Our Excellent Adventures

Day 2--Dramamine trip 1

mikeandcarra — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 11:21:00 GMT

This is being written on day 8. Days 2-4 were without Wi-Fi. Days 5-7 were just busy and exhausting for us by 30 something's any more even though we think we are sometimes. Now we are in Tamarindo at the beach time is moving slower so I will catch up.

So Monday morning our driver David arrived early, which we weren't expecting. He spoke little English and we speak even less Spanish so that made things interesting. After he got us loaded and buckled in, we were off.

David is a pretty good driver. Only had us closing our eyes a couple of times and only drove 10-15 kph over the speed limit. Shortly after we started he abruptly pulled over to the side of the road. Neither of us knew what was up. He then showed us a 3-4 foot tall plant with green berries. He stated "coffee". There were hundreds of th plants for the next several miles. The growers were using every available spot on the hillside to plant. Very steep and deep slopes, making this quite difficult work I imagine. They do put out a great product as we enjoy it every morning and some afternoons.

Along the way David also showed us a large nesting area of two types of egrets, stopped to let a family of coatis cross the road, pointed out papaya, pineapple, sugar cane, plantains (no bananas, only on Caribbean side), we found out that elephant ear plants produce a potato-like food.

The distance covered was about 110 km or about 65 miles. It was a two and a half hour trip, crossing the continental divide with switch backs and hair pin turns too numerous to count. We arrived in La Fortuna and were greeted by the concierge with a drink in hand. Carra said it reminded her of The Love Boat tv show. And the dramamine lasted.

Next we explore our home for the next three days.

Day 1 San Jose

mikeandcarra — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:23:00 GMT

Our flight left on time and was interesting, if uneventful. Quite an international flight. One of the attendants was French and spoke at least three languages, many Costa Ricans heading home, a couple of Germans, and three young French ladies who apparently partied hard in Atlanta. It was the first time I have seen an official European Union document in a French passport.

Then of course we had the family of six (ages 2,4,6 & 7) that sat in front of us. The two year old was very active shall we say. Momma let him sit, stand and play in the aisle. It didn't end well for them as when momma grabbed son to leave she stood up and smacked both their heads into the overhead bin.

We had been advised it would take two hours to get through immigration, get our luggage and clear customs. Well, I don't know if we were lucky or the writer had been smoking something, but we got off the plane about 11:45 and were in our hotel room at 12:20 trying to decide what to do!

We decided to just have happy hour or two and chill at the hotel. We have twelve days of action ahead of us.

Pura Vida from Costa Rica.

Leaving on a jet plane!

mikeandcarra — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 22:38:00 GMT

We are in Atlanta airport. Checked in and waiting to board. Very excited. Do you know the way to San Jose?

Getting close now.

mikeandcarra — Sun, 3 Aug 2014 13:00:00 GMT

It has been a few weeks. Life just gets in the way some times, doesn't it? Anyway, back on track with this journal.

Change of adventures has been ordered. It urns out that Carra wasn't so receptive to the idea of white water rafting. So now we have an extra free day in the Arenal volcano area. There are plenty of hikes and sights so we will not be bored, that I know.

In place of the rafting we are now going coastal. Coastal kayaking and snorkeling that is, when we are in Playa Tamarindo. That takes care of one our days there. Again, plenty to do so the hardest task will be deciding which activity on what day. But mostly it will be time on the beach.

The long term forecast is a mix. Looks like some rainy days the first week then better and not too hot at the beach. We did find out that the rainy season is also cold and flu season in Costa Rica. I am glad to be aware of that before we head down there.

We sure are getting excited about getting there. Two week s to go.

Why Costa Rica?

mikeandcarra — Sun, 29 Jun 2014 11:27:00 GMT

I have been asked (with the unspoken but understood-are you crazy?) why Costa Rica? Most recently this happened when out to dinner with a couple.

As I explained to them, it goes back to the T V show CSI. Remember when Grissom left the show on a season finale? Sarah had already left and Grissom went to meet her. The final shots were of him walking in the CR rain forest and Sarah stepping out to meet him. That stuck with me for some reason. Our friends recall that ending as well.

Several years later the adult daughter of a client of mine mentioned planning to move to Equador. That exotic thought to mind the scene from CSI and there you have it. My story and I am sticking to it!

By the way, the couple we had dinner with is in love with Aruba and hopes to retire there some day. We had not known that, but I think Carra found it a bit reassuring that I wasn't the only crazy at the table!

Seven weeks and counting down.

Why are we really doing this?

mikeandcarra — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 10:57:00 GMT

As is often the case, one spouse is not as excited as the other regarding an adventure like this. Especially when the second spouse has made a statement about the possibility of living in Costa Rica in retirement. Anylizing the situation I find that I too was not sure about this when I first heard others speaking of CR, Equador and Belize and others in that manner. After some reseach about these places you kinda catch that fever as well. At least enough to warrant further recon on the ground.

In our discusions in this regard Carra asked-me how I would feel if CR was not what I wanted it to be? I pondered that and replied, I can live with that-but what if it is everthing you want? She didn't have an answer for that. I could see I had a lot of work to do but to do it silently. So I started following several blogs on CR. Some are very informative, some are for the personal enjoyment of family and friends and some are full of hype and sales pitches. Pretty easy to narrow them down to the useful.

It quickly became apparent that we are going to some of the best tourist areas in CR. Arenal, Monteverde and Tamarindo. Tourist is the key here. I also realized that if we wanted to see CR as the locals do we would need a few more days. So our 10 day trip is now 14 days long. We added a couple days to the begining before our adventure tours start and a couple extra days at the beach for the usual reason. It's the beach!

So it is a much needed vacation with an eye for the future and a possible retirement location. Eight weeks and counting down.

Letting Carra know we were going to Costa Rica.

mikeandcarra — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:43:00 GMT

In 2013 I had hoped to be making the trip we are embarking on in August 2014. It didn't work out then. That didn't stop me from planning though. I went ahead and booked the upcoming trip in July 2013. I ddn't tell my wife about it at the time. Yeah, I know hell to pay, right?

It seems that Carra is having a milestone birthday in August 2014, and due to various circumstances we were unable to really celebrate either our 25th or 30th wedding anniversaries.

So in September 2013, while we we on a much needed vacation, I pulled out all my CR info and my Kindle and played Eddie Money's "Two tickets to Paradise" for her. Technically didn't have the air tickets, but close enough. Yeah, she was surprised, although hesitant because of language, and that I had scheduled white water rafting and a two hour horseback ride around Lake Arenal. She is good with the zip-line, the hot springs resort spa and several days at the beach though.

We depart Altanta Sunday August 17. Nine weeks and counting down.