Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
We pulled into Río Verde, and I bought a taxi ticket in the bus station. Tickets are sold to
control the taxi drivers. It protects the passenger from price gouging and the bus station
from losing their percentage for the right to pick up passengers. I told the driver, "Down-
town."
Río Verde is a commercial town, but with a very attractive center, a well-kept plaza and
attractive church, with a statue of St. Francis.
I checked into Hotel Arcos Vista Bonita. The room was reasonable, $27, but I had to ask
for a reading lamp. An attractive restaurant occupied the second floor, with a view of the
church and plaza below and scenes of Río Verde on the walls.
I put my belongings on the bed and went to the plaza, crossed the street to the taxi stand
and negotiated. I wanted to see Media Luna and have time to take a few pictures. We
agreed on $5 an hour.
Media Luna (Half Moon) is a huge natural spring, crescent shaped, with underwater caves.
The water is pure, crystalline, and a near constant ninety-two degrees. The road was dirt,
and the taxi driver drove in a serpentine pattern avoiding potholes and ruts.
Jacques Cousteau explored here. An underwater petrified forest, ancient fossils and ten
species of fish attracted divers. Clarity of the water was ideal for scuba diving and train-
ing.
The road parallels a canal, which delivers the spring's enormous water flow to farms,
ranches and orchards. Oranges, bananas, sugar cane, corn, tomatoes and chilies are crops.
I had seen aerial photos of Media Luna, but I wasn't impressed. Its form seemed a curios-
ity. But what the photos failed to convey is that Media Luna is also a tree-shaded, camping,
picnicking and barbecuing vacation oasis. Children were swimming in a warm river that
flowed from the spring. The water was as clear as any I'd ever seen.
On the way back to town I asked Jorge, my driver, to stop near the canal so I could take a
picture of what I called a "sun-star" flower, a flower growing among the lily pads, with a
yellow center circled by white petals.
As we drove near, two young boys were in the canal cutting the flowers. We stopped. I
introduced myself and asked the older boy his name. "Eddie," he said. I took out my Polar-
oid, snapped Eddie's picture and gave it to him. I took a few digital photos for myself.
