Lodging, not what you think

February 8: 61 degrees, mucho frio

Today, we are making our way to the Carribean coast.  On this 6-7 hour trip across the mountains we are going to stop near Cartago to see Volcano Irazu.  Irazu is the highest point in all of Costa Rica.

At our first turn, we pick up a couple women hitch-hikers, one who is about 40 and the other about 60. I know what you are thinking but hitch hiking is very common here. They were extremely happy about the ride since the bus would not be coming for another hour.  Then, they had another hour trip on top of that to get to their final destination.  Not to mention that this also gave us another opportunity to practice our Espanol.

After a lot of miles and chit-chat, we drop the ladies off and make our way through the mountains.  The roads are winding and often times steep.  The temperature drops quickly at this altitude and we find ourselves stopping to put on more clothes.  The higher we go, the more the clouds are hugging the mountain tops.  Visibility is getting harder and now it is beginning to rain.  We are glad to have decided not to make the full trip to the Carribean today and instead plan to spend the night half way to see the Volcano.

Beautiful Mountains of Costa Rica

The further up the mountains, the more lush the jungle.  Periodic breaks from the clouds let us see exotic plants, trees and birds along the way.  This is the type of scenery that picture backdrops are made of.  It is so breathtaking that it looks fake.  The road on the other hand is now wet, unpredictable and narrow.  Good thing there are two of us.  It is necessary to keep your eyes on the road.

HUGE Jesus statue on the side of a mountain

Finally, we make it to the town of Cartago.  It is a heavily populated and developed valley surrounded by acres upon acres of farmland.  We stop for a bite to eat and we notice that the culture is different here.  It is much more conservative than the culture of the Pacific shoreline, deep-rooted Catholicism is visible, and there isn't any noticeable poverty along our route.

Now, it is time to find lodging!  We see signs for Volcan Irazu and start to follow them.  The sun is starting to go down and we know it is going to get harder and harder to navigate.  Surely if we drive toward this tourist attraction, there will be lodging.  We drive through a couple of small towns following signs to the Volcano with no signs of lodging.  The sun continues to slip away and the rain lingers.  We see our first sign of lodging!!! It is a place called, "Grandpa's Hotel." Anything tagged as a hotel so far comes with a hefty price tag so we continue on to see what else might be closer to the park.  We drive for about an hour up a mountain side, it's getting dark and we are wet.  We make it all the way to the park entrance with only one sign of lodging.  We drive back to the road that promises lodging in 9 kilometers.  We turn down the road, stop and put the SUV into 4WD.  The road is not much of a road at all.  Rather, it is a muddy path on the side of a mountain.  It is treacherous and we had to be driving less than 5MPH.  We start to wonder what we would do if another car happens upon us.  There is barely room for our vehicle, let alone, another one.  Gripping tightly to the steering wheel with every bump and slide of the car wheels, we come upon a sign indicating we have gone 2 of the required 9 kilometers.  All the sudden, we were overcome by all the lessons learned thus far.  What does a lodge mean?  What if it isn't even in business anymore? What if it is really expensive?  What if we die on this muddy mountain side?

We managed to turn the car around, drive 45 minutes just as the sun was going down and stay at Grandpa's so we can trek back up the mountain in the morning to see the volcano. 

We think grandpa really lived here