This day could have inspired a kids’ book on “The ways we travel.” We drove, took a taxi, flew in an airplane, rode a “collectivo”, and hiked. Needless to say, Cynthia got to read quite a bit of her Lincoln biography.

Flying to the coast we saw reefs in the water below us and landed in a completely different landscape than we had started in—hot and jungle-y. The collectivo was run by an ex-pat and former Harvard Divinity professor who enjoyed being the expert for tourists in the small town of Carate, even though his Spanish was poor. He imparted us with his knowledge and then sent us on our way. I’m sure he fit in well at Harvard! Aside from humans, the collectivo provided transportation for beer and other products to the resorts on the coasts, and the drivers would frequently stop to talk to friends who lived on the road. There were also plenty of monkey and macaw sightings from the collectivo, enhancing the jungle feel.

After a sore ride we arrived at a beautiful beach where we saw more macaws, iguanas and coati. We found a wonderful man named Philippe who had tall screened tents on platforms to rent which we gladly took rather than our tent closed tent on the sand. Jason attempted using Spanish, but mistakenly asked, “What time is the ocean?” Cynthia braved the ocean’s time and enjoyed herself immensely.

That night was one of our nicest evenings, including a candlelight dinner, nice conversation in a hammock, and falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean. It did pass completely without incident, however. Before the sun went down Jason noticed smoke coming from Philippe's two-room cottage. One of his candles had fallen off the wall onto a stack of foam mattresses, igniting them. Jason rushed to get Philippe who was doing his laundry and not aware of the fire. Together they pulled the burning mattresses out of the cottage. The foam burned quick and bright and could not be quenched with a hose, and there was so much smoke that workers came running from the resort 1/4 mile down the beach. It was a close call, but fortunately nothing else was damaged. If the fire had burned unchecked for another 60 seconds inside the cottage, we probably would have lost it.