Serendipity

We left sea level about an hour into the drive from the Pacific coast. 98 degrees the car thermometer read. After three weeks in the tropical jungle and tropical desert of Costa Rica, we were heading to the mountains where the forecast said the high temperature would be 75 degrees. A mere 66 miles from Playa Flamingo to Monteverde in the mountains if we were crows, but by road— 122 miles. Three and half hours to go 122 miles. Normal in Costa Rica.

We’ve learned to shy away from the “major” roads — almost all of which are only two lanes inevitably clogged by the hundreds of slow moving trucks that transport goods. Costa Rica lacks navigable rivers and has almost no railroads .Everything goes by road. And given the many mountain ranges, there is rarely a direct road from point A to point B. The smaller roads may be narrower and more potholed, sometimes gravel, but ultimately your speed is the same. The traffic is more manageable and driving through the hamlets and villages much more interesting.

Our plan was to drive until the temperature dropped out of the 30+ Celsius range and then break up the drive with a quick bite to eat. Our rental car was all wheel drive so we weren’t overly concerned about the steep, narrow and rutted roads we knew were part of the day’s drive. It always amazed us that the road to a major tourist destination like the Monteverde Cloud forest could be so bad.

About half way up the Tilaran Mountains, after passing a few scattered homes tucked into the mountain sides, a warning light came on in our rental saying the transmission was overheating. Panic! This was a new car. And the manual that came with it was all in Spanish!

Luckily, almost simultaneously we came to a wider spot in the road with a covered parking area beside what looked to be an abandoned restaurant. As soon as we stopped the “abierto” came on. It didn’t look too promising from the outside and the livestock pen underneath might have put off some people, but we were hungry and we had to let the car sit and cool down…so why not!

Inside it looked, well, okay. Empty, completely empty, but tidy and clean. We were pretty sure the owner/waiter spoke no English, but Peter could speak a little tourist Spanish so we knew we’d muddle through. The menu wasn’t big. Mainly familiar Tico fare—casados, arroz con pollo, some grilled meats — all,big meals. The fast food page (comida rapida) had hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos which seemed more appropriate for lunch. And, of course, Imperial beer, because it had already been that kind of day. Our expectations were pretty low until we began to smell the beef for the hamburgers grilling.

When the food arrived, we were wowed! It could have come out of a high priced gastro-pub anywhere back home. Elegant presentation. Fresh ingredients. Cooked to order. (Tacos were $5 US and hamburgers just a bit more.) The tacos were four fried cylinders of ground beef under a pile of sliced vegetables dressed with a cheesy white sauce and slightly spicy sweet tomato sauce. The hotdog came with the same treatment, and the hamburgers had two kinds of cheese, slices of ham and were as juicy as you want them to be. Messy but wonderful. Definitely a knife and fork burger. Service was efficient and attentive.

Oh, and the view!

The transmission cooled down. And we were off once again, headed to our rental outside of Santa Elena. However, our day of surprises was not quite over. With fewer than ten miles to go our GPS told us we would arrive in 40 minutes. But first we had to pause for a small group of dairy cows to be driven across the road.

We knew going into it that the day was likely to be challenging — travel days usually are. And we had been on these roads before. But good old fashion dumb luck had landed us at Rancho El Corral for a very memorable meal. Serendipity. Almost makes us wish we were going back on that awful road when we leave here in a few days! Almost….