er stop raining?” “You are kidding me, ANOTHER tropical storm is hitting Costa Rica??” With that said, here are some stories from the trip:After spending time at QERC, we headed over to the pacific coast to a small town called Mal Pais. It rained ALL DAY for 2 days straight, and we spent almost the entire time sitting around our cabins marveling at the amount of rain we were getting. Our cabins were made up of 1 solid wall, and 3 walls of screen walls – a little more advanced than camping. :) There wasn’t much do in the town so we went to a small town 
called Montezuma, close to Mal Pais. (At one point it took an hour and a half to travel about 6 miles – and there were no other cars on the roads. They roads were that bad, due to large potholes the size of small ponds in the way.) In Montezuma we had so much rain that the roads were all flooded and even the locals were amazed and outside watching the torrential rains keep coming. We were able to enjoy about an hour of beach time with a little bit of sun one morning! After leaving Montezuma, on our way to our next destination, we stopped by the Curu National Wildlife Refuge, where we saw monkeys, a white-tailed deer, a coatimundi, and some scarlet macaws!
called Montezuma, close to Mal Pais. (At one point it took an hour and a half to travel about 6 miles – and there were no other cars on the roads. They roads were that bad, due to large potholes the size of small ponds in the way.) In Montezuma we had so much rain that the roads were all flooded and even the locals were amazed and outside watching the torrential rains keep coming. We were able to enjoy about an hour of beach time with a little bit of sun one morning! After leaving Montezuma, on our way to our next destination, we stopped by the Curu National Wildlife Refuge, where we saw monkeys, a white-tailed deer, a coatimundi, and some scarlet macaws!From there we headed up north, to a small town called Nosara - about 10 kilometers down the road from Ostional. David wanted to take his parents to Ostional to see some turtles, so we arranged transportation for one afternoon. 10 kilometers, no biggie, right? Riiiiight. What was normally a road had turned into
2 major rivers flowing across the road, making it impassable by car. AND there were many, many smaller rivers that the cars just plow through, along with TONS of potholes, causing the cars to drive about 5-10 miles an hour at best. So one truck took us to the first major river and we walked across a foot bridge to another truck waiting for us to take us along the next stretch. He took us to the second major river, and we got out and walked across another foot bridge and the rest of the way into the small town of Ostional.
2 major rivers flowing across the road, making it impassable by car. AND there were many, many smaller rivers that the cars just plow through, along with TONS of potholes, causing the cars to drive about 5-10 miles an hour at best. So one truck took us to the first major river and we walked across a foot bridge to another truck waiting for us to take us along the next stretch. He took us to the second major river, and we got out and walked across another foot bridge and the rest of the way into the small town of Ostional.
We got to the beach at Ostional and saw some newly hatched sea turtles making their way out to the ocean (pretty sweet), and then had some dinner to wait for a tour so we could see an adult nesting turtle. David had picked this beach specially, because during the month of October there is a phenomenon called an “arribada” that happens 2-3 times during that month. Each arribada lasts for a few days, and thousands and thousands of sea turtles all nest during those few days. Even when there is not an arribada, you can expect to see 10-20 sea turtles on any given night. So right before we were going to head out on a tour with our guide, the rains picked up hard, along with the wind. It felt like a true tropical storm. For two hours we walked along the beach looking for a turtle, while the rains crashed down on us. We saw hundreds of baby turtles on their trek to the ocean, and it was actually difficult not to step on them. As we were sadly about to give up on the adult turtles, we saw a mother just finishing laying her eggs and covering them up with sand. We followed her back to the ocean, and we came up to shore so we could head back to Nosara and our comfortable hotel with hot showers and a nice bed.
HOWEVER...one of the drivers had called and said that the smaller rivers had turned into semi-major rivers, becoming impassable, and there was no way for us to get back at night. We hadn't brought anything with us except cameras, so we only had the soaking-wet clothes we were wearing. We stayed in a very small, simple but clean hotel, and waited until morning to try to head back to Nosara. We were told by the locals that if it didn’t rain during the night, the rivers should be down enough that our drivers would again be able to transpor
t us back. But…naturally, it rained hard all night because of that third tropical storm that had just hit CR. At that point, many people told us it could be days before we made it back to Nosara! (Not the kind of news we were wanting to hear at that time...) Thankfully, we contacted our drivers, who ended up saying as long as we were willing to walk a few extra kilometers than before, they'd be willing to pick us up at our pick-up points. We walked through some above knee-deep water, and our drivers drove through some large amounts of water, but we finally made it back.
As this entry has gotten quite lengthy, I’ll finish up about the rain and let David write more later about other details and stories about the trip.When we got back to San Jose, we found out that we are experiencing more rain here in CR than they've seen in the last 30 years. We had 3 tropical storms in 2 weeks, 18 people have died due to the storms, and many areas are flooding and have landslides - it's crazy. The roads are in the worst condition we've seen, with huge potholes, some that look like they could be ponds, and mini-rivers crossing over the roads. After dropping off the Hilles at the airport, David and I headed back to QERC, and we found out that the main highway through CR that leads back to 
QERC was closed due to a huge landslide. We had to take about an hour detour through some rough roads and into another valley. I came back into the city on Monday and got to see it firsthand, that not only was it just a landslide, but it took the whole road with it. The buses took us partway, and at the point where there was no road, we got out and walked along a 30-foot stretch on a path about 2-3 feet wide. On the other side of the landslide was another bus, waiting to take us the rest of the way into San Jose.
QERC was closed due to a huge landslide. We had to take about an hour detour through some rough roads and into another valley. I came back into the city on Monday and got to see it firsthand, that not only was it just a landslide, but it took the whole road with it. The buses took us partway, and at the point where there was no road, we got out and walked along a 30-foot stretch on a path about 2-3 feet wide. On the other side of the landslide was another bus, waiting to take us the rest of the way into San Jose. 
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