Finding Frederick

Judy. One of the things I enjoy about our travels is how much our surroundings can change in such a short period of time. One week after stepping out of tropical heat where we were wakened by the sounds of howler monkeys and both lyrical and squawking birds, we were wrapped in sweaters in a tiny apartment on a main street, and waking to the sounds of traffic and shoppers. In the evenings, instead of being lulled to sleep by the sounds of the ocean, we closed our doors to shut out the sounds of partying below us. Believe it or not, it doesn’t bother us—it’s just an interesting change. 

Although Frederick, Maryland, was founded in 1745, it was an important crossroads for Native Americans and early settlers much earlier. It’s close to both Baltimore and Washington, DC, as well as to Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields. The Appalachian Trail passes near here, as well as numerous beautiful hiking trails. 

So it sounded like the perfect place to settle in for a month. 

Actually, we had contacted a Servas family in the area—their bio said they loved hiking—and their first choice for us to stay was Frederick. Ian and Cari even drove by the apartment we were looking to rent to make sure it was ok. And they’ve turned out to be terrific friends. Frederick is filled with sweet old townhouses and shops. Our place is over a shop, and was noted to be the home of Samuel and Amelia Weinberg, built in about 1850, and home to the earliest synagogue in Frederick.  Exploring the building, it’s easy to see how the family lived over their shop and where the storage rooms were. There’s even old hardware on the doors! The front windows open onto the busy street, and a door off the bedroom leads to a balcony walkway with a clothesline and a view of rooftops and balconies of other buildings. 

Home sweet home

The back porch

 

Drive out of town for ten minutes, and you’re in the lush, rolling hills of Maryland. It’s a charming place to be!

 

View from an overlook near the AT

Two days after our arrival, we met our niece Becky, her son Caleb, and her husband Tom for our first AT hike in the area. It included a beautiful overlook, and we had a wonderful time catching up. Shortly afterwards, Ian and Cari met us downtown for drinks and appetizers, then took us for a walk along Carroll Creek Park, a brick walkway following the creek through the city. It’s lined with restaurants for a few blocks, then opens up on one side to a huge city park. There are murals on some of the buildings and metal sculptures along the creek. One was even made by the family of some friends in Georgia. A sculpture that spells out "Frederick" in sign language welcomes the deaf population. There is a school for the deaf here.

 

 

A dream of ours is to walk a part of the AT in all 14 states through which it passes. We’d done Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina, and our hike with family added Maryland. We’d heard about a flat hike along the C&O Canal, which is a national park, and also forms a part of the AT, so we hiked to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. It’s a beautiful hike along the Potomac, and a tasty crab cake sandwich in Harper’s Ferry was a good break before our return.

 

Harper's Ferry from the trail

Crab cakes! Remember when we were in Nova Scotia and couldn’t get enough lobster? Well, that’s where we are now in Maryland! Wegman's, the local supermarket, makes delicious ones to take home, and both reasonably priced ones and off-the-chart ones are available in restaurants. Yep, it's a once or twice a week thing for us.

Cari and Ian invited us to their home for dinner one night, and we had the real pleasure of meeting their talented and interesting kids. We immediately felt right at home. On our anniversary we drove around the area to explore towns, and finished up with a delicious dinner at Isabella’s, a Spanish tapas restaurant across the street. 

Another day we took the train into Washington, DC, to visit the new Martin Luther King and FDR Memorials, and to see the National Gallery of Art. Shockingly—and truly wonderfully—there were hardly any tourists, and we could wander freely.

 

Part of the huge FDR Memorial

MLK Memorial

There are only about two weeks left, and we still have a trip to Philadelphia to visit our dear friend Vishal for the weekend, a graduation party for grand-nephew Caleb, and more hikes. As always, we are running out of time. We didn’t see more than we did see, but we’ve spent time with family and friends, and made new friends. 

Lonely Planet lists the top ten reasons to go to Frederick. Number ten is because “it’s perfect.” Well, it may not be perfect, but you can see perfect from here.

Back on the road

Ted. Judy and I flew back to Atlanta on May 5 and, after a brief visit with friends and family, loaded up Raymond, our beloved pickup truck, for our next road trip. 

Our destination was Frederick, Maryland. We have friends and family in the area and this was a good opportunity to work towards our goal of taking day hikes on the Appalachian Trail in all 14 of the states through which the 2,200 mile (3,500 km) AT passes. Frederick is a beautiful 276-year old town and lies within a 30-mile radius of portions of the AT in the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. 

We took several days to make the 700-mile journey north. Our first stop was Marion, Virginia, near Grayson Highlands State Park. A friend who had walked the entire AT had fond memories of the trail in this area. We were amazed by the beauty of the scenery along our route, through portions of South and North Carolina and Tennessee. The mountains in this part of Virginia were much different from those we were used to. The bald rolling hills looked more like Montana than Georgia. 

From the state park, we hiked south along the AT, immediately meeting a couple of northbound “through hikers.” Having started their journey in Springer Mountain, Georgia in February, they were on track to reach Mount Katahdin, Maine by July or August. On our hike, we also encountered two species of animals that we had never seen on a trail. 

Wild ponies

Wild longhorns

Apparently the Forest Service had imported these critters back in the 70's to maintain the vegetation. They seemed to be thriving and the balds remain magnificent. 

It was in Marion that we first felt the effects of the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline. Gas stations were beginning to close throughout the South due to severe shortages. We were able to top off our tank and drove north to Lynchburg, VA, a beautiful and historic little town on the James River. After a great lunch, we drove to Staunton, VA, where we spent the night (after finally finding gas). 

The next morning we entered the Shenandoah National Park and drove the 105-mile Skyline Drive to Front Royal, VA. The AT parallels the road through the park and when we stopped for a coffee we chatted with more “through hikers.” Again, the scenery was great, with frequent overlooks of the Shenandoah River Valley. 

Spring comes late in these hills

From Front Royal, it was a short final drive into Frederick where we will spend our next four weeks.

More People!

Judy. When we decided to come to Costa Rica, we were aware of the fact that we’d not have many opportunities to meet people, which, as you know, is a big part of our travels. The only Servas hosts we’d located were in San Jose, and we weren’t going there. So this trip was about the diversity of animals we’d see, and we were not disappointed. 

 Then we went to the Osa Peninsula and Drake Bay. Our hosts at Casa Horizonte, Yami and Pedro, were so open and willing to talk to us—despite the fact that Yami’s English is far better than our Spanish, she let us stumble through so that we’d have a chance to practice. In return, we spoke English with her 13-year-old daughter Gloriana. When we weren’t out exploring, we found ourselves sitting on the verandah chatting about the area, about their hotel business, and about Gloriana’s frustration with learning online instead of with her friends. 

Yami, Pedro, and Gloriana

 When we took the Corcovado National Park tour, we found ourselves with the friendliest group ever, beginning when we saw dolphins on the trip over, and the young Spanish woman shouted, “I’ve got videos if anyone wants me to send them!” Over the next few hours, we all really bonded: Anna and Monique, two young medical students from Barcelona; Judith, a therapist working with refugees in Vienna; and a young French couple taking a year to travel from Mexico to Chile. Even Roy our guide, joined in the fun. All of us love travel, and Ted and I found ourselves truly impressed by the charitable work of the women and the free spirit of the French couple. By the time lunch was over, we’d formed a WhatsApp group, promising to keep in touch. Anna had gotten my phone number, and since we hadn’t exchanged last names yet, put “Corcovado” as my last name so she’d remember where we met. The whole group had a great laugh over that, and my new name became “Judy Corcovado”.   

Monique and Anna

 (Anna and Monique, I think I gave you the wrong phone number for my WhatsApp account. Please email me at this address and I’ll give you the right one.) 

 After we left Drake Bay, we stopped at an archaeological site to see pre-Columbian stone spheres, and learn something about the indigenous people. A young Polish woman was taking photographs—turns out she just finished her PHD in mechanical engineering and was interested in the spheres and how they got there. We also learned that she’s from near Bialystok, where our friends Robert and Ann live! 

We were headed back to Uvita to pick up our big suitcase and drive up to Guanacaste when we spotted a hitchhiker on the side of the road. As we passed him, Ted said, “He looks like Stefan. Would you mind if we picked him up?” For the next two days Chris from Dresden, Germany, rode with us north toward Tamarindo. Turns out he’s a Scout and is just finishing his mechanical engineering degree. Chris, who’s only 23, has traveled extensively, and we never seemed to stop sharing stories. 

Chris, who looks like a young Stefan, and Ted

 On the evening we arrived in Atlanta, tired and hungry, we decided to eat at an airport restaurant. A few tables down from us sat a group of women having a great time—seems like it was the birthday of one of the women, and her friends had all flown in to celebrate. They were starting right there at TGI Fridays. On a whim, I walked down and said, “Y’all are having too much fun! Any chance you’ll celebrate with me on my birthday?” Immediately, I had five new acquaintances offering to come back in August. We chatted briefly, then they insisted I join them for a group photo. I gotta tell you: It made coming back to the US a lot more palatable. 

Sharon and friends let me play!

 Thank goodness we can’t get away from amazing people.

Lasting memories of Costa Rica

Ted. We have been back in the US for a few days. I’m already starting to miss Costa Rica…in some ways. 

Things I’ll miss                                      Things I won’t miss 

The heat                                          The humidity 

Sounds of a toucan at 10am      Sounds of a coati on the roof at 3am

Sights of macaws & parrots      Sounds of macaws and parrots 

Fresh local fruit                            Fried local food 

5:30pm sunsets                            5:30am sunrises 

Our little swimming pool          Our little used TP bin (no flushing)

Warmth of the Ticos (locals)    Coldness of the expats 

Lack of people on the beaches Lots of plastic on the beaches

Sweet songs of the birds            Gruff roars of the howler monkeys

Corcovado National Park

Ted. Two days after arriving in Drake Bay, we found ourselves at 6:00 am back down at the beach waiting for another little boat to take us to a beach/trail head where our hike into the national park would commence. This hour long ride was in the open ocean. 

Fortunately, the surf was subdued in the morning, so we were able to stop the engine at one point as a pod of Pacific spotted dolphins bobbed around and under our boat, visiting and playing (note - all of the photos you'll see here were found on the Internet).

At journeys end, we once again found ourselves climbing over the transom and wading ashore. As the boat roared away, our 9-person tour group did look like a bunch of castaways. 

Dubbed by National Geographic as, “the most biologically intense place in Earth in terms of biodiversity,” we were thrilled to begin the big adventure. Our guide, Roy was enthusiastic and had an eagle eye. He also carried a spotting scope and tripod, which proved helpful. We followed a trail through the jungle towards the ranger station at Sirena. There were several other small groups wandering around, all looking for similar animals. The trail was flat but soggy. In several places we had to wade across small streams or teeter on narrow log bridges. My waterproof shoes did not help when stepping through 12” of water. Of course, it soon started to rain, which should not have been surprising as this, after all, was a rain forest. 

We immediately spotted a wide variety of birds and mammals. No luck with snakes and reptiles, though. By the time we arrived at the ranger station we were pretty well soaked but had seen howler and squirrel monkeys, toucans, hawks (seen those) plus two very impressive great curassows, a male and a female. Costa Rica’s “turkeys,” these guys can weigh up to 10 pounds. 

Female great curassow

Male great curassow

The ranger station has a dormitory for folks desiring an extended stay as well as a tiny gift shop and café. We wrung out our socks, ate a cookie and headed out again, thankful that the rain had ended. 

There were two animals that I was especially keen to see on our visit, spider monkeys (the rarest of the 4 species found in Costa Rica) and tapirs, the largest mammals found in Central and South America. By the time we left, we had seen both. The tapir was surprisingly docile and we were able to approach to within about 20’. 

Geoffroy's Spider Monkey

Baird's Tapir

Then it was back to the beach where we climbed aboard our tiny return trip to Drake Bay. The surf was really pounding this time and I found myself whispering that old Breton fisherman’s prayer, “God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.” But make it back we did. Our adventure ended on a festive note as we all gathered at a small restaurant for lunch, beer and stories. Was it worth it? Absolutely!

The journey to Drake Bay

Ted. They say that nothing worthwhile is easy and that certainly applies to our effort to visit Drake Bay. For starters, one cannot drive there in a rental car. For some strange reason, the rental car companies forbid you to ford rivers in their vehicles. 

So, one must drive as close as possible, which ends up being the small fishing village called Sierpe which lies on the banks of a river with the same name. After making arrangements for long term parking, we walked down to the dock and climbed aboard the local version of a water taxi for the "one hour" trip. 

As we headed down stream, bound for the Pacific Ocean, I told Judy that I hoped I wouldn’t end up like Humphrey Bogart in “The African Queen,” dragging the boat through leech infested waters. Well, we did take a narrow short cut through a mangrove swamp, we really did see crocodiles along the shore and got up close to a troop of squirrel monkeys before the river dumped out into the ocean. 

This is where the ride got interesting. The surf in the afternoons can get a little rough and, with 10-12’ swells, our little 30’ boat felt like a tennis ball in a washing machine. No, I didn’t snap any photos at this point because I had a death grip on my seat. We cruised along the coast for a while and then entered the calmer waters of Drake Bay. That was a good thing because there is no dock for the village. Our boat road the surf in and when we were about 25’ from shore, spun around and backed up onto the beach. Two locals held the boat in place while we jumped over the transom into knee deep water and, like Douglas MacArthur, waded to dry land. Again, I was busy trying not to fall, so no photos. Judy assures me, though, that I looked magnificent!

Drake Bay as seen from our hotel

Osa Peninsula

Ted. The epicenter of biodiversity in Costa Rica is the Osa Peninsula in the extreme southern Pacific region of the country. Home of world famous Corcovado National Park, it is a mecca for those looking for animals, like jaguars that are rarely seen anywhere else. Sparsely populated and possessing lush rain forests right down to the beach, we quickly decided to add this place to our tour. 

Our base for three days was the tiny community huddled on the shores of beautiful Drake Bay. Legend has it that this was the hiding spot for the English hero (or villain according to Spaniards), Sir Frances Drake. Many, perhaps most animals in this part of the world are nocturnal so we were thrilled to learn about Tracie, “The Bug Lady.” A quick glance at her website, thenighttour.com, will demonstrate how excited we were to meet this bright young woman and her husband, Gianfranco. A native, like Judy, of Montgomery, Alabama, Tracie studied entomology at Auburn University and somehow ended up in one of the bug capitols of the world. 

This charming couple led us on a three-hour nighttime stroll through the jungle that we will never forget. If one of the 26 species we encountered was too far away to see with the naked eye and hand held flashlight, Gianfranco set up his cool tool – a tripod mounted spotting scope with attached flashlight and mini iPad. Our 8-year-old amateur naturalist grandson was most impressed with the Central American wandering spider (“Grandpa – those are deadly!!”) but I found the tailless whip scorpion to be much scarier looking. Two days later, we visited the national park but I think that warrants it’s own post.

Tailess Whip scorpion

Mesoamerican Tent-making Bats

Central American Wandering Spider (2" long & DEADLY!!)

Central American Woolly Opossum

Costa Rica - Dry season versus rainy season

Ted. Seasons in the tropics are different from those found in more temperature climes. For one thing, the days are roughly 12 hours long, year round and the temperature and humidity doesn’t really vary. Locals typically refer to two seasons, distinguished only by the amount of rain that falls. 

In Costa Rica, the dry season lasts from roughly December through April and the rainy season is typically from May through November. However, conditions are fluid (pun intended). We have been told that there was an unusual amount of rain during this dry season and we began experiencing hard rains in the second week of April. One may ask, why, in heavens name, would anyone want to visit a place during the rainy season? During our stay we have observed many changes as the rains have arrived and they are mostly positive. Here are some differences: 

Dry Season 

The mornings are sunny and fairly cool. This is the time to go exploring, visit the beach or sit by the pool. The afternoons are still sunny but incredibly hot. The beach sand is burning so you need to be in the pool or in air conditioning. The roads are hot and dusty and the vegetation is brown and dead looking. Animals are only active at dawn and dusk. There are some flowers and some butterflies. We did not hear any frogs at night. 

Rainy Season 

The mornings are sunny and fairly cool. This is still the best time for adventures. The afternoons can be sunny or there can be a gentle rain or a downpour. Unless it’s a downpour, one can still go out. The rains definitely cool things down and the evenings can be quite pleasant. Air conditioning is typically only found in the bedrooms of hotels and Airbnb’s so a gentle breeze, lower temperature and ceiling fan makes most living spaces and public venues quite pleasant. Local roads are not typically paved and they can have some serious mud puddles to navigate. The rivers are just trickles in the dry season so waterfalls and white water excursions are much more impressive in the rainy season. The rains make food more plentiful for wildlife so this is the time that many species begin their mating rituals in anticipation of new life forming. This also means that mosquitos come out in droves, so repellent is a must. It may be a coincidence but the sea turtle nesting seasons and peak whale watching season on the southern Pacific coast occur in the rainy season. 

Apparently most folks who visit Costa Rica simply want to lie on a beach so the dry season is, by far their favorite time to come. Consequently, the rainy season is less expensive and less crowded. Should you ever decide to visit a tropical destination, be sure to give some thought to the time of year that best fits your needs.

Sabor Español

 

Judy. About a quarter mile from us in Uvita, down a barely-graveled road, is a small porch restaurant called Sabor Español. We’d heard good things about it, and Trip Advisor gave it a good rating, so why not give it a go? We walked down for lunch one day, since the website said they were open from noon till nine PM. A sign across the entrance stated the same hours, but the place was deserted. We assumed the worst; after all, so many restaurants had closed during the pandemic, and it was, after all, just a shack of a place. 

A few evenings later, we wandered by after watching the sunset on the beach. Three people sat at a table, and jumped up when they saw us. They were open, but the hours had changed to evening hours—five until nine. We said we’d be back the next day. 

 “Would you like a reservation?” 

 Poor guys, there were about six tables, and I guess they wanted to know if they should bother opening, so we made our reservations for the next night. 

 Imagine our surprise when we returned that Sunday night to find the place packed, with little twinkling lights on the perimeter and candles on the table. And there were other surprises in store. Sabor Español is Spanish in every sense of the word—Spanish beer, Spanish wines, Spanish menu, and Spanish owned. The chef is from Ibiza, an island off the Spanish coast, and his wife is from Barcelona. I suppose it was his wife and son who served as both waiters and hosts, and the three of them worked like a well-oiled machine. Each dish is cooked to order, so, as in Spain, you’re looking at an evening of dining. While the service was excellent, you couldn’t expect thirty minutes in and out. 

 Often, when a dish was brought out, it was the chef himself who delivered it to the table, glowing with pride at his creation. then stopping by every table to greet patrons and ask how they were enjoying the food and the evening. While some customers like us were new, there were obviously regulars, and the hostess spent time chatting with them. It felt so homey, yet so very well run. Poor latecomers who hadn’t made a reservation were turned away, or told to return in another hour or so. 

 The Albariño wine was crisp, the Catalan mineral water tasty. We split gazpacho for a starter and almost licked the bowl. Then came Ted’s chicken brochettes with banana and bacon covered with a sweet brown sauce; and my shrimp in cream whisky sauce with polenta. Y’all, I like to have died from joy. 

Hours later we finished our espressos and wandered home. The moon was full, and the cicadas were singing. It was our penultimate day in Uvita, and what a way to go.