March 11 - Another tough day at the beach

Such a vacation day! If we got much more relaxed, we'd be spineless jellyfish.

My day:
Breakfast overlooking the Pacific
Thai Massage which is basically passive yoga. It was awesome. I was so relaxed, but also so
      stretched.
An hour at the Flamingo Beach which was pretty empty; it was also HOT!
Reading, editing, lazing in the pool.
Dinner at the bottom of the hill at a little local restaurant on the edge of the beach. We both had
       ceviche which was delicious. (called Soda Pleamar)
Evening by the pool, editing, reading, emailing

Mark's day
Breakfast overlooking the Pacific
Working on the blog and downloading photos
Reading about the birds here
An hour at the beach. Mark always muses about the sheer massiveness of the Pacific and how it
    makes him feel. Our Atlantic can be dangerous, but it is not 10,000 miles across like the Pacific.
    He thinks about the people who have survived at sea like in "Unbroken" or those who did not
     survive, like the sailors on the Indianapolis. The Pacific is just so vast.
Reading, blogging, lazing at the pool
Dinner at the bottom of the hill.
Evening of reading by the pool.

Oh, and we saw a Frigate Bird over the beach today - quite a beautiful sight!

Not bad at all.

March 10 - Wonderful, remote Playa Avellanas

We had a gorgeous beach day today at the remote beach of Avellanas, recommended to us by Matt and Natalie who have moved further south today after breakfast.

We first drove to the touristy, busy beach town of Tamarindo and walked a bit of the beach and the town. We are glad that we have visited it, but wouldn't want to stay there. It's too hectic and commercial for us.

Afterwards, we got lost finding Playa Avellanas as it was poorly marked. We almost gave up, actually, but, we did eventually find it using the GPS. And, we were really glad that we persevered. It was a long bumpy road to a beautiful, unspoiled beach. But, it was surprisingly crowded. We were hungry when we got there and the line for Lola's, a beach restaurant opened years ago by an American and named for his pet pig, was so long that we went swimming first. Then, we ate outside under a thatched umbrella. (We both had salads)

Then, we met up with Matt and Nat for a bit. We took another swim and watched Matt surfing a little. Then, we headed home and got here after 4. A long, hot, beachy day.

Then I started working on the final proof of the book I am writing with Frank, called "Hidden History of Nantucket."  Mark is working on photos for the blog.

March 9:Geography: At the Pacific Oean but at Atlanta, GA's latitude.

Today, we woke to another day at this lovely place. Mark made us coffee and tea and we sat on our little private balcony until it was time for breakfast.

It is amazing to think about swimming in the Pacific at the same approximate latitude as Atlanta, Georgia and Cleveland, Ohio. It makes you realize how eastward Central America swings. Aren't you glad that I taught geography?

I took a yoga class with Cathy, the owner of this bed and breakfast. As no one else showed up, it was a private lesson. She was great, especially at alignments.

In early afternoon, we went to the village of Playa Flamingo; Ben, Cathy's son and manager here, called Economy Rental Car as we have a headlight that doesn't work. It is dangerous enough to drive here without proper headlights. We went down and left it with the car rental place and then went to Marie's for lunch. It was nothing special, but okay and outside under a roof which is what we really like. And, it is VERY HOT today - 95 degrees anyway.

We spent the afternoon lazily - reading, emailing, catching up on the blog. In the early evening, we went looking for a sushi restaurant recommended to us by Matt and Natalie, a young couple we have met here. But, it was closed, so we ended up back at Bahia Del Sol, definitely not a hardship as it is a lovely spot with really good food. Mark had a very mild chicken curry and I had mahi mahi. Yum.

March 8 - first day in the Paradise of Playa Flamingo!

We woke up today to a beautiful, if windy, day, but nothing like the winds of Monteverde. We had a wonderful fruit and eggs breakfast overlooking the bay. Wow; we feel very blessed. We chatted with a young couple from Philadelphia; she is a nurse and he is an engineer. They are here for a few days and gave us some advice as to where to go etc.

After a leisurely breakfast (it has not taken us long to adjust to the slower pace!), we headed to the white sands of Playa Flamingo Beach where we planted ourselves on towels under a tree. As we were there early, there was no competition for parking or shady beach spots. We took our first ocean swim; it felt great; we both thought that the water would be tepid and like bathwater, but is was refreshing and not warm, just nice.

After an hour of beach sitting, which is about all we can really do, we headed to find some groceries. We found a SuperCompra a few miles away. Unfortunately, the electricity went out and we waited a long time (30-40 minutes) in line waiting for the electricity to come back on so that the computers could be used. No using paper and pencil in today's world with the suspicion that a clerk might steal. Ridiculous. Anyhow, standing in line, we met the most interesting family. He was a first-generation descendent of the original 40+ Quakers who settled Monteverde in the early 50s to protest the Korean War. So, the man grew up in Monteverde and told us some stories of his youth when the area was cut off for weeks because of impassable roads as there were no bridges at all then and he said the mud could rise to his knees. His parents were part of the cheese producers. Eventually, he left and married in the U.S. and had children; his second wife, also a Quaker was with him and two children. It turns out that she is related to Tristam Coffin, an original settler of Nantucket, as well as to Lucretia Mott. They now raise goats and make cheese in western Connecticut. They are here to see his parents and to vacation; they have 14 people down at the beautiful point overlooking the bay in Playa Flamingo. Talking to them made the time pass very quickly and we were soon out and back to the BnB where we made lunch for ourselves and hung out at the pool all afternoon, blogging, emailing, swimming and reading.

Monteverde to Playa Flamingo, March 7

Wow - last night it was windy, windy, windy again. It is similar to being on the steamship when it is crashing into the waves. The sound is roaring and the entire house shakes and rattles.  We drove to town to check our email and Mark got some amazing photos of a rainbow and also took a video to try to capture the wind, although it just doesn't quite do it justice. Very intense.

We had a morning coffee and pineapple at the Orchid Coffee House again and then hit the road. We stopped in Guacimal to say goodby to Chris and Mindy.

We dropped about 5000 feet in elevation today. It was actually chilly and misty in Monteverde, but is in the 90s here at the coast.

Route 1 is tough - trucks, just two lanes, but we weren't on it for too long as we took another route via Nicoya and up to Playa Flamingo.

We are in an incredibly beautiful B n B. We found it by a miracle as we didn't have great directions, but we stopped and asked two people and by the little photo we had from the internet of the pool, a construction worker pointed us in the right direction. As we rented by AirBnB, we never even had the name of the place, which is Colores del Pacifico and lovely.

The Belgian family which runs this beautiful spot built it 16 years ago and moved here. The son, Ben, helped us to settle into our gorgeous room overlooking the bay; he also served us a delicious welcoming fruit drink. It is truly a piece of paradise. We think it will be an awesome week, full of beauty and relaxation.

We took a dip by the infinity pool. (The first we have ever been in) Then, we caught up on our internet, although it is also spotty here. I guess that's the wifi in Costa Rica.

We felt too tired to pursue the grocery store and make a meal, although we have access to a full kitchen here in a communal area, so we had Ben make us reservations at Bahia del Sol, a few kilometers north in Portrero Beach. What a great recommendation. The resort, right on the water is beautiful and we both had crusted tuna, barely cooked. It was delicious and reasonable at only $17 a piece and we were in a thatched roof by the beach. There was a wedding going on with just a bride and groom, no others.

We came back to the BnB and had a lovely chat with two young women who have moved here to escape the hectic life they were living in London. They sold everything and hope to spend several months exploring where they'd like to buy property and open their own bed and breakfast, hopefully with yurts. They will be here for a full month. We are happy that we get to spend a week here.

 

Reading, relaxing, some hiking during our last day in Monteverde

Today was like a lazy New Hampshire day when we decide that we will mainly read and relax.  We went to town to check our email at the Orchid Coffee Shop where we have gone previously. They make great coffee, great fruit drinks (I am hooked on the pineapple), and other things such as cookies, quiches etc.

Then, we went home and made a small lunch as we try to eat up the food in the house. We read the day away except for a good hike down the hill in front of our casa. We looked at birds that we couldn't identify well and couldn't get good photos of because we were looking into the sun and the birds were far up. One was definitely quite orange and the size of a finch or slightly larger. We will keep looking through the book and make some educated guesses.

While coming up the hill, we stopped by Giselle and Didier's farm and they gave us a bit of a tour. Cows, bulls, sheep, possibly goats we didn't see, ducks and chickens. They work hard. And, a source of pride are their two tilapia ponds - one for the small ones and one for the full-grown ones. They should all be thin as rails as they have so many hills to walk up and down.

On our last evening at Casa Cielo we had another of Giselle's excellent filling meals. I asked for no rice or beans, so had a heaping pile of vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, onions, carrots. Excellent. And, I had tilapia and Giselle's amazing salsa. Mark had chicken with the vegetables and also some white beans. The plantain was terrific - we have never really liked it before, but it was so delicious that we have to revisit it.

Then, we did another load of wash and packed. The washing machine has 15 steps to operate! There is a separate washing part and then a centrifugal force spinner part. The spinning is so effective that in less than 5 minutes the clothes are dryer than they come out of the washing machine at home. So, it is pretty impressive, but you have to do so many steps that you can't just turn it on and leave the wash be.

   

Santa Elena Forest Reserve, March 5

   We woke up to still having no internet which is very disappointing.
    We got up early and headed toward the Santa Elena Preserve and only had to wait about 5 minutes for road construction to clear!

     The preserve is not as visited as the Monteverde one and we did not run into heaps of people. The day was relatively warm and we both shed clothes as we hiked. The hike was a bit more strenous than the one we took at Monteverde, but do-able. We hiked about 6-8 kilometers, I'd say.  We did not see a tremendous amount of birds. This was partly because there apparently weren't many around that day and partly because we are not experienced enough birders. There may have been many quiet ones lurking that we just did not sp  We did climb a tower that, on a clear day, allows a view of Mt Arenal, but it was shrouded in cloud. And, it was very out of my comfort zone to even climb the tower as the stairs were very narrow.

The birds that we did definitely see:
slate-throated red start
grey-breasted wren
tufted flycatcher
maybe a hepatic tanager. {Mark took a photo so we will have to have this verified by Willy, Jecca or Otis}
black guan
And, from the tower, we saw either a blue and gold tanager or a black and yellow silky flycatcher. We did not get a long enough look and did not get a photo.

After Santa Elena, we went back to eat near the Monteverde Cloud Reserve at CASEM, the women's cooperative because the meal we had earlier in the week was so good.

En route to going home, we stopped at the Post Office to mail a few postcards and, quite amazingly, ran into Veronica, our landlord and Mindy and Chris, the people we met who are staying at one of Veronica's other casas in Guacimal. What are the odds? Later in the afternoon, they all stopped by to chat and to see where we are living.

We are still annoyed about the internet and a few other slipshod things about the rental. {only 2 towels, a very wonky toilet, shabby furniture}  But, we have learned to live with it.

Mark Fleming is working on our new upstairs bathroom and is having a tough time finding all the supplies we have bought and it has been very hard to communicate with only having had about 5 hours of internet at the casa all week. And, Frank has written many times about corrections to the text and to the bibliography of the book we are working on and it has been hard on him and me to be so cut off. Nick is still in North Carolina, so he can't help Mark F to find the materials.

And, Nantucket had a snow day yesterday! It has been an unrelenting winter and we are not sorry not to be there for it.

Hurray! Internet Connected! But, no phone. March 4

Today started off optimistically. Mark thought he had lost his glasses and was a bit frantic; he called the B n B from Atenas. No luck. So we had decided last night to retrace our steps from Monday and hope to find them. He got up early to watch the birds and went out to the car to look for them, yet again. And, he found them. In their case, they blended with the car floor. So  - a good start to the day
He also saw more parrots - the red-lored or white-fronted. We are also still working on identifying a little yellow bird which we think is a flycatcher, but.... And, we also saw what is most likely a Plain Chachalaca. We hope to get a photo of it for further verification, but it really has a little head, so I think we have properly identified it.

We left the house to get to the internet cafe again for an early start. But, we were stopped twice on the road. (And, we are only about 4 kilometers from town!)  The second one was actually interesting and we were the first in line. There was a big shovel truck up on a plateau that the road workers have built. The plateau is being built to absorb the gigantic boulders that are above it so that they don't fall on the road. Anyhow, we were stopped because he was pushing gigantic (car sized) boulders from his perch and across the road into a giant ravine. It was pretty amazing, but also scary to see such a big thing crash down and then make a tremendous crashing sound as it tumble into the ravine and broke brush as it went. (And probably trees, too.)  Anyhow, one of the boulders did not cooperate.

It fell "thud" into the road, completely blocking it. So, the shovel had to laboriously come down off the plateau and then use the shovel to try to push it over. No dice. So, he had to push it to the side. Eventually, that worked and we drove cautiously by it. Whew. The thought of those boulders up there waiting to be dislodged in the rainy season is very scary. The evidence of recent landslides is everywhere.

Anyhow, we eventually got to town and checked our email.  We checked at the tourist bureau about the road to the Santa Elena Preserve and inquired about coffee tours as well as getting a coffee bag. I also got some souvenirs and some post cards to send. Then we went back to the hummingbird area of the Monteverde Reserve to get some more photos of hummingbirds for Otis to identify and to remember their trip here.  Then, we stopped into a Coffee Company where a guy was giving samples of coffee and a lecture. While Mark was doing that, I checked our internet again and, lo and behold! there was an email from Veronica saying that we now had internet back at Casa Cielo. Yay! Now, we can check our next reservation place, catch up on our blog and communicate with friends and family again.
So, we drove back, again getting stopped by construction. We saw "the boulder" still by the side of the road. We came home to find another MotMot flying by. Shortly after we got home, a distraught Gisele came by to see about our phone service as hers is out. And, so is ours. But, we don't care as we are online. We actually called Cal and Alice, but they could barely hear us, but at least they know we are fine.

We have spent the rest of the afternoon writing the blog and uploading photos for the blog, as well as contacting people.  The wind is a bit quieter. Dare we hope for a quieter night. According to Didier and Gisele, this is unusually windy.

Windy, still no internet - a recovery day

Tuesday, March 3
Another really windy night which is getting pretty old as neither of us is sleeping very well.
But, have we mentioned how great the view is? We see the sunset going over the mountains and can see all the way to the Gulf of Nicoya which is silvery in the distance. We are up so high that we actually look down on most of the birds, which is strange as we always look up when birding on Nantucket. It is weird to look down on the vultures, for example which we always see soaring at home.

Still no internet, which is also getting old very fast as we feel that it was promised and it is now Tuesday and more than half-way through our stay here.

We had a quiet day today, resting after yesterday's hike. Mark made a wonderful chicken soup with a chicken bought from Gisele.

After waiting for the internet guy all morning, we gave up and went to town where we found a very nice internet cafe, Cafe Orchid. I had a pure pineapple drink and Mark had coffee. We caught up on our emails as best as we could; we had a lot and the internet was painstakingly slow. I tried to answer questions from Frank about the book we are now in the process of editing, but it was hard as I have no way to check on questions. So, it will be left to Frank to finalize, which will be fine as we trust him implicitly.  Mark also managed a very brief conversation with Nick, but he really could not hear us. Mark also talked with Michael - again briefly.

We came home in mid-afternoon to find a blue-crowned MotMot right by the front door. We also saw some brown jays (p 230 in book) and two predominantly green parrots flew noisily by. We think they are either white fronted or red lored, but hopefully, Mark got or will get a good enough picture to send to Willy.

We also came home to find that we had no water! The line was shut off for the construction. Sigh. And, still no internet. Mark called Veronica and was not very happy. She wasn't either as her emu had just died.

And, the water came back on around 5, so....things were not so bad.

I bought dog food to feed to the little white dog that hangs around the casa. Veronica said, in no uncertain terms, never to let the dogs as they are flea-ridden, but I cannot resist feeding this one.

So, another quiet evening of reading and relaxing, which is not bad. We are in bed by 8 when the sun goes down. The wind died down for a bit this afternoon, but ramped up again as the sun went down.

Birds we saw at Monteverde on March 2. A continuation of the day.

For those of our followers not "into" birds - skip this entry. We want to record them for ourselves and for our birding friends and family. I am putting the page numbers next to them from the Dean and Garrigues book so that we can look them up later, too.

Resplendent Quetzals - 2 in parking lot, 4-5 in forest         144
Yellowish Fly Catcher                                                           206
Nightingale Thrust (?one?)                                                   246
Tanagers:
    Summer (gorgeous!)                                                        284
    Silver-throated (equally gorgeous!)                                 290
    Common Bush                                                                  278
Hummingbirds
     Green-crowned Brilliant                                                   123
     Striped Tail                                                                        132
     Magented-throated Woodstar                                            139
      Green Violet Ear                                                               131
      Purple-throated Mountain Gem                                        135
      Slate-throated Woodstar   (not in book?)
Grey-Breasted Wood Wren                                                     244
Red- Breasted Wood Wren (?book)
Spotted Wood Creeper                                                            172
Brush Finch                                                                             300
Orange-bellied Trogan  (female)                                            142
Tufted Flycatcher                                                                     206
Black-faced Solitaire                                                                248
Bananaquit                                                                               277
---------- Spike Tail (didn't get whole name)                            162
3-Striped Warbler                                                                     274
Black and White Warbler                                                          266
Ochraceous Wren                                                                     242
Blue-crowned Mot Mot (in park and in parking lot at CASEM)   146

The chance of us remembering these is remote, but it does make us want to return to see them again. Mark is getting very good at spotting some of these from our house. We had the blue-crowned MotMot in our backyard, as well as a flycatcher that we are trying to identify. And green parrots of some kind flying over. And lots of vultures etc etc.

A

A Guided Tour: Monteverde Cloud Forest, March 2

We got up very early, mostly because neither of us could sleep with the roaring of the wind. It is hurricane like and we are sitting high up on a hill. To say we are "buffeted" is a huge understatement. And, we also got up early to be at the Cloud Forest early and to leave the cabin while the road was open.

We arrived so early that we actually got into the tiny parking lot of the Cloud Forest. (6 a.m. arrival) We are SO glad that we got there early because two Quetzals were perched in the trees by the parking lot. They are magical and we felt lucky to see them because they can be very elusive. We hired Giovani Bello, a local guide for the morning. He arrived with his lovely 22 year old daughter who is visiting from San Jose. We hiked until 12:30, although we made very frequent stops to observe and nothing was strenous. The park limits the number of visitors to 300 which was reached by mid-morning when we took a coffee break and then went back in. We are so glad that we hired a guide. Giovanni, a character, regards the birds as his "babies" and spotted birds we would have walked by. And, of course, he identified them for us. Like Jecca, Willy and Otis and Henry, he identifies a lot by sound. He also was knowledgeable about all the flora and fauna, the trees, the orchids, the bugs etc etc. It was a day we will remember the rest of our lives. And, it was NOT raining. We were adequately dressed. I had on long underwear (top and bottom), a long sleeved shirt and the lovely rainjacket Jecca and Willy gave me (and one for Mark) for this trip. I also had on rain pants and my new Keen sandals. Mark was less dressed than I was, but adequately dressed, too.

 

After birding for over 6 hours (with a coffee break to watch hummingbirds), the four of us went to CASEM, a women's cooperative outside the park where we had typical Costa Rican food. Mark had an egg dish with beans and rice and I had a vegetarian selection with plantains.

We had intended to find an internet cafe, but time was too short as we did not want to miss the 3:30 opening of the road. We did, however, find the time to get some cash from the ATM.

 

Then, we went home to a pre-ordered meal made by Gisele for us. I had tilapia which Gisele grows in her pond. It came with beans and rice and plantains (which were SO much better than the ones at lunch.) Mark had chicken (Gisele and Didier's own), also with rice and beans and her wonderful salsa (which was also here on arrival) plus homemade lemonaide and a lemon pie. It was all yummy, although I have been avoiding rice and only ate some of the beans.

Another quiet evening without the internet which is beginning to frustrate us as it was advertised and promised to us. Supposedly the cable guy come today but needs a new cable.

As we saw so many great birds which we want to record, we have decided to list them on another entry in the blog. Still windy, which makes it sound much too benign for this wind.

Monteverde - How many ways to describe violent wind are there?

March 1st.
It was tough sleeping last night with the aggressive wind which felt like it would take off the roof and we hear loud bangs all night long with freight train winds. We both laid awake thinking of the ways to describe how fierce it was. Not breezy or buffeting. But rather - punching and slamming.

As the road was closed until 9:30, we waited till then and then went exploring. We have hired a guide for tomorrow and wanted to see how much time it would take us to get to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. What a bumpy ride to town and then, an even bumpier ride up to the Cloud Forest. We were dressed in shorts and summer wear. But, as we got closer, the cloud forest showed us what it meant; it was rainy and muddy....and cold. Nevertheless, we parked a bit away and climbed up to the entrance area. We immediately saw a white fronted parrot sitting on an electrical line. Beautiful!

We sat and looked at the hummingbirds by the coffee shop as recommended by grandson, Otis, who visited here two summers ago. We saw SO many hummingbirds and of such a variety of sizes. Plus, at the feeders we saw bananaquits which like using the feeders, too.

 After we were sufficiently chilled, we went back into the town of Santa Elena where it was not raining and was warm and sunny, just 6 kilometers away! We shopped for groceries, came home and read, read, read. We are living a non-connected life.

I am reading The Age of Acquiesence which just came out. It is excellent and I highly recommend it. It traces themes in American economic, political and social life from the time of Jefferson and Hamilton through the present. It is meant for people with a background in history, but is not exclusively for historians. It talks about labor and work and our attitudes toward both, as well as the trends Americans have followed with regard the rich and how, in our present time, workers have accepted (acquiesced) in the face of increasing income disparity. Mark is reading Richard Ford's The Lay of the Land.

We are really ready for the wind to stop!

Atenas to Monteverde, Feb 28. Climbing, climbing, climbing!

Today, we left the B n B in Atenas which we truly enjoyed. We gassed up, bought a few groceries and headed out. The first road and the last road were tough. The first because it was twisty and turny, but paved; the last unpaved and precipitous and windy, windy, windy!

We drove to Guacimal, a very very small village on Rt 606. It is a miracle that we found the Sustainability Project run by Alex and Veronica from whom we have rented Casa Cielo by Monteverde. We recognized it soley from Veronica's desciption of the building. Guacimal was having a small village fair, organized by Veronica in hopes of convincing the farmers not to simply raise cows and destroy the fields. For sale - vegetables, handicrafts and food. We had to stop there for about 2 hours because the 606 is mostly closed for construction. It is only open before 6:30 a.m., then for 20 minutes around 9:30 a.m., noon and 3:30. Then, it is also open from 5:30. So, we were aiming for the 3:30 opening. We had some local foods and chatted with Veronica, her 12 year old Stuart and two other Americans who were in Guacimal for the month doing a lot of volunteer work with Veronica.

  

 Anyhow, we eventually left and headed out on the unpaved 606. It was about 14 or 15 kilometers, but took quite a while as the road is really in tough shape. We were stopped twice before being allowed to proceed.  We drove past Casa Cielo at first and would have missed it entirely if we had not been counting the kilometers.

A neighbor, Gisele, met us in the driveway and let us in. We have to go through a gate and down a rutted path to the house. It is an A frame perched high above the Gulf of Nicoya which is in the distance. The bedroom is up some rather harrowing stairs. Gisele showed us around and took us down to a lower property to show it to us.

Unfortunately, there is no internet service. (This was written several days later.) We are in about as remote a place as we have ever been.

Birding, relaxing - 2nd full day in Atenas, Feb 27

Today we got up early to see if we could spot the toucan(s) that hang out near the entrance to the BnB. We heard it/them and saw a flash, but did not really see it well. Christine joined us, which was great because she knows the birds. We saw blue grey tanagers, western (or tropical) kingbirds, more rufous-naped wrens (noisy and happy sounding birds), yellow warblers, a hummingbird, social (or grey-capped) flycatchers, possibly a short-tailed hawk and cattle egrets.

But - the star of the morning was a pair of blue-crowned Motmots. They were behind the pool and literally posed for us. A male was wooing a female by offering her an insect. But she rebuffed him. Eventually, he gave up and flew away. But, they held a group of us entralled as they stayed still for us to take photos. Amazing tails, amazing colors - they made our day.  And, that was before breakfast!

For the bulk of the day, we hung around here enjoying the warmth and also catching up on our blog. We often write it and then add the photos later, so it takes time to upload the photos from both our phones and from the camera. We ate lunch outside here with food we bought.

We had a short Skype session with Nick, Cole and Sage, but had poor reception.

We went to dinner in town with Christine at Don Yayo, a local hangout recommended by Jonathan who works at the BnB. (fluent in 4 languages). Christine told some stories about her work with marine mammals, in particular an oil spill in Spain where she was part of a team gathering data on the dead seabirds, estimated in the hundreds of thousands. Quote of the day as we read and tried to translate the menu as I looked up the meaning of "gallo" which was the heading of a lot of things on the menu. "I am a little put off by the cock." The dictionary's definition of gallo = cock. I guess it means rooster, but that seems to have nothing to do with the dishes on the menu, so we never did quite get what it meant as there was "gallo" with chicken, with veggies etc etc. At any rate, it was a lovely evening with serious conversation punctuated with a lot of laughs, too.