Costa Rica
Saturday November 21
We woke up before dawn even considered coming up to get to the airport. We flew from DC to Atlanta. I was worried that we were going to have to change terminals and that our 1.5 hours wouldn’t be enough. We had to walk maybe 50 feet to get to our new gate. So we hung out and ate some snacks and waited for our flight. From Atlanta to Costa Rica, Matt took the middle seat (because the window makes him feel claustrophobic) and the woman on the aisle immediately fell asleep on his shoulder; which made Matt super uncomfortable. I laughed really hard. Other than that the flight was normal. We landed and made it through customs, and then I realized that I left my water bottle on the flight – the nice one. Sad face. Oh well, Jorge met as outside with our names on a plaque and then we found out the trip to our hotel would take just about 3.5 hours. Oh well, it was a beautiful trip, and we were able to see a lot of the country. We drove through parts of the rain forest and saw waterfalls. When we finally made it to La Fortuna and our hotel, we were exhausted. We fell asleep immediately for almost 2 hours. Then we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner, which was AWESOME! I had fettuccine with spices and Matt had chicken that came with the best citrus sauce. It tasted like strawberries, oranges, and butter. It was amazing.
Sunday November 22
When we woke up it was raining. So we went back to sleep. When we woke up it was still raining so we went to breakfast. When we got back to our room, it was still raining. So we read for a while on the porch. I should mention that the hotel we are staying in has individual little houses for each room. We don’t share walls with our neighbors and we have our own front and back porches. Then we read for awhile inside. Then I fell back asleep until noon. Matt woke me up since we were going on a canopy tour. We did 9 zip-lines through the rainforest. It was gorgeous. We saw tons of plants and trees, and very few animals. But we went over gorges and it was spectacular. At the end we had to repel down a cliff – you know, just for fun. Matt went first. I freaked out. I tried to get someone else to go before me, but she wussed out too. So I did it. I hated it. It was scary to be in control of whether I died or not. But I didn’t obviously. We went back to the hotel and changed out of muddy clothes, and went into town. La Fortuna has a lot of souvenir shops with normal crap. Matt hates gobbledy-goops so they irritated him, but I bought the little things that people asked me to bring them. I try. We had another amazing meal at San Rufino in town. It was recommended by one of our taxi drivers. I had salmon and Matt had another spectacular chicken dish. Matt wants me to stop writing about the food, but it’s really good, and I like food… Back to the hotel once it starts getting dark and then hanging out and the hot tub.
Monday November 23, 2009
Today we woke up really early. We were going on a tour of Caño Negro. It’s a river tour near Nicaragua. We saw three kinds of monkeys (spider, white faced, and howler), sloths (both 2 and 3 toed), tons of birds, and caiman gators. It was really spectacular. And while we were on the boat, the sun came out. At one of the stops along the way we saw huge iguanas; I took lots of photos! After the tour we stopped for some authentic lunch, we both had fried fish, which was delicious. Then we napped on the ride home and got back around 4. Nap time some more before thinking about dinner.
Tuesday November 24
Today was a slow day. We hung around for the morning. Then we went to the hot springs nearby at Baldi. We had the nastiest meal yet, filled with butter and oil. But it was substantial enough to hold us over until dinner. It should have at least. Anyway, we spent at least 4 hours floating from pool to pool testing each one for heat. They were between 100 and 120 degrees: sufficiently hot! When we noticed the rain coming in over the mountain, we decided it was time to go. No need to be wet, have to change, and still be wet for the ride home. We got into the taxi right as it started to pour hard enough for the driver to slow down (which let me tell you, does NOT happen in Costa Rica; if anything, they go faster around turns). But back to the point. With one night left (in what I will remember as the crappy hotel), we had dinner, packed the suitcase, and watched The Bucket List. And yes, I did cry.
Wednesday
Transfer to hotel number 2. It was a 3.5 hour trip up and down the mountain like a goat. It was AWFUL! Talk about carsick. We did get to see more monkeys. That counts for something. When we got to Paradise, Hotel #2, we were really in paradise. This hotel is crazy. It is good enough to save all our money for a year, just to live like this for a month! Everything that we did at the other hotel is included in this one (we feel a little silly) from canopy tours over the pool to bike tours for Matt. It’s all here. So once we ate lunch, we wandered around the hotel, checked out the pool and the beach (not necessary since the locals are allowed to sell you stuff there, and the hotel does not recommend it), and went to the bars. Everything is free here except the internet. So, we went to our room, found a bottle of champagne and strawberries (since we are wearing the honeymoon ID bracelet), and went to the pool. I am finally on vacation! We read our books, swam, swam to the bar, played a little pool (as in billiards and not in the pool), and then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. We went to the buffet (all the restaurants were booked solid) and holy cow, the food here is AMAZING! I cannot even tell you. They had so many options that my salad plate looked like I had starved myself before arriving. In short, it was overflowing, and I could not finish that plate. No worries, I did eat more. I actually ate myself into a small food coma, and fell asleep a lot earlier than I wanted. Matt found the casino and had a great time.
Thursday
I realized that if I don’t do this every day here, I will have no idea what is going on. PARADISE! We had room service this morning (because we could) and ate breakfast while watching the beginning of the Thanksgiving Day parade. Then Matt went to the gym, all this eating had really been getting to him, and I went to the pool. He joined me later for a kayak and snorkeling expedition. I shouldn’t take credit for that. As soon as we checked in yesterday, and he had all the activities information, he started planning his days activities by activity. He picked kayaking and snorkeling. I loved it. We kayaked off the shore about 2 miles (they tell me) and tied the kayak to a floating anchor. Jason (the guide) then showed us around. We started by searching ourselves, then we realized the stupidity of that venture. Back to Jason who had a starfish. There were 6 people in our group, and I was the only brave enough to hold any animals: two starfish and 2 different animals with suction and spines. They were awesome. Matt likes the idea of snorkeling more than actual breathing under water, so after awhile he went back to the kayak while I floated around with Jason. Once he realized I went under and swam around (DUH I am a fish) he pulled me under to see a HUGE eel! I also swam with three schools of fish and 2 huge mantra rays that came up out of nowhere! It was crazy. We got back to the beach about 5 minutes before it started to rain (for 5 minutes). So we had lunch. Afterwards, I went back to the pool and Matt took a nap. For Thanksgiving dinner, we went to the Mexican restaurant, and were not impressed. It was not Thanksgiving that’s for sure. Then we went to the casino and played blackjack and craps. We played craps with some complete idiots. The Casino workers and I laughed at their stupidity and sheer dumb luck. We won some, we lost some, and we went to the club. Because of course this resort had a club. We met three other honeymoon couples in there, all from the states. So we played flip-cup. And taught the bartenders how to play. Weird. Not really. I just want to say, that when the other wife on our team went to the bathroom and I went twice, I smoked the other team. Then wives versus husbands, wives smoked husbands. It was late and we went to bed.
Friday
So I should mention that the sun comes up really early, well just the same time as it does in the states, but its much brighter. So like at home, we were awake by 7ish. So on Friday we slept in until 7:30… hehehe. Breakfast buffet and time at the pool. I am sure Matt went to the gym at some point. I think I brought food back from the snack bar. I do know that at some point I fell asleep for a few hours, and then he fell asleep at some point. I found my way to a bar and met Andres. He was the bartender. He and I practiced Spanish and English and then he introduced me to Puravida. It is the Costa Rican drink of choice; it is made from cane rum and juices. They are delicious and toxic – they go done like candy and stay with you for a while. When I came back to the room, I was not sober. Well, we went to the Asian restaurant, and ordered a ton of food. We ate tuna tartare, tons of sushi, noodles, steak, and some other stuff. It was crazy. We went into food coma. Then we stayed up and went to the nightly show. It was the first time we both were interested and it was the Latin Superstars show. OMG – watching So You Think You Can Dance has ruined us for less than great dancing. There was a lot of lip-syncing and almost dancing. It was hysterical. They tried really hard.
Saturday
Last day. Sad face. We woke up and ate breakfast. I went to the pool, to our spot, and read. Matt went to the gym (shocker) and checked his email. He goofed around. Then he snuck up on me. When I swam for the first round, I met a guy (wink wink) (no wait – wrong). I met another guy on his honeymoon whose wife is from down the street from us. We struck up a friendship and spent the rest of the afternoon together. We swam, drank, and ate together. They drank me into an afternoon nap by the pool (and now I have heat rash…). It was a lot of fun. We had dinner at the Italian restaurant – again delicious. During dessert, we started hearing the soundtrack to the Little Mermaid and went over to the theater to see the whole activities staff dressed as every character from my favorite movie. I did take a picture. We had seen enough and went to gamble instead. I lost all my money, bought back in, doubled my money, and left once I broke even.
Sunday was the longest travel day ever. We woke up and packed. We ate breakfast. We caught a ride to the airport. Then it was so hot, and we were in pants, and I got sick. This is when we thought I had sun poisoning. It took us three tries to fill out our exit papers. Matt got some food. We sat in a room with the largest fan ever – it had maybe 10 feet blades – for a long time. Got on the plane. Watched some movies. Delta has individual screens and live TV over the US and WI-FI. Just thought you should know. We got through customs in Atlanta really fast and had dinner. We made it home at 1:30. And took Monday off. We made it home.
