Notes
Soundtrack suggestions:
The group see Burgo Nuevo and its surroundings:
- A cracking adventure - Benjamin Bartlett, Chased by Dinosaurs.
In town:
- I've got a Plane to catch - Michael Giacchino, Lost: Season 1.
-o-
Built on the range's western slopes, Burgo Nuevo was not a large town, a few thousand inhabitants at most, thus barely smaller than the town in the Sierra Nevada near which Owen and Claire had taken up residence, but it was the biggest town and the main tourist hub of the Ismaloya.
Around it, one could find many plantations and pastures, and beyond these, a cloud forest covered dells and spread over the slopes. About ten kilometres northwest of the town, two high mountains rose among the clouds, dominating the jungle and the rest of the landscape. While the flanks of the westernmost mountain were beginning to show signs of erosion with particularly hollow flanks in addition to having been partly cleared to make way for pastures, the flanks of the other mountain seemed more regular and were entirely covered by lush vegetation. But when a cloud moved and revealed the conical peak of the mountain, Franklin shivered. Not only was this mountain even higher than the other, but its shape reminded him of another Costa Rican mountain that had recently got itself talked about, and not in good.
"Uh, is the mountain over there a volcano?" He asked with a hint of concern.
"Looks like one to me. Costa Rica is like Japan. Lots of volcanoes," Zia shrugged.
The driver pointed to the mountain in the northwest, then the one in the north.
"Monte Nebuso. Pilar del Cielo."
"The Cloudy Head and The Pillar of Heaven in English," Owen translated. The latter is the highest peak of the northern half of the country. The Celeste's sources are there. And yes, it's a volcano, but it has been dormant for thousands of years. It shouldn't cause any problems…"
"Yeah, let's hope this one stays calm unlike its island cousin…" Claire muttered.
Knowing that Burgo Nuevo was at an altitude of about one thousand five hundred meters, Franklin estimated that the Pillar of Heaven peaked at just over three thousand meters, almost twice as high as Mount Sibo on Isla Nublar. His gaze fell on Burgo Nuevo.
Like many towns in the Americas, it had been organized according to a grid plan, with a long main street where the key services and the town's busiest places were found and which had the particularity of being oriented along a northeast-southwest axis, as it had been built along a road that connected the two opposite sides of the Ismaloyas. Said road started in the coastal plain that bordered the Gulf of Nicoya and joined the road between San Ramón and La Fortuna in the north, running along gorges and taking passes along the way.
Coming from the southeast, the group quickly reached the town's boundaries and shortly after crossing the main street at an intersection, a few blocks from the latter, the driver pointed to a large white one-story high building with large windows and surrounded by grass.
"The Cañada de las águilas hotel, Señorita Dearing."
He parked in front of the hotel and as he got out of the van to get their luggage out, several members of the group were surprised by the temperature's coolness, including Owen who had been used to warmer mornings on Isla Nublar. Once Claire had paid for the trip, the driver took his leave, waving at them before getting back in his vehicle and driving off.
The group then made their way to the hotel's front door with Owen carrying his large duffel bag slung over his shoulder, Claire carrying hers by the handle, Zia carrying a military backpack nearly as big as her, and Alexander and Franklin wheeling their suitcases on the path. In addition to his suitcase and his backpack, the IT technician also had a bag for a tripod, which he carried over his shoulder.
Claire, walking ahead, opened the door and entered the hotel. Behind the reception desk, a small woman in her forties with thick curly hair was leaning on her elbow, with an open newspaper in front of her and a telephone to her ear. Claire knew she must have been the one who had sent her the email confirming their reservation, Sybil Pabellón, the hotel owner's wife and also its co-manager.
"Oh I know... I know...," she repeated in Spanish to her conversation partner in a sympathetic tone.
Having heard the group enter, she looked up and called her husband, then in the office behind the reception:
"Basil!"
As she turned to the five Americans to greet them, her husband came out of the office. He was so tall and thin that he looked like a stick insect with a moustache and Claire even thought he was the spitting image of British actor John Cleese when he was younger. The hotel owner clapped his hands and then rubbed them.
"Hello ladies and gentlemen," he greeted them in English. "What can I do for you?"
"Hello," Claire said. "I booked three rooms."
"Under which name the reservation was made?"
"Claire Dearing."
With Sybil busy reading the paper, Basil opened the register and found Claire's reservation.
"You're here for the dinosaurs?" He guessed.
"Yes," Claire replied, becoming slightly tense.
"You can hear their bellows and roars even downtown," Basil told them. "People here are not unhappy that they're leaving. However, there was a way to find common ground… With everything InGen has in their facility, they could open a new park here in Burgo Nuevo. Of course, it would be far from being as grandiose as Jurassic World, but it would automatically become one of the biggest zoos in Costa Rica. Imagine the number of additional guests we would receive in this hotel…"
Claire relaxed, Basil obviously didn't realize he was speaking with the former director of Jurassic World. Unless he knew but didn't care.
He handed them the keys to their rooms and began to tell them about their location.
"Basil. These gentlemen and ladies had a long trip," Sybil interrupted him, speaking in Spanish. "Help them carry their luggage upstairs."
"Don't worry, we can…" Owen began in Spanish.
"No worries," Basil assured him in English. "Manuel!"
"He's busy in the courtyard," his wife told him.
"Shit...," he swore in a low voice. "Polly!"
"She's in the laundry room. Come on Basil," Sybil urged him impatiently.
He sighed.
"Alright, follow me."
Alexander's suitcase in one hand and Franklin's in the other, the owner took the stairs, followed by the group. When they got upstairs, he pointed out three doors:
"The room with the double bed is for you and your boyfriend," he said to Claire, opening the first door.
The couple entered their room and Basil continued with the DPG members. He opened the second door.
"The next room with the two single beds is for the two gentlemen…"
"Uh we actually wanted to go in the same room," Zia interrupted him suddenly, looking at Franklin.
The owner looked at them in surprise.
"You too are…" he began hesitantly.
"No," Franklin interrupted, anticipating what he was going to say. "We're friends, that's all."
Basil grew circumspect.
"You know Miss, for more privacy it would perhaps be better for you..."
"Don't worry, there's no risk," the vet insisted. "I'm not his type and he isn't mine. I actually scare him a little bit."
"Alright, if you say so… One couple can make a lot of noise," he said, looking at Claire and Owen's room, "then two… I'll have to come and ask for silence," he added, laughing in such a strange way that they ignored if he was joking or not.
He let Zia, followed by Franklin, enter that room. He opened the third door.
"And here's the last room, the one with a single bed,' he said to Alexander.
The DPG founder entered his room and as soon as Basil returned to the ground floor, Claire came out of her room and called the NGO members.
"Drop your bags and get ready to go to town," she instructed them. "There is no restaurant at the Farm, just an area with microwaves and a kitchenette that acts as a dining room. We thus have to do some shopping if you want to have lunch. We'll be picked up here at quarter to eleven. See you downstairs in five minutes."
She went back to her room and Franklin waited for her to disappear before mockingly muttering:
"Ja, ja, mein General!"
"Stop," Zia told him as she unpacked her bag, "I have the impression of being back with the Marines..."