April's fool on the hill

yeah, I'm gonna have to take the whole Costa Rica love fest thing down a couple of notches. almost nothing of any good came of this day. first thing this morning it was back to Budget to deal with an oil leak - the apparent victim of the rocky road to Volcan Barva. we got a new car but not without some major guilt from the rep, who insisted that such car parts don't just suddenly rupture. it was early and i didn't have the heart to try to plead my case, even though the car was already quite beat up when we got it. we left there with an aqua Corolla and a full day ahead of us but we had a hell of a time getting to Volcan Irazu. "Be forewarned: Roads in the Central Valley are poorly signed, so it is best to bring a good road map." oh how right you are, Mr. Lonely Planet. this time we were literally driving into the clouds. on Palm Sunday. and despite the fact that all the interesting trails were closed once we surrendered the $22 admission fee, it felt surreal to be that high up. the clouds would be so perfectly cut out against the blue sky for minutes at a time. and then the mist of a passing cloud would blow in and leave us all in a sudden chill. but those same beautiful clouds made for some treacherous driving on the way back down. it was getting dark so much sooner than we had anticipated and the mist grew so thick you could not see five feet in front of you. the thought of flying off any one of those barrier-less cliffs crossed both our minds - though we kept it to ourselves until after it had cleared. we never did find any of those perfect little lodges in the mountains and had to settle for a stuffy little hostel in the seedy little town of Turrialba below. but so it goes. what the Universe giveth, she can just as easily taketh away.