The signal station was one of six stations on the island used to get news to the garrison in Bridgetown. This was before telephones were installed in 1883 and flags were used to convey the messages. The view is great from the top of the signal station that was restored by the government. During restoration, some artifacts were found but the display isn’t great or extensive.
View from Grenade Hill Signal Station
At the entrance to the Grenade Hall Signal Station, there were a bunch of monkeys! The Wildlife Reserve was founded in 1985 to protect the Barbados Green Monkey. Originally from West Africa, the arrived on Barbados about 350 years ago, and are found all over the island. The attendant at the Grenade Hall Signal Station had food, specifically sweet potatoes. He cut small pieces and gave them to those of us hanging around to feed to the monkeys. I saw a couple of people crouch right down and allow the monkey to climb right up on their lap!
Holding the food in my palm, the monkeys would place one had delicately on my fingers and with the other take the food. Smooth, fluid, quick and practiced movements. It was a great experience.
Green Monkey
We headed to the Wildlife Preserve today. It’s pretty cool. There aren’t a multitude of species but the animals roam freely. LOTS of tortoise, deer, peacock, and a rodent called mara (part rabbit part something else – about the size of a medium sized dog – kind of an odd thing) along with some snakes in glass aquariums and some birds in cages.
Peacock
Tortoise
Mara
Here is a shot of Linda and me yesterday on the Atlantic Coast of Barbados.
The view from our place on the beach.
Once we got through immigration and customs, we met Raymond, the guy from Bajan car Rental. He had my name on a sign outside the arrival gates. I love that! We sat in the car and did the paperwork. The steering wheel is on the right hand side if the car and they drive on the left side of the road. The turn signal lever is on the right hand side of the steering wheel and the wipers on the left. I signaled with the wipers at least five times before getting it right. Holy cow, what a brain switch! I think “It’s not raining” might be one of those catch phrases that takes hold on a vacation.
Round-about after round-about we made our way to the West coast of the Island. Maria, the property manager was waiting for us. She showed us around, recommended the Italian restaurant next door, and left her phone number in case we need anything. We ate at the Italian place and were ready for a good night’s sleep.
The pilot reported 83 degrees when we landed. The predicted low is 75, about 75 degrees different than the predicted low in Ann Arbor.
I bought a couple of nights on sky auction.com at the Gran Hotel in central San Jose specifically for the end of my trip. It’s a vintage 1930’s building with a few updates, like wifi in the room, but not air conditioning. My room had a small window that opened only so far onto an indoor sort of courtyard so most of the time it was almost as hot as an oven in my room. Just across the hall was the John F Kennedy suite with a poster of famous people who have stayed in the room.
The hotel also had a fitness room and a recreation area with a couple of pool tables. Like a good number of things in Costa Rica, there is more form than function. I couldn’t get the treadmill to work at and the stationary bike squeezed the entire time I rode it. The first time I hit a pool ball into the side pocket, it fell directly to the floor.
On the last day of my Gate 1 tour I asked Ricardo to suggest a good place to buy coffee, since I didn’t want to buy it and carry it around for more than a week. He suggested a grocery store right across the pedestrian street from San Jose hotel, Gran Hotel, and even suggested a couple of brands. I bought all the brands he recommended among a few other things and ended up spending almost $100, something I rarely do at the grocery store.
In the uncharacteristic light rain, I headed to the artisan market. The rain empties the streets a little bit but makes the town look grungier than it looks in the daylight. The artisan market is a block with covered (thankfully) booths that can’t be more than 15 x 15.
On the way back I stopped at a pastry shop. Ok, actually two pasty shops. I have to say the baked goods are unremarkable in Costa Rica, but that hasn’t stopped me from trying. 😉
The morning started at Museo de Oro Precolumbino y Numismatica, a three in one museum cleverly hidden underground at Plaza de la Cultura. This museum houses an exhibit on the money of Costa Rica, it’s history and the influence of the coffee culture and Spanish, an art exhibit and the Pre-Columbian gold. There is a Heidelberg press included in the exhibit that was used to imprint paper bills. It’s weird and yet somewhat comforting how a printing press is so recognizable.
Lola Fernandez’s art is on display. She is a Costa Rican artist. Included are a couple of three minute videos on different painting techniques and examples on how Lola incorporated those techniques in her work.
The main event, though, is the gold or metallurgy of Pre-Columbian society. There are gold pieces and then more gold pieces. Almost redundantly so, the exhibit seems to go on and on. All of it is nicely done, with signs in both Spanish and English, and well worth the visit.
Interbus in Costa Rica is a great way to get around. The drivers are multi-lingual (although all encouraged me to practice my Spanish, as have most Costa Ricans), courteous, and good,safe drivers.
The trip from Tamarindo to downtown San Jose took a little over five hours. Even the paved roads (except the new toll road) are bad and I am glad I didn’t do any driving here.
The food at Rip Jack is delicious. I went back in the evening after watching the sunset, for dinner. I had the mahi mahi with some sort of mango and wine sauce that was terrific. I think I need to add “sauces” as my next cooking goal.
I splurged and got a flour less chocolate cake for dessert that was in the running for the best on the planet. It might be a tie between Barbara Wilson’s Mindo chocolate brownie, Zingerman’s brownie and Rip Jack’s chocolate cake. Holy sugar coma, Amiga!