Costa Rica Trip: Day 4 Mountain Biking Nightmare

December 29, 2015
Day 4, Transfer to Monteverde and Mountain Biking

My Dad and I were picked up by a small van and driven about 20 minutes beyond the town to Lake Arenal.  There were about 6 or 7 covered boats of varying sizes waiting on the bank by the parking area.  I would estimate over a hundred people were being offloaded from many buses, and spread out among the boats with their luggage.

Then we set out for a 2+ hour ride across the short eastern side of the lake.  The lake was very quiet with only a few fishing boats and almost no wind or waves.  We were traversing the eastern part of the lake, so we had the volcano in our rear view most of the way which made for nice pictures.  We were met on the other side of the lake at a very informal "dock" with no structure to set foot on -- it was literally just mud beneath a tree.  There were about a dozen vans of various sizes and colors parked along side the road and it was a very chaotic scene.  We waited for someone with a clipboard to yell out a name and the van number, but the vans did not have any numbers displayed.  We eventually figured it out but had to wait for one of our fellow riders who had lost track of suitcase in the chaos.  We then proceeded on about an hour long ride with a pit stop at a restaurant in a town called "Florida".

We arrived at our hotel, Poco A Poco which is on the south side of Santa Elena.  Santa Elena is the central hub of the Monteverde region, and if you ever travel here, understand that there is no actual city called “Monteverde” – which confused us.  Note that is can also be very windy in this area, especially where our hotel was situated on the mountain, which resulted in wind gusts of well over 30 mph.  We grabbed a quick lunch at the restaurant in our hotel’s restaurant and it was pretty good.

We then got picked up at our hotel around 230 to go on our mountain biking tour and were driven about 2 minutes down the road to a very small bike shop with three bicycles sitting outside.  It took us a while to find the right sized helmet as apparently my large head size is abnormal in Costa Rica.

We met our guide who spoke English very well and asked us what sort of ride we wanted to go on since we were the only riders.  We reiterated that we wanted to ride on the trails in the forest as it had shown on the website, which is why we booked it in the first place.  We preferred to stay away from steep inclines, as my Dad and I are intermediate riders but are accustomed to flat street riding.  I had specified to Pacific Trade Winds, our booking agent, that we did not want to ride on a road, especially not a busy road, because that would not be enjoyable for either of us.  So the guide said there is no real trail that goes through the forest as that is all private or protected land, but would try to accommodate us.  He then said he would try to take us on a route that was not too challenging in terms of inclines.

We agreed on the plan and set out traversing a back gravel road through part of town and immediately hit a very steep hill with about a 40-degree grade incline, which is very steep.  My Dad and I got about ¾ of the way up and had to hop off to walk our bikes the rest of the way.  We stopped at the top of the hill to catch our breath and then jokingly asked if the rest of the 14km would be the same, and of course our guide said yes – yikes.

Minutes later, we reach the main road that runs through this region.  Now, this is technically a highway in Costa Rica, but it is a two lane gravel road with slow moving traffic, so it’s not the traditional US highway.  We proceeded down this road for a couple kilometers, going up and down hills while having many cars and buses pass us, leaving us in the dust and inhaling fumes.  At this point I am leading so I stop on the side because I am thinking I might have missed the guide’s signal to turn to actually go off road somewhere.  So I ask the guide when we are leaving the main road and he says he didn’t really plan for us to do that.  And my Dad and I both give him incredulous looks.

Why would anyone find this sort of mountain biking enjoyable?  We weren’t training for a race.  We explained that we weren’t enjoying any scenery, it was overly challenging and not at all what we signed up for.  So we proceeded hoping to making the most out of it but about two hills later when we were walking our bikes up the hill, we said enough.  Our guide was sympathetic and could see we were not having a good time.  So he suggested we stop the tour and ride to a coffee shop a few minutes down the road.  We agreed and made it there where our guide then called a van to come pick us and our bikes up.

He was nice enough to buy us coffee and we actually did get to sit on a nice porch overlooking flowered trees and a creek.  The van arrived about 20 minutes later and took us back to our hotel and the whole ordeal was finally over.  I will definitely be contacting our booking agent to let them know this was not as advertised.

About a 2-minute walk from our hotel, there is a commercial center with stores, restaurants and a grocery store.  Here we ate at a 5-star-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor called The Green Restaurant, which was pretty tasty but not that exciting. While we were walking around town, we noticed a video ad for a biking tour back where just came from in Arenal.  This tour is on a sort of elevated bobsled track through trees in a forest – note to self – try this one next time.

Fun observation - I would say most, over 80%, of the tourists in Arenal and Monteverde have been American, which is a huge shift from my other travel experiences.  A few have been from Latin America and a few from Europe.   Today on the boat tour was the first time I had seen tourists from Asia (two Japanese couples).  Compared to my other international travel adventures, usually less than 10% are American tourists, so this has had the least diverse set of travelers, and by far the least amount of Asian tourists.

Costa Rica Trip: Day 3 Rappelling and Rafting

December 28, 2015

Day 3, Rappelling and Rafting

My Dad was sick in the week leading up to the trip but felt good enough to go on the trip.  However, after yesterday's ziplining activity in the rain, he got a chill and regained his cold symptoms.  So he decided to forgo any tours today in an effort to get better so he could do the remaining activities on the trip.  So today, I go solo.

I was picked up at 7:30 am by Pure Trek Canyoning and driven about 20 minutes outside of town.  There were about 30 other people there and we all walked down to an outdoor pavilion and got rappelling gear - gloves, helmet and leg harness.  I was then put in a group of about 12 at the front, because all of us would be doing the rafting trip afterward and they did not want us to get behind.

The entire group walked down some muddy steps about 10 minutes and arrived at a platform that straddled a waterfall.  The head guide went over the techniques to be safe and have fun today.  The course would include 4 rappels and a surprise activity in the middle.  The first one was an 80m drop, and once you reach the bottom, a guide moved me into the waterfall to get me wet and shook me around a bit for effect.  We were given instructions on how to control our descent, but the rope is wet so it’s very difficult to manually control anything.  The guide above had a safety wire which he controls and essentially does 90% of the control for everyone. 

I then climbed up about a 30 feet rope ladder which clung to a rock wall.   We then walked down a bit and came to a long ledge beyond where the platform is and I’m told to “just hold on” and not try to control the descent.  I say “okay I guess?”, and I am then jerked out about 30 feet from the ledge, just suspended about 50-60 feet in the air above the ground.  Two guides below yell something inaudible, and I instantly drop 40 feet in one second.  I am relieved to look down and find my feet dangling about 10 feet from the ground.  This is apparently called a “Monkey Drop” which I am later told they added this year to the tour, and was not in the tour description – a surprise to everyone.

The rafting-destined group waited at the bottom of this one for a guide to come thru and set up the next rappel.  We then proceeded to rappel 3 more waterfalls in the canyon.  This included one where we had to jump off the ledge to avoid a 15-foot gap.  Not everyone jumped far enough, and some swung back into the gap to bump up against the rocks below and to the side. No real damage done though.

The twelve of us hike back up about a quarter mile’s worth of mud steps to a hut where we take off our gear.  We then board a couple flatbed 4WD trucks which have been retro-fitted with bleacher seating on the truck bed.  They gave us a snack of mixed nuts, water and peanut bar on the way back to La Fortuna.  About 10:30am, they drop us off at a different company’s downtown office, Wave Expeditions, to go rafting.

Here I boarded a bus of about 20 people, with some from the rappelling group and some from elsewhere.  We then proceeded about 45 minutes outside of town.  We arrived along with several other buses at a river embankment.  Everyone gets their own life vests, helmets and paddles and then heads down to the river.  As we walk down to the water, we see boat after boat arrive from upriver, solely with the guide in them, pull up right in front of us.  There are about 6 people per boat plus the guide, and in total there were 15 boats going down one after the other.  I was with a family of 5, with 3 kids between ages 4 and 11 from eastern Pennsylvania.  We talked for all of 30 seconds before jumping in the raft, so we became quick friends.

This river is normally very calm, but every other afternoon, the controllers of a dam upstream release some of the water.  This release gives the river a very strong current and rapids of grade 2 to 4, but we only rafted up to grade 3 rapids.  The rapids weren’t particularly scary but we saw several people fall out along the way; no one seriously injured.  I have rafted other places but what made this different is that the first 3 km had CONSTANT rapids of the full course which is around 6 km.  Most rivers I was on before gave us some breaks between rapids sections, but not this one.

Our guide navigated very well and only got us in trouble twice where people were jolted in the air but no one fell out.  We saw a few animals along the river, such as egrets, vultures, a sloth and there were allegedly piranha native to the river but didn’t see any.  We then loaded up our gear, dried off, grabbed a beverage (beer for me) and headed to our next activity.

By now it is about 2:30-3pm and we are driven by bus 15 minutes away to a local coffee and moonshine farm/restaurant.  They had buffet style meals awaiting us of rice, beans, chicken and beef.  They grow sugar cane here, and use an indigenous method to brew coffee which was interesting to observe.  They then gathered everyone around to see how they make the moonshine after which they allowed us all to take some shots, which certainly cleared the sinuses.

Then we headed back to La Fortuna and we were dropped off at our hotels.  I met up with my Dad back in the room to take a breather for a few hours.  We decided to eat at the highly rated Don Rufino restaurant, less than a block from our hotel.  It was a little different from the norm – my meal came wrapped in banana leaves which is also how it is cooked.  Then we went to bed early for a much deserved rest!

Costa Rica Trip: Arrival, Waterfall Hike & Canopy Zipline

December 26, 2015
Day 1 Arrive in Costa Rica:

I arrived at the San Jose Airport at 7:30pm.  It only took 30 minutes to get thru customs and was then greeted by my Dad, who arrived the day before, at the airport exit.  We booked all of our hotels, rides and activities through a company called Pacific Trade Winds.  Our first part they arranged was a mini-bus to take us from the airport to La Fortuna, about 3-4 hours drive northwest of San Jose.  The drive was on a windy, two-lane road and we didn't see much because it was dark.  We arrived at our hotel, Hotel La Fortuna in the heart of the town, around 11pm.  The town is big for the area, with probably more than a hundred buildings and over 5,000 people.

On the drive, we passed many "sodas" which is what Costa Ricans, or Ticos, call small local restaurants that serve low-cost meals.  They are in all of the towns here.  There are bull rings and soccer fields in every town.  According to our guides, there is a bar next to every soccer field (and as of the 4th day he hasn't been wrong).

December 27, 2015
Day 2, Hike to Waterfall and Canopy Zipline:

We got up around 8am.  We ate the hotel breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, beans, toast, cereal and really good plantains.  If you've, never had cooked plantains, they are like sweetened bananas, but really soft.  The meal of meat, rice and beans which is a typical Costa Rican meal called "casado" (which literally translates to 'marriage').

We had planned activities for most of the trip but had left this morning open.  So we consulted with the front desk clerk who was very helpful.  We decided to take a taxi to a waterfall called Catarata La Fortuna (catarata means waterfall) which is about a 15 minute drive away.  The taxi was only $8 and we shared the cab with a couple from New York going to the same place.

We arrived and there was a line of about 25 people to pay the $11/person entrance fee.  In our first encounter with the wondrous rainforest, we made about a 15 minute hike down concrete/mud/cinder block stairs and arrived at the base of a very powerful waterfall.  The pool beneath the 100ft or so drop was really small and the rapids it was creating were very large.  It was impossible for anyone to get in the water and not get carried away. There was a less powerful waterfall adjacent to it, which was actually prettier because you can see it cascading down the vertical rock face.

We stayed about 30 minutes, and then hiked back up to the base where we ate lunch at a restaurant inside the park.  I ate a local version of a hamburger and my Dad had a vegan salad.  We then decided to walk back to our hotel, which our hotel man said would take about an hour, and we had an hour and half until we were to be picked up for our organized tour at 230.

On the way, we stopped at a really cool local artisan shop that had wooden carvings of local animals, human sculptures and even small jewelry boxes.  I bought a pair of toucans for myself and a cooking-related gift for my girlfriend as a present.  We then looked at the clock and saw it was 1:20 which meant we needed to pick up the pace to get back.  Around every bend in the road we thought we were going to see our next turn, but it didn't come until about 2pm, which meant we had to really hustle to get to the hotel in time.  Luckily I had taken a picture of Google maps so we could take a shortcut through a neighborhood behind our hotel.  We arrived at 2:24, go up to our rooms, and switched out the gear we need and hurried back downstairs.  Our bus arrives 1 minute after we get downstairs - whew!

We are now on our way to do a zipline tour with a company called Ecoglide in the rainforest canopy.  We get to the tour office and we find there are couple dozen people already there.  We then get geared up with a harness, helmet and gloves.  After we we sit down, more and more people keep getting off buses --  I estimate around 50 people in total.  I was hoping they break us up into smaller groups as I didn't want to be waiting too long on small platforms with a bunch of people, but they put us all in one big group.  Strangely, we and a couple others are the only ones who decide to wear our rain jackets. And it takes a long time to get everyone their gear, so we don't take the truck up to the top until about 3:20 -- keep in mind that the sun sets at 5:20-5:40 here.

In all, there are 14 separate ziplines plus a "Tarzan swing" in the middle that is optional.  This is not your average zipline-park style -- 50 ft long ziplines.  The first one and last one are a short 50-100ft but beyond that, most of them are over 400ft, with the second to last one being a massive 1380 ft.  You can pick up some serious speed, over 30 mph on many of them,  and the only way we can stop is with a leather glove on our dominant hand.  The guides end up doing 70% of the stopping for you with a safety system they have on each cable.  After about the 4th cable, it starts to rain on us and we are glad we brought the jackets, but less excited about having to try stop yourself on wet cables.  We quickly find out that it is near impossible to stop yourself with the glove so we then rely on the safety system to do 95% of the stopping for us.

We get to the Tarzan swing, where you essentially fall forward, standing, off of a ledge and swing out beyond a platform which is about 40 ft below.  Then you swing back and forth a few times like a swing and these two guys below you try to slap your legs to slow your swinging so they can lower you to the ground.  Sometimes they grab the person to stop them, which they did to me, but I kept swinging and almost took the guy off the platform with me.  Luckily the other guy grabbed us and all was well.  My Dad then followed me in doing it and he did not like as much as I did because of the spinning while swinging.

Towards the end, we ended up waiting on two platforms for about 30 minutes each, compared to 5ish minutes on other platforms as we had to wait for guides to come through and man each platform in front of us.  The company did not seem prepared for the logistics of managing 50 people.  It was partially difficult for them because there were 4-5 kids who needed to be escorted the entire way by a guide.  By the time we got to the 13th platform it the sun had set by 5:30, so we did the last two in the dark.  As you can imagine, doing this in the dark is no fun at all.  They gave everyone free drinks and beer at the office to try to make us feel better.  Overall it was a thrilling experience.

Then we walked to a restaurant, Cafe Mediterraneo, about 10 minutes from our hotel. We thought it was pretty good.  My Dad had wood fired pizza and I had gorgonzola gnocchi.

Buenas Noches!

Why are there no Free Agents in international soccer?

Soccer is an international sport with unusual economics because Free Agency has almost no power and is seldom used by soccer players to change teams.  The following is a perspective from an American's point of view, where free agency is incredibly prevalent in other American sports.

A very small minority of soccer players change teams when they are not under contract.  Most players are actually 'bought' by another team while under contract for what is called a 'transfer fee'. A transfer fee is essentially when one team/club pays another team/club for the transfer ownership of a player's contract.

The transfer fee concept, known in whole as the 'transfer market', is akin to the American colloquial for a 'trade'.  However, in these transfer deals, the overwhelming behavior of clubs is to simply purchase a player's contract as opposed to American football, baseball or basketball, where a trade only involves players or draft picks (Baseball trades seldom include cash-for-player).  Soccer's transfer market also differs from other systems because it is an international system which spans 50+ different leagues in 50+ different countries, all governed by an international body, FIFA.  But why would free agency in soccer have less power than any other sport?

As far as the business process, there must first be a structure of fees agreed upon between the buying club and selling club.  The buying club must then also agree on the personal terms of the salary with the player.  This is where the player benefits or at least has some leverage.  When the teams agree on a transfer fee, the transfer will not go through without a new contract/salary for the player at the new club.  It is highly common for a player to request (and receive) a raise in a transfer negotiation, otherwise they typically reject the transfer to stay at their current club.

I don't understand why a player doesn't wait for their contract to expire, and then seek the highest salary offered by another team.  This use of leverage is supposed to exist in a free-market-principled system.  This leverage is what so many American players use to gain bigger contracts with their current clubs, or to test the free agency market by negotiating out of contract.  Yet you rarely see a soccer player take this course of action.

Some of the elite players are being transferred for tens of millions of dollars.  But when their contract runs out, they are suddenly worth $0 in the transfer market.  The player doesn't even benefit from the transfer fees -- only the club does.  Imagine if more players used free agency -- we would likely see the median price paid in transfer fees plummet.  

Some high profile players have sought free agency but this is typically only done by players who are in the twilight of their career (31+ for soccer).  Notable examples include Andrea Pirlo, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham.  Players at their age are rarely valued at any substantial amount of money (largely because it is assumed they will retire soon and suddenly be worth $0) in the market, so it is not worthwhile for teams to try to get transfer fees.

There are of course a few rare exceptions for players in their prime like Robert Lewandowski, who was once worth over $40 million in transfer fees, who signed a free agency contract with Bayern Munich, because his employing club, Borussia Dortmund refused to make the transfer deal.

I hoped to have an answer for my title question, but in all of my research, I have no answer to why free agency is seldom used by players in international soccer.  I am truly asking the following questions and happy to receive comments or answers:

When will free agency finally garner the same power it has in America?  Why hasn't it happened yet?  And when will it become common for players to negotiate new contracts with new teams on their own terms?

Halloween Is Not A Celebration of Evil

Today, I read an article by Albert Mohler, “Christianity and the Dark Side – What About Halloween?” The thought is provocative that millions of people across the country will be embracing the dark side tonight in contradiction to their Christian faith.  So I took the bait, read it and have outlined below a counterargument.

Mohler criticizes the Pagan background of Halloween: “How should Christians respond to this pagan background?... [some] argue that the Pagan roots of Halloween are no more significant than the Pagan origins of Christmas and other church festivals.”  I’m glad he skirted this argument without addressing it.  He should look more closely at the origins of Christian holidays just to see how close it is with other faiths, such as Christmas Trees and Santa Claus.  In fact, many modern practices and traditions were absorbed from Paganism.  I encourage you to research Paganism and you'll realize it's still present today in many surprising places.

Why is there an inherent darkness in the holiday’s history of celebrating the dead?  Should we forgo all funerals and memorials from now on?  “All Hallow’s Eve” is more likely to be a celebration of life than it is of death.  Little kids go from door to door to get free treats from complete strangers.  Adults attend parties and laugh and dance, celebrating life.  In the tagline phrase “trick or treat”, isn’t it comforting that the overwhelming choice is “treat” and not “trick”?  Halloween brings out more good than bad; more good deeds than sins. Ultimately, this is a social celebration of community and people.

Even if there is darkness in Halloween, an examination and transportation to the darkness can actually help society appreciate the light as well.  One day of darkness as a learning experience is better than only being exposed to good things.  This confrontation with darkness is also true in the New Testament with the introduction of Hell, the Devil and Sin.  So a fundamental pillar of the New Testament contradicts Mohler’s theory.

He quotes Skal, “One’s identity can be discarded with impunity. Men dress as women, and vice versa. Authority can be mocked and circumvented, and, most important, graves open and the departed return.”  Mohler should also accept that dressing up as a zombie is not a tacit endorsement of soulless, man-eating beings walking the face of Earth.  The weirdness that is on display for Halloween should be accepted for what it truly is: people putting their inner weirdness on display once a year.  That weirdness exists regardless whether or not we can see it while walking down the street on an average day.

Mohler: “Skal’s approach is more dispassionate and focused on entertainment, looking at the cultural impact of Halloween in the rise of horror movies and the nation’s fascination with violence.”  The nation’s fascination with violence exists 364 other days of the year as well; this can be seen in action movies, car wrecks, sports, video games, etc.  Let’s not forget that the bad guys usually lose in Hollywood--even in Horror movies. 

“For most parents, the greater fear is the encounter with occultic symbols and the society’s fascination with moral darkness.” I’m not a parent so I cannot fully address the validity of this one but this mentality seems like a rarity.  There doesn't seem to be any worshiping or religious practices involved in trick-or-treating or dressing up as a sexy nurse to go to a party. Let’s also not forget that 99% of this is just pretend fun.  It’s not even serious.  In fact, it is ten times more likely to be mocking evil than praising it.  In the end, the choice between dark and light seems to exist more in the choice of how you perceive it; my way or Mohler’s way.

If you remain unpersuaded, here are some additional questions you can pose to yourself to come up with alternative conclusions about Halloween: Why do people watch scary movies? Why do people dress up in costumes; and are they always scary?  What are typical Halloween activities?  Do they worship anything?  To spite its origins, what is the modern practice (and how much influence do the origins have)?  Do people actually choose evil on this day?