Turrialba

Hi everybody,
This entry is one day behind as I'm still trying to catch up. I may even back track more in future blogs.
I went to Turrialba today. It was awesome. I got to tour the countryside in a 4x4 with my driver, Macho. Really, that's his name. If I have a son I shall name him Macho as well. Macho McDonald esquire. We had to drive up in the mountains along a winding mountain road that followed a ridge line where if you looked down one side you were gazing into the valley of the Rio Reventazon and in you looked to the other side you gazed upon the mighty Rio Pacure. Little do I need to tell you that these are two of the premier white water rafting rivers in the world, as I know you've been up all night memorizing my blog from yesterday. I was originally going to deliver samples and get dropped off there in order to spend a couple of days rafting and staying at the hotel interamericano, witch is known as THE place to hook up with other boaters and and get inside info on the status of Central American Rivers. That fell through as La Selva has rules(lame ones) about their shuttle service, you can't use them for anything that even appears to be personal. No matter, I'll be back there by bus this weekend or shortly thereafter. Anyhow, I got to go to the CATIE (pronounced caat-ee-eh) Laboratorio to deliver our ghetto-ass looking nutrient samples in dixie cups wrapped in garbage bags to one of the premier research laboratory in Costa Rica. It was alot like the Battelle lab outside of Sequim but on an even more sprawling campus. The head chemist, Patricia, looked a little surprised by the appearance of our samples and the dirty coolers I brought them in, but f##k it, we're in the jungle. As I was leaving I got to take a few minutes and check out all the research posters in the hall of posters, again-much like Battelle. I think I might be a bit of a nerd as I love that s##t; research information in easily digestable poster format. After we left, Macho and I stopped at a roadside restaurant outside of Siquirres and I treated him to lunch, much to his delight. The place was a bit of a dive but so authentic that if it were in the states it would be considered high end because you just can't manufacture that sort of authenticity. It was a collection of open-air thatch roof dining areas connected by little walkways. There was a fish pond with Tilapia that was the actual fish they would cook for you and chickens out back that they would kill and cook for you. There were onions and chilis and bannanas and other s##t I didn't recognize hanging from the roof everywhere you looked, but they were there for a reason, not just for show. They had a wood-fire stove and oven in the open kitchen in the center of the compound so you could watch them prepare your meal old school style. We had rice and beans (obviously) and fish prepared with lemon and vegetables and sweet baked? plantains and salad and fresh salsa and tortillas and chicken and some other stuff that I didn't know what it was but it tasted f##king awesome. I think we ordered one or more of everything they made there, hell it was on my wallet. When we finished and sat there bloated like hogs ready to butcher, I sauntered up to the register thinking that meal for two was worth at least $100.00 and when everything was added up it came to a grand total of $9.30. God I love the third world.