We left Bahia Herradura early this morning and motored all the way to our next stop, Quepos, a small coastal town just north of the well known Manuel Antonio Park. To recap our last week, the day we arrived at Los Suenos (the name of the marina/tourist development within the bay) Stan found an excellent refridgeration technician, from Victoria! Ever since Ixtapa our freezer hadn't been working well at all. Luckily Stan had bought a new cold plate while in Victoria the other month. In the end we were happy that we had decided to pay the expensive moorage fees at Los Suenos as this was a job that we didn't want bundled due to 'lost in translation'. One of the fellows in the marina office arranged for a friend of his to take us to a well known park called the Waterfall Gardens. As the name implies there were a few spectacular waterfalls with trails to walk along, as well as contained areas for birds, butterflies, snakes and frogs. The lady who drove us there (actually her uncle did the driving) brought along her 10 year old daughter, Susanna, who spoke excellent English. The kids had an excellent time at the park and we really enjoyed the drive there. The long drive took us through very mountainous terrain with constant switchback roads and spectacular views. It is like a greenhouse here, it's hot and there is a lot of moisture so there is lush vegetation everywhere. In fact the landscaping at Los Suenos (which is much more than just a marina) is the best I have ever seen anywhere. From last Sunday on we anchored out in the bay and decided to catch up on school work and laundry. What a disaster that turned out to be. I do have a washing machine on board but because there is always so much laundry it is often times easier to pack it up to the laundromat (down here it is all washed, dried and folded by someone else working in the laundromat). But on Tuesday I decided since the sun was out why not do a few loads. Well before starting the first load I checked the lint tray (only the second time ever since owning Impossible) and I didn't put it back in properly. So...water everywhere! The kids and I spent the good part of the whole morning sopping up the water that ran down into the bilges, thank God for sponges! Stan even had to drill a couple of holes into the base of the sub floor on which the machine sits on in order to get all the water out. Yesterday we even found more water in another bilge in the galley that I didn't think to check. Needless to say the adults weren't in a very good mood for the next couple of days, poor kids! Our cruising guide describes Quepos as being one of the nicest towns in Costa Rica to visit along the coast, but we didn't find anything so nice during our walk around town. We did find a nice painting to buy though and had a 'typical' Costa Rican meal. By the end of our meal though it just started to pour outside. We waited at least 45 minutes but it didn't let up so with our newly acquired painting wrapped up well and placed inside a garbage bag along with my carry bag we caught a cab to the pier, quickly bailed the water out of our dinghy and quickly drove back to Impossible. The rain seem to lessen while we did this but started to pour once again just as we arrived at Impossible. It's all part of the adventure we tell ourselves! At least now we know to always close all hatches and ports before leaving the boat. Oh and I didn't mention the lightning and thunder, there was that too but not so bad at all, especially compared to the other night last week before arriving at Los Suenos. Just to add to Stan's last entry, the three hours of nonstop lightning and thunder was perhaps the scariest three hours of my entire life! When it came to my watch I just sat and immersed myself in Suduko, peering outside the companionway every 15 minutes looking for any lights or dark objects which was easy every time the lightning illuminated the sky. Our radar was off because apparently it attracts lightning. We've met so many people before coming here who have all talked about the lightning and thunder, and they all spoke of it in a so non-chalant sort of way, I can't understand it, it was so scary! But it seems like it will be something that we will have to get use to as we are now in the rainy season for this part of the world, at least though we are now officially below the hurricane belt, the southern lat. being 10'N.