¡Viva las Fiestas!

Every year our neighborhood has fiestas. For the kids it's fun to ride on one of the three little rides. There are some interesting foods stands and a sort of horse parade that's fun to see. But for a very small carnival, it makes a lot of noise. Our house is less than 50 meters from the fiesta grounds and the music is so loud that it can be heard over 2 miles away. In our house we hear the commentary on the bull riding accompanied by feedback plus the dance music being run by someone who has serious hearing loss. At least this year the fiestas were only 5 nights instead of the 10 nights they had one year. Ironically, many people don't go because of the noise level. Here's a picture taken during the day before things really got started. 

Well, bah humbug.  So this year we fled from the fiestas and ended up having a really good time. For 3 days and two nights we were down in the peaceful, beautiful world of the San Luis valley, less than 5 miles from our house but an entire world away.

Then we spent two nights at a little place that belongs to some friends.  It's a couple of miles from our house up the mountain and is a lovely and well-run. I would recommend it to anyone that wants a very friendly place to stay for a very reasonable price. It's Mariposa Bed and Breakfast (506-2645-5013 or vmfamilia@costarricense.cr.  English is spoken.) Here's Russ relaxing on our porch.

There are lots of nice details, like these towels in the shape of mariposas (butterflies).

The Mariposa is only a mile from the reserve, and a nice walk. We spent the day there and saw monkeys and lots of interesting birds.

Then we had a wonderful dinner at Tramonti, a restaurant owned by an Italian. It has fantastic pizza but it's a long walk from our house so we don't go often.

So the fiestas got us out of our rut and we had a good time. Viva las fiestas.