Mike and I recently took a trip to Costa Rica and had a fabulous time.
Our plane left at 6am on a Sunday morning. I had agreed to babysit the night before and didn't get home till midnight. Once I got home I had a few last minute things to get together. Our ride picked us up at 3:30am... I got 2 hours of sleep. Not a great way to start a trip. We were at the airport so early that the security check wasn't even running yet and we had to stand there and wait till it opened.
We took a flight from NYC to Atlanta and then from Atlanta to San Jose. Once we go threw customs and picked up our luggage we headed outside to find our transport to out hotel. It was so much different than an American Airport. Tons of people were out there waiting for family/friends who were arriving. They were smashed up against the glass and as soon as we walked out we had people running up to us asking if we needed a taxi. It was a little overwhelming.
Luckily we found our driver quickly and were on our way to La Fortuna near Arenal Volcano. Although it was only 75 miles (125 km) away it took a little over 3 hours. There aren't many highways in Costa Rica which I didn't realize. So we drove on small, one lane, bumpy, twisty roads all the way there. I was already feeling a little motion sick from the plane ride, plus I was getting over a cold, the ride was not pleasant. I thought I was going to loose it. Luckily about half way through the trip we stopped at a little restaurant on the side of the road. I was able to get my body feeling stationary and have a little to eat. It was a good thing we stopped or I don't know if I would have made it all the way there with out ... I can't even think of a lady like way to say it... so I will leave it at that.
We finally made it to the hotel at 6pm. We were greeted with a delicious welcome drink and a go cart that took us to our bungalow. When we got to our room I was a little grumpy from lack of sleep, not feeling well and seeing a few bugs crawl across the hotel floor. Luckily a trip to the beautiful, natural hot springs at the hotel cheered me right up and I was finally in vacation mode.
The next morning we slept in a bit then we went to explore the hotel. It had been dark when we had arrived the day before so we couldn't see how beautiful it was.
We didn't have any activities planned so we asked around to figure out what would be fun. We took a taxi to down town La Fortuna and walked around for a while. Mike LOVED it. All the spanish being spoke and the culture. He was in heaven. I was a little lost since I don't speak spanish. I do however know the spanish words for the fruits (thanks to the listening in on the spanish class at school everyday) so I was able to read the menu and order on my own when we got a smoothie.
We also went into some of the local grocery stores to see what kinds of things they had and what he prices were like. All the American things they had were 2 or 3 times more than they are in the states. The spanish food was pretty cheap though and we stalked up on some treats for the hotel room. Among our favorite food were; oreo wafers, lemon flavored fritos, and avocado flavored chips. So delicious!
After a while we decided to go to a waterfall that everyone was talking about. We took a taxi to the park where it was. Then we had a 15 minute hike down hill. I wasn't planning on a hike so I had flip flops on. Not a smart idea. It was a pretty challenging hike for me and my flip flops. The waterfall was absolutely beautiful. I've seen several waterfalls in the past but this was one of the prettiest. The water was blue and the rocks were covered in greenery. It was pretty amazing.
When we go to the bottom of the waterfall there were people swimming around in the water. They said it was cold so I was nervous to try it. Mike dipped his toes in but didn't really go for a true swim. I however felt a sudden surge of bravery and desire to outdo my husband :) So I got in to water and went for a swim. I didn't get my hair wet (I usually never do) so I fell it counts. I could have stayed in longer but I could tell Mike was ready to go.
We took taxi back to the downtown area. We realised we were in need of 1's and 5's verses 20's. We thought we would just go to the local bank and get some change. Before we could go into the bank we had to pass a security guard then go into a little closed doorway that scanned for weapons. Then the guard on the other side let us in. When we got into the bank we saw that the line was ridiculously long. But we decided we had nothing better to do so we waited... for an hour. After we got our small bill (and mikes wallet was so full (of 1's) that mike couldn't close it) we went looking for a place to eat dinner. We didn't want to spend to much but wanted a nice meal. We walked around for an hour trying to find the perfect place. In the end we ended up back at the first place we looked at. GOOD DECISION!! The food was seriously AMAZING. We gobbled up our naco's, burrito and brownie with ice cream. It was some of the best latin american food I have had. We decided we would try to get the family to go back the next night for dinner.
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