Impromptu Road Trip!

Yesterday - Saturday - we decided to drive to Puntarenas for a seafood lunch. We left around 1030.

Here are the routes we took going to the coast and returning. We drove route 1 going (dark blue) and route 27 (grey) returning. Route 1 is the northern section of the Pan-American Highway, also known as the Inter-American Highway in Central America.

Route 1 is prone to slow movement and backups due to semi trucks coming from Nicaragua going to the region of the San José capital, plus there are lots of hills and twists and turns. I prefer route 27.

The drive to the Pacific takes you from the cooler mountain areas to the considerably warmer and more humid coast and you can feel the temperature changing as you drop further down from the mountains.

Our restaurant of choice was the Isla Coco’s Bar and Grill at the tip of Puntarenas and just across from the ferry that goes to Paquera or Naranjo on the Nicoya Peninsula. This was our first time at this restaurant and it did not disappoint. I had a craving for clams.

And we got them! Grilled clams - lots and lots of them. This was advertised as an appetizer but it took two of us to finish them up. They were delicious. The bread was so good and perfect for sopping up the very tasteful garlic broth they were swimming in.

Every customer is served a small bowl of seafood soup gratis. Mine had a shrimp and a crab claw in it. Lance’s was a shrimp and a mussel which he graciously gave to me ‘cause I love ‘em.

For refreshments, Lance ordered cold beer (Imperial) and I had the limonada hierbabuena, which is lemonade with fresh herbs. This is one of my favourites.

Our eyes were bigger then our stomachs because we could not make much of a dent in our main dishes and we ended up taking most of it home (para llevar = take out/take away).

My choice - the garlic prawns with roasted vegetables and mashed potato:

Lance’s order - grilled salmon, roasted potatoes and vegetables and grilled pineapple:

I highly recommend this restaurant. Service was fast and efficient. As for Covid, masks, hand washing stations, and distance seating was prescribed and we were seated outside.

Some photos of the restaurant:

The ferry to the Nicoya Peninsula as seen from the restaurant:

It was so nice to get away even for a few hours - especially to this place. The Covid restrictions can make one feel isolated. It’s not a long drive at all from our house. As I said to Lance - “So, you told me it was 1 degree Celsius (33.8F) this morning in Vancouver and raining”. Not anywhere near so in Costa Rica!

(Click on photographs to enlarge).

Puntarenas, Puntarenas

Yesterday we drove to the port town of Puntarenas in Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific Coast. Our reason for going was to attend the Puntarenas Gastro Tour at the Pacific Plaza and the House of Culture.

However, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot going on other then people standing around listening to a speaker - not at all like what the promotions promised. So we abandoned this idea and walked across the street to the open air cafes that line the waterfront. We were enticed into the Kiosko Acapulco by the promise of ceviche, one of my favorite things to eat. This restaurant has been around since 1962.

We shared one large order of shrimp ceviche - it came with banana chips - and was cold and tangy with lots of cilantro. Also had cold fruit drinks - mine was tamarindo and Lance had mora (a type of blackberry grown here). I can’t get enough of these drinks and always order one - a different fruit each time.

Our ceviche - large enough for two to share.

The copo man pushing his cart - you have to try one of these treats.

Cruise ship pier - no boats today.

I like Puntarenas a lot. It’s a Tico town so we get to mingle with the locals. Super fresh seafood comes in on the fishing boats and there are lots of excellent seafood restaurants. The restaurant prices were a bit higher then we are used to, reflective of tourists disembarking off the cruise ships I guess.

I wanted to use the washroom (baño) before heading home so I asked one of the restaurant workers where it was and he took me to it, apologized that they only had one, and said “Welcome to Costa Rica” (haha, guess I will always look out of place). I knew enough to tip him in colones so maybe he rethought his first impression that I was a tourist.

 We retrieved our car from the watchiman and headed home. This was a nice day trip.

Mamita Tina - Mystery Solved

On August 28, 2013, I did a post about a sign that stands on highway 3 at the entrance to Atenas. I was wondering who Cristina Cabezas Zumbado was and why a large sign had been erected in her honor.

The mystery is solved - thanks to Marietta Arce, publisher of "Atenas Today", and Mamita Tina's great-granddaughter, Ana Lidia González Sandoval. Here, then, is the story as published in the "Atenas Today" July 2014 issue. Thanks to Marietta for giving me permission to reprint this great story and thanks to Ana Lidia González Sandoval for generously sharing the information:

No doubt many have observed the monument outside Alida’s Pizza in Sabana Larga and wondered who Cristina Cabezas Zumbado was. This article will hopefully answer the question and provide many interesting facts which were generously shared by her great-granddaughter, Ana Lidia González Sandoval, currently a resident of Atenas.

On September 17, 1863 Cayetano Cabezas and Maria Zumbado (a couple originally from Barva, Heredia who had moved to Atenas) were blessed with a daughter whom they named Maria Sofia de Jesus. She became known as Cristina or Tina Cabezas Zumbado.

Tina Cabezas married José Salas (from Cartago) on August 16, 1884 in Atenas and they started the Salas Cabezas family. Tina or Mamita Tina (as she was also fondly called) was a small, tanned, slender woman with much beauty and vitality. She was very religious (Catholic) always praying the Angelus at six in the morning and at noon, and saying the rosary at night. She was devoted to the Christ of Limpias.

Mamita Tina was a very helpful and charitable person. She showered everyone with love and gave wise advice. If she saw someone in need, she did not hesitate to help; if they were sick, she would often heal them. Her husband don José Salas was an oxcart driver who traveled from Cartago to Puntarenas and back. After he married Mamita Tina, he purchased several properties in Atenas. Their home was located where the Music School is now. Across the street, they opened a "sesteo" (resting place) where they served the needs of the oxcart driver and his oxen. Don José continued to travel back and forth from Cartago to Puntarenas with merchandise. Later, they converted their home into an inn and worked alongside their children: Ramon, Emilio, Lalo, Carpio, Adolfo and Oliva as well as their foster daughter Dorila Vindas.

Don José and his sons were in charge of the "sesteo". The working day at the inn began at three in the morning with Mamita Tina preparing the meals (beef stew, hash, stuffed pork loin). They ground the corn in a machine to prepare the flour to make tortillas, ‘bizcochos’, tamal asado and tamales. The coffee was brewed by boiling water with the sugar added and then pouring the sweet water through a cloth filter holding the ground coffee. The whole family participated in this work.

Most of the guests of the inn were traveling barefoot or with a simple type of sandal called "caite". Others fastened a leather sole with leather straps to their feet. They wore plain gauze shirts. In winter (rainy season) they were completely soaked by the time they reached the sesteo!

Sometimes people were ill when they arrived at the inn and Mamita Tina would give them a change of clothes and natural healing remedies so that they could get better and continue their journey the next day. The oxcarts were often left overnight in the hallways or backyard of their home. Cattle owners or bosses traveled on horseback and they wore leggings and fancier clothing. The traveling herds were allowed to graze on don José’s pastures. People going to Puntarenas for a vacation would also stay at Mamita Tina’s to rest before continuing their journey.

Cristina Cabezas learned midwifery at San Juan de Dios Hospital in San Jose. She was a midwife for the county of Atenas and brought many children into the world. Women in labor might call Mamita Tina in the middle of night; in the rain; from remote places where she had to walk great distances (like Güisaro or Cajón) and she never refused to go. Often, when she arrived at the homes, she found that the family was very poor, had little to eat and nothing to wrap the baby in. She would return home, take sheets that had been given to her by doña Livia Saravia for this purpose, and go back to properly swaddle the newborn. If a baby was born in the afternoon or evening, she stayed overnight to help the mother the next day. She received no monetary compensation for this work, she did it as a service to God and her community. Many of the babies later became her godchildren.

The beautiful story of Mamita Tina was told by Placidia Sandoval Salas to her daughter Ana Lidia González Sandoval, Mamita Tina’s great granddaughter. We look forward to more stories about this wonderful woman who lived in Atenas when Atenas was just getting settled!

The photos are courtesy of Ana Lidia González Sandoval.

"Atenas Today" is a free English language newsletter for residents and potential residents of Atenas, Costa Rica. It contains informative articles and creative compositions submitted by readers and is distributed via e-mail approximately once a month to over 500 e-mail subscribers. To get on the distribution list or to submit material, please send an e-mail to Marietta Arce at atenastoday@gmail.com.

Compositions from back issues are archived on the Atenas Chamber of Tourist and Commerce website. Click on the English version and then Atenas Today on the business page.

 

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Passport to Paradise

Beach Day, Tuesday, January 14, 2014 ... the first Beach Day of the New Year, at Playa Doña Ana, Puntarenas. We met new people, including a couple from Victoria, British Columbia.

Thank you, Tom and Lee, for offering to take us with you. We stopped for breakfast along the way. The ocean this day was warm, with some swells. The first thing I always do when we arrive is jump into the ocean. I hope I never get tired of seeing the Pacific Ocean at this latitude and walking along all the beaches.

I made this silly video just for fun.

 

 

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The Trail of the Oxcarts

The other day, I finally went and took photos of the Atenas boyero monument. This iron statue is situated on the right side of highway 3, about 1.6 km before the turn into Atenas.

This monument is dedicated to the hard work of the boyeros. Highway 3 is the old oxcart trail that used to lead to Puntarenas.

Tortuga Island

This past Saturday, we went on a tour to Tortuga Island. This tour is offered by Varso Travel in conjunction with Gloria and Paul Yeatman of Retire For Less in Costa Rica.

For the very reasonable price of $64 each, an air conditioned shuttle bus picked us up in Atenas at 0700 and drove us to Puntarenas where our boat was waiting to depart at 0800. I think there were about 30 total in our group, which included Ticos, with 19 coming from Atenas. Without the shuttle bus, the price is $54 each but it was so nice not to have to drive oneself to and from Puntarenas.

Tortuga Island lies on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, in front of the Curu Wildlife Refuge and is a tropical island paradise with white sand beaches.

Our bilingual crew were great - very knowledgeable and safety conscious. We were provided with information about each of the different islands we passed, the bird and sea life we were seeing. A thrill for all was seeing pods of dolphins close by the boat, leaping out of the water and playing in the boat's wake.

Snorkeling was included with all equipment provided. The sea this day was calm and the water crystal clear. We could see multi-colored tropical fish swimming everywhere. I wish now I had tried the snorkeling but figured the ocean was no place to start - a swimming pool would be better for a first try and I want to get my own equipment. One of our crew dived and brought up different sea creatures for us to touch and look at. Of course, everything was put carefully back into the ocean.

Motored on to Tortuga Island - a stunningly beautiful setting with white sands, palm trees and turquoise waters. Our crew started preparing fruit appetizers and lunch on the beach. Water, sodas and iced tea are included. We had several hours to swim or explore the island. We were asked not to take anything - no shells, no coral - and to leave nothing behind.

We left around 3:00 pm, I think - nobody was really keeping track of the time. All too soon, our boat trip was over and we landed at the dock in Puntarenas, where our shuttle bus was waiting for the hour long drive to Atenas.

I highly recommend this tour - we had a wonderful time and I think that was the farthest south in Costa Rica that we have been so far.

Beach towel

Snorkeling 

I've never seen a starfish like this one

Swam here - so beautiful. That 4 master in the background is for hire.

Lunch - rice, salad, BBQ chicken and tortillas. Fresh fruit was served for appetizers.