Friday, May 2 - last day in Costa Rica

Jody left early in the morning so there were six of us left to enjoy the last few hours in Costa Rica. Headed to the National Theater for lunch at Cafe Britt. We were hoping that the restaurant would sell certain snacks made by the Britt coffee company that we had tried at the gift shop in the Tobacon Hot Springs Resort. These snacks were chocolate-covered coffee beans, both white and dark chocolate, and chocolate-covered guava bits. The coffee beans are SO good - rich and fragrant. Well, they didn't have it. But we got to experience lasagna made with barely any pasta and crepes generously covered with a bitter cheese. It was not one of our good dining experiences.

After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon souvenir shopping. Nancy wanted to find one particular blue morphos t-shirt. It was very difficult to find it, and in the right size. Whenever she found it, it would be either too large or in a kiddie size. But eventually, she did find it. =) In one shop, we had to exclaim at a friend (SS) twice for knocking over wood souvenirs to the amusement of the shop owners who were laughing at both our reactions and the cause. While we were making some last purchases, the afternoon monsoon began. Ran back to our hotel to catch a taxi for the airport. The rain delayed our arrival but we had plenty of time to pass before boarding. We found even more souvenirs to shop for in the airport. :p More t-shirts and chocolate-covered guava bits. yum!

We had a stopover in Nicaragua where everybody who boarded our plane had a plastic bag of fried chicken. Looking at the packaging, they had all bought it from the same place! Next time in Nicaragua, gotta get some fried chicken. :p Typical experience of sitting in the emergency exit aisle, we had plenty of leg room on the flight back to California so Ms. Picture-Happy took photos of our spacious accomodations.

Silly experience: They played the animated film, Prince of Egypt, on our flight. Donned our headphones and began watching. Well, too bad it was all in Spanish, which I have never studied before. Since I knew the story of Moses, it wasn't hard to follow and somewhat entertaining. We had been watching for more than half an hour when Sharon found the channel for English! *sigh*

So overall I hugely enjoyed the experience...and I swear this is the last entry of my visit to Costa Rica.

Thursday, May 1 - evening

At the end of the trip, there were a group of local kids playing on the river banks and two of the kids were on a bridge that spanned the river. After the guide told us that these kids can jump off the bridge into the river our entire rafting group, except for our guide, watched those two kids intently, waiting for one of them to jump into the river. Didn't happen. Landed at our starting point. We used the showers at their facilities to get rid of the earthy river water smell and the grimy plastic smell from the helmets and vests. Dried off and piled back into the van to head back to San Jose.

While the seven of us were chatting in the back of the van, our guide and the med student were drinking beer in the front. haha!! I think they were pretty tipsy by the end of the ride.

For dinner, we decided to go to a nice restaurant because it would be our last dinner all together. Took a while to find a restaurant that was open. Settled on an Asian restaurant - "Asian" meaning that they have a variety of Asian cuisines. We decided to walk there...and it took us to some pretty sketchy areas in San Jose. Good thing we were a big group of girls! Otherwise, I think it would've been dangerous. We decided that on the way back, taxi was definitely the way to go. The food was mediocre, which was expected, but the decor was nice! =)

The taxi ride back was in interesting experience. We told the driver to go the Hemingway Inn. He didn't know where that was so we told him the street address. That didn't help either because they (Ticas-Costa Ricans) give directions using landmarks instead of streets such as "100 meters west of the National Theater". Fortunately we caught ourselves and asked him if he knew where the Don Carlos Hotel was, which he did, so we got home all right. :p

Darn it, I just wrote my post and it's too long!! Now it's lost so I have to retype it. Argh...

Thursday, May 1 - afternoon
Sharon and I volunteered to be the front of the raft. Behind us were a French couple, Shally, and a tall blond medical student from NYU(?). When we reached a calm part of the river, our guide told the other side of the raft to jump into the river. Rescue practice! It was pretty fun rescuing and being rescued because it wasn't real.

We saw a blue morphos butterfly flitting along the river a few times but no other animals. The other raft did catch a glimpse of a toucan though. (So jealous!) There was one part of the river that I especially remember. It's one of those scenes that words cannot do justice. In prose, the scene was a narrow gorge with soft green vegetation clinging to its walls with the mist from a small waterfall providing a damp atmosphere. You can find this scene under paradise in the dictionary.

W floated by several other rafting teams that had paused for lunch on the river banks. Since they had reached these spots earlier than us, we had to continue down the river until we could find an empty suitable picnic area. Since the start of the trip, our raft did a high-five with our paddles and cheered after each rapid. I think the guide insisted on this to keep up our spirits and excitement levels. It worked but by the time we had landed for lunch, I was feeling less excited and starving. Since our guides had forgotten the bread, we ate a salad made of sandwich ingredients. Also, there was a yummy treat of guava jelly and cream cheese on a wheat cracker. At the end of lunch, our guide crushed a fistful of tortilla chips in his hand and flung them into the river. A frenzy of bubbles appeared on the water's surface formed by river fish feasting on our unfinished chips. The river is so clean that you can see the fish while standing on the river edge.

Had some exciting experiences on this rafting trip: successfully surfed twice, which is basically riding the rapid in one spot. On the second time, we were positioned such that the other side of the raft was completely drenched. There were a couple times when I almost fell into the water because I was forced into a half-standing position by the rapids. We also ducked into the raft once or twice to prevent anyone from falling into the water. Good times. The second half of the trip was less exerting because Sharon and I switched to the back of the raft. :p

Thursday, May 1 - Rio Pacuare - morning

I was really excited about this day because it would be my first experience white water rafting(!). Made sure I brought plenty of sunscreen because we would be out on the river for four hours. In the morning, the guides picked us up on time (gasp!). So I was seated in the van when I saw this: While Shally was running out of the hotel, she lost her flipflop. It's comical to see the surprise and then the immediate laughter following the realization. She was climbing into the van when she realized that she didn't have her towel. Ran back inside the hotel. When she ran back out, she almost fell while coming down the steps. At this point, everyone got a good laugh including our tour guide and driver. :D

Ate breakfast at the river guide company "headquarters"- it was a place with facilities for customers to get dressed for the trip and storage for the rafting equipment. While we were eating, our tour guide strolled to the picnic area and announced that he had spotted a sloth in one of the trees. Jokingly, he said that he wouldn't tell us where until we had finished breakfast. We ignored his request and went to look for the sloth (well, we were almost done anyway). Couldn't find it until he strolled over to point it out for us. It was a ball of fur sitting in the tree but you could see its claws - pretty cool!

After getting prepped for rafting (changing shoes, applying sunblock, etc), we piled back into the van to drive to the starting point of our rafting trip. What we did not realize was that we needed to hike a little ways to get to the river. Normally, this would not elicit the complaints that ran through my mind...but with a tropical sun beating down upon us, thin plastic-soled water shoes, and a rocky downhill path, I think I was fully justified to have those thoughts.

It was such a relief when we finally reached the river bank. After donning our safety gear and a lecture on safety, we were off!

Wednesday, April 30 - evening

For dinner, we decided on Cafe Mundo just down the street from the hotel. It was a very romantic restaurant, the outdoor patio was filled with candlelight dinners for two. The chef at this Italian restaurant is apparently from Chicago. They served three types of bread, the best being the olive loaf. The chili peppers in the olive oil bottle provided a nice kick to our dipped bread.

So most of us had personal requests for the dishes we ordered. What ended up happening was that Nancy made the best choice, penne pasta with a tomato cream sauce, and Shally made a not-so-good choice of spaghetti with meat sauce. So Shally barely touched her meal and shared Nancy's. This resulted in a free dessert for Shally! :p Their caramel flan was excellent.

Wednesday, April 30 - afternoon

When we got onto the boat for our jungle cruise, the tropical rains had begun. Good thing the boat was covered! Water was a dreary blue gray. We started searching the trees for animals. Since the locals tie colorful plastic bags on tree branches to gauge the water level, I often mistook a bag for a bird. :p We actually saw a good number of wildlife - blue heron, turtle perched on a branch, iguana sleeping in the trees, bright green lizard, tiny bats that blended in with the tree bark they were on, several birds I forgot the name of, and crocodiles. But the highlight was monkeys clambering in the trees. We also saw a lot of monkeys sleeping in the trees - an unmoving ball of brown fur.

We docked and headed for lunch in an open air room. Besides the usual bean and rice, there was this yummy white squash dish. After lunch, Nancy and I went horseback riding around the nearby area. Since it was raining, we donned our ponchos - I was this gigantic yellow blob on a horse. haha! :D This was the first time I ever experienced a trotting horse. Jarring but exciting. =) I was hoping it would break into a gallop but no such luck.

Saw tiny poisonous frogs in the frog sanctuary. I didn't realize how small those frogs were because all I had seen before were the frogs on postcards. The strawberry poison dart frogs were a brilliant red-orange with indigo legs and about the size of a half-dollar coin. The black and green poison dart frog was slightly bigger.

On our way back to San Jose, we watched students walk back home in the rain. I guess they were used to such rain because no one made an attempt to use an umbrella or jacket. Their school uniforms were pretty trendy - flared pants for the girls. Quick stop at a souvenir shop where I bought a painting of a toucan. The painting was done on a course fibrous paper which gave it a bumpy texture.

Wednesday morning continued

Walked through an orchid sanctuary to the hummingbird sanctuary, an area enclosed by tall bushes and filled with clusters of hummingbird feeders. You can hear the hummingbirds whiz by you. At first it's a little frightening, afraid of being hit by these emerald green bullets, but then I realized that they're probably smart enough not to fly into me.

Took a nice healthy hike to see three waterfalls, each taller than the next. When you see a majestic cascade surrounded by lush jungle, you really have to pinch yourself to make sure that you're still conscious and not dreaming. My descriptions can never do justice to what I saw in Costa Rica.

At the end of the hike, while waiting for others, Nancy spotted a line of bananas on a tree limb. She took a picture of it and proceeded to tell everyone that they were banana slugs. The picture really looked like a line of gigantic banana slugs resting on the tree. She fooled a few. :P

Wednesday, April 30 - Volcan Poas and La Paz Waterfalls - morning

Yet another rise-and-shine-really-early day but this time, our tour included breakfast so we didn't need to eat beforehand. First stop was a coffee field - rows and rows of coffee trees(?). They were more like tall bushes. Went into their little cafe which was filled with a fragrant coffee smell. Nancy ordered a mocha - oral ecstasy - incredible. (For those of you who have tried Burdick's hot chocolate, same feeling, only with coffee) More amazingly, no added sugar in the drink.

At the entrance of the park to Volcan Poas stood two flagpoles: one adorned with the Costa Rican flag and the other with the Taiwanese flag. Interesting, huh? :) Along the path to the crater, our guide pointed out various plant life. Using a lighted cigarette, he demonstrated the color-changing property of a hypercolor flower. A spot of cyan appeared on the dark fuschia petal where he held the cigarette. There were also many "poor man's umbrellas" that lined the path. These were plants with a large leaf at the end of a sturdy stalk

When we arrived at the crater, we scrambled onto a viewing platform to take pictures. I didn't realize this at first but my sudden coughing was induced by the sulfur-saturated air. Anyway, good view of the crater. A lake had formed in a large hole at the bottom of the crater. It was the color of a robin's egg. I guess I'm not used to water this color so it looked surreal. A vent on the side of the lake spewed sulfuric smoke, obstructing our view of the lake at times. I didn't realize the size of this lake until I looked through the binoculars to see a man down near the lake.

By this time we were starving, so I was so relieved when our next stop was the La Paz Waterfalls, where we would be eating breakfast. We ate on a patio that overlooked a garden. A small garden next to the dining area swarmed with hummingbirds at the feeders - never seen so many all at once. Once we were all done with breakfast, we hiked down into the garden to the butterfly sanctuary. Our guide was very adept at catching the butterflies the right way, without dusting off the powder on their wings. So he would catch one and show it to us. We went around the sanctuary taking pictures of butterflies, caterpillars, butterflies drying off their wings after emerging from their cocoon, and a butterfly on Nancy's head. In the sanctuary, there were several stands with rotting bananas where you could see some butterflies that landed for the food. At the exit, kind of disturbing, but a few butterfly wings littered the ground. It was as if the exit signified the end of their life. Leaves you with an odd feeling that life can be so short.

Tuesday, April 29 - evening

The boat provided a hose so we could wash off the sand and salt. Thank goodness because otherwise, I think the boat ride back would've been really uncomfortable. We took SO many pictures of different pairs of people. Everyone wanted to make sure that they had pictures with everyone else. :P Ate fruit again and dried off. Went past a bird island where there were lots of birds circling around the area. The scene was actually a little creepy. It's a small island with a tall rounded hill covered with leafless trees. So many birds on the trees and in the air. This is all set against a cloud-filled grey sky, which I think enhanced the eeriness of it all.

Once we disembarked, all the little old ladies (whom we picked up from that first desolate island on the way back to Puntarenas) climbed onto their tour bus and left. We didn't find a van waiting for us so Sharon went to ask the tour director (who had boarded another bus) about our situation (I think). Next thing we know, we're climbing onto that big tour bus too. Heading back to San Jose. This wasn't our ride but we'd rather take this bus than be stranded in a little town waiting for our ride. The bus ride became extremely cold towards the end. Told the driver but I don't think he did much about this problem. It took a long time before we got dropped off near our hotel because the bus had to drop everyone off at their hotels - between two and give people per hotel - you can imagine how it was. And unlike the other guests, we weren't dropped off right in front of our hotel. We were dropped in front of a nearby hotel.

Tired and hungry, with luggage in tow, we walked back to our hotel...and it wasn't without incident. I didn't see this happen but apparently Shal did a slipped-on-a-banana-peel fall. No idea how this happened but it happened. And Nancy's luggage fell into a puddle. heehee.

Since it was late and most of the restaurants were closed at this time, we ordered Papa John's pizza. haha! I couldn't believe we were going to eat American fast food in Costa Rica. But fast food places were the only dining options available. Nancy and Shally got a large suite which had an extra room on the side. This is where we decided to convene and eat the pizza so no one's bed would get grease spots. Quite cozy-everyone sitting on a bed, gathered around two large pizzas. We wolfed it down.

Tuesday, April 29 - afternoon

There was a picnic grove where we were to be served lunch. All these tiny red spider-like insects were crawling all over the picnic tables - creepy welcome. We were also greeted by a baby wild boar - so cute! While the tour guide was explaining the schedule for the day, the little boar settled into the sand in the open-air kitchen to sleep. We had an hour before lunch would be served so we headed out for water activities. Half of us kayaked and the rest snorkeled. I was in the snorkeling group. The water was rather murky so we couldn't see very far into the water. Took us a while to find fish (I was beginning to think that there were no fish to see). But we headed further out keeping close to the rocks where we found finally found fish.

The staff from the ship cooked and served our food. Cerviche with crackers, pasta salad, cosada, cake with lime sauce. Then waiting for sufficient time to pass after eating, we all went snorkeling. This time we headed straight for the spot with fish...only to find very few fish. Alice and Jody did see an iguana on the rocks. Since we weren't having much luck with snorkeling, we headed towards to deserted beach on the other side of the rocks. The sand there was very fine, compared to the other beach. Took a bunch of pictures of us in the water with a cloudy background. By the time we headed back to the other beach, it was time to pack up and sail back to Puntarenas.

We formed a single file line to get on the boat. Before we got on, they hosed our feet for sand. Shally was in front of me and when she stepped up to the gangplank to get hosed, her flipflop fell. Laughing, she put her foot down to put it back on. And then the same flipflop fell again. Now we're both laughing pretty hard, and so were the crew members with the hose. :p

Tuesday, April 29 - Isla Tortuga - morning

Got up bright and early because our ride would arrive at 6am. For a change, it was actually cold this morning. Breakfast was a raid at the local bakery. Smells from the bakery had alerted us to its presence the night before and we were eager to try the goods this morning. Got a few chocolate croissants, caramel croissants, a guava turnover, and a pineapple bun(?). Ate these on the drive to Puntarenas from which we would set sail for Isla Tortuga.

We waited a LONG time outside a souvenir shop. Even encountered a drunk old beggar. That's when we went inside the shop with our luggage to wait some more. Finally, the tour group that we were waiting for arrived. A bus of senior citizens. One of the old ladies was looking at Jody's luggage, thinking that it was for sale. And another old lady complained that our backpacks were so big that we were hitting people with it. Old ladies are the worst - hope I don't become one. We trooped through the back door of the shop to our catamaran, an open boat. Stored our luggage under the seats and waited for everyone to board. The crew handed out fresh cut fruit to all the passengers. They were so nice! They even collected our watermelon rinds after we were done eating. We got to chill on the nets which are suspended above the water so occasionally there was a small splash that got us.

Dropped off the senior citizens at some desolate looking island with no beach. Wonder what they do there...
Then we arrived at our island! A big expanse of sandy white beach! woohoo!

Monday, April 28 - evening

For dinner, we had our first soda experience. A soda is a little family-owned restaurant that serves good cheap food. :) Yes, we had planned to go back to Morphos but the place was packed and we didn't want to wait. The lighting in the soda seemed to create a greasy hazy atmosphere where one waitress serviced all. The menu was presented on a chalkboard, the items chalked in with an unpracticed hand. Being a big group, we found a table in the back. The food was good (except for the sour black berry milkshake) and my meal ended up to be less than $3, and this is including a drink!

After dinner, we looked around a local pharmacy that also doubled as a souvenir shop. Bought a keychain for Steven; a cute green frog with bulgy eyes hanging onto a branch. We were going to Morphos for dessert but it was still crowded. Some headed to the internet cafe downstairs and others headed back to the hotel. And boy, is it dark walking back to the hotel without any lights to guide the way. Chilled, read Cosmo, caught up with journals, etc, and then to bed.

Addendum: In the afternoon, after lunch, we took a look in a local grocery store where they sold all sorts of local fruits. Bought a Costa Rican guava. It resembles a wisteria bean but about ten times the size. The clerk helped us twist it open. Inside was a neat row of white cubes of flesh of a velvety and slimy texture. Each cube contained a polished brown seed in the middle. The texture (alternating rough and smooth) was definitely more interesting than its taste (faint sweetness).

Monday, April 28 - Canopy Tour - afternoon

We waited in front of our hotel for a while for our transportation to the canopy tour. It was a good thing that we contacted our tour organizer because it was evident that the drivers had forgotten to pick us up. Another bumpy ride in a real 4x4 (according to our original itinerary, we were to be transported in 4x4s, but those turned out to be vans). So what is a canopy tour? According to the Original Canopy Tour, canopy tours "consist of a network of cables suspended over the treetops where attached to a harness and a pulley you zip from one tree to another resting on platforms set on treetops".

The staff helped us don our gear of harnesses, buckles, helmets, and gloves. We were all very nervous because there is no netting between you and the forest floor. Brave Alice volunteered to go first. Once we saw that she made it to the next platform safely, we weren't as anxious of the whole get-up. Zipping through the forest is a thrill ride. No animals sighted because we probably scared them all away with our screams. haha! We also got to rappel down a tree which was, for a split second, a frightening experience. Jody was the first to go down and I was right after her. So while I was being strapped in, I heard a piercing shreik from her. No idea why she screamed - thought she saw a bug on the tree or something. I was slowly being eased down when they suddenly dropped me down. And boy did I scream! It was a stomach falling out feeling. Now, I understood why Jody screamed.

We also did a Tarzan swing. :p Alice, again, was the first one to do it. You climb onto this platform where they strap you to the end of a long rope that was tied to a high branch of a tree about 20-30 feet away. While they are strapping you, you are standing on the edge of the platform and they pretend to push you off. To make it even scarier, once you're set to go, they lift you up even higher than you were and literally throw you down. Again, stomach falling out feeling and random shreiking. After the initial drop, it becomes a really fun swing ride. :) During that first drop, everyone is laughing at you - the girls, our drivers, the canopy tour staff. :D We got a couple of videos captured on digital camera of the swing ride.

There were some really long zip lines that carried you over the tops of the forest. So cool! I recommend taking a canopy tour to anyone who is headed to Costa Rica.

Monday, April 28 - Monteverde - morning

We were a little worried that our next tour guide would not show up because of the last-minute hotel change. Turns out that one of the guys who worked in the hotel was to take us to our next stop. Drove us over to a lake where we were supposed to take a short boat trip to the other side. We waited there for a while, trying to finish Shally's snacks: bean curd, granola, sweet and sour dried plums. Another car packed with tourists pulled up. When we all headed down to the edge of the lake, I felt...out of place. The other tourists had these gigantic backpacks while we pulled our little carry-on luggage behind us. Once all of us got down, we waited some more for them to refuel the boat. That was when I spotted this hot guy. :P He was travelling with three other girls.

When we were settled into the boat, luggage and all, I realized he had a girlfriend. (darn!) The funniest thing was that after we had finished taking pictures in the boat, Nancy leans over and commented that there was a hot guy on board. :D same guy! Sharon and Alice who were sitting in front of us also got into the discussion. I know it sounds mean but his girlfriend was very plain compared to him. Then Alice pointed out that he looked kind of dumb (vacant eyes) - which was true. So kind of lost interest after that. haha!

Got off the boat to be packed into a waiting van. The trip to Monteverde was my first long unpaved road experience. Huge rocks that the driver carefully avoided. He made pretty good time-I was impressed. So it was very bumpy ride through the countryside. I didn't realize how dusty the ride was until I felt my hair - so nasty! Arrived at Quetzal Inn where we split into two rooms. Our blankets were a dark velvet and we had a balcony that looked into a wall of trees five yards away. The hotel manager suggested Morphos restaurant so we trekked off into town for lunch.

Morphos was all about butterflies (and located on the second floor, which provided a elevated view of the street). Huge wooden butterflies dangling from the ceiling, wooden flowers on the walls, and crude wooden furniture gave the restaurant a rustic feel. The watermelon juice was so sweet! Ordered a casado with sea bass. Nancy had this bad craving for sweet and sour so she ordered a sweet and sour pork which with a huge bone. haha! Under desserts, they had peanut butter pie. Interesting...we made plans to come back for dinner.

Sunday, April 27 continued

Dinner was a buffet. But they had fresh pasta - tried a bite - delicious. After dinner, we took a lot of night pictures while experimenting with the settings on digital cameras. We tried taking shots with a waterfall but there was so much steam from the waterfall that the pictures looked as if we were surrounded by ghostly beings. We spent almost all of our time after dinner taking pictures.

Our first real adventure started with the night at our hotel...there were three of us in a room on the first floor and four on the second floor. In our room, we opened the windows because the night was so warm. Along with the smell of cow, we also got moths coming in. At first I thought it was a butterfly because of its colored wings, but it turned out to be just a big moth. Diana killed it when it landed in the narrow space between Sharon's bed and the wall. I was so proud of her because she didn't scream but just whacked it with a shoe. While rummaging through my luggage, I killed a spider on instinct. Bam, no thought. So now the two of us had each killed something..now it was Sharon's turn. Cockroach in the bathroom. No one wanted to get rid of it. We tried enlisting the help of our friends upstairs. However, when we got up there, they were lying in the dark, trying to avoid bugs themselves. Finally, Sharon killed the cockroach. The slaugher was accompanied by three piercing screams (from, I think, both Sharon and Diana) which the upstairs heard very clearly. Where was I? Perched near the bed because they had used my shoe (wrapped in a plastic bag) to kill the bug. Oh, the drama that night. Going to bed, we were all a little uneasy, especially since we found a dead bug in Sharon's bed. ugh...

Story of dead bug in bed: Because I had found a spider in my luggage, we decided to zip up our luggage and put them on one side of Sharon's queen-sized bed. A pillow was in the way so to unlumpify that side of the bed, Di went to move the pillow. Suddenly she let out a shreik - dead bug under the bedspread. Yuck!

Sunday, April 27 continued

For lunch, we had our first authentic Costa Rican meal experience. We dined where the locals dined. Alice sprayed Off on the tables in an effort to rid us of the swarming flies. We saw Luis laugh and some of the locals stare. :D Since we are a large group, our order took a very looong time. We were so hungry that we watched the locals eat and tried to discern what they had ordered, all the while thinking irritated thoughts of "hey, we came before them!" Alice and I ordered chan - a beverage made from the seeds of that passionfruit-like fruit from the morning and sugar water. Refreshing. I swear Luis got more seeds in his drink than us. :p Typical meal - casado: salad, rice, beans, plaintain, and meat.

After lunch, nap time on the van! The balmy weather and warm breeze from the open window in the van made for perfect conditions to fall asleep. When I awoke, we were in the town of La Fortuna and near our hotel. Our hotel was clean and minimally furnished. We quickly divided ourselves into our hotel rooms, changed, and jumped back onto the van to head for the hot springs. On the way, we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of Arenal. We were really lucky to see the entire volcano with no clouds covering any part of it. (Since Arenal is lower in elevation, it tends to become clouded over easily.)

Luis dropped us off at the Tobacon Hot Springs and drove back to San Jose. Bye! The resort was created to resemble hot springs in a tropical jungle. Paved paths wound through the resort, leading us to different hot springs - some with waterfalls, some that were just pools, some were pools that led to waterfalls. Had a great time pool-hopping. At first the water was so hot but by night, the temperature was perfect. There was also a bar in a swimming pool - literally a wet bar. Yummy mango daiquiris. Virgin for me! Shal and Nancy went down the kiddie slide on the side of the pool. heehee, two big splashes!

Sunday, April 27 - Arenal Volcano and Tobacon Hot Springs

Woke at 7:30am to Alice's knockings (a huge tree with shrieking birds had woken her up). She was bored, she wanted us to get up. Went downstairs to the jungle patio for a tropical breakfast-papaya, watermelon, cheese, french bread. We also tasted this odd fruit, orange and round, with seeds inside similar to a passionfruit. The crunchy black seeds were coated by a slippery translucent jelly. The cheese had a light taste and a texture like fresh tofu - really good.

We were told that we would have a private van to ourselves for the first drive but when our van pulled up in the morning, there was a family of four (we couldn't figure out exactly who was what but it seemed like an elderly mother with her three daughters) already settled in. Pleasant drive on the paved highways, with a warming morning breeze. Nancy and I sat in the front with Luis and sporadically asked him random questions. One section of the highway was flanked by a cookie factory on one side and a vinegar factory on the other. Luis told us that we would smell either sweet or sour depending on the direction of the wind. After saying that, we felt the sharp sting of vinegar. No cookie for us.

On our way to Arenal, our first stop was Sarchi, a town known for their rosewood products. Stopped at a store where we took pictures with decorated oxcarts, their specialty. There were a lot of great wooden products but would I really want to lug around wood for the rest of my vacation? Not really. So just browsed. They had some great rocking chairs with affordable shipping prices - something to remember when I'm 60. Our van was back on the road for two minutes before one of the ladies from the dysfunctional family (they said so themselves) discovered she had lost an important camera piece. So we did a U and went back to the store so she could look for it. (She did not find it.) This single event caused much strife between the sisters for the rest of the day. The seven of us had to listen to grumblings and complaints from that family until evening. But otherwise, they were an interesting group of women.

Note: this documentation may become filled with tiresome details. (This is more for me! :P) You have been warned...

Friday night, April 25

Five girls, three guys, and about 135 pounds worth of luggage made it to SFO well ahead of schedule. We took our chances with our carrier Grupo Taco despite the fantastically slow ticket agent who took over an HOUR to get our boarding passes and who subsequently put us on a different flight which incredibly got us to our destination.

While waiting for the plane, Asian-girl-vacation-mode kicks in: we take enough pictures to make a flip-book movie. Flight was late but good thing our connecting flight was late too! No transfer issues. Slept throughout most of the flight as usual.

The moment we walked out of the San Jose (in Costa Rica!) airport, we had our first encounter with a sketchy guy. We thought he was part of our tour. Turns out he was just there to earn an American tip for carrying our baggage. Got bussed to the Hemingway Inn-quaint little place tucked in the historic district of San Jose. The blond woman-on-duty was great! Kind of a motherly professional type.

On our own for a day! After waiting around for like 2 hours, we headed out for a late lunch. I LOVE their frescas! Especially the papaya en leche. yum! Most interesting dish: cerviche - sea bass cooked from the acid of lemon juice.

Since it began raining hard after lunch (as warned by our tour guide/driver Luis), we sought shelter first at an ice cream shop and then at a department store. Tried a cas-flavored ice cream. (Ok, not sure what cas is but it sounded exotic. right?) Sour-sweet flavor. Not to my liking. Give me sweet anyday baebee. We found $3 shirts at the department store! BARGAIN! I think the locals thought we were crazy because we took over all five changing rooms and then we each had to get the opinion of the other four girls whenever we tried the clothes on.
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah"
"Ok, come out!"
(changing room doors open, girls come out)
"[fill with your own imagined comments along the lines of 'That's so cute!' or 'It's a little too big for you' or 'We're wearing the same thing, different color']"
:D

Headed back to the Inn and waited for Al who was supposed to have arrived from Boston 6 hours ago. Worried, we started thinking of possible situations: missed the plane, kidnapped by a taxi driver, lost downtown, etc. But she made it! And just in time for dinner. Delayed in Miami where there was a thunderstorm(?). Now we knew girl #7 was going to be late too - she had a transfer in Miami as well. Darn the luck!

Dinner: headed to the bar/restaurant next to the hotel. The patios of the two are connected. Ordered a fruit curry with peaches and strawberries. SO GOOD! Dinner should always be sugary. hehe. (Bern, if you're reading, recreate the dish!) And after dinner, #7 arrived. Yeah, happy first day!

So I have finally caved into joining the family of online journals. I guess I
had several legitimate reasons for this. hehe.

A) to record my recent trip to Costa Rica
B) to detail certain peeps on certain plans related to a white veil
C) to give me something to do :p