush were in order. I also got to learn a whole bunch of new mechanical vocabulary words, although I still don’t understand how cars work.

Costa Rican Jiffy-lube

Cade and Carlos

We were excited to fly a few of our new friends tandem in Dominical. Our neighbor Carlos has been driving for Nick’s tours for years and has always wanted to fly. His son Stewart came all the way from San Jose to join him in the air. We had a perfect day to fly with them and they were two of the most appreciative and stoked people we have flown in a long time. We love flying with happy people, and it’s even more meaningful when someone can point out their house from the air. To return the favor, Carlos took us on a snorkeling tour in front of our local beach at Dominicalito, where we saw some crazy bright tropical fish and eerie alien sea snails in their conch shells. Gracias!

La familia de Carlos

Becca and Stewart

Taking a break

Norkeling!

We’ve had a great time exploring this little piece of paradise. Unfortunately, the potential for setting up a business here for the remainder of the season has not presented itself to us. We did get some great news that Xshot has offered us sponsorship to cover our fuel costs for the trip. We are super thankful and excited to partner with this awesome company. Ebb and flow! We sat down with Rok for a family meeting and we’ve decided that it’s time to turn around and head back to Pana. We miss our Guatemalan family and the awesome flying we had over Lake Atitlan. We’ll take our time and explore some new places as we journey North. You know the old saying: “Cuando Costa Rica les da limones, vayanse a Guatemala para hacer limonada.” (When Costa Rica hands you lemons, go to Guatemala to make lemonade)

Onward!

Approach to paradise