Terrell's 30th Birthday

Today I am writing from an internet cafe in Samara Beach. We arrived yesterday afternoon after a no show by our shuttle driver (We Go With Rigo? I think not.) and an incredible showing of taxi negotiation skills by Sr. Palmer. Casa del Mar was a fabulous surprise. The photos on the internet do not come close to doing the place justice and it turns out that an American couple bought the place just 7 months ago. They are magnificent folks and their daughter Skye, who has been managing the place since they bought it, is a super resource for restaurants and things to do and all that jazz.

The hotel sits across a narrow street from the beach and has private beach access through a parking lot. They have nice padded chairs waiting for us whenever we want to hop on over to the beach. The beach itself is long and the water is fantastically warm and calm... perfect for us non-surfer types. It is so hot and the sun so strong that the beach looks deserted until you glance up away from the ocean and see that everyone is lounging under palm trees. What a paradise.

The last two days we have had lunch at a place called Shake Joes that is right on the beach and has fabulous fruit milk shakes. Each table has either a bed-like couch thingy or a thatch roof over the table.



The main event yesterday was finding a special place to have dinner for Terrell's birthday and we hit the jackpot. We walked about 150 yards on the beach to a restaurant that has an open air barbecue pit. We each had the surf & turf (Mar y Tierra) and all agreed that the steak was one of the best any of us had ever had. The shrimp were huge and the meal came with a baked potato, zucchini, and a roasted tomato. We were pretty darn full after a meal like that so instead of bringing Terrell a birthday dessert, they brought him a tropical drink. I must say, eating a dinner like that with your feet buried in the sand and the sound of the ocean in the background is about the best atmosphere you could possibly ask for in a restaurant!

After dinner we headed next door to a bar with pool tables and foosball tables. Once Terrell and Danny had shown the Ticos how to play each sport we strolled back to our hotel, sat on the beach for a while and chatted, and then turned in for the night. I'll speak for Terrell here and say it was a really fun night and the surroundings do nothing but enhance the fun.

Today has been very laid back as beach vacations should be and we are looking forward to two more days here. I can already tell you that it is going to be very difficult for me to leave. We don't have any definite plans from here to Wednesday, but discussions of snorkeling (for Terrell and I) and diving (for Danny) have been tossed around. We are also considering spending an afternoon at Carillo, the beach next door which is supposedly even MORE amazing that this one.

I hope everyone had as wonderful a weekend as we did!!!

Hasta Luego!

A Special Note to Peters

Dear Mike Peters,
Danny does not appreciate your comment about women of ill repute. I, however, should let you know that Danny did ask a Costa Rican at the Baldi resort where we could buy guns. I´m so glad that guy laughed. If I ever go to prison, I hope that it is because I did something stupid, not because Danny did.

Sincerely,
Kimberly (& Terrell)

Monkeys, Tarantulas y High Altitudes

We have been busy since the last post! Last night, we participated in a Night Tour through the rain forest. Despite hopes of seeing some of the bigger nocturnal animals in Monteverde, we had to settle for a couple of sloths, a tarantula, cockroaches and ants. ¡Que Lastima! The trip was fun nonetheless and we went home confident in our ability to conquer the rainforest in sunlight as well as in darkness.

This morning we had a bit of time to waste before leaving for Monteverde, so we had a slow enjoyable breakfast and a failed attempt at using pay phones in Costa Rica. The bus to Monteverde picked us up at 11:20 to meet up with our zip line group at 11:30 to head to the top of the rain forest. It was incredible. Danny and I both are terrified of heights, so we are convinced that, after today, the three of us are the bravest people you know. Really, we are. The zip lines were so much fun and so fast and so long and so secure feeling. The hiking and the platforms...well, we can tell you about how "safe" we felt on those at a later date.

Terrell and I went on a Sky Walk after the zip line tour where we walked on about 6 or 7 hanging bridges throughout the rain forest. The views were amazing and our pictures will never do justice to the beauty or the heights of those bridges. We saw about 6 monkeys during our walk. Pretty darn cool. The picture of the tower with the spiral staircase is the beginning of the sky walk and the zip line tour. That tower is pretty low compared to the other stuff we did. At one point, we were 40 plus stories above ground!



Seriously, folks, to get back to the zip line portion of this entry, you really need to do this before you die. It is so cool and the gliding down wires attached only to a carabiner is a lot less scary than you would think. Words in a blog can´t do it justice, so just be sure to talk to one of us about it when we get back...we´ll have plenty to say about it.



I´m jumping around a bit here, but I want to mention our hotel here in Santa Elena before I forget. It has a tree growing in the middle of it. A tree...in the center of the hotel/cafe/internet cafe. Our rooms are small, but very comfortable and there is a tree growing in the middle of the hotel. Did I mention the tree in our hotel?

We are exhausted from our adventurous exploits and very ready to head to the coast for some true vacation relaxation. (I´ve had more cardio in the last 24 hour than in the last year...no joke). We leave around 9am tomorrow to head to the Nicoya Penninsula and everyone says that the sun is out and the rain is staying away on that side of the country, so it looks like we are moving in the right direction!

¡Pura Vida!

The Trip to the Cloud Forest

We arrived in Santa Elena this afternoon. Santa Elena is the town right outside of the Monteverde Cloud Forest and our hotel is in the heart of the town. We haven't explored much yet other than a couple of shops and a restaurant, but in less than an hour, we will be on our way to the rain forest for a night walk with guides. The tour guy told us that 5pm is the best time to go because you get to see the forest in daylight for about 45 minutes and then in the dark for another 45 minutes. Hopefully, we will have found a pet monkey for me by the time we are through!

The ride from La Fortuna to Santa Elena was quite eventful. We chose to take the taxi boat taxi trip. The boat got a little front heavy during our ride and although we did not capsize (Danny will tell you that we did), our luggage did get a bit damp. The taxi ride to Santa Elena was absolutely beautiful, but our rears are a little worse for the wear. We really underestimate what cars can do in the u.s.
The attached photo is from the drive through the mountains.

Tomorrow is the zip line tour through the canopy of the rain forest. We are all a bit nervous, but also very excited. I look forward to writing that post!

Hasta Manana!

Arenal

We made it to Arenal after much more trouble in Atlanta than in Costa Rica. The flight was so short and the movement through customs and immigration very smooth. We were picked up at the airport by a private shuttle service and rode to the Arenal area in complete comfort. The driver, Alex, did not speak much English, but Danny kept him entertained just the same.

We arrived at the Hotel Linda Vista just 4 hours after arriving in C.R. and it was everything I hoped it would be. Our rooms have a wall of windows that overlook the lake and the volcano. We spent the evening on the porch of the hotel restaurant watching the lava flow down the mountain and feeling awe about how beautiful our surroundings were/are. Brian, the hotel manager, has been an incredible resource for helping us out in getting transportation and suggesting things to do. It started raining last night around 10pm (an odd circumstance during the dry season) and hasn't stopped for more than an hour since. Brian helped us out by suggesting that we go to the hot springs at Baldi, a resort nearby. We just left after enjoying an afternoon of moving from warm springs pool to warm springs pool. Danny and Terrell were a bit more adventurous than I was when they attempted to get in a pool that was close to boiling. I like to think that I am smarter than them, not that they are braver than me. :)

We are now in the town of La Fortuna getting ready to grab a bite to eat. It's only 5pm, but we have been in a constant state of hunger since we got here. The food is wonderful, but we aren't getting the standard American size portions!! On the other hand, you can see that Terrell's "crawfish" is a little larger than the ones we find here in the states.

All in all, this place is absolutely unreal. I can't imagine a more beautiful place with more friendly people...and this is when it's been constandtly raining!!

I have much more to say and will hopefully enter a more relaxed and thought out entry in the next couple of days!

Pura Vida!
Kimberly

Reservations Made

We finally have confirmation from all three hotels and all but one transportation service, so it looks like we won't be sleeping on the streets or hitchhiking. Whew!! What a relief.

Here is our itinerary:

January 17 - Arrive in Costa Rica at 1:45PM. A private shuttle service will be waiting to take us on the 3.5 hour trip to Arenal
January 18 - Tour the Arenal area and enjoy the waterfalls and natural hot springs
January 19 - We will be taking a taxi/boat/taxi trip to the Monteverde Cloud Forest...a three hour tour
January 20 - The most scary and exciting portion of the vacation will be the canopy tour of the rain forest using zip lines and sky walks
January 21 - Terrell's Birthday!!! A private shuttle service will pick us up in the morning to drive us to Samara on the Nicoya peninsula.
January 22-24 - Beach time
January 25 - Sansa flight from Samara to San Jose International Airport (SJO) to catch our flight home.

Costa Rica Here I Come

I'm headed off to Costa Rica with Terrell & Danny in less than a month and we have nothing but our plane tickets. This is very uncharacteristic of a OCD travel planner like me, but it will be interesting to see if planning 6 months in advance versus 2 weeks in advance has much of an affect on the types of places we end up staying. Our current plan is to head straight toward Arenal Volcano as soon as we land in San Jose. After two nights there, we will head to the Monteverde Cloud Forest for two nights. When we wake up on Terrell's 30th birthday (the reason for the trip), we will quit the touristy part of our travels and head to the beach. Hopefully, we'll find an affordable all inclusive resort with availability between now and then. I was thinking we would definitely spend our beach time on the Nicoya Peninsula, but after doing some online research today, I feel compelled to research the Caribbean side a bit more before I write it off as too dangerous.

More to come as our plans get solidified and hopefully, I'll be able to find web cafes in C.R. to keep everyone updated!