A Day, Balanced

Thanks to a generous offer from a friend of Geoff's, we have the use of a vehicle until he and Geoff return from Nicaragua, where they are meeting the tri-monthly requirements of ex-pats in Costa Rica, namely leaving the country for three days.



Meet the Kia Bongo Frontier. Diesel, 4WD. Four doors.

We're not quite sure what it is, but it fulfills so many needs it doesn't matter what we call it.




Note the word on the windshield. There is nothing wrong with this neat little truck, but silent does not quite sum it up.


I'm guessing that you'll never see one in North America because it doesn't have any airbags and I bet it wouldn't pass our crash testing.




We used it to go zip-lining at Witch's Rock. Well, David and I zipped. See photo at the top , and imagine that there is 60 to 150 feet of air and trees under you, and wind whipping past your face as the line sags and hums under your weight... and you start to get an idea of just how much fun this is. Step one is to assert that there is nothing medically or mentally wrong with you and that should anything happen to you, you have already signed your life away anyway, so tough.
Step two is to have one of your two guides strap you into the harness, which they do quickly and competantly, and then pay attention to a short, but vitally important, lecture on hooking up and control and braking, and what to do if you don't reach the end of the cable before you stop. ( I found that this is easier to do than you might think, especially since it is difficult to estimate the speed at which the end of the cable is approaching, at least for the first couple of runs.
Step three: trot up the hill behind the guides, look over the edge and wonder if this was such a good idea after all. One guide goes on ahead, and the cable sings as he shoots away. The other hooks you to the line, tells you where to brake - and you push off...

....this is FUN! After a bit, the only fearI had was that my head was getting sweaty in the heat and I might lose my glasses forever in the trees below. I had seen the guide do one run and deliberately turn upside down and spin as he went - and lose his hat and sunglasses thereby. Not that I was going to go upside down, if I could help it, but you need both hands to make sure this doesn't happen, and that leaves nothing to hold on the old specs with.

Fortunately I worry too much.

Thereafter we returned to to Coco, then went on to the beach at Ocatal and splashed in the surf, and here the good things of the day begain to be balanced with the not so good. This is not our truck; it is for sale (sign in the windshield says Se Vende) and we have been babying it along and taking no chances. At the beach there was one space left when we arrived, and we parked with two feet on either side. The car on the right was teal. When we came back that car was gone but another SUV had parked behind our truck, and it looked as if we were going to have to wait to leave - and then someone came and moved it and we left for Coco, and the grocery store.

People here drive...casually is a polite way to put it. We pull into the grocery store parking lot, and Jane signals a turn into a parking spot - and starts to turn right - and then some part-time motorcyclist decides that he will pass her on the right side as she does so. Jane panic-stopped even as I noticed this guy and yelled, but she seriously twisted her neck against the shoulderbelt in doing so. And when I went to get out of the truck, I found that the front edge passenger door is now rubbing against the plastic bumper cover. Sure enough, there are streaks of teal paint on the bumper.

I will have to have a closer look at it in the daylight - maybe it can simply be moved back in place. Fortunately, none of the tin-work was touched and I suspect that even the streaks of paint will come off with some steel wool. Jane has had some tylenols and a hot shower - and is still sore.