COSTA RICA!! yahoo! Brady and I treated ourselves to a nice trip in the southern hemisphere of the world. My dear husband has a job that allows him to travel to these neat places for work, and I have a job that allows me to make my own schedule so that I can go with.
Really works out quite nicely.
It was bee-a-you-ti-ful!! And super green!
Costa Rica is about the size of West Virginia. ha ha and we drove just about the size of all of Vermont. We covered a lot of ground.
I only have a select few pictures of the countryside because my eyes were only open for a select amount of the driving done on this trip. Brady is such a great driver that the dirt roads just 'bumped' me to sleep!
Arenal was our first destination. It is a volcano that usually looks like this (so says brady)...
We weren't so lucky this trip, instead it was a little rainy and overcast.
This is the cute little Don Carlos hotel we stayed at. And brady admiring the view from out the window.
We spent the night with each other, some frogs, 2 lizards, and a family reunion of pinky size ants.
It was romantic--for one $40 night only.
Our last day in Arenal we went "tramopying"! A mixture of a ski tram and flying through the canopy! yahoo! Its a wonder we trust nice little Costa Ricans and small little ropes going 1800 meters 600 meters above the ground. Us trusting Americans.
El Novillo Restaurante
The gem of Arenal. An outside restuarant, family owned and empty on a rainy day. Wonderful (and romantic in its own way:)
Since we were the only customers-maybe the whole day-we HAD to get dessert. It was Banana Flombe (the dessert that is lit on fire and then placed on ice cream). After our main course (fresh fish), the lights went out and the mother-in-law walked out of the little shack in the back with this pan lit on fire. ha ha so cute! So cute! I'm not sure what she said because it was all in Spanish but brady laughed, so it was probably something funny.
Our next stop was a great beach with great surfing. Brady did his research and asked the opinions of those locals. The census was Playa Negra
This was 305 km away which was a long 4 hours and 35 min. Or a short nap in the passenger seat for me. When I awoke, this is what I saw...yuck.
Good thing there was nice little fruit stands to save us from the heat and the drive. And also, a great fruit buyer (Brady). I was just too tired to get out of the car!
quaint little Hotel Playa Negra.
It was sooo far out there...almost by Nicaragua. Only 45 more min. and we would have been there! Shoot! so close....
Our thoughts when we flew into San Jose:
BRADY: "Yeah! What we want is the 'non-tourist' area and a nice surfing beach where it is just us."
SAMMI: "Yeah, we dont want to be near the tourists. We're not like them. We like to live it like locals."
We met Australians at the Playa Negra who had also come for the surf. They were alone, tan, looked weathered by the good old sun. Later we saw them leaving and they said, "waves are too large". We thought..."oh wow, fair weather surfers!" It can't get better than this!
our quaint little 'local' bungalows we were wishing for!
Living just like locals...no AC, just a bed.
those might look like small waves from here...but look closely and that black speck is a PERSON! so really those waves aren't that small and friendly. But the beach is empty.
...the hot sticky weather, bad A/C car, and a long drive helped us make our decision.
BRADY: "uh, lets find another beach that is more touristy..."
SAMMI: "yeah, lets stop at the JW Marriot."
...JW was maybe a bit above our price range. So we kept driving another 2 hours until we came to paved roads and a city many know as Tamarindo.
Welcome to Tamarinda el Diria.
Who were we trying to fool??
This is way better than huge killer waves and no A/C.
...maybe next time we'll rough it.
This was the view out of our cute little beach front hotel room.
Sooo pretty!
It was just the 2 of us and our camera for a LONG time...
(this was brady's great idea-a heart/leaf frame!)
Our favorite treat of the trip....graciously served with each and every meal.
Your choice of FRESH FRUIT DRINK--with leche and a 'dash' of sugar.
WINNER: pinneapple + banana + leche
At first glance one might think this is where the pinneapples are grown! I was proved wrong however when I made the mistake of expressing my find to a local costa rican. They informed me that pinneapples grow in the ground?? These are the trees where vegetable oil is made. A very educational trip.
Manuel Antonio National Park
We paied a whooping $60 for a guide to help us locate Monkeys...bad choice.
Instead we found mosquitos...brady won.
maybe the guide was confused...sloths are probably related.
It was so hot...so hot...so hot and sticky and sweaty.
Manuel Antonio is the only place where a forest meets the beach.
'the worlds smallest bats', says expensive guide.
After a long week of exotic Costa Rica and a lot of Gallo Pinto and banana-pinneapple smoothies, I ran out of clothes and we had to go home.
We had so much fun together! Gosh I love my travel companion.
We got home a little later than was planned however. The flight home was delayed...so delayed that we spent an extra vaca day in Housten! Surprise stop! Yahoo! And still excited to be there (as you can see)
