Day 2. Sunshine. Rental Cars and long winding roads.

7:30AM
We wake to the beautiful SUNSHINE!
We go to check for the arrival of our rental car.
No car.
We have a delightful breakfast in our hotel. I have the Tico breakfast which includes rice, beans, 2 eggs, a sausage and tortillas.
No car.
I take a COLD (no hot water!) shower that is very quick.
No car. A phone call that informs us they are waiting on the autopart store to open to buy a crucial part for our car. No worries. They'll fix it and deliver it as soon as they can.
We decide to enjoy the sun and go for a swim in the pool.
ahhhhhh....sun.....
We go back to our room and wait for our car.
Success- the car finally arrives!
After MANY many attempts to charge our credit car for the car and several phones calls we finally have keys in hand, gps turned on and luggage stowed.

















11:00AM
Start our journey to Rancho Margot located near Lake Arenal and the Arenal volcano!
The journey through Costa Rica is stunning to say the least.
We pass sugar cane.
And fields of coffee beans.
Bannans and pineapples growing as well.
We drive through hot and arrid regions.
We stop in San Ramon.
We, most embarrassingly, eat at Taco Bell. Taco Bell isn't the same as Taco Bell in Indiana. And, in our defense, Ella ate NADA yesterday. She eats Taco Bell. Happy kids=happy parents....
We search for the needed SIM card for my unlocked Iphone.
We stop not once or twice to ask for directions but at least 4 or 5 times.
I use preschool level spanish and charades as needed to communicate.
We find the ICE store where I can get my SIM card.
For 2500 colones, or 5 dollars we are on our way with a working cell phone.
















We drive through the Costa Rican countryside.
We go over numerous one lane bridges.
We are passed by tour busses.
We are passed by motorbikes.
We pass fruit stand after fruit stand.









We drive through a nearly icy cloud forest.
It is almost magical, like a fairytale.
Los Angeles Cloud Forest.
We stick our hands out the windows to feel the clouds as we drive by.
We watch the cows standing in clouds.
We close the car windows to warm up.











We welcome the return of the sun on the other side of the cloud forest.
We screech to a hault as Graham jumps from the car.
Running across the "highway" to see an iguana.



We wonder if our GPS is really leading us in the right direction.

We drive.



We finally arrive in La Fortuna, Costa Rica!
Now where is Rancho Margot?
Oh Dear...
FORTY-FIVE more minutes.
We drive.
We drive down dirt roads.

We hear Graham scream to stop.
He see a coati.
We meet a coati named Charlie.
Charlie lives at the Arenal national Park
We take appropriate photographs.






We drive until we see Rancho Margot!
We sigh. We made it.