Winding up

I fractured my tailbone. On a waterslide. Who else would come to Costa Rica and break their tailbone on a waterslide. At least I got a glimpse into the medical care in Costa Rica...which is basically the same as the US, except no waiting and cheaper.
We left Manuel Antonio and came to Jaco, which I like to call the Panama City Beach of Costa Rica. 2 days in, I decided my tailbone was not getting any better, and instead of waiting till I got home, where I wouldn't have health insurance right away, I better just get it checked out here. We went to the clinic in town and I was walking out the door 20 minutes later. We walked in and they took me straight to the xray room. The doctor said I had a small fracture and that there wasn't really anything that could be done for it. He handed me the xrays to take with me and said if the pain got worse or doesn't start to feel any better in a few months to come back. Everything came to the grand total of $50. In the states I'm sure I would have been out $500 and 4 hours of my time. And I would not have gotten to keep the xrays of my ass. While leaving the doctor, we saw the dentist's office. We decided to go in and see how much a teef cleaning would cost. $40 for Don, $40 for me, and $30 for Candler. So we got our teefs polished for $110 with the exact same care we'd get in the US. Yet again for cheaper and less time.
We haven't done anything too exciting in Jaco, just beach, pool, and walking around town. We did go on a hike one day up to an overlook that had a view of the whole town and beach. We went further up the road and found a really cool old abandoned restaurant with an amazing view as well. It was all white with huge Greek colums, and was obviously a very upscale restaurant. It appeared as though it was in the process of being transformed into a hotel.
So we return August 12th, and I think Don will have to drag me onto the plane kicking and screaming. I love it here and am no where near ready to come back. I dread the heat and traffic. Here I have no need for a car or cell phone, and dread the expense of them when I return. I do miss my dogs and friends though, but they can all be brought to Costa Rica. So hop on a plane and someone bring me my dog so I never have to leave.

Manuel Antonio

We left Puerto Viejo and drove across the country to the Pacific coast again. This time our destination was Manuel Antonio. Once through San Jose, the rest of the drive was one of the most scenic through the mountains and with great views (second prettiest drive behind our second trip to Arenal when we got lost in Monteverde). We stopped in a tiny town that I don't even know the name of for a quick bite to eat. Quick so we thought. It was in the middle of nowhere and the people didn't speak english. We ordered just fine, but the waiter I guess just assumed we spoke Spanish and we pieced together what we could. It didn't seem like there was an issue with what we ordered. Candler's food came out 20 minutes later. 40 minutes later, Don and I still had no food. There was a window that we could see into the kitchen and there was one woman in there cooking, so we just assumed that she was working on our food. After about an hour, we realized our waiter was gone (it is not uncommon for a server to just leave. Not as in, I quit, but it's meal time, and they need their meal too. A 10% service fee is automatically included on the bill, so service here is not like service in the states.) and the woman in the kitchen was talking with friends. Finally, we just paid for Candler's food and left.
Once we arrived in Manuel Antonio, we met up with a man named Ron that we were going to rent a condo from. Turns out, Ron lived in Virginia Highlands in Atlanta and decided to move to Costa Rica a year ago. Yet another Atlien we've met here. We wound up renting the condo from him and the top picture on this post was the view from the condo. Manuel Antonio was probably the most beautiful place we've stayed...and the hilliest. The main part of town is set up high, and the road down to the beach is spotted with hotels and restaurants all the way down. The road is long, curvey, and steep. We were on the top of the mountain/cliff, and we had no car. Needless to say we got a ton of exercise in Manuel Antonio. We only took a taxi once because it was a downpour. Our legs were sore everyday, and on top of that we had some killer stairs to go up and down to get to the condo. It was great.
We went to the beach everyday and spent one day in Manuel Antonio park. We hiked most of the park which was mostly rainforest, and went to Manuel Antonio beach in the park. The park actually has several beaches, however it was high tide by the time we got to them and they were inaccessable. We saw several critters that I'd never seen before - most of which I still have no idea what they were. One was a possum/raccoon creature, another looked like a black guinea pig/pig mix thing - it was a little larger than a cat and tailless, and when we exited the park there was a group of titi (squirrel) monkies on the roof of a restaurant next to the park. Titi monkeys live in groups of 15-40, and they weren't shy around humans at all. They were running and playing all around. We actually saw another group of them near our condo the following day on our hike down to the beach. We stopped and watched as they tried to cross a gravel road by jumping from tree to tree and across power lines. A baby was left behind and was too scared to cross the power lines, and it sat nervously in the tree crying. The mom eventually came back and tossed it on her back and made the way across. I can't get enough of all the monkeys here. Love it. Another thing I also loved about Manuel Antonio...the caution road signs...

Puerto Viejo

We spent a week in the southern Caribbean coast in a town called Puerto Viejo, and it felt like a totally different country. It was jungle and beach. Literally the jungle went right up to the beach. The waves were crazy and swimming was only safe in limited areas. The area had an afro caribbean vibe and a whole bunch of back packers. It rained...alot. Oh, and the whole town smelled like marijuana.
Hands down, Puerto Viejo had the best food we've had in Costa Rica. We had two restaurants that were our favorites: Bread & Chocolate and hili Rojo. I don't think it is really necessary to explain why Bread & Chocolate was a favorite...they had bread and well, chocolate, what more could you want. This place was our breakfast/lunch eatery. Great sandwiches and actual real salads. In Costa Rica, people don't really eat vegetables. The normal idea of a salad here is some iceburg lettuce (or shredded cabbage) and a slice or two of a half ripe tomato. We ate our first dinner in Puerto Viejo at Chili Rojo and quickly fell in love - a view of the ocean and probably some of the best thai food I've had. Chili Rojo was good for breakfast and dinner. French toast with nutella, banana pancakes, and fresh fruit with yogurt and granola for breakfast, and thai food for dinner. I'm getting hungry just writing this. The afro caribbean vibe = lots of caribbean food, which = flavor. The typical Costa Rican dish is called a casado. A casado is a meat of your choice (chicken, pork, beef, or fish) with black beans, rice, and one of the not so great salads. While a good bargan (all that food for $3), not much flavor, and they quickly lose their appeal. There isn't much spice to the food, it's pretty bland...I hypothesize that it might be because spices are kind of expensive here. The Caribbean coast, tons of spice! A very welcomed change. Seriously, fatty is hungry now. Moving on....









It rained, and then it rained some more, and then there was a break for yet some more rain, followed by you guessed it...more rain. It didn't seem to slow anyone down, so we didn't let it stop us either...for the most part. We spent one day at the sloth rescue - that I've already written about. One day we drove to a town just north, called Cahuita and walked through the national park there and swam in the ocean. It was about a 7 mile hike through the jungle bordered by the ocean. We saw some sloths, white faced monkeys, and some insanely huge insects. Another day we went for a 16 mile bike ride from Puerto Viejo to a town called Manzanillo. The ride was down the dirt/gravel road connecting the two towns through some more jungley goodness. Other days we went to the beach in Cocles that was considered safe for swimming...mostly. The first day we went, we were quickly stopped by someone that I assume was a lifeguard (there are few places that actually have life guards in Costa Rica. The people that live in Cocles organized to have one on the beach due to the bad rip currents at times.) came up to us and said it was too dangerous to get in the water. When a Costa Rican tells you something is too dangerous...take their word. I haven't gotten the vibe that this is a culture that is too overly concerned with safety, so when they say it's not safe - it's not safe. With that warning, we left the beach, but returned the next day and the beach was marked with red and green flags to signal where it was safe to swim. It is a big surfing area due to the craziness of the ocean.
Despite all the rain, Puerto Viejo was great and is a must if you ever come to Costa Rica.
Oh one more thing, there is a restuarant/hostel place that is absolutely HUGE. We ate lunch there before our bike ride and walked around the place...there is a large area of just hammocks. Like 50 or so, where you can rent just a hammock for the night to sleep in for $5. Or, if you want more privacy, they have tents that you can rent as well for $10. You stay in the tent there, either on the first floor, or they have an upstairs area that are just tents set up for backpackers.

Samara

We were supposed to spend a week in Montezuma, however the condo we were going to rent didn't really work out. We only stayed one night in Montezuma, which was really cool. The town area looked like what I imagine the Swiss family Robinson would have built if they built a town. It was small and compact with lots of vegetation. It sits at the bottom of a steep cliff and is right on the ocean. The condo we wanted to rent wound up being at the top of the cliff and wasn't going to be a good place if we didn't want the cost of the rental car for the week. We wouldn't have even been able to take a taxi from the place, it was in an area that definately would require 4 wheel drive. After our day stay in Montezuma, we then decided to head up to Samara to try to find a place there for a week.
Success. We rented a 2 bedroom for a week from an international massage school. The school was on summer break, and the owner decided to rent the "dorm rooms" out to tourists. The were definately the nicest dorm rooms I've ever seen. They were basically condos and there was a swimming pool as well. Samara was a small little town with an killer beach. The beach was lined with palm trees for shade, the water was great for swimming and beginner surfers, and there were many restaurants right on the beach. It was heaven. We turned the car in and again, just walked everywhere. I took about a 2 hours surf lesson one day and actually got up on the board. Everyday after I attempted to surf, though not as successful as with the instructior there. It's waaaaaay harder than it looks. I'd get really frustrated (and exhausted) fighting the waves to get out. We arrived in Samara at the end of a school break for kids. Kind of like our spring break. The first 2 days in two it was super busy, but on the third day everyone was gone and it seemed like a ghost town from the days before. Many of the restaurants actually closed after that (I guess with it being low season maybe?), so places to eat were quite limited. Our time in Samara was pretty much spent going to the beach and pool, just very relaxed. The town had a good vibe and friendly people.
Three random stories:
1) The place we stayed at had about 6 dogs that lived on the property. One, my absolute favorite, didn't show up until 3 days in. He was some sort of hound mix and was a dark grey color. He followed us everywhere. When we went to the beach, he went to the beach, laid in the shade till we were ready to leave, and followed us home. When we went to dinner, he went with us and laid down next to my chair. Most of the restuarants were open air and we sat outside - dogs are always at restuarnts here and all over the country for that fact, but don't usually beg for food. This dog had originally belonged to a Costa Rican family, and would wonder from his house to the school every few days. The dog had been hit by a car a year before and had a large scar on his right side. Then, 4 months ago, he was hit again, this time by a motorcycle that messed up his back right leg. Apparently he was in a lot of pain and could barely walk. The Costa Rican family basically told the owner of the school that he was always there anyway, and they just couldn't afford to care for him at that point, so they could have him. The school took donations and raised money to have the dog sent to San Jose for an operation to fix his leg. He's all better now, and still wandering the streets.
2) One day after surfing, I was having a drink at a restuarant on the beach and saw a parade. It was a parade of oxen and eleaborately painted ox carts.
3) There were horses here that just kind of roamed the town area. At night they would be on the beach, sometimes in the soccerfield, or just in the middle of the street. They weren't wild horses or anything either.

Arenal Part Deaux

We met up with some of the Atlanta crew in Arenal for a couple of days of fun. The first night, Don, Candler, and I stayed at the Baldi Thermal Hot Springs. We checked in around 8 pm and were told we had until 10pm that night and the next day to use the hot springs. Immediately, we took the bags to the room, threw on our bathing suits, and were in the pools. They had about 24 different hot springs on site - set up like pools basically, but with waterfalls, rocks, and vegetation. Each pool was a different temperature. The temperatures ranged from 80-something, up to 153 degrees. 153 degrees? Really? Oh course, by the end of the night we had to check out the 153 degree one. A couple was talking to us, asking if we had been to it yet, we said no, and the guy said he could only get one foot in. He told us where it was, and they followed us to the pool. They wanted to see our reactions to the heat. Yeah, one foot, that's all Don and I could get. Candler, on the other hand decided it would be a good idea to jump in. Oh yeah, screaming commenced. Now, the pool for this one wasn't very deep, I'd say mid calf maybe. Well, Candler wasn't paying any attention to the conversation around him and Don even looked at him standing on the side of the pool, and said, "Be careful Candler, you don't want to get in this one." As the words were coming out of Don's mouth, he was already mid jump. As soon as he hit the water he screamed and jumpped out. All of us just stood there, mouths gaping open. After Candler's scalding bath, Don and I went to one of the pools with a swim up bar and got a banana daquiri while chillaxing in the warm goodness. At 10, we headed back to our room, where I lounged in the hotel white bathrobe and slippers in the huge, cushy bed. I've never actually stayed at a hotel that gives you a bath robe and slippers! Hot springs followed up with bathrobe and slippers. Double awesomeness. The next day, we woke up early to get in more hotspring action. We discovered that the place had 3 huge waterslides. One was underconstruction, so really just two. Candler was super excited by the waterslides, but soon realized they were way too big and fast for him. He stood at the top several times, thinking about going down, but never did. Michael and Alley met up with us mid morning and joined us on the waterslides. They were insanely fast, and I'm sure it is only a matter of time before someone is knocked unconscious or dies. Michael and I both knocked our heads, and I'm pretty sure that's where I got my bruised tail bone from. Yeah, bruised tail bone. It wasn't hurting prewater slide, but now when I sit and shift positions or stand up, I have pain in my tailbone.
I forgot to mention that when Michael and Alley met up with us at the hot springs, they did not pay the entry fee. Also, the rest of the group dropped their luggage (Alley and Michael's) off at the front reception desk of the hot springs. They had checked out of their hotel, but it wasn't check in yet at the next hotel, and the rest of the group were doing other activities. So when we go to leave the hot springs, they go to retrieve the luggage, at which point the staff realizes Michael and Alley have not paid the entry fee. They'd really only been there about 2 hours, but the staff said they had to pay $40 to get the luggage. Michael said he didn't have that much money, so they wound up having to pay $20 to get their luggage.
From there, we grabbed lunch and then checked in at our next hotel, Hotel Linda Vista. The hotel overlooked lake Arenal and had an excellent view of the volcano. That night we were actually able to see some lava coming out of the volcano - so cool. The next day, we all woke up at 6 am for rafting. It was an hour and a half drive to the river - which did not farewell for my bruised tailbone issues. Once there, it seemed like we waited another hour and a half for the rafting company to finally get us in the rafts. Costa Ricans do not seem to care about time and never hurry to get anything done. Once we were finally all loaded up in the raft, we started out down a mild rapid. Candler was not having any of it. He screamed. And he screamed. And then he squealed. And then, more screaming. At the end of the first rapid, we stopped our raft for what seemed like 30 minutes. Apparently there was a raft 5 girls and one man behind us. Several of the women were not in prime physical condition (read: very overweight). I guess going down the first rapid looked like that raft wasn't going to fare too well down the rest of the river, as one girl already had a blood nose - I assume from taking someone's ore to the face. So, several rafts had to stop and they split the group up. We got one of the larger ladies. So in our pictures you will notice some random chick in the back of the raft. The lady was initially behind me and I wanted to smack her with my ore, as she could not keep a rhythm to paddle. She kept smacking my ore with hers. Eventually the guide moved Candler behind me and the dumbass behind Angelyn. So Candler screamed and cried the first half of the trip. So much so, that it became funny to listen to he was pitching such a fit. You will have to ask for an immitaion of his crying, because at certain points he was sticking his tounge out and almost gagging while crying. We stopped at one point where there was a rope swing into the river. Pretty much everyone, well not Candler, went off the rope swing several times. Halfway through, we stopped to have fruit by the river and there was a ledge over the river that we jumped off of. It took me forever to jump. I'm not sure why it took me so long, since I quickly jumpped off the waterfall in Rincon that was higher. After the fruit and water jumps, we got back in the raft and Candler magically decided it wasn't so bad and started having fun. By the time it was over, he wanted to keep going. After that, it was time for lunch and the hour and a half drive back to Arenal (La Fortuna).

Sloth Rescue

Yesterday we went to a sloth rescue, Aviarios del Caribe. Amazing, and I'm so jealous that I didn't come up with the idea. The woman that started the rescue had a bed and breakfast, and was known around the area as the animal lady. Some locals found an injured sloth and took it to her, and she nursed it back to health. From there on she took in injured and abused sloths, as well as orphaned baby sloths. We started the tour viewing the baby sloths - which we could not touch. God, I want one so bad. We saw the babies again at the end of the tour outside in the grass getting their "exercise", and one was just laying there, splaid out crying like a human baby. From there we went on a 45 minute canoe ride through the jungle to spot sloths in the wild. As about 30 seconds after leaving the dock there was one hanging on a tree just above the canoe. All the pictures by the way have been uploaded to my costa rica photo album. We spotted either two or three on the canoe ride, along with other creatures - including the Jesus Christ lizard that only Don saw. Also during the canoe tour our guide got out of the boat with a knife and ran off into the jungle. He came back with some flowers for me. Flowers and sloths, what more could a girl ask for? Once done with the canoe tour, we got to man handle some adult sloths! We basically just got to go into their cages and pet them - though all I wanted to do was grab one and run - but it was still freakin' awesome. The first sloth we visited was named Millie, and was by far the coolest. She had a hanging basket chair thing in her area that she sat on and as Don says, looked like Buddah meditating. She stuck her tounge out and yawned alot. When we rubbed her belly she just leaned back and shut her eyes. The next sloth was named Toyota. Toyota was brought to the rescue because he climbed on some power lines and was electrocuted. His arm had to be amputated and to everyone's surpise he recovered very quickly - thus the name Toyota because they take a beating and keep on going. Finally we got to see a pair that stayed together. Normally, sloths are solitary animals, but these two were raised as babies together at the rescue and had bonded. They let the babies stay together since they don't get to bond with a mother. The sloths that are raised there as babies are never released into the wild, as they do not have the skills to survive. Since they won't be released into the wild, the staff didn't really see a reason to separate the two adults that grew up together. It was explained to us that even though they aren't brother and sister, since they were raised together they view themselves as brother and sister, and would never mate with each other because of that. Candler and I fed the two carrots, and the female sucked on her fingers like a kid sucking its thumb. A few fun facts that I learned about sloths that I did not know - they do not drink water (they get their water from their diet), they come out of the tree once a week only to poop, the are xenarthrans (meaning their body temperature is dependant on their surroundings) and are related to the anteater as well. Some baby sloth video (not taken by me, but from the sanctuary):

Rincon de la Vieja

We took a day trip another volcano, Rincon de la Vieja, about 30 minutes from Liberia. All and all, it was just over an hour drive for us, which would have been less, if the road leading to the park would have been paved. It was about a 30 minute drive down a gravel/dirt road. We had just planned on staying the night in a hotel near the volcano, because we expected it to be a longer drive.
First, we drove to Buena Vista Lodge and Adventure Center. This is where we had originally planned on staying the night, and they had a long waterslide that Candler wanted to try out.
Well, we drive up and the place is huge...and empty. Creepily empty. At this point we are still planning on staying the night though. I ask if we can go on and get a room since we didn't want to leave our bags in the car, but they told us no. No? I knew they were empty, but they would not let us check in early. We were a bit hungry, and decided to get breakfast before we did anything, so we headed to the restaurant. No breakfast, due to it being low season. I get a can of diet coke, Alberto and Don both get a cheap beer, and Candler gets a Fanta. A guy starts to tell us about their combo deal, where we can do a canopy tour, horseback riding, the waterslide, and some other stuff. He says to ask at the front desk for the prices. We finish our drinks and go to pay. When we pay, we realize Don and Alberto's cans of beer were both $5. What the hell? This place is so out. We are going to leave and ask for directions to another hotel I had looke at online. While getting directions, the guy that was telling us about the combo ticket comes up. He asks if I got prices yet on the combo ticket with them, and I said no. He pointed to a woman that was sitting next to the lady giving me directions, and said she will give you prices if you want. Do you want the prices? I said sure. Silence. More uncomfortable silence. Ok....how much is the combo ticket I ask? She gives me a price, and I say thanks and just walk away. That place was so creepy.
We decide to leave, and drive to another hotel, Hacienda Guachipelin, which is no where near the first. It's on the other side of the volcano and down yet another gravel road. While leaving the first hotel, turn a corner and there are 2 men on horses herding cattle down the street. Once we arrive at Hacienda Guachipelin, we see that they are actually busy and get a little better feeling...but that will be short lived. We are still thinking about staying for the night - so we can do their combo ticket deal and then wake up in the morning and hike. I ask how much for a room, and it's $100...more than we really wanted to spend, but still we are considering it. I then ask about the adventure tours, and they send me down to another building. Once there, the guys don't really know why I've been sent down to their building, because I am to buy the tickets from a woman that was in the reception area. I go back to the reception area and ask for the lady they've told me to buy the tickets from. The people at the reception desk look at me blankly. I send Alberto over since he speaks spanish. They tell him the lady is on the phone and will be out shortly. 15 minutes later, the woman is off the phone, and talking with some other woman with a large breif case. 20 minutes after that, we finally get to buy the tickets. We had already done a canopy tour, so we decided to do a horseback ride to the falls, lunch, tubing down some rapids, and then to the thermal springs spa. We have to leave immediately for horseback riding, if we want to be back in time for tubing. The horseback ride was good, everyone stayed on the horse, but when we came to a stop at the waterfall, Candler's horse decides to rub up against a tree, and Candler starts crying. We quickly get him off the horse and walk to the falls. There were some people already there, and a few of them were jumping off into the pool below. Don of course runs over to do it, and I think I might actually give it a go. I walk to the top and immediately think it is higher than it looked from where I had previously been standing. I make Don go first, so I know where to jump, and because I was getting ready to chicken out. I stood there for about 30 seconds looking down, and knew if I stood there any longer there was no way I was going to do this, and just went for it.
We didn't have long at the falls since we had to get back to leave for tubing. Once we arrived back from the falls, we were told to head to lunch (we still had not eatten anything at this point and my arm was starting to look tasty). Only problem, no one told us where to go. After wandering aimlessly and hungry, we stumble upon the feeding trough - and realize we have 15 minutes to stuff our gulletts. We shoveled our food and I go to find out where we are to go for tubing. When I asked the woman that sold us the tickets, where we were to go, she looked at me as though I told her was fat and smelly - a "how dare you ask me questions" look. She said we had 30 more minutes and were to meet back with her - glad she originally told us we had to be ready to go at 1:30, but changed it to 2. Hooker. I go back and tell the boys we have 30 more minutes, and we enjoy some coconut flan before our tubing adventures.
After some dilectable flan, we board a big yellow school bus that amazingly drives through the jungle to the drop off point for tubing. The drive through the jungle in a school bus felt like the beginning of a horror film. Tubing was awesome! We went down class III rapids in a tube - with helments and life jackets of course. Berto fell in three times, the first time when he was trying to get into the tube, and I fell out once. It was about an hour ride, with the last rapid being a 3-4 foot drop.
After the tubing...heaven. Mudbath and hot springs. Actually, first we went back to the hotel reception to ask my favorite lady where to go next and if we needed a change of clothes for the spa. She said no change of clothes. Yet again, hooker lied. We get to the spa, change into our bathing suits, and sit in a sauna for about 20 minutes...to open the pores for the mud bath. Well, the mud bath, really was like mud painting. Not quite what I had envisioned, but still, I got to play in the volcanic mud. We went to the "mud painting" area, and there were two large rock columns that had a hollowed out bowl shape in the top, filled with volcanic mud. In the mud were large paint brushes, so we basically got to have a mud fight. Once we were all grey head to toe, we let the mud dry and then made our way to the hot springs. The hot springs fed into the bottom of a large jacuzzi, and you just hopped in with the mud still on. The jacuzzi looked like a pool of chocolate milk, warm chocolate milk. We chillaxed in the hot tub/hot springs for about 30 minutes, and realized the fury we felt earlier with the customer service, or lack there of, had faded. When our time was up, we went back to dry off, realized we DID need a change of clothes - but oh well, we were so relaxed we didn't care - and we hopped in the truck back to the hotel wet. We decided very early on that the last thing we wanted to do was stay at the disorganized trainwreck of a hotel, so when we got back, we quickly got into dry clothes and high tailed it out of there. The drive back was so peaceful and relaxing after the spa. I think there were sedatives in the water that seeped into my pores. So all and all, if you ever make it to Rincon de la Vieja, the tubing and spa at Hacienda Gauchipelin is a must - but be prepared for the chaos and disorganization of the staff.