Cindy Hewett

First Christmas Season in Costa Rica

Unlike in the US, there are no major holidays between Costa Rica’s Independence Day (September 15) and Christmas. Stores here wasted no time in capitalizing on this timespan to promote consumer spending. You think Christmas displays go up too early in the US? Christmas displays here started going up in the stores on September 16.

Playa Cocles and Le Cameleon (by Cindy)

At the end of October, we traveled to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica to Playa Cocles. This is the second post about our trip.

To and From Playa Cocles (by Cindy)

We chose to go to Playa Cocles for our October Costa Rican adventure. Playa Cocles is located on the Caribbean side of the country, in the south near Panama. It is located between Puerto Viejo to the north and Manzilla to the south, along an 8-mile stretch of road. This area is attractive to a more rustic crowd, like backpackers and eco-tourists. We once again chose the Caribbean side because in San José, October is the rainiest month of the rainy season, and the Caribbean side of Costa Rica is supposed to be drier when the rest of the country is rainier. We scheduled our 3-night, 4-day trip for the last weekend in October.

This is the first post about our trip to Playa Cocles. Getting there and back is an adventure in and of itself, so here are some highlights …

Witch House – Update (by Cindy)

For those of you following along on the search for the Witch House in Escazú …

Monday, John and I were the only two that could make it to our Spanish class. Our teacher said that we could cover anything that we had questions about. Well, he opened the door, and you would be correct if you guessed that we asked about the witch house.

We had searched over the weekend and had pictures to show our teacher of the houses that we thought might possibly be the witch house. He looked at each one and said that none of them were it. He then pulled up a website of houses for rent and didn’t find it there. He probably thought it would be because of what he’s heard about the turnover at that house. Finally, he pulled up Google Earth on his laptop and located the house. There are actually two matching houses, one that the niece lives in (witch house) and the other that is rented right next door to it (haunted house). John and I thought for sure we’d been by there, but as we found out, we obviously had not.

Location of Witch House and Haunted House on Google Earth – surprisingly close to the Uruguayan Embassy

After class, we walked to PriceMart and then walked back to our apartment with one (thankfully light) bag each. The weather was still fine, warm and sunny, which is atypical for our normal afternoon showers during the rainy season. To get from PriceMart back to our apartment in Escazú Village, we have to walk in the neighborhood where the witch house is located. Based on what we saw on Google Earth, it wasn’t going to be too far out of our way, so we decided to find it.

We first turned down the street with the over-the-top, and somewhat creepy lawn ornaments.

We pass by this house almost every day, but not without shuddering

We then went down two blocks and turned left. According to Google Earth, the houses should be located near the corner. As soon as we rounded the corner, we immediately knew we were in the right place. There were three cats on the sidewalk in front of the house. (There’s that number three again!) I quickly pulled out my phone and tried to take a picture. Two of the cats had disappeared, but one black one remained on the sidewalk.

To get a good picture of the houses, we crossed the street before we passed directly in front of the houses. The witch house where the cats were located is on the left in the picture below. It has the white gate. The haunted house that our teacher was going to rent is on the right. Notice that it does have a sign (for sale) on it. Apparently, no one is living in that house now. (Well, no one that’s living, anyway.)

Witch house (left) and Haunted house (right)

On the way back to our apartment, John said, “Those cats were kind of small. Do you think they were kittens or just little cats?” I answered, “They seemed like little cats. Maybe the witch turns the children into cats.”

I sent the house pictures to our teacher and he confirmed we had located the witch house. During class this morning, he also asked how we felt when we walked by the house. We told him that we had crossed the street. What we didn’t tell him was, this isn’t our family’s first encounter with the paranormal – we know better than to get too close.

Which House is the Witch House? (by Cindy)

In honor of October and Halloween …

Our Spanish teacher gives us homework, and one exercise was to answer questions that would require us to use the Spanish word “hay”, meaning “there is” or “there are.” There were several questions about our city or country, and mostly we took the easy way out by answering what we knew about Des Moines, Iowa, or the US, because we still have so much to learn about Costa Rica.

One of the questions (translated to English) was “Are there many museums in your city?” And, of course, both John and I gave answers about Des Moines. Sometimes our teacher seizes a cultural learning opportunity and, in this case, decided to list museums in the San José area for our benefit. (You may remember he did something similar when he listed in Spanish the 10+ kinds of milk we could buy, including the ever popular, buffalo.) So, he proceeded to list museums: Museo Nacional, Museo de Jade, Museo de Oro, Museo de Arte, and concluded with Museo de las Brujas (Witch Museum).

Return from Tortuguero (by Cindy)

This is the last post in the Tortuguero trip series. (We promise!)

The night before our return home from Tortuguero, we went to bed ready for a good night’s sleep before our early morning breakfast and departure.

Almost as soon as we went to bed, we heard a noise outside the cabin. The noise was from an animal, and when we compared notes the next morning, we both used the word “distressed” to describe the sound. John thought it might have been a baby bird, and I thought maybe an insect, but “distressed” we both agreed on.

Our cabin had screened windows all around. The windows had curtains you could pull across for privacy, but you couldn’t close the windows to shut out noise. The previous night it hadn’t been a problem – the quiet sounds of the jungle had been soothing, and the morning noises from the howler monkeys weren’t an entirely unpleasant sound to wake up to. But, this night, that distressed sound was keeping us both awake. I began to hope that whatever was causing that thing to be distressed would be relieved of its misery, either by its mother, a mate, or a predator, so it would just shut up!

Tortuguero Turtle Tour (by Cindy)

It’s said that turtle watching in Tortuguero (Place of Turtles) is all about timing. We visited during September, which is one of the peak nesting months for green sea turtles, so felt there was a good chance we’d be able to see a green sea turtle nesting. It seemed extra special since green sea turtles are listed as an endangered species.

But you don’t just wander down to the beach to see a turtle nesting. Sea turtles come on shore at night to nest. Access to nesting sites on the beach are strictly controlled at night, and you are not allowed to wander the beaches at night on your own. So, we signed up for the (optional) night sea turtle tour on Thursday night, and paid the $40 per person fee. It was worth every penny!

On the Road to Tortuguero (by Cindy)

Now that we are somewhat settled, we wanted to start exploring our new country. September and October are the rainiest months of the rainy season here. With some research we found that the Caribbean side of Costa Rica is “drier” when the rest of the country is “rainier.” There are several options along the coast, but we decided to make our first trip at the end of September to Tortuguero. The name Tortuguero means “Place of Turtles.”

Tortuguero is located along the northern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. It is somewhat remote and is not a place you go for a beach vacation. The beaches are dark sand beaches and are known for dangerous rip tides and sharks. Tortuguero is a place you go to see turtles and other amazing wildlife. September seemed like an ideal time because not only would it be drier and warmer there than Escazú, but it is one of the peak nesting months for Green Turtles.

This is the first post about our trip to Tortuguero – the journey, not the destination.

Frogger (by Cindy)

Anyone remember the old video game “Frogger” from the 1980’s? The objective was to move frogs across a busy road and then across a perilous river to their homes.

Frogger Game – “Frogger” complete with his 1980’s briefcase

Paw-a Vida! (by Cindy)

The first time I noticed Escazú’s city seal on a sign, I did a double take. The town seal has a real witch on it! It is a stereotypical witch – woman dressed in black with a cape, pointed hat, and riding a broomstick. And just to be sure you understand, it is also clearly stated on the insignia as well, “Ciudad de las Brujas” which means, “City of the Witches.” There are numerous witch stories in folklore associated with the city and the city seems to be embracing them.