So we landed on Tuesday morning after leaving Chicago at 5am, connecting in Atlanta, and forgetting to grab food for the plane; thus we landed hungry and tired. However, the heat wave once we got off the plane was like a smack in the face- a good one. Our cab driver Mario and his wife picked us up and I began to take advantage of my first time in a spanish speaking country since I lived in Spain. Rischard was left to wait every few mintes to hear a breif translation of what we were talking about. With in the first 30 mintues of out hour and a half drive I had successfully made my first joke in Spanish- I was feeling good. (Mario and I are in the picture below)
We arrived at the our hotel just outside of Jaco. Set on a hill, there were great views, sunshine and breezes. We spent the rest of the day getting food and lounging by the pool.
The next day was our first adventure: ziplining!! Something I've always wanted to do and I had sold Rischard on the idea as soon as I found out we were going to Costa Rica. Little did he know, we would be several hundred feet in the air, hooked in only by a tight fitting harness and we zipped through trees and in between wide open mountain valleys. Heaven for me, a non stop stomach clentcher for Rischard. He was a great sport though, and after the first couple, he was pretty fearless.
The next day we went ATVing- on the top of Rischard's list for our trip. Another adventure, both of us were not quite prepared for. The roads were very steep and there was sometimes oncoming traffic, which was a little scary when it would be a big truck. Rischard got spooked by some on coming traffic and ended up in a ditch with the bike on top of him! The guide and I had a few gut wrenching moments were we didn't know if he was ok (we couldn't even see him because the ditch was so deep). Luckily, the ditch was deep and skinny so the bike couldn't fall completely on him. He pulled himself out with on a small wound and a few bruises (mostly to the ego). After the guide established that first Rischard was ok and second, the bike was ok, he informed us that any damage would be paid for by us. LOL! Now you tell us!! We finished the two hour ride which was fun and we saw beautiful scenery and some parrots- but Rischard never fully mentally recovered from the scare and was very cautious for the rest of the ride. Still, we had fun and it was a great story.
The view from the top of mountain on the ATV tour.
That night we cleaned up (they are not kidding when they tell you you'll get dirty) and headed to watch the sunset at Villa Calletas in their amplitheater with a gorgeous view of the ocean. Some friends had gotten married there last year and I could see why when we arrived. We had a very romantic dinner on the patio and I had lobster- it was orgasms for the taste buds! YUM!
Our last full day was spent doing a day trip to Manuel Antonio National Park. The rain forest goes right up to some of the most gorgeous beaches that you will ever see. We stopped at a fruit stand on the way and I had maybe the best mango of my life. I will really miss the fruit in this country. We saw two different kinds of monkeys, frogs, parrots, a stick bird, iguanas and a crazy spider that almost made me pass out (it was maybe the ONLY thing I DIDN'T take a picture of).
When Saturday we were both sad to go. We made friends with the family of Canadians staying at our hotel (and the owners), a group of Florida law students, and any person that let me speak Spanish for more that two minutes to them. All in all, a success.
Costa Rica, you were wonderful. No puedo esperar volver a visitarte. Ya hecho de menos a tus playas y sol y gente moja. Thanks for the memories!
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