Today was our first day of travel, leaving the suitable Hampton Inn at Denver International Airport, heading via Delta to Atlanta for a change and then off to San Jose, Costa Rica (not San Jose, California, which they reminded people about repeatedly). We left our 4Runner (see photos...yes
that one says "Honk if you're horny (we are)"...thanks Denise) and 
snagged the little-better-than-standard-continental breakfast and took the shuttle driven by the son of a former PawSox player and things were smooth. A new book for Dana and a lot of sleep for me on the first flight; a lot of food for me (not much for Dana) on the second flight and before we knew it we were in San Jose. Hopped the shuttle over to Dollar for the super powerful (umm, no) Suzuki Jimny (see photo) and headed over to the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in: The Marriott San Jose. It was a little dark for photos, and a little dark to be touring the premises, which we did anyway and were accompanied by the sounds of many many things, and thus didn't stay outside very much. Instead we just had some drinks, some chips and salsa and called it a safe, successful day. The next day called for a 90-minute drive to the town of La Fortuna, where nearby lay the Arenal Volcano and the first real stop on our trip, the Tabacon Hot Springs Resort and Spa.
Suzuki outside Marriott
Bar area
Back of Marriott
Marriott pools
Coffee plants at the front
View from our room
As nice as it was, it was still only a Marriott outside of a busy city, and we had jungles and rainforests and beaches to explore. The guys at Dollar said La Fortuna was a 90-minute drive, and double-checking our directions with the desk clerk at the Marriott, we were told it was more of a 4-hour drive. There's quite a difference between the two, so we prepared for the longer. We had every map imaginable and were to take the Pan-American Highway to San Ramon, then follow the signs to Arenal Volcano. No numbers for roads, no directions (north, south), just signs to follow. Yeesh. So packed up the Jimny, and eight u-turns later we were on the PA Highway, through San Ramon and then a long, long road to La Fortuna. The drive was epic all by itself: a dozen or so one-lane bridges; a bridge with wooden boards missing so ramps had been set up (one for each side of the car, so you had to nail it or you'd fall 100' to the riverbed) for you to drive over (see photos, which don't do it justice); super super curvy roads with steep pitches and descents; one gas station in ~3 hours; hard driving rains that came and went like someone playing with a lightswitch; scenic views; stray dogs and countless signs that we never translated.
Typical road: curvy, wet, narrow, and without guardrails
The sketchy bridge with a big hole in it
Very narrow, very blind
Along the way there are signs all the time for tours and sight-seeing and things of the like, but one of the more visible ones was this one for canopy tours with a zip line. That's not a real person over Dana, but that dark spot against the cloudy sky most certainly is, and he was moving pretty fast.
Flying high and fast
We made it into the town of La Fortuna and just beyond it to the Tabacon resort, our place of rest for the next three days. NOTE: this was Tuesday, and Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were all spent in a different bed, so being able to unpack and use closets was pretty exciting to us at this point. We were very happy to have reached our destination safely and so when they offered us a cool towel for our faces (it's hot and humid there) and a cold drink for our bellies (and nerves), we heartily accepted both. Tabacon is a nice place.
Amid the bustiling lobby, we checked in and were escorted to our room in Building 5, the farthest (quarter-mile at most) building from the reception area, though closest to the restaurant, and apparently the one for honeymooners and honeymooners only. Because of their pricing, we signed up for the most luxurious room but not necessarily with the best view of the volcano. The woman on the phone assured us we'd still be able to see it, but that our room wasn't considered a "direct view". My eye! We could see the volcano as cleanly as anyone on the property, especially with our 2nd-floor (also the top) suite. I could write three pages about the room itself, what with an outdoor jacuzzi on our patio, an outside dining area, an inside sitting area, a large bathroom with an open shower (pictures to clarify) and decorations fit for a honeymoon suite. But instead, the photos (by the way the fruit in that bowl was the best we've ever had in our lives):
As I mentioned the view of the volcano was exceptional, but I neglected to mention that 15' from our patio/balcony was the rainforest. It was apparent maybe one or two trees had been cleared to allow guests a better view of Arenal, but that truly was it. The jungle was pristine, dense, and full of noises day and night.
The volcano was something we truly feel fortunate to have been able to see. It is active 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. However, a fully visible volcano, we are told, is a rare thing. Regarding this topic, my journal reads: "The volcano is something else. Definitely alive and active, but also shrouded in secrecy by constantly rolling clouds and fog. A complely visible volcano is a rare thing, so I already feel lucky to have the footage I do. For someone who can gaze endlessly at a still mountain, this very alive volcano is a pure treat." In the daytime you can see it exhaust a reddish-gray plume of smoke and steam, with the occasional boulder falling down the right side of the mountain. At night it was magnificent to the degree that Dana and I would sit for long periods of time just watching the lava flow: sometimes fast and dramatic with fiery boulders smashing, sending glowing rocks airborne; sometimes slower and flowing, getting thinner as it descended the slopes. We were told we were 3km (less than 2 miles) from the base, and from the summit we had to have been within 5 miles, if not less. It was truly remarkable and as the author of our travel book said, the trip to Costa Rica was worth it just to see this marvel of nature. Unfortunately our photography equipment (we brought a 35mm, a digital, as well as the camcorder) was unable to capture it at night, with the lights of the resort, distance, and fog hindering their performance capabilities. But here are just a few samples of the probably 20 images we have of the mountain.
I actually "borrowed" this image from the 'net, and while that's not exactly what our view of the volcano was at night, it does give a good indication of just how much often and how much lava would come from the volcano on any given night. It truly was spectacular.
After some fruit and relaxing in the hot tub, we headed off to dinner at the restaurant right above the pool with a waterfall and with the same view of the volcano that we have from our room. Said restaurant:
While the view and ambience were very nice, the food was far from it. Quoting from the journal: "Dinner was uninspiring from beginning to end: tasteless bread; pasteurized beer; uncooperative and overly fishy lobster for the Mrs.; flavorless onions and fish in my seafood brochette. Dessert was sweet and good (cookie vanilla yogurt raspberry sauce), unlike Dana's fructose-laden strawberry daiquiri." We tried to email folks to let them know we were ok, but the lone laptop in the resort was occupied, so we returned to the room and Dana finished her book while I did some writing and volcano-gazing alongside the lightning bugs. A note about the bugs here: they are plentiful for sure and seem to find their way into our tubs mostly. We are told birds and geckos are what eat the bugs the most, and thus we decided Costa Rica needs more of both. We headed to bed early (actually, we always did) as we had a big day on Wednesday: a horseback ride to the La Fortuna waterfalls; a private couples massage in the afternoon; and a private fondue dinner in the evening.
Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
This day was our most packed of our whole honeymoon, and even at that we had plenty of free time. For both of us, this vacation was definitely the most laid-back we had ever had, and for once we didn't "need a vacation from our vacation", and we wouldn't've wanted it any other way. That said, we had to set an alarm and be finished with our buffet (pronounced boof-ett) breakfast pretty early to get picked up to go horseback riding. We would be out for a while and so I ate a good amount at breakfast...a decision that I made without considering the action of riding a horse. We were joined by two other couples, both on their honeymoons and met three girls on vacation from Canada at the stables. We all got on our horses ("Ta-ta" for me and "Gava" for Dana) and headed out the La Fortuna waterfall. The ride was nice as we were mostly going through fields and crossed a few rivers, which is always adventurous on horseback. A few shots of the ride:
Ta-ta's view (he was very slow):
Arenal from a different angle
It was unfortunate that Dana and I didn't get to ride near each other much, it seemed every time I could get my horse going, Gava would kick it into high gear and run away from us. In fact, Dana's horse liked to run quite a bit, and mine was content to stay at the back. It was quite warm and very humid, so arriving at the waterfall sounded great to us. The only thing they neglected to mention was that there was a bit of a hike to get down to the bottom of the falls.
The hike wasn't long, maybe about 15 minutes, but it was very steep and was very slippery. It was very interesting to us that they didn't make this information available ahead of time, and some people on the way back up had to stop due to the heat. The falls were very rewarding. We were able to see the water from up above, but being down at the base was beautiful. The water was very loud and the spray was pretty expansive, thus we didn't take pictures down at the bottom, only video. We were able to swim and besides the advice of our guide Roberto, there was nothing to stop you from swimming near where the 60' high waterfall crashed into the lake. He told me that many people have died going too close to it and getting sucked in and under. I was fine to listen to his advice...the water was very choppy and it was hard just to tread water in it. Also it was quite cool, but that was perfect with us. (If I can get the video to fit onto this site I certainly will.) We were able to spend about a half-hour there, which was almost the time necessary to get Dana to go all the way in the water, but once she did, she was very refreshed and happy she had done so. It was now time to hike back up, ride back and get ready for our massages after lunch. A few more photos:
Don't worry, she didn't hit that car
(Sorry for the lack of waterfall photos, we appear to be having technical difficulties with some of our images. Now back to Jim in the studio.)
Lunch back at Tabacon was similar to dinner the night before: not so good. Dana's fried fish sandwich was adequate and what you'd expect from any fried fish sandwich. The same couldn't be said for my "Sea bass ceviche". What a ceviche dish actually is - I don't know. This was the only one I ordered and despite the waiter convincing me the fish was cooked, it was still inedible on the taste and texture fronts. My plantains were equally disappointing, thus the hummus I had as an appetizer would have to get me through the massage and up to our fondue dinner later that night. The Tabacon resort is split into two sides, and despite having stayed there already, we had not gone over to the side with the hot springs. Lunch on this day was there, as was the massage and dinner, and so we had some time to walk around and enjoy the area. The pictures will confirm what I wrote in my journal: "We were able to tour them pretty good, but in reality it's hard to know how much you've seen as the paths fork, twist and loop all over the place. They are quite beautiful: magnificent and sometimes turbulent waters; colorful and abundant plant life; and completely void of all odors - most notably sulfur." Without further ado:
We wandered around long enough to fill the time before our massages - truly this was a rough vacation. We were lead to a private bungalow in a chained-off area and Dana and I got our masssages by Fernando and Laura, respectively. All we could hear were the sounds of the flowing rivers and I recall falling asleep on several different occasions. After the massages, we hung around the hot springs, visiting the different pools and rivers and waterfalls, some as cool as 80 degrees, some over 100. The afternoon thunderstorms rolled in, accompanied by lightning, and at the same time it seemed people were getting off of work and coming to the springs to relax, so between the crowds and the rain we decided we should head back and get ready for dinner. Dinner was set to be a private fondue affair back at the hot springs. We were picked up outside of our room at 7:45, shuttled over, and lead past some more chains again before arriving at a setting that we couldn't've imagined if we tried. It was, just like the massages, in a private bungalow, far from anyone else - or at least their noises were drowned out by the rivers and night-time sounds of the jungle. As always, the pictures will fail to do it justice, but we'll try anyway:
The private chef in the opposite corner:
Notice the candles:
It's been said I'm a slow eater:
But I did my best:
We had a great time
The food was incredible. All the courses were served fondue-style, and the chef certainly knew what he was doing. The appetizer was an avocado fondue with bread, cherry tomatoes, and large pieces of salami to dip...I know it sounds odd, but it was phenomenal. The main course was a sweet and sour fondue alongside fried pork and assorted fresh vegetables (carrots, broccoli, squash, asparagus, and mushrooms), which was very nice. Dessert, of course, was fantastic: white chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, and marshmallows. To say we left full was an understatement, but boy was it worth it. Our waiter was very friendly and stayed near the chef the whole time, meaning he was out of earshot but close enough that he could keep our wine glasses topped off at all times. The setting, the food, and most importantly the company was perfect. The fog was heavy so there was no lava viewing that night, but a distant and violent lightning storm kept things from being boring before bed. The next day would also be a full day: a sky-trek along zip lines through the canopy followed by a sky walk also through the canopy, all in the Monteverde could forest.
Thursday, August 25th, 2005
Having drank so much water and wine the previous evening, I found myself up in the middle of the night, which was the first time I truly got to hear the rainforest at night. Having learned most of the dangerous creatures (ocelots, pumas, snakes, spiders) came out at night, I decided it was a good idea Dana and I didn't sign up for one of those sleep-in-the-canopy excursions, and the noises I heard that night and early morning only solidified my decision. There was a lot of activity for sure. Anyway, we were at breakfast at 7am and in the lobby by 7:30 to meet our self-proclaimed "new best friend" (he was) Carlos. We were the only ones to have signed up for this tour, so we had everything to ourselves, which was amazing. We took a short van ride over to Lake Arenal where we took a short boat ride across to another waiting van which would take us to Monteverde. The lake, we found out, was man-made (it's big) and is designed to prevent an eruption from Arenal Volcano from decimating the land, just as it did in 1969, killing ~200 people. The theory is that the lava will flow down one side of the mountain (Dana and I only saw it flowing down one side) and into the lake, cooling, solidifying, and staying in the lake and not igniting the farmland in the area. And it is a good idea: as long as the lava flows where it is supposed to.
Dana made a couple of friends along the way at a road-side restaurant/gift shop:
The ride to Monteverde, complete with a quick stop in Santa Elana so I could hit up the ATM, was unbelievable for a lot of reasons. First off, the road was paved about 5% of the way (about a 2-hour ride), and the rest was so rough it would take a mountain bike with very good brakes to navigate it. Very sharp rocks, tight corners, steep pitches...everything the drive to La Fortuna was the first day, but now on dirt roads. Thank god we didn't have to drive it, and I still have no idea how the guy didn't get 20 flat tires. Thankfully he didn't, and along the way Carlos (22 and with 2 kids, makes $300/month total) told us all about the volcano and the eruption. He told us to look at the way the locals park their cars: always backed in so that they can leave quicker in the event of an eruption. And that from Tabacon, we would have 3-5 minutes to get in our car and get out as fast as possible. Given the fact that the gas from the volcano, which is heavier than air, will come down the mountainside at ~80mph, and our car could go at most 40mph on the roads near Tabacon, I wasn't overly comfortable. It was truly alarming to realize that in the past two days we hadn't once considered what to do in the event of an eruption, and as was the case with an American in 2000, most people would grab their cameras, and perish as a result. Sure enough, upon our return, we found all the locals' cars backed in, and all the rental cars nosed in. Huh. Anyway, the ride, as bumpy as it was, was entertaing as we drove through some very remote areas where growing coffee was the sole source of income. We got to pick some beans and open them up and look at them, which was neater than it may sound. We arrived at the Sky Trek place at 10:15...but they only ran tours at 9:30 and 11:30. So insteaad of waiting 75 minutes, they decided to take us on our own, again. We were given our harnesses, helmets and gloves, and were accompanied by two guides (one to send us down the zip line, one to catch us) as well as Carlos. Most groups have 10-15 people in them, but because it was just the two of us, we flew (pun intended) through the course of 11 zip lines in about an hour. This included the climbing of towers, hiking through the thick woods, and of course the zipping. Some photos:
The zip lines were a lot of fun...the fastest one went 40mph, the longest one was 770 meters, which is about a half of a mile. At one point we flew over a group of howler monkeys which were none too pleased with our presence, and barked and howled for several hours to let us know. The wind was blowing pretty good (the elevation there was around 5,000' above sea level) and so on the last two (the longest two) Dana and I got to fly together as we were too light to make it across on our own. That was a nice way to finish. Up next was a quick lunch before taking a private, guided nature walk around the canopy to learn about the animals and plants of the area. The walk was short: only 2.5 kilometers, which is like a mile and a half, but because it was so interesting to finally learn a lot about the exotic plants which we had observed for the past three days, it took over two hours to cover it all. The weather was fantastic: it usually rains every afternoon, and we were definitely out from about 1-3pm, yet somehow the rain stayed away and we were given a beautiful afternoon to enjoy the canopy. Our guide was very nice and very knowledgeable and spoke very good English, and besides a friendly Costa Rican who latched on to our private tour with paying, everything was nice. Quick pictures:
A little tough to see, but this is a big, cool bird:
Dana on one of many suspension bridges:
Hummingbird garden at the end:
We cleaned up, headed out, and after some van-swapping (the driver of the first van had two kids under the age of three sharing the front passenger without a seatbelt, which a 6-month old sat on his lap...rrrright) we were on our way back to Tabacon. We were with, for the first time of the day, other tourists (two ladies from Southern California) and we were trading stories of our adventures thus far. They took a bit of a different approach to our trip, and among their expenditures was a $200 cab ride from Tamarindo (our next location) to Tabacon. They were interesting to say the least, and warned us that the drive to Tamarindo was brutal. Considering the roads we were on, that was not a good sign. We got back to the lake and again on the other side was a waiting van, and just as I realized I wasn't going to be able to see any monkeys, the driver quickly pulled over and sure enough there were three large (about 18" tall) howler monkeys in the trees right above us. The leaves are huge and the lighting was tough, so this is honestly the best picture I got of them. I was happy, though, as I didn't want my new t-shirt to be the only time I got to see monkeys in Costa Rica:
A hot tub, a shower and a nap later, we hit up a predictable buffet (pronounced boof-ett) dinner before emailing (finally) Denise of our safety and viewing a few wedding pictures. We cancelled our tours for Friday as we became increasingly concerned about the distance and road conditions of the drive to Tamarindo. We wanted to be relaxed and not rushed, and perhaps most importantly, do the whole drive in the daylight. Dana and I were both excited to see a new place, and hoped that perhaps being on the ocean and not in the jungle would yield less bugs and quieter nights. Lightning bugs, a lightning storm, and more lava flow would be our lasting memories of the Arenal Volcano area as we headed to bed.
Friday, August 26th, 2005
Our day started off quite nice...a lazy morning of sleeping in and still catching the buffet, leisurely packing, and a few more pictures of Tabacon before heading out to Tamarindo.
In Costa Rica, this is known as a "big leaf"
They call this a "nifty flower"
What lay ahead was not very lazy at all. According to the locals, it was a 4-5 hours drive on very rough roads, and for them to say "very rough", you knew it was going to be a challenge. It started off fairly predictably...very curvy but very smooth roads, and then as we got past the part where the boat launched, Red Auerbach would've said, "It all went in the soup." The road was on and off paved, sometimes for 50 yards, sometimes for a mile. We stopped for gas (400 colones / liter...approximately $1.00 / gallon...we tried to put some in our pockets to bring some home because it was so cheap, but we must've had holes in our pockets because it wasn't working so well), and we stopped once as a woman flagged us down to tell us to turn (otherwise we wouldn't have, and with the previously mentioned lack of signage, we wouldn't have known for a long time), so we gave her a quarter or so. Our next stop was along the horrible, horrible, Pan-American highway so that Dana could use the restroom, and our final stop was in the second-largest city of Liberia, for, you guessed it, Papa John's pizza. The restroom was outside of a town called Bagaces, which indeed appeared to be a very bad town, and the pizza, I must admit, was fabulous. We had been on the Pan-American highway from San Jose to San Ramon, and it was a fine road...apparently that was the only good section, because the portion we drove was a nightmare...one lane each way, daredevil moves by drivers to pass at any given moment, 54 mile per hour speed limit (extremely fast for those little cars on little roads), 18-wheelers taking up a lane and a half all the while blowing diesel fumes, and potholes big enough for kids to play soccer in. Woof. We made it off the highway intact, and were now only 90 minutes from "Villa Alegre" (Happy House), our destination in Tamarindo. It was probably at this point we realized two things: the directions emailed to us were in very broken English, and in fact there are two towns in Costa Rica named Tamarindo, and fairly close to one another. We also realized that I was tired (the best comparison I can make to the driving there is a video game, except this is real-life, and goes on for hours) and getting cramps in my legs, and it was pouring, and so the locals were blowing by us like I was standing still. We only had to make one u-turn and got to Villa Alegre in 5 hours on the nose, and not a moment too soon. Some pictures to break up my long-windedness.
The entrance
View of the house from the back
Dana on a swinging chair
Steve greeted us and quickly put a beer in my hand and a water in Dana's (the lady may have been a bit nauseous from the drive, and if so, it's completely understandable) and lead us to our villa, where we met our "roommates" for the time we were to spend there. Indeed, several small crabs, a couple of geckos, and more red ants than we could count were roaming about in our livingroom, bedroom and bathroom. We found some spray under the sink and used it generously, mentioned our discomfort around the issue twice to Steve, and decided it would be best to head out for dinner. We took his recommendation and headed off to "Maria Bonita", which, perhaps surprisingly, is not owned by Maria, but instead by Adelle. Adelle is a short lady with big eyes and very dark skin, so when she told Dana and I she was from Minnesota, you can imagine our surprise. She was, in fact, from Venezuela, and now you know how heavy her accent was. Her place, which she and her husband owned and lived above, was great: small, with 5 or 6 tables and a chalkboard listing the evening's menu options. In total, they offered 4 appetizers (2 of which were soups), 6 entrees and 1 "dessert of the day". The walls were sponge-painted blue and you could probably see the kitchen from every table in the place, but definitely from ours by the window. As we nibbled on some bread before I got my carrot and pumpkin soup (excellent), we discussed the option of ditching out on Villa Alegre in search of a hotel with less ants and better customer service. Tamarindo, mind you, is loaded with hotels and bed and breakfasts. As we considered, we saw the same number of ants running along the floors, walls and tables of Maria Bonita. We inquired to Adelle about them, specifically if they bite, and just as Steve had answered, she said no, and offered no apology for their presence. Certainly different than in the States, but alas, this is the Costa Rican way. Thus we decided that most of the other places in town would probably have the same "occupants", and we would stay at Villa Alegre. Among the gifts Lori gave Dana for our wedding was a good cough and a case of the sniffles, and thus Dana didn't eat much of her Carribean Coconut Chicken Casserole, which was nothing like a casserole at all and entirely like a stew. I, on the other hand, very much enjoyed my pork chops with mango salsa. While waiting for the bill Dana spied a skunk crossing, and we realized that the skunks, geckos, ants, crabs and whatever else scurried about, were all a part of Costa Rica, and we'd better get used to it pretty quick. Weary from our long day of travel, we wrapped Dana's leftovers, passed on dessert, and made our way back.
Saturday, August 27th, 2005
Our first morning at Villa Alegre started with a breakfast of quiche and yucca mash (too bland), fruit and some bread. Checking out the beach was top priority, so we headed to where the big volleyball action was and set up camp. Being my restless self, I left Dana in her hot pink bikini and headed across the narrow channel, which had very fast-moving water out to the ocean. The goal was to reach an area of big waves, no rocks, and empty beaches. What laid on the other side was just that, and if more people could/would cross the channel, a coastal paradise would be their reward. Picture time.
The channel and the beach beyond
The photo doesn't do it much justice, but the waves were pretty big. When I was waist-deep in the water they were still crashing 2-3 over my noggin. I was itching to play in the waves (the surf in Colorado is lousy) but was nervous the three surfers wouldn't see my boardless body, so after talking to them we concluded there would be no problem. And indeed there wasn't, mostly because I couldn't get near them. Dana kept close watch as I repeatedly got pummelled by the waves. I kept trying to get out past them, but alas they were too big and would knock me a solid 20' back before I could get going again. Without a board, this wasn't going to work. After 45 minutes of drubbing, I called it quits and re-joined my less-nervous bride. We headed in and got more advice from Steve as to where to go for lunch. We headed into town on the only road you can, which is a massive series of potholes, and parked near Iguana Surf Shop where I booked lessons on a longboard for the next day at 9am. We did a bit of window-shopping and meandered our way down to the secluded yet busy Sunrise Cafe. Steve was right-on: the sandwiches and salads were great. For me: a half-supreme salad (ham, cheese, black olives, carrots, those purple things, tomatoes, avocadoes, peeled cucumbers, eggs) and a tomato-zucchini-eggplant-cheese sandwich. For the missus: a mixed salad and a salami-ham-cheese sandwich. They were good, no doubt, but the pie was phenomenal. We split a huge slice of chocolate creme and it was amazing. The waittress (from Gulf Shores, AL) said all my food would be too much for me, and being the fool that I am, I polished it all off and was definitely uncomfortable for some time to come. We window-shopped some more (including Century 21 and RE/MAX) and headed back to Villa Alegre.
After dropping off our stuff, we decided the beach was the place to be, primarily for people-watching and for some writing. Also, I should note that there are these crabs down there that dig holes in the sand very quickly and hide within them. They were very cool to me and among the pictures below is one of their homes. Neat.
The curious entrance to the beach path:
Said crab hole:
A shot of us on the beach:
As the sun was setting we headed in, which was an action directly related to Dana's fear of nighttime wildlife. We were greeted in our room by a small presentation of flowers and wine. With wine in hand, partially full bellies (still), we decided to pass on the drive to town and had my favorite food group for dinner: leftovers. We took our food and beverage poolside, where our company was a beautiful sunset over the ocean as well as the calls of the geckos as nighttime approached. We were hoping to meet some of the other guests and get some cards going, but they opted for Monopoly and Dana and I passed. Some food from their kitchen along with our wine joined us in the living room and we had a great night of playing cards and Scrabble. Dana bested me in Rummy 500 but the opposite was true when it came to Scrabble, despite me consuming the vast majority of the wine. Alas, the wine was gone and my surf lesson was early the next morning. Odd note of the day: our host Steve was wearing a faded yellow t-shirt that read, "El Salvador....a sunny place for shady people". Great shirt.
Sunday, August 28th, 2005
This day had to start quickly so we had Cheerios, fruit and bread in order to make my lesson at Iguana Surf on time. Nicki (from Glenwood Springs, CO) and Azish (from Virginia) were the other two students in the class, which was taught by Cheli, a native Costa Rican. A 20-minute lesson on dry land was helpful for the water, but for me, only partially. I was the last one of the group (and yes, the other two were women {though both had surfed before}) to be able to get up and it came after probably a dozen tries. Aiding us was Cheli, who put our backs to the waves and tossed us behind him, so that we were just where we needed to be - all we had to do was stand up. He, in the process, got pounded in the face by the waves. I did have some redemption though, as I was just turning myself around when I saw a wave coming pretty fast, so I just paddled, got up, and rode it in, which was very satisfying. I swear it happened, though Dana didn't catch it on camera. Some photos, mostly of me not getting it done.
I could stand up on dry land no problem at all
On the water was a different story:
Ok, let's get a drink
All in all it was 90 minutes of falling, having straight and scraped legs, and having enough success to realize why people fly to the ends of the earth to pursue this passion. Of course, I want to do it again. Tired but enthused, I convinced a content, patient and overall fantastic Dana to head back, borrow the boogie boards, lather up with SPF 15 again, and try her hand at catching waves. Looking hot in her new surfer girl shirt, we crossed the (again) fast-moving channel and (again) seldom-traveled channel and arived at perfect, isolated beach.
It's worth mentioning that Dana is by no means a fan of the ocean, and after a few bad incidents, you can't really blame her. So crossing the channel was a pretty big step, and squaring up to the surf with a boogie board for the first time was a whole separate ordeal. The surf was big: ~7' at the peak, so we started off by catching the waves after they had crashed and running in with them for about a hundred feet. For me, it was the first time I was chasing waves in 7 or 8 years, so it was a good way for me to start as well. We were going great and eventually pushed out pretty far and got good rides out of them. I tried to get to where they were breaking and get on top of them, but alas with the water up to my chest, board or no board, it was the same result: I got pummelled and accepted defeat. Mental note: next time bring one of those bigger boards. We called it good, and it was: we had some fun, conquered a big fear, and avoided a sun-burn.
We headed back, showered up and were off to Sunrise Cafe (again), this time with an eye for pie. We split a sandwich (chicken & avocado) and dove into our pies, with me deciding that chocolate is the best, while Dana couldn't decide between the banana and the chocolate. Life can be so hard sometimes. After lunch we finally tackled the begging-to-be-put-off task of buying everyone gifts. A surfer chic's shirt for Lor and a monkey shirt for Steve were already acquired so it was a t-shirt for Trevor, beach towels for Jackie and Denise, and coffee for each set of folks. It turns out Dana and I don't know anything about coffee, including whether or not our parents had grinders, and if they liked light or dark roast, and to top it all off everything was written in Spanish, so we had even less of a clue. We ended up buying a miriad of flavors, brands and styles, and hoped that something pleased someone. We also bought a little bowl for Joyce in which to put shells, and then set off to acquire said shells. Getting the shells was fun, especially with the numerous dogs on the beach - they're always fun to watch.
Back at Villa Alegre, we again found ourselves not much in the mood for going out, so we did the next best thing and ordered in. I don't remember the name of the place, but they brought our caprese, Dana's fettucine pesto and my fajitas (all excellent) in a golf cart, and they came from pretty far away. We enjoyed our appetizer while chatting with Steve and his Brazilian bride (phoenetically) Anna-ee before calling it a night. The next day we had to drive the eastern coast of the Nicoya peninsula all the way south to a small town called Tambor, and the drive was lining up to be pretty hard.
Monday, August 29th, 2005
We were fairly restless at 7:45am and so despite Dana's stomach unhappiness, we set off for a run on the beach (but not before meeting Bobby, the 3' iguana by the pool). The run was great as neither of us had to stop (seeing as I don't run, this was good) even in the soft soft sand and high humidity. Because of Villa Alegre's less-than-typical-and-slightly-annoying policy of serving breakfast at 8:30 regardless of guest's plans, we hopped in the pool instead of showers before eating.
Breakfast was good and I ate a lot: two eggs benedict, more yucca mash, lots of fruit in yogurt with cinnamon, bread, lots of water, fantastic juice, and cheesecake (hey - this is my honeymoon, why not?). I was plump, and pleased. We packed up, paid for our laundry and waters and sat down with Barry to review our planned route. Our Denver-friend Carolyn had told us that traveling the Nicoya Peninsula was difficult, and Barry the owner reinforced her points to the degree that we agreed to change our route completely. Instead of driving south along the east coast of the Nicoya and down to Tambor, Barry decided we should stay to the north, cross the gulf via the bridge at Puerto Moreno, head south along the east side of the gulf (west side of the mainland...stay with me here) and then re-cross the gulf via a ferry at Puntarenas before making the final 45 minute drive to Tambor. How I was convinced of this I'll never know, but it's hard to disagree with locals, and not thrilled about taking Dana on possibly hours of bad roads was I. So we were on the road about 11am and made our way to the bridge Barry told us about in Puerto Moreno. There aren't many roads in Costa Rica, so if you choose to travel between two towns an hour apart, there may no be no other roads on which to turn during that time. So, for example, if the bridge that you've gone 2 hours out of your way to cross, oh say, doesn't happen to exist, you're absolutely scrod. Ladies and gentlemen, the turnaround at Puerto Moreno:
Indeed there was no bridge at Puerto Moreno, and two hours into our drive I started to think that Barry was nuts and that our map (which showed no sign of a bridge at Puerto Moreno) was right. The words "back track" and "original route" were in my mind, and quite loudly. A glimmer of hope, however, had presented itself to us in the form of a sign only 5km back. It said to go to San Jose (sort of the direction we wanted) go left, and for Puerto Moreno head right. I decided we would double-back and make the left, give ourselves 10k or so before heading down the way we were told not to go. The road we were now on wasn't even on the map, and for the first time I felt a little lost. Lady Luck had been smiling on us since the weather at the wedding, and she came through once again. The most beautiful suspension bridge I have ever seen (ok, it wasn't that nice, but put yourself in my sandals, eh?) carried us across the gulf and within minutes we were able to identify our location on the map.
Ahhh, the bridge
An overdue note about relative speeds on Costa Rican roads. 12mph = not so bad; 18mph = ok; 24mph = making pretty good time; 36mph = cruising speed; 48mph = absolutely flying. Dana, probably for the first time in her life, was in charge of navigation and making sure we were on course, and a fine job of it she did. Wrappers of ProMax bars, pina empanadas from Moofy, water bottles and Diet Cokes all long since empty littered the front of the car. It was time for lunch.
La Cuenca was recommended to us by Barry, and we found it almost an hour after he said we would. A pair of grilled chicken salads complete with mayo and ketchup (Costa Rican Thousand Island), a coupla waters and two trips to the clean restroom and we were back on the road. Puntarenas is the city from which the ferry leaves, and I can say without hesitation or exagerration there isn't a single other reason to go there. Costa Rica has its share of small, beat-up towns, but the people live quiet lives and it's more modest and simple than depressing and gross. Not Puntarenas. The town is large, stretching maybe 6-8k down a small peninsula to the ferry, and along the way is potential beautiful beachfront property, but instead run-down homes, traffic, and restaurants you wouldn't use a napkin in. The pier was similar: smelly, hot and lacking any hint of a breeze.
After an extremely fast-talking boy told us where to go, how much to pay, when the ferry left, and how much we should tip him, we paid 100 colones (about $0.20) for Dana to use the nastiest bathroom in the port. We arrived at 3:20 and the next ferry was at 4:30, and with the ride being an hour and 15 minutes long, I realized the latter portion of our drive to Tambor would be done in the dark, something we had successfully avoided thus far. Despite the heat, the ferry ride was nice. Dana got a headache so she layed down on my lap in the air-conditioned room, closed her eyes and enjoyed some relaxing time out of the car. I was equally happy to watch the large pelicans and gaze at the small, pristine islands that dot the gulf, and when I got bored I could try and make sense of SpongeBob SquarePants, which was on TV in Spanish in the room. Dana wasn't allowed to ride in the car with me until I pulled off the boat, and that couldn't happen until buses, dump-trucks, and even an ambulance (which promptly turned on its lights and sirens after going 3mph for the last 90 minutes) exited.
What formed on land was interesting: a dying sun, supercurvy and pothole-laden roads, locals that knew where the holes were, big slow trucks, and for us, absolutely no directions to our place in Tambor. The driving was the toughest I had done yet, mostly due to the aforementioned things, but also due to the lack of street lights, and that we were approaching our 7th hour driving at this point. We almost died as we attempted to pass a dump-truck on the other side of the road up a short steep hill at a right-hand turn. We had 50' of visibility at the most and sure enough, just as we pulled alongside the truck, we were facing headlights, and they were closing in fast. This sounds reckless in hindsight, but in reality it's par for the course in Costa Rica.
Luckily we saw signs for our place, Tambor Tropicale, and Dana's white-knuckle death grip subsided as we pulled slowly down the very dark dirt driveway. This was the reservation I had made very late in the game and without Dana's assistance, so in reality we weren't even sure if we had it right. Mrs. Luck showed up again and quickly we were showed to our cabin.
It's tough to say, really, that of the four rooms we had been in which was the nicest, but this one certainly gave them all a run for their money. The cabins, furniture, everything is constructed from a dark wood held together with dowel pins and a heavy heavy coat of wax, which gave everything a beautiful, rich shine. The room was expansive with a sitting area, kitchen (not -ette), and a double-bed with the bathroom off to the side. Void of TVs, phones, and air-conditioners in order to preserve the ambience the owners were going for, the place was perfect, and bug-free. Some pictures to break up my ramblings:
We were beat, and decided de-stressing would best be done by showering and hitting the poolside bar for some drinks and food. A couple of rum punches hit the spot as we surveyed the small menu. It was also around this time that we realized how close we were to the ocean, specifically Tambor Bay, so we opted for the shrimp cocktail, a fish dish for me and linguini with shrimp in a spicy sauce for the lady. Despite the shrimp cocktail turning into a salad with shrimp in it and Dana's "spicy sauce" turning into barbeque sauce, dinner was good, as was the Pina Colada I dove into next. A quick swing in the beach-side hammock precluded a well-deserved night's rest. A long, productive day was behind us, and a sunrise view from our bed (all cabins and bed are situated so that everyone wakes to the sunrise) awaited us in the morning.
Tuesday, August 30th, 2005
Just like everything else, the owners got this right:
Our room (possibly the only occupied one on the complex {note: go to Costa Rica during the "rainy season"}) overlooked the pool and the bay and we loved it. After the day before, we decided no tours or excursions would be necessary, so we lounged in the pool and hot tub, watched a lizard eat some butterflies ("National Geographic in front of our eyes!" - M.S.) and just took it real easy. Our plan for this day was to eventually make it back to the Marriott San Jose, of course after the ferry ride and obligatory stop at the car rental place to give back our Jimny (sniffle).
The ferry on the way back had no air-conditioning but it did have ice cream, and our car provided the A/C, so we were able to make it to Puntarenas without much trouble. Back on the PA highway, then to Dollar, and we were back where we started before we knew it. We ate dinner at the Marriott at the gourmet restuarant downstairs and despite us not quite being dressed for our surroundings, I thoroughly enjoyed my olive medley appetizer as well as the roasted garlic clove spread served on bread. We watched a little TV and enjoyed some more down time before awaking very early to get our flight. So early, in fact, that for the second time in as many international vacations, I left a well-worn Sox hat (this time along with sunglasses) behind. Two pay phone calls back to the hotel to have it mailed to me in Colorado proved to be a waste of colones, but oh well.
We arrived in Atlanta to run into none other than our friend Carolyn (former Costa Rica traveler and advice-giver) and had a bite to eat while hearing for basically the first time about this "Hurricane Katrina". On to DIA, back to the shuttle for the car, and home-bound we were happy to be. It was a great trip, relaxing yet eventful; just the way a vacation should be.
One of our last wedding gifts was waiting for us upon our return: Steve, Denise, Mat, Heather and Lori had "gained access" to our house and did a lot of touch-up work that was unfinished from the kitchen remodel and left us some nice flowers as well. And when it came to our bedroom, there was one last thing they left us with..............
Thanks for reading.
posted by JP at 11:59 PM
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