Off the beaten path in Costa Rica and Panama- the wonders of a school calendar

"You sounded so content and settled in according to your late summer blog post 
so that is the sort of Fall I was envisioning for you." 

Yikes! When a dear friend wrote that to me a couple of days ago, I realized how long it had been since I posted. 

All is well. The highlight over the last months has been a two week 'rainy season' break. A lot can happen over two weeks. Like Gigi jumping off the cliff of a waterfall.

Her bravery never ceases to amaze me.

Two weeks is also long enough to reach a remote, off-the-grid cabin. The place is largely used by entomologists' from all over the world who come to study insects in the Panamanian Highlands (no, I didn't realize such a place existed either). 

We crossed into Panama again by foot, 

this time over the mountains at San Vito, a little-used, but fantastic border crossing. 

We were the only ones there both going and returning. The staff from both countries treated us like old friends. The actual border crossing can be confusing to reach and we blew a piece of our suspension on yet another unmarked 'muerto' (dead person) AKA a speed bump, but once we got there, we all decided it had been worth it. Can you see why the vacation is dubbed the 'rainy season break'?

It's been a long while since Rick had to squeeze into a seat next to an indigenous woman.



The kids made their own fun as usual.

This apparently isn't as painful as it looks:



Panamanian school children packed the small bus, loading and unloading along the remote mountain road.

When we arrived, it was like reaching a private Eden.

The silence of the Valley was deafening.

Except for mushrooms that resembled a box of chocolates,

moths and butterflies as big as your hand,



and horses who were plump and confident in their untethered life,



we felt alone, alive, and tight as a family. We spent long hours playing cards,



 hiking,

 and riding.



Did I say cards?




We were pretty well in the middle of nowhere. The trip there had taken us over rivers



and up muddy tracks that left one quite frankly, speechless.

We ventured out one day to find a natural hot springs and trekked back down the road on which we had arrived. We found that, even walking was arduous.



I was feeling really proud of the family (especially our littlest one)



when we were dusted by a 72 year old, one-armed man



I called out to him  and he stopped just long enough to report that he was 72 and that the hot springs "weren't far"; after answering briskly, within about a minute he was completely out of sight and we were left staring at one another and shaking our heads in disbelief.

We made it to the natural hot spring which was indeed HOT.



There was a river nearby that a local said was crucial to dunk into to activate the properties of soaking in the hot water. That was COLD.

The scenery was breathtaking.

The locale incredible to test everything you think you need and desire and humbling to see a completely different way of life. The foreman's son goes to school in the nearest city which is a 2 hour walk and a bus ride into town away. He stays in a little room in the city during the week and comes back to the 'ranch' for the weekends. 

Lest my bias make me feel sorry for the boy, his Dad (pictured above) reports that he loves living up on the mountain and misses it when he is gone. We can see why. We felt refreshed and happy and wishing for more time when our days were up. If you're curious to know more, read reviews here, you'll even get to follow along as visitors describe being led around by this son on the weekends before he heads back to school. Something grew within us those days, and in that air that was a bit like the acorns we planted



it was simply hard to believe what would grow out of it. We learned that our family loved the mountains. Loved the quiet and simplicity that is fostered being off the grid and loved each other more than we sometimes realize during the busy pace of every day life. The place is Mount Totumas.

We are grateful for the new perspectives granted by the school calendar. 

The European School breaks for two weeks in October and April with the longest break coming up just before Christmas. The rhythm has allowed for exploration both in and out. 

Here's what else we squeezed in during the two week break. 

A speedy but wonderful stopover at Manuel Antonio.

I visited there 20 years ago and although the growth shocks, the beauty of the place lingers as does its wildlife:

This bad boy is ripping the head off of a giant flying creature. I heard the crunch with my own ears I am sorry to say.

Here's the same shot of the first picture, this time at sunset and minus a tree:



The great thing about traveling in Costa Rica during the rainy season are the cheap prices. We loved Tulemar, a resort with a private, safe beach whose prices are slashed during rainy season.

We drove further south to Ballena to see whales, dolphins and the beautiful coast.

Our friends (Costa Ricans) with whom we traveled this leg, had suggested riding horses in to reach a waterfall. Baby-O road the 8k alone on her horse up and down a rugged 'road' not realizing feeling nervous might be a natural response. My friend and I were gritting teeth and holding breath on sharp inclines littered with big rocks only to watch and listen our preschooler and kindergartener shriek with glee and pass us by.

I loved meeting the matriarch of the family who served us a hearty snack on the way to the falls and lunch on the way out. The waterfalls are on her property. Her husband had made the original house by hand 50 years before





when there was only kerosene and each other.

Even though she reported to me the fact that her husband had 'gone nutty' and left her for a MUCH younger woman a few years back, she was glowing with optimism. 

She showed me all around and gestured to the many young people helping her run the operation and exclaimed, "I am so lucky! I am surrounded by my family."

I still think about her. 

The further you go afield the further you get out of your comfort zone, both literally and figuratively. What's one to do but laugh when you sit down to dine and you find this?

I'll never forget the sound of Gigi howling with laughter when I tried to step around some mud and ended up looking like this:

We drove even further south to the old United Fruit port city of Golfito. I had low expectations and found it to be a fascinating place steeped in history that is completely stopped in time. One of the wettest places in the world, Golfito was ground zero for growing and shipping bananas when a scourge hit the established growing plantations of the Caribbean. When United Fruit set up camp in 1939, there was only wilderness and the indigenous Boruca people. The ghosts of the workers and the Americans who came and lived in this remote place are practically palpable.

The company town has original buildings from '30's and '40's all over town. United Fruit abruptly withdrew from Golfito in 1984, it was said that their departure was accelerated by fierce protests for labor rights.  I loved stumbling upon this train engine that you can imagine stopped one day and rusted in place. The Che graffiti was a hint of what lay beneath the surface.

The past didn't seem very distant despite the rust.

When I started asking a lot of questions at the hotel, an incredibly kind fellow let me tag along on an errand run and took me up to the top of a hill. As we stood on an old foundation now blanketed with moss, he told me that we were standing at the site of the old dance club. 

The view was incredible.


 So were his stories about Golfito, United Fruit, worker's rights and the men and women who had come from the US to this remote corner of the world to live in the closed 'Zona Americana' and tried to hang on to the culture that they knew.

As we drove through Golfito, he pointed out some bars and even a brothel. When he saw my shock he laughed and said "This was known as the 'gray zone' back in the day. It's always been here." Golfito remains a port but is hanging on by a thread. When I got back to the hotel, I studied a painting on our wall that glorified Golfito's past and captured the exotica of it all:

I wondered if I had imagined Golfito's more turbulent past. Just before we left I got lost getting back to our room and accidentally turned into the worker's lounge wing. As I got my bearings I regrouped and almost missed what was right in front of me. I peered to take a closer look and saw the stories the man had told me on the old dance floor come alive:

As I spotted the train engine in the background of the painting, I was reminded just how powerful it can be to get off the beaten track and linger. The vacation schedule allows for it.  

We laughed and rested and lingered during those two weeks and as much as we are grateful for the academic experience the kids are receiving, I know in my heart that it will be the memories from these 'breaks' that live on perhaps more than any one subject.

**Exciting news. I met a family through the blog who wanted to take a sabbatical. They came to visit last month. I loved meeting them and was thrilled to find out this week that all four of their children got spots at The European (hurrah!) and that they are planning on moving down for the next year. When we first started corresponding, the father said that they'd dreamed about the idea of taking a sabbatical for years and recently it became clearer that sooner rather than later made sense if they were going to take the plunge. They're doing it and I couldn't be more thrilled. It won't be easy but the experience will definitely cultivate grit in them all and I predict will bring their family closer than they have ever imagined. 

Here's a list of links for our two week off-the-beaten track itinerary:

TULEMAR at Manuel Antonio ( a splurge but one of the only beach hotels in Manuel Antonio and it is safe for kids)

NAUYACA WATERFALLS near Domincal 

CUNA DEL ANGEL near Dominical/Ballena GLUTEN-FREE menu that is delicious. Pool was beloved by the 6 kids traveling in this group. 

CASCATA DEL BOSQUE CABINAS great place to stay overnight at San Vito- former Lake Tahoe chef will feed you a killer breakfast and we all loved the round cabins and his bamboo stands.

HOTEL CASA ROLAND Over-the-top hotel in the Zona Americana in the old fancy part of Golfito, a stay here makes the gritty town memorable for kids. With the most gi-normous pool ever and pool table and other fun things for kids, it's a fun but a bit weird place to stop. 

MOUNT TOTUMAS near Volcan, Panama access via Rio Sireno crossing near San Vito from Costa Rica