Back from the Playa

Well we're back from the Playa. We stayed at a neat place called the Fenix in Samara Beach. The owners are anxious to sell and get back to their real love....gold mining! We went through La Juntas (movie to follow) which is and was a gold mining town. Costa Rica had its gold rush just like California! As a matter of fact many of the original Tico farmers in Monteverde area were disgruntled gold miners looking for a more peaceful existence. And we may go gold mining! You have to be over 18 for some reason,.,,,no minor miners. There;s got to be a whole pun there somewhere. Have to find some place where they don't mind minor miners mining gold.
We got to and from Monteverde 'smoothly' ...a real joke if you know the roads. Some of them are only passable with a four wheel drive....and then very slowly in first gear. I navigated using a 'treasure map' created by one of the parents who had been to Samara Beach before. There were a couple of time where we said 'This just can't be the main road'. But piles of rocks, trees washouts and rubble lead the way to the Nicoya Penisula and the Pan American Highway. Dad said we never got lost we just lost confidence a few times.
I'm typing this from our new house that has internet access (phone line). I'll wait until I get to the higher speed at school to upload any pictures or movies but I just wanted to add another post and thank all you folks that have commented. Thanks for helping me keep in touch with the outside world!
The first house we went to we were greeted by a scorpion at the door. This house we were greated with candles....the electricity goes out alot. We're now in Cerro Plano which is in between Monteverde and Santa Elena. A really neat house built like a Swiss Chalet with vaulted ceilings. Not a typical Tico house at all...except lots of tile and stone work. They do such beautiful stone/masonry work here. Not as good a view as the last house but well off the main road and with a bit of a yard that we can play ball. There is a wall in the back holding back the hillside where we played wall ball earlier. All the houses are built on terraces cut into the mountain side.
Well I better post this and get to bed....school day tomorrow!
thanks for reading and posting,
Forest in the Cloud Forest.