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Thursday August 23rd

Well we have been out of touch the last couple days, but not by choice. We found it very hard to get Internet connections while in Manuel Antonio park, so we just banked out thoughts until we could get connected consistantly...But...We have made it back home in one piece...as far as we can tell anyway. Before I get into that, I will bring you up to speed on the last couple days...the ones we banked.

After Monday's lounge fest...well almost. We ended up finding our new friends Scott and Kristen who were staying down the beach and spending the better part of the afternoon BSing with them...good call as the rain started. They met up with us for a couple beers at our little swingers pad, then took us off to check out their beach front place. It was very nice, I think it was called Hotel Verde Mar...but I am not completely sure. The funny thing was it was like entering a top secret facility. Security guards everywhere and a electronic fence to get to the beach...all reminders that we are still in Central America. From there we were off with them for a great dinner (could have been one of the best...) at Cafe' Melandro. I will just say that the Calamari was to die for...yea, that good. It was a nice little restaurant down the street in the town of Quepos...not a super great town, but the food...excellent. I think we were the only ones in the place...nice touch. From there we said our good byes as we would not be seeing them on Tuesday, it was hiking day...or so we thought.

We woke up early on Tuesday to the drip, drip, drip (more like pound, pound, pound) of rain...not a good start to our last adventure of this trip. We did some final packing (we planned on hiking around right up until check out time) and were off. We downed a quick breakfast and tried to do some quick Hotel planning for when we got back to San Jose later that day. Breakfast was good, but we had little success with a hotel, we would figure it out later. So I drug Jori down to the park...now I know I wrote about this earlier, but this place is a true tourist trap...shops lining the road, people whistling and point for you to park in their lot and use their tour guides...just a pure CF. We were on the verge of calling it quits and heading back to the hotel, but decided to push thru the rain and craziness and tour the park. As we parked, we were approached by a nice (yet young) guide named Karen...I agreed to hire her for a couple hours...almost to stop the chaos that was around us...We scrambled to what we thought was the park entrance, but were surprised to find a fleet of boats and a large body of water blocking our way. Turns out that at high tide, the entrance of the park is cut off by a small estuary...wow, do we have good timing. So we paid the boatman and he ferried us across where we entered the park...the rain continued. A little history on Manuel Antonio National park. It was formed ~35 years ago and is probably the most visited park in all of Costa Rica. It is very popular due to the beauty of it's beaches and the population of animals that thrive there. Another interesting point is that it is one of the smallest national parks in Costa Rica. The Park only lets in 600 people at a time, but that is still too many in my book, we were consistently stumbling over other tour groups and their guides the entire trip...oh well, the price to see monkeys. We walked around for about 2 1/2 hours, seeing many different animals, including: Black Iguanas, Jesus Christ Lizards, Cayman, about 3 different types of Bats, white face Monkeys, Two and Three toed sloths, a miniature viper of some kind, an Orb spider (crazy huge), as well as all kinds of trees and plants that were all very interesting. While we did get to see a large variety of animals, the parks trails were large and much traveled, taking some of the mystery out of the forest. It seemed more like a zoo...but that was my opinion. I am glad we did it, and our guide Karen did her best, but in the end, the rain and the high zoo factor made it kind of a dud...but then again, we where still in Costa Rica. I actually think the thought of returning home and the impending end to our trip had a tremendous amount to do with our ability to enjoy our last little tour, but I guess we knew that it did have to end some time...OK, enough with the sentimental...from here we were off to San Jose...good times...good times.

We left and traveled up the coast, passing the endless signs for developments and land for sale...I am pretty sure everything here is for sale...just have to ask. It took us about 3 hours of switch back mountain driving to get back to San Jose (well really Alajuela for all you Tico's out there). Remember that we had not gotten a hotel, rather we had agreed to "Wing it" once we got there. Well one thing to note about San Jose (and Alajuela) is that there is not really any street signs or maps for these towns...also, there is no "hotel row" type area that would lend itself to stopping in to ask about rates and rooms...nope, we drove around fro about two hours looking for a little hotel that we had been recommended to. We stopped and asked directions three times and were still thwarted...oh well...after our perceived defeat, we ended up just crashing at the airport Hampton Inn...Oh well, beggars cannot be choosers. After getting settled, we met up with some friends of friends who happened to be down in Costa Rica for a couple of months. Lara and Warren took us out to dinner...they also drove us by the little B&B we were looking for...yea, we drove by it about 3 times without seeing it...can you say tired. They were great and as a great side note, knew tons of info about buying property in Costa Rica...definitely have to remember their number...LOL... Anyway, we snuggled up in our hotel room and did a little relaxation before we had to get up to fly home...so sad.

We got up early and headed back to the airport...again...so sad. All of our flights went as smooth as ever, which was nice since we just wanted to get home. What a great trip, I would recommend it to anyone, with kids, without kids, young or old, these places were nothing but extraordinary. Jori and I will compile our best of and worst of lists, as well as some thing to make sure you bring and don't bring on you trip...

Cheers!

RB

Out of Nosara...maybe?

Monday August 20th

OK, so we finally made it out of Playa Nosara…wow, I keep saying this, but it is by far our favorite place we have visited. We ended up staying one more night (Saturday night…count that, three stay extensions) with Marisa and Garrett. Since they were full, we had to splurge on a bungalow…I know, life is tough. I would say however that both of us agree that the single room was better due to the sweet private deck and outdoor shower…just make all the difference…but I digress…

We had already returned our surf boards (plus the waves were pretty large, and there was a lot of white water to make it thru to get to the break…all in all not good for us beginners), so we opted to seek out a local Waterfall that we had heard about from super nice folks we had met (Brian and Tamzan). So we were off…we hit up Coconut Harry’s for some local direction. We go more than we could have asked for…Kevin (age 11) and Jordan (age ~13)…they were awesome. Anytime you can get a couple of local kids to show you around…yea, way better. Anyway, after cruising around on some knarly little roads for about 20 min, we pulled over next to this little river…now the fun starts. We started off by pretty much hiking right up the river…it was little, maybe 10-12’ across and 8’ deep…but still…up the river itself. From there, we continued to cris-crossed the river, from small overgrown path, back to river. We made our way thru a barbwire fence (and by thru, I mean spread the wires and weasel between…watch out or…ouch!), and thru a pasture with a little horse which looked at us like we were crazed. Along the way, it started the sprinkle…and Kevin and Jordan stopped in their tracks…I guess this little river gets pretty big when the rain starts…but we convinced them to press on, and the rain eventually stopped (for the time being anyway). After about a 30 min hike, we made it to a set of beautiful waterfalls. Kevin and Jordan were nice enough to show us the ins and outs of the falls, highlighting the proper jumping technique and location so as not to crack your head open (again, my reference to getting local kids to show you around…they have more fun than you do…LOL). We spent about 40 minutes kicking it old school in the pools, jumping and trying out different features on our cameras…yea, we are nerds. It was a great little place…no one else around, let alone other tourists (damn gringos!). After having our fill, we hiked back thru the little maze of trails, stumbling across a little tarantula…pretty sweet to just look around and find this stuff…As we made it back to the car, it started to rain…oh yea, and it didn’t stop until the next day (Sunday)…good thing we got out of there. We dropped the boys off at their homes and gave them each a couple bucks for taking time to play with us…LOL. From there it was off to nap…yea that was a solid nap. We never really recovered…we went off to dinner, but turned in early…probably due to a couple factors, including that we were really leaving this place the next day…

Sunday morning we got up early, packed our stuff, got some breakfast and were out the door. Since Garrett and Marisa were going the same direction, we wagon trained it for about 1.5 hours…from there, we parted ways, us off to Manuel Antonio National park (South), and them off to Arenal Volcano (North)…just to be sure, we will be seeing more of them…trip to San Diego anyone? But back to the story…So we kicked it south on the Intercontinental Highway for about 3 more hours till we hit a little town and traffic, um yea…stopped…dead. We tried to use some back-roads to get around, but ended up in about the same spot (a couple of cars better…yea, I win!). Turns out there it is a little one lane bridge that had some of it’s metal slats come loose…so we had to wait for the city workers to come reweld them in place. Welcome to Costa Rica baby! I think we waited a total of about ½ hour and traffic started to meander slowly towards the bridge, stopping for periods to let the traffic from the other side cross as well. So as we started driving across the bridge, we started to understand the problem…the bridge looked like a railroad trestle…just slats of metal, spaced about 2” apart keeping us from the rushing river below…good idea to stop and let them fix it. That was about the only stumble we had on our little path down to Manuel Antonio. We got in around 3:00pm and found a room at the Costa Verde Hotel (a little spendier than I wanted, but what the hell, only three more nights in Costa Rica…Pura Vida!) The Hotel is large by our standard, but situated on the hill overlooking the park and the ocean…very nice views…very nice. As we were checking in, a family of Howler Monkeys moved thru the trees by registration…pretty cool. After getting settled in our room, we strolled up to the “Adult” pool…sorry, no kids…yea right, I am here…and took in the view (pics to follow)…again, very nice. On the way back down to our room (yea, way down the hill…can you feel the burn?) a family of Spider Monkeys took over the trees above us…it was very cool…they followed us down the hill, jumping from tree to tree…I like this place already, it reminds me of home…all you crazy’s jumping around…LOL…I crack myself up. After freshening up…yea right! We sped off to try to catch the sunset (turns out they are pretty good here). We stopped at a restaurant at the top of the hill called El Avion…great views and good food. The catch to this place is that it actually is a old airplane…a C-123 I think. It is located in the middle of the restaurant and has a bar inside it…pretty cool. It was shipped here back in 2000, just for the restaurant, but has ties back to the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid 80’s…cool stuff. From there…to bed…the whole driving for 5 hours thing takes it out of you…but I got to see Monkeys…all worth it.

So on to today…not much on our plate…mostly relaxing by the pool…as it turns out the national park is closed on Mondays…isn’t that a kicker, so we will have to fly through tomorrow before heading back to San Jose…yea we fly home on Wednesday. Our other friends Scott and Kristen are here in town somewhere, so we will more than likely try to find them for some drinks and dinner…we will see…cannot wait to see everyone…we are missing home, family and friends a lot…ya’ll should have come along…good times, good times.

Cheers!

RB

Hola from Paradise

All,


If you wanted to know where it was...well we found it. We have now extended our stay here in Nosara twice...it's that sweet. I think I have detailed it out already, and if not in enough detail, Jori has started (and will finish one of these days) a entry to get you even more detail. But for the most part, we have settled into a little bit of a routine...get up and surf for about 2 hours, come back for breakfast, hang out and read, or chat with our new buds Garrett and Marissa. Head out into the area for some lunch and a couple beers, back for some napping or additional surfing (depending on tides and weather), then some dinner and some more beers...yea I like this life. Oh yea, and Elle Macpherson is staying at our quaint little hotel...she is extremely nice and very much a regular person...as I would expect I guess...and she is very beautiful...as you would expect (a few pictures to follow...we had to ask for at least one...even though we felt really funny about it.)



A little more on the weather...it is beautiful every morning...birds chirping, bugs...well chirping (they are as big as birds here)...then about 2:00 the thunder and lightning role in and the sky opens up...the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life...knock you out of your chair loud - Fricken crazy cool. A couple of the afternoons/evenings it rained harder than I have ever seen...it is hard to believe this is just a daily storm and not a national disaster (we definitely not in the states - "SUMMER STORM WATCH...Wednesday?"). Anyway, it cools down the temperature and makes for a nice afternoon break...you have to sit back and relax because there is nothing else to do.



So I also apologize for not posting more updates, but we have just been rolling along. But there have been several interesting happenings that I should keep everyone in the loop on. First, for all of you who watch the news and read about the earthquake in Peru, that definitely affected us the other night. We were in the middle of eating dinner with our new friends (Garrett, Marisa, Scott and Kristen), when the hotel Manager stopped the music and inf0rmed us about the earthquake and that it had triggered a tsunami warning for the Costa Rican Pacific coast...exactly where we are now...and by the way we are right at sea level...ouch. So we had to evacuate the entire hotel in like 15 minutes...so we threw all our stuff into our bags and packed the car with ourselves and as many other guests as we could (most people actually arrive by taxi) and drove up to a house on the hill that the hotel owns about 10 minutes away. It was pretty crazy. Everyone was pretty calm (I emptied the Mini Bar into my bag before we left, so that helped...LOL), but the hotel staff were a really shaken up...understandably. So after about 2 hours, we got the word that the warning had been lifted and we could return to the hotel...Wheew...seems like we cannot go on vacation anywhere without something happening (Philippines last year...Typhoon...yea that sucked). But after dropping our bags in the room, we bolted over to a local Surfer lodge/bar and played some pool and had some more beers (remember the whole mini bar comment?)...a good stress reliever.


A little more on the waves, and our improving surf skills. First off, Garrett owned (well still does) a surf school in Hawaii...yea he is a good surfer. Anyway, we are improving slowly...I can definitely say that practice does help. having 3 or 4 days in a row is helping a ton (well and some great instruction from Garrett). The waves have been pretty good until today...yea, large is an understatement...so today we surfed the white water vs. the break...still lots of fun. I can see how this life style could be very, very inviting...Anyway, I think we may be done surfing for now as we are set to leave here tomorrow for Manuel Antonio National park (about a 5 hour drive...yea, that should be fun).

We have tons of good stories I am glossing over, so we will send out some more updates and pics tomorrow.

Cheers! RB

Playa Nosara

Tuesday August 14th

OK, so we made it to Playa Nosara. Wow what a drive that was…between blinding sunshine and blurring down pours, we made it. Mind you I don’t think there was a much of a road most of the way (yea it was either washed away, under about 6” of water due to the fact that it had turned into a river, or so pot holed it was unrecognizable as a road). But after about 2 ½ hours to go about 60 Kilometers…well you get the picture. We got into town and roamed a little, trying to check out a couple hotels…first stopping to check out the Harmony Hotel…Like I previously wrote (small disclaimer, we were already here when I wrote that…I was just being lazy and badly in need of a beer). But before we settled, we headed out to find another hotel a bit further north on the beach…and wow…we crossed a couple bridges that looked as if the river was about to over take them, then finally turned back when it looked as though our little RAV4 would completely disappear beneath the mud (that is saying allot…I wouldn’t take a rental car somewhere…weird). But in the end the Laguna Azul would have to be without our business…oh well back to our little piece of high society…really not all that, but for where we are…this place is pretty damn nice.

So an interesting fact about Nosara is that there is a protected zone along the beach that keeps any buildings at least 200m back. What that means to you and me is that all of the hotels and shops (the small number that there are) are back in the jungle, and you walk through paths to the beach…pretty damn sweet if you ask me. Don’t get me wrong, I like a porch with a hammock overlooking the beach like everyone else, but this is nice because it eliminates all the bad things that come with having everything right on the beach…namely crowds (and people trying to sell me stuff). Oh and as we got here, the rain stopped and we caught a sweet sunset…nicest one yet as far as I am concerned.
So this place is pretty damn small…and I like it. This is what I envisioned the Playa’s to be like…small towns and even smaller crowds (exactly what Tamarindo was not), off of a beautiful stretch of sand...and… there are animals all over the place. A couple of the coolest are the little red and blue crabs, and bright green lizards that are literally everywhere on the path between the hotel and the beach…crazy…I mean like thousands of these things…and the crabs climb trees! Everything seems to be alive, with almost every bush rustling as you pass. We did see another Howler monkey yesterday...make that a first for our trip here to Costa Rica…I guess I need to start looking harder.

We got up this morning and headed up to the local surf shop (Coconut Harry’s) to rent some boards and get some advice on where to hit the beach. So after gathering our equipment and advice, we headed down to catch some waves. So…we preceded to catch a few good waves, but in the end pretty much lost the battle to the waves…man they make you tired. But a great experience…and we have the boards for a couple more days, so I expect to see marked improvement. After that, it was off to do some laundry and grab some lunch. We opted for hitting up a Laundromat vs. using the hotel ($9 for the loads vs. $1.50 per article…ouch!). So while our laundry was working its way clean we hit up the Hotel Café de Paris for some lunch…a pretty good pizza and a couple of beers…I like it! The Hotel actually has a little bakery that we will need to go back and hit up in the AM…looks very nice. After lunch and gathering up our laundry, I ventured back to take a dip and do some updating (writing this damn thing…LOL), and Jori was off for a massage…I know, life does not get much harder, but I will keep trying. Till tomorrow!

Cheers! RB

Out of Tamarindo...off to Playa Nosara

Hey all...we are off to Playa Nosara...wish us luck, the rain is going to make the drive very interesting. We are going to check into our first Hoity toity hotel for a couple days...Harmony Hotel (www.harmonynosara.com). A little splurge...we will see how that works out. More later on the drive and doings of the last couple days.

Cheers!
RB

Beaches, Beaches, Beaches...Oh and Rain

So after yesterday's surfing extravaganza...oh and it was. We chilled out a bit today...well if by chilling out, you mean checking out some local beaches. After a couple false starts, we were off to check out some beaches to the north, Playa Flamingo and Playa Grande (Oh and one to the south, Playa Langosta...just for fun).

First, we headed a little south of Tamarindo to Playa Langosta...actually about 5 min by car...I know, a trek by many standards. Anyway, we strolled down thru the Mangroves to find a beach sparsely spotted with sun bathers...and surf pounding a mix of sandy beach with black rock outcroppings. It was very nice, but not very swimmer friendly, and since we both ventured out without trunks on...yea, not so bright sometimes...we packed up after a short walk and returned to our little cabana to suit up and head out again (remember I said like a 5 min drive...on a bad day).

So again, we mounted our little RAV4 steed (Must I keep reminding you all to keep it clean!) and were off to some beach somewhere...just follow the map I was told. We meandered thru a couple small towns and navigated the potholed (sometimes terrifying so) road to Playa Flamingo...a beautiful white sand beach with a smaller surf...better for swimming. One reminder that we still need to watch our belongings...as we pulled up and parked, another family had just returned to their car to find their luggage missing from the trunk...sad really...actually the one thing that has kept me from completely falling in love with this place is the constant reminder on signs and from locals to "Lock" up everything, leave "NOTHING" in your car...you cannot even take a towel to the beach unless someone stays with it (we were told by our surf instructors to bury our sandals in the sand so no one would take them). But back to our adventure...after a quick chat with the recently robbed, we locked our car (LOL) and took about 20 steps to a nice soft spot on the beach. We settled in and spent the next hour and a half or so running back and forth between the water and our little spot on the sand...watching the little sand crabs shoot in and out of their holes. Seeing as it is rainy season, we packed up just as a squall threatened (one thing of note is that the rain is nice and warm...just thought I would point that out). As we drove off, the rain started...and really didn't stop all day, but we will not dwell on that right now. We drove by some amazing homes parched on the dramatic rocky outcroppings that line the coast. Definitely places to retire...Anyway, back from my little day dream...so from Flamingo, we headed back a little north to Playa Grande...a long smooth beach spotted with Surfers and surfer want to be's. Playa Grande is actually part of the same beach as Tamarindo, but just separated on the south side by a large estuary...so from our vantage point on the beach, we could see Tamarindo. This was a Loooonnnggg beach...thus the name (Grande), we parked and paid a local about a buck to watch the car...cannot be too careful I guess. We strolled down the beach to the first large rock outcropping, then returned and found a small stretch of stand to settle in. We hung out for a couple hours, playing in the surf, shell hunting (Jori...), and getting sun burnt...the sun is a bit more intense here...burned right thru my 45 spf...damn! After Jori finished adorning her sand castle with shells (and before another squall took over), we packed up and drove back to Tamarindo for a late lunch.

Lunch was awesome...for 5 bucks we got these 12" sandwiches filled with chicken and pork...really too hard to explain, but simply brilliant. After that, it was time for a nap...well deserved mind you!

We woke up (kind of...) and made our way out in the rain to find some beers and crowds (remember I said it kinda rained all day...well make that night too). We made our way to the only pool table in town (remember who I am traveling with now...how could we not find a pool table) and played a couple games with the bartenders...there was no one else there...LOL. After a couple games, they started to dominate...or maybe we just got drunk...hard to say really, it is all a blur. From there we went out wondering and found there to be very little happening, so we went back to Babylon (pool table) and found a decent sized crowd...we hung out and watched the dance off's for a couple more hours before heading back to get some rest...and some aloe for my back...ouch!

And I said good morning! Guess what, it is still raining...but it is nice...we are sitting in the open air restaurant having a early morning cup of joe and listening to some Sinatra with rain in the background...I must say it is pretty relaxing...Today's agenda...well...maybe some surfing...shopping...who knows...I think we will stay here one more night, then off to a new beach town...somewhere south...don't know yet. talk to you all soon...

Cheers! RB

I'm Back :-)

Okay really??? from the way brown writes you would think that i was dying or something...i love that he is uber concerned but come on now, can't a girl have some non solid #2's every now and then? eewwwww, tmi, tmi...nonetheless, no more steak for moi until we hit to good ol' u s of a...

today we are at the really laid back, comfortable, and night-time lively hotel pasatiempo in tamarindo. (http://www.hotelpasatiempo.com/) i chatted briefly with the owner ron this morning and he is the perfect example of why people from the us come here and stay...loves the beach and enjoys meeting all kinds of new and friendly folks...ryan better be careful or before he knows it i will have the land purchased, plans drawn, and graders working on clearing the way for a second "Casa de Brown" :-) and of course, friends and family will stay free of charge...except for drinks, some of you guys would put me under, lol!

it is so peaceful to just sit here at my little table next to the pool and bar...the resident german shepard roaming around, greeting guests and making me miss my boys back home...ryan is out scheduling some surf lessons for us this afternoon and inquiring about the diving opportunities in the area (ron suggests snorkeling as his wife janet wont dive with him :-)) i can't remember if ryan wrote about the past couple of days that we spent in santa elena and monteverde but wow! talk about the most beautiful rain forest - or actually "cloud" forest...you are up so high in the mountains that the clouds literally come rolling in like a soft mist...we stayed at the trapp family lodge (another recommendation from the place that we first intended to stay - "plan to not plan" strikes again) and it turned out to be for the best as the entrance to the monteverde reserve was a short (bumpy) 2 min drive further up the road...we checked in at around noon, threw our stuff in the room, ate a quick lunch, then got picked up at 1:30 to head out for some super sweet zip lines! seriously...who would have thought that stringing up some cables between trees could be so awesome! but i think what we really liked best was the night hike at the reserve...ryan should have been an entomologist - he loved using his flashlight to hunt for bugs and spiders and such...at one point the guide was like "man, do you want my job or what?" pretty funny...but it was a great intro to our next day 3 hour hike at the reserve...we could have stayed there literally all day...we would walk and look under every leaf and branch searching for anything that moved or buzzed or flew or chirped or sang...since we hadn't checked out of our room yet, we had to force ourselves to jog the last part of the trail :-) super fun times! as i type, pics are being downloaded from the camera and my next mission is to put some albums up on flickr for you all to peruse at your leisure...

all in all...so glad to be back - was really not fond of hanging out in bed all day with my sweet concerned husband trying to interpret my every breath, glance and movement - now he can do those things while trying to catch me in the surf!

later gators...

Beer side note...

Just a quick note...to remind everyone that Beer is good...in fact, I prefer the beer here to that in Belize...but who is really counting anyway. The Bohemian Dark is especially good...Viva La Beer!

Cheers! RB

Hola from deep inside Costa Rica!

Tuesday August 7th

Well, we made it to Arenal Volcano...pretty damn sweet...actually looks exactly like the volcano you built as a kid in the 4th grade...just minus the foaming mess of vinegar and baking soda shooting out the top. Our little drive was very uneventful...in my travels, the Tico's (Locals) drive quite good. The roads are not bad, just windy...damn I wish I had the Beamer down here...oh Shit would that be good times. On with the story...It took us a good 3 hours to get to La Fortuna from San Jose...with a sweet stop at the bank to figure out why my card would not work...Fricken B of A...Call them before we leave to let them know we are going on vacation to Central America and they freeze your card because there has been "suspect" usage in Central Americal...wow...rocket scientists work there...Ahhhh...I could have kicked a dog...but thankfully there were none around...so I had a beer and everything seemed to get better. But on with the story. We got into town about 4:30 and went strait to the Arenal Observatory Lodge...we were met at the end of a rough dirt road by a little gate in the jungle with a attendant informing us that they were all booked up...for the next three months...wow, should have called ahead on that one! Anyway, he recommended a place back a ways and off we were...bouncing along thru the jungle, the Volcano rumbling in the background. Got the the next place...something like Linda Vista...and guess what they were full too...yea, my whole plan to not plan was hitting the shitter. The helpful receptionist sent us down the road further to a little spot called Arenal Vistas...they had room...well we had the receptionist call first...Anyway, to make a long story short, the place was actually very nice, but resembled a YMCA summer camp...don't get me wrong, the view of the volcano and the lake (there is a large reservoir/lake to the west of the volcano) was beautiful...but not quite what we had envisioned...again plan to not plan...ouch! Anyway, it all worked out (after Jori had a mini melt down...understandable, mind you)...and we settled in before heading back to the Linda Vista hotel for some steaks (I forgot to mention that the little hotel about 1/2 hour off the main road with a glorious view of the volcano had a steak house...weird I know). The steaks were glorious, but I think the lack of red meat for the past 2 1/2 weeks sent Jori's system for a loop...she has been feeling terrible all day...more on that soon.

So we arose with the sun this AM at about 5:30...it was pretty damn sweet, our little YMCA room had a great view of the Volcano...and in the AM the clouds break a little to let you see the crater...mind you I was half asleep and didn't get any pics...damn! Bygones...we got up and...well didn't get very far...Jori was hurting from, you guessed it, her steak the night before...but she pulled it together like a champ and even though not feeling well, we were off (after our Costa Rican breakfast of course - including: fruit, eggs, toast, rice w/beans, and some other stuff). We actually headed back to the Arenal Observatory Lodge and paid to utilize the facilities for the day (like $8). It is pretty amazing...The volcano is like 1.5 Kilometers away...fills the screen on you camera if you get my drift. So we got there parked and hiked down to a little...well actually large waterfall...with everyone else...seems like the secret is out! But I must say, the grounds are immaculate...simply stunning. We dallied very little as Jori was (and is) not feeling much better...back to the lodge area. Once back from our little hike, we found a little observatory (imagine that...an observatory, at an observatory...fricken brain surgeons are we). We hiked up and hung out for a while...and what a great little choice that was. We could almost see the crater thru the clouds...but we could sure as heck hear it...it was a bit surreal...first, we could hear the boulders crashing down the side of the mountain, then upon closer watching, could actually see them flying from the top of the mountain, skipping up little puffs of dust (or steam) as they bounded down the slop...all I can say is CRAZY COOL...hard to really describe any differently to help, but it was cool).

From there, we had to head out...Jori is not feeling well. I turned my little Rav4 into a rally mobile and drove for the paved road...this thing is not that bad...but of course it is a rental...let the good times roll! We came back towards La Fortuna a bit and landed ourselves at Montana De Fuego Lodge...a bit more high fluten...but very nice none the less. We will make our home here for the night...if Jori is feeling better, maybe we will be off to hit the hot springs...I don't know, I don't know if we will have time...

Out for now...Oh...I will update this post with pics later...still have not downloaded the camera from the last two days...and as I sit here in the lobby typing...I don't have the cable...sorry!

Off to check on my wife.

Cheers! RB

Hola from deep inside Costa Rica!

Off to Arenal Volcano

Monday 8/5

OK, I think I have finally uploaded all of our current updates...now we are leaving our quaint little lodge and off to the jungle yet again...gluttons for punishment! Wish us luck on our virgin adventure onto the Costa Rican roads.

Cheers!

RB

Costa Rica - Pacuare river rafting adventure

Saturday/Sunday – 8/3-8/4

Costa Rica Baby…Rafting to be precise…OK, we know we have been really out of touch lately, but not on purpose. We have had a lack of Internet access…Miami Airport had it, but it was out of service, imagine that. But here we are now on Sunday night…maybe Monday morning…whenever I get upstairs to use the Lodge’s Internet and post this little message and we have just returned from two days in the Costa Rican Jungle river rafting.

So more on our little river rafting experience…so again, we were up at 5am to meet our ride…this is becoming more of a habit than I would like…but I digress. We then embarked on our 2 ½ hour drive to the river…again, 2 ½ hours seems pretty standard. We arrived at the “operations center” and were fed a great breakfast and given a quick debrief of our adventure…24 miles of class III and IV rapids on the Rio Pacuare (said to be one of the top 5 rivers in the world). We then headed out for another hour drive to our put in location. The ride was beautiful. The forest seems much denser here, much more vibrant…I cannot really describe it. Also, just for scene setting, Costa Rica is much more mountainous than Belize was…making for much more dramatic visuals from the roads. Anyway, back to our little adventure. We were dropped off again and loaded into tractor trailers for our ½ hour ride thru the hills down to the river (very nice ride…and we saw a sloth…he tried to get away, but I got a snap of him…speedy little suckers!). On the way, we met a couple other super nice people from Arizona...Chris and Meena..kinda sucks we couldn't raft with them....but it turns out only a couple of us were taking the two day trip, meaning we got to go in our own boat of five people (Plus our super cool guide Juan). In our little boat was Paula, Marisa, Loren, Jori and Myself…everyone super excited to get this little adventure underway. The two day trip covers the same amount of river, but half in one day, and the second half on the second day. After the first day, you stop at a secluded lodge on the rivers banks (when I mean secluded, I mean secluded…but they had power provided by a small hydro system and the accommodations were very nice). So were where off…the river was a bit low, but that didn’t seem to quell the rapids at all, they were pretty damn sweet…bigger than anything I have done in the states. But I think the best thing was the scenery along the way, the jungle canopy climbing hundreds of feet right off the rivers edge…awesome. I will share some pics, but when we get back there are tons. Oh!, before I forget, I must say the one purchase that has been the best to date…waterproof digital camera…fricken brilliant. We would have missed some great photos if we didn’t have it with us. After being bucked around the river for about 4 hours, and stopping here and there for some lunch and waterfall exploration, we made it to the lodge…simply stunning. It is located right on the edge of this powerful little river and just seems to blend right in…very nice I must say.

We pulled the boat up the beach and picked a room…there were plenty of open ones! Jori and I took one looking right down over the river…actually they all did, but I thought I would point that out for effect. From there we hit up their little zip line course (4 lines in total, but super fast) and a short hike to a couple waterfalls…so nice and relaxing. After that, it was time for HH (that’s right, our own little best damn email, but without the email), and some dinner. I think we crashed at like 8:30…it was a busy day.

Sunday…Day two on the river. We woke up to sunshine and hot coffee…I must say the coffee here is all that it is cracked up to be…so tasty, even for a occasional drinker like myself. Then some breakfast and off on anther hike to some waterfall/slides and a couple view points…very relaxing. On the trail we encountered mostly crazy bugs and frogs (one huge stick bug…it must have been 14’ long…oh and it was having some bug sex with a little male…check it out), not allot of wildlife we could see…oh but could we hear it. We made our way back from the hike in time to catch that days one day rafters as they passed the lodge. We packed up our things, wished our hosts well and were off down the river in a flash. Today’s rapids were bigger and much more technical, but our guide Juan was on top of it. Let’s just say I was wet the entire trip…fill it up again…it is so good when it touches your lips! The class IV rapids were very impressive to look at, and I must say even more so up close and personal as you rode thru them. As we rolled down the river we were hit with quick bursts of rain, followed by sun shine, just as I had imagined it. After another four hour trip, we pulled out (ha…keep it clean) of the water and again boarded a huge Mercedes bus back to the operations center. Once there we had lunch…well almost dinner…and had a shower before we headed back to San Jose. Before we left, Paula and I went off with Juan to try to find a couple poison arrow frogs…and guess what we did…they are crazy looking, florescent green and black…I didn’t get a picture, but Paula will be sending me one…

From there we headed back…not the way we had come, but a much longer route due to the fact that there had been a landslide and the road blocked…instead of an hour ride, it turned into 3…oh well time for a nap. Tomorrow off to Arenal volcano…cannot wait.

Cheers! RB

Belize to Costa Rica...Miami Airport

August 3rd

OK, we have been off line for a couple of days…it is tiring doing all of this relaxing. We have been keeping up with all the pictures, and will try to share more…there are some great ones. We are actually leaving…or have left Belize today and are actually sitting in the Miami airport waiting for our flight to San Jose. We will try to keep this thing more up to date...don't panic!

By the way, Miami Airport Sucks!

RB Out

Caye Caulker and Night Snorkle

Thursday 8/2/07

Ok…no diving today…we have to fly tomorrow, so we are grounded literally…no tanks for us today…I am sure Kim will not mind…LOL. Today…we are off to Caye Caulker…a sleepy little Caye just south of Ambergris Caye (where we are staying). It was very, very sleepy…the little water taxi over made us feel a lot like locals due to the ratio of the size of the boat to the number of passengers…can you say squeeze? Anyway, once on the little Caye, we wandered around in the sweltering heat…yes I use the word sweltering because it was…I could have sweat thru three shirts. At first, we wondered the wrong way thru town and up the beach, only to turn around when the beach trail we were following more or less disappeared. But eventually, Kim got fed up with our wondering and asked a nice hotel owner what the scoop was. He directed us down the beach to the Rainbow Grill and Bar. We finally made it and found it to be a wonderful little place. Located over the water, it had a nice little breeze…thank god, because between Dave and I…wheew! Anyway, the Food was excellent and the drinks even better. We had a few (got a little tipsy if you will) and played dice on the deck for about two hours…pretty damn relaxing. Then it was back on the refugee boat to San Pedro.

So we decided to hit up Marcos and Ecologic Divers again for a night dive…I mean snorkel…damn we want to dive more, but no can do with all of us flying tomorrow. After some quick siesta’s to break out of our lunch haze, we met them down on the dock at about 6 pm. We motored back to Hol Chan park (place of our first dive) to do some tooling around in the dark. I must admit, it was a bit intimidating jumping into the jet black water at first, but once my little flashlight took over, all was good. It was a very cool experience, and I highly recommend it to everyone…not as scary as it sounds. We were able to see different species at night given the fact that about 80% of sea life comes out at night…according to Marcos…I need to check that one out, it sounds fishy…HA! I crack myself up. Anyway, we saw Lobster, rays, eels, fish, and probably the coolest thing…other divers…that’s right, probably the coolest thing were the divers making their way across the reef below us (about 35’). It looked like the opening scene of Aliens…just beams of light piercing the murky depths, moving erratically in all directions…very cool to see from our vantage point. After about an hour of tooling around, we headed back in, wished our new friend Marcos well and were off to dinner.

Dinner at the Blue Water Grill was…OK, not as good as Mango’s but still very good. Our mood was a little down since we had to leave on Friday…but as they say, all good things must come to an end, or in Jori and my case, just change locations. Cheers! RB

PS…I completely forgot, on Wednesday night we went out after our Blue hole adventure and participated in the world famous…well maybe not, but still pretty damn fun Chicken drop…for all of you wondering what the hell a chicken drop is, let me tell you…nothing short of amazing. There is a fenced in square, with numbered squares from 1 to 100…get where I am going yet? Once all of the squares have been sold ($5 each) one lucky person is picked and they drop a chicken (yes a live chicken…) into the pen. Now comes the cool part…whatever # the chicken shits on…is the winner….now that is gambling! There was no shortage of shouting, clapping and general chicken coercion going on…I must say that little sucker shat quick…he must have wanted out bad…we were only one square off…Damn, the chicken drop gods were not with us this night… Maybe when we get home we can do the Dog drop? Just fence off a portion of the back yard and bet where Brody will drop one…just a thought.

Blue Hole

Wednesday 8/1/07

So turns out 5:00am is really early when you are on vacation…even if you are off to do fun things…ouch. Anyway, our guides picked us up and took us to meet up with the other divers…12 in total at the dock. We had been diving with a company called Ecological Divers…they are awesome, Steve and Marcos were excellent dive masters, and laid out some great dive profiles to get us the most out of our dives. But this dive, since it is about 2 ½ hours away by boat was thru Amigos Del Mar (Eco set it up for us). We boarded the 48’ dive boat and set out on our tour…not 3 hours, more like 12…it is going to be a long day. After the previous day’s dives outside the reef in some pretty crazy seas (10’ or so in a small little boat…yea Dave got sick…ha, ha!) the ride out to the Blue hole was quite nice…bumpy, but nice. Just to brief you, the blue hole is a formation in one of the outer reefs that is kind of like a diving mecca (See pic in Jori's first post...way cool)…well sort of. It is what was left when several millions of years ago the ceiling of an underwater cave collapsed, exposing a 1000’ across “hole” in the middle of the atoll. The “hole” is about 450’ deep, but about 100’ down, the hole opens up to reveal huge stalagmites and stalactites which are left-overs from a previous time. While not much different marine life to be seen, the blue hole pulls divers to ~130’ to see the formations in warm clear water…Anyway, how about I describe our experience rather than discussing what everyone else says about it…one word, incredible. I must first say that after riding in the boat for 2 ½ hours, I was really happy to be at our location, mind you the ride out was beautiful, as we transversed thru Turneff Atoll and saw only what could be described as “Desolate” island paradises…They were strait out of pirates of the Caribbean…Crazy beautiful, but not close to anything.

Once at the blue hole our guides became very serious…we were in fact going down 130’…yea that is pretty far, and your body does not respond very well to being that deep for too long…So, since they were in charge, it was all business (one example was the fact that each dive master took an extra tank as well as dropped about 5 extra tanks under the boat…just in case…a good thing in my book. We started out moving down the side of the wall, circling as we descended…before we knew it we had hit about 100’…then the water went from about 85 degrees to 80…crazy I know…soooo cold! Just kidding, I thought it was funny though…everyone except us had wet suits on…bathwater I say, bathwater! But back to the story, as the cave opened up there were huge formations…20’ tall or long depending…we swam in and around for about 8 min…our total time available at that depth…but then our dive master pointed up. I cannot really describe the feeling…not scared, not worried, more inquisitive…there were about 8 sharks circling above us…all you could see was their eerie outlines…a couple at least 10’ long. It was very surreal…just these silent shapes circling 50’ above us…slowly. As we started to ascent, we again followed the wall, keeping a keen eye on our guests…or more precisely, they were keeping an eye on their guests…As we broke thru the 80’ mark, they became much clearer and real…as we continued to rise, they kept their distance, while maintaining site of us…very weird, but at no point were we ever scared…I cannot describe it…we just knew they were just there to check us out. So after we got out of the water, dried off a little and had some refreshments, we got to feed them…now that was fun…I have some video that I will share later…pretty damn cool.

From the Blue hole, we went south to a small Caye called Half moon…a natural preserve for Red footed boobie birds…I just like saying that…I really didn’t like the birds that much. The second dive was a wall dive, meaning the reef looked like a wall, and we swam along, not being able to see the bottom, but getting a great view of the reef and all of the incredible things to see. I think this was my favorite dive, base on the amount of things to see…just awesome. After our second dive our guides laid out a spread of lunch on Half moon Caye and let us rest a little (See Pic for our lunch location...not too bad)…oh and we went to see Red footed Boobie birds…I love Boobies...so much fun!
After our stint at Half moon Caye, we went to our third and last dive site called the aquarium…and that is exactly what it was. Not very deep, but full of many different kinds of coral and fans, as well as more fish than we saw anywhere…but the real star of this dive was the Manta ray…She circled us twice and then did a little loop de’loop right in front of Jori…she was beautiful…probably 8’ across…so gracefully she glided in, then she just disappeared into the blue…very good dive. It may seem that I kind of skim over some of the fish and other things we saw, but only due to the fact that I don’t want to bore you all…we have pictures to share later…

From there it was home…though we could have kept going…it was awesome. Once we got home, Dave and I figured out that after a day of diving it only takes like two beers to be a little crazy…well maybe a lot crazy…let’s just say last night was very early…More later…Cheers! RB

San Pedro...Continued

Tuesday – 7/31

Well, after a great dinner last night at a local place called “Wild Mango’s” we wondered back to our place and had a couple of beers as we looked over the water…still really windy here, but that seems to be OK since it keeps the bugs away…umm…yea, I’ll have that! Just a quick plug for Mango’s…it was great, actually a local expat wandered in with his catch from the day, and the chef battered it up in a coconut batter for him…it blew all of our meals away…and that is saying allot, because our food was incredible. Anyway, more of a statement to the quality of food we have had everywhere…TASTY! But on to today’s activities…More diving…that’s right, but when in Rome…do as the…well you get the picture. We did two Morning dives, one to a place called Mermaids Layer, and the second to San Pedro’s Canyon…both exquisite. The water was clear to about 75 feet and we saw a tremendous amount of different fish, including tons of Nurse Sharks (ok, we brought food with us), Rays, Eagle Rays (Have spots and are bigger), Lobster, Moray eels, a turtle (well I saw it and Jori didn’t, so don’t say anything…she is not too happy about it)…and ton’s of other types of fish I will have to identify when we get back. I can only say that this place is paradise…

This afternoon…speaking of good food…we stopped at this hole in the wall down town San Pedro…it always seems the hole in the wall places rule doesn’t it? Anyway, we ordered up 4 lobster burritos…wow that was a mistake, we could have fed about 8 people easily with the amount of food we got…oh, and did I mention they were lobster…must have been two lobsters to each burrito…brilliant! I don’t think I will be able to eat lobster again for awhile…After food, we hit the resort and did some relaxing…we have a 5:00am curtain call tomorrow…going to the Blue Hole to do some deep diving!

Cheers! RB