San Antonio de Belen

San Antonio de Belen
December 4, 2009

Bananas growing in the RV park
The farmers market
Aviary in the RV park some of the birds
Bev at a local fruit and vegetable market

We are ready to go tomorrow and this is the furthest south we will come on our journey. Taking the RV to Panama is just too much trouble and to go by bus is a 16 hour journey from the border so it was decided that Panama can wait for another time.
We have enjoyed our stay here in Belen and San Jose and especially visiting with Olinda and her family. We missed out going to Punta Arenas as I had the time mixed up and we should have left at 4:30 AM and I thought we were leaving at 4:30 PM. Ah well that is the way it goes. But all in all this has been a wonderful place to visit.
We went to the open air farmers market today and got the laundry done. All those necessary things to do and yet they are a part of life that needs doing. The farmers market was great with large tables set out with fruits and vegetables and all of the other things including cheese and meats and eggs, etc. This is only held on Friday afternoon and evening here and it is right next to the park. So mosey on over we did and had a great hours time with Bev squeezing and fondling all of the fruits and vegetables.
We had a small upset today, the microwave stopped working in the RV. It seems that this is the year of the microwaves going south on us. If you may recall the microwave in our home in Mexico stopped just before we left. Well that one cost me $20.00 to repair and I was really fortunate that there was a small repair shop just two blocks from the RV park. I took it in at about 10:00 AM and he told me they would have it fixed by 2:00 pm. Oh, yah like I think that that is going to happen. In the US come back in a week. Maybe they would find the problem by 2:00 pm and then need to order the parts and then fix it in a week! That would sound more like it. Well at 1:00 PM they called the RV park to say it would be $22,000.00 colones to fix and would be ready in a few minutes. There was a short and one of the parts needed to be replaced. Now, $22,000.00 colones may seem like a lot but it is really less than $40.00 US. Not bad and great service. He showed me the part, it looked like a sort of large capacitor. Well it works now.
Then it was time to go get the laundry and it was done all washed, dried and folded and guess what it was about $12,000.00 colones. So you see a microwave is worth about 2 times what having your laundry done is. To stay clean is ½ the cost of making dinner. It’s that simple!
Tomorrow we go to Arenal which is to the north and is the volcano area. Spectacular to see at night with all of the red lava cascading down the side of the volcano. There are also hot spring there which I am sure we will want to visit.
So for now to all of you wanderers and wantabe travelers take care and watch the road.