Long (5 hr) bus ride to Quepos today, but it was definitely worth the $10 per person upgrade to have a private bus – both faster and not a den of thieves. Monteverde is isolated by bumpy dirt roads, but within a couple of hours we encountered construction crews laying down fresh asphalt. The winding, two lane highway would often slow for passage through old and rickety one lane bridges. We stopped at a fairly modern mall for lunch, and then stopped at a more normal two lane bridge to spot lazy crocodiles. I was hoping for the annihilation of a bird or a croc-on-croc death match, but instead the big event was when one closed it’s mouth.

In Quepos, we are staying at the German run Hotel Villa Romatica. Rooms are nice and it has a pool, but everything else has a price. Want to use the safe? $3. Access the internet with their computer only? $1.75 an hour. Use the A/C in your room? $7 a day. Squares of toilet paper are 15 cents (not really). The silver lining: Self serve cold beers are only $1.70.

Tomorrow, we’ll check out Manuel Antonio national park and try to rent surfboards at the beach.

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This morning we went to the nature reserve for an awesome walking tour of the cloud forest that took about 3 hours. We had a excellent yet slightly bird crazy guide – he’d actually make bird calls to locate different spiciest – we managed to see the elusive quetzel. Insect wise, there were tarantulas and 10 inch walking sticks getting it on. They also had a section with sugar water feeders with a rainbow of humming birds zooming all around our heads. Cynthia really got into using the camera and took a number of excellent macro shots of the different exotic flowers I helped spot along the trail.

On the way back from the preserve, we stopped at the Quaker cheese factory for ice cream ( I had a strawberry shake), and then finished off lunch in town at the Taco Taco Taqueria (guess what we ate).

Our afternoon excursion was the EXTREME Canopy Tour. I’d been zip-lining before last year in the CR, but this version took things to an extreme level. There were 14 total zip lines – these I could handle, even when we repeatedly crossed a small valley. I puckered up a bit for a free fall rappel 100 feet off a tree to the ground . . . and flat out refused to do the tarzan swing, which you have to see Cynthia do to believe.

Here (Warning, movie is >8 MB)

As proof of the EXTREME-ness, They weren’t able to properly grab Lou from our group on his chance at the swing, and he lost his momentum and got stuck spinning at the apex for about 10 minutes as the guides climbed through the jungle to throw him a rope and pull him back to the platform. This traumatized his daughter Nicole.

All of the zip-lining was a blast, but on the last (EXTREME) line, we were allowed to couple up and do tandem . Cynthia took a video. By the way, at 750 meters (nearly half a mile!), this is the longest zip line in the world (about a minute). Doing some simple math here, that means we were going about 30 mph.

Here (Warning, also > 8 MB)

Dinner was at Johnny’s Italian, yet another Costa Rican restaurant that has pizza. I had baked penne to quench my pasta craving. We also shared a bottle of cheap but tasty Chilean Wine (Fortuna Cab Sav).

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Yesterday morning we met Alberto at 7am, and the rest of the group soon after. There are actually 13 women in the group, Cynthia; Sara, Cheryl, Melany and Amy from Sydney, sisters Sarah, Lara, Lyndsey and Amanda from Virgina, Jennifer, Jennifer and Anita, pharmacists from Toronto, and Nicole from Toronto who is traveling with the only other dude, her dad Lou.

We grabbed a typico tico breakfast from a nearby hotel since ours served only continental. Cynthia is really enjoying the concept of rice and beans and eggs for breakfast, though not so much with the plantains.

It was about a 3 and a half hour bus ride to La Fortuna. We stopped first at DesAfio, a guide company where we chose the excursions for the next two days. Our hotel, Pariasa Tropical, is modest but serviceable. We have air conditioning and running water, a significant upgrade from our last location. It has a crazy ceiling which looks like a hardwood floor.

After settling in, we went for a 2 mile or so rainforest hike with Jose, a fill in guide, who’s English wasn’t fantastic. It rained on us pretty hard, but my hat did a serviceable job keeping my core dry. Our next stop was the Arenal Volcano observation point, and on the way a we met a random car which stopped and delivered our pizza dinner to us. Because of the heavy rain, we couldn’t see any of the liquid hot magama. We’d paid $35 for this trip and it was the suck so far. Baldi hot springs changed all that.

Baldi hot springs is the bomb. They have 20 or so pools that vary from permanently disable your testicles hot to swimming pool cool. They also have a water slide which would be a lawsuit waiting to happen in the States. It looks tame, moderately graded and s-shaped, but the bottom drops off in the middle of the S, and I caught enough air to yell out “Oh S**t” doing an airborne yaw and cracking my head loud enough for Cynthia to hear at the top. When I reach the bottom, dazed and disoriented, there is a crowd gathered to observe the ongoing carnage as the naive sacrifice themselves to the slide. I join this crowd, which ooh and ahhs as each victim comes.

The next morning, we have another typico tico breakfast at Soda Parada down the street from our hotel. Food is cheap here – if you’re paying more than $10 for the entire meal for both people, you’re getting jobbed.

The next morning , we leave for class-3 rafting of the Rio Toro, and share a boat with new friends – meeting Abbi and Farrah from New York. The Aussies are in the other boat, and both guides are named Carlos. There are about 45 rapids in quick succession. We do all the familiar rafting traditions – getting wet, splashing the other boat, surfing waves, pulling aside and swimming in the current; plus a new one when the guide intentionally flips our raft and dunks us all simultaneously.

After rafting, the give us some deliciously sweet pineapple while they pack up the gear and then take us to the “company house” for a bigger meal of rice, beans, salad and creamed chicken.

Alberto uses his mad tour leader skills to get us another trip to the volcano observation point (including beer) gratis. This time we can see the lava exploding flowing down the side of the mountain about 2 miles in the distance, but it’s hard to get a good picture of.

Afterwards, it’s dinner and drinks at Vagabondo bar (recommended by the raft guides), which ends up being Italian. We have pizza again, this one much better than the last – it’s thin crust and actually has sauce on it, plus we drink beer. There is a third domestic beer – Rock Ice – which is the smoothest beer I have ever experienced. Sara grabs me a Rock Ice Limon for my second, and it is the worst beer I have ever tasted. It tastes super lemony, and is very salty – like a beer margarita. I cannot finish it. After dinner we meet up with Abbi and Farrah, play a game of pool, and encourage Farrah to come for her a pending job interview in Sacramento.

Today we traveled Indiana Jones style. First, a 45 minute car ride to Lake Arenal, and I was able to get some awesome daylight shots of the volcano cone, with steam coming out of the top, on the backside with visible dried lava flows. We then traveled the length of the lake by small boat. Next, a 3 hour horseback ride – my first time riding. Cynthia’s horse was not friends with mine – when they would be next to each other, my horse would try to bite hers. I got the hang of it pretty easily – basically, show the horse who’s in charge. By the end of the ride, I could weave in and out of the other horse traffic at will. We got to run at one point, and it was scary – you’re just sort of flying above the horse instead of being attached to it.

After the horse ride, we had a long, boring 2 hour ride on a dirt road to Monteverde, with a stop for lunch at a local “soda” where I had a fried chicken plate. Cynthia was worried about the ceviche she ordered, but it ended up being fine.

We checked into our quaint hotel – no in room A/C or TV in this one, but it’s cooler up here in the cloud forest. We walked though the rain to the nearby frog pond and got a slightly overpriced tour of all the colorful indigenous frogs of Costa Rica – most of them smaller than a half-dollar, but some big enough to eat a bird.

Now we have some downtime before the group goes to dinner at “The Treehouse”. We’re exhausted, mostly from the horse ride I think – using muscles we are not used to.

The treehouse was tasty but relatively expensive ($35 for the two of us). I found a tick on my leg before I went to bed. Stupid horses. We put the Deet and Vaseline on, then Cynthia carefully pulled it out.. It’s been less than 12 hours . . . should be missing the Lyme disease window.

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As expected this trip has a more raw feel than our luxurious stay in Cancun – the hotel has some sort of water main problem so their sinks and shower run dry.  The front desk handed us a large bottled water when we checked in.  We saved our one toilet flush until this morning.

The flight and ride over were uneventful (to me anyway, since I arrived at the same time of night and took the same taxi ride as a year ago).  I was instantly familiar once we got into downtown, passing landmarks I recognized – this hotel is about 8 blocks from the one I stayed at last time.   That one was rated four stars in the guidebook I found on the nightstand, this one is unrated.  We don’t mind.  Plus, this one has free wireless.

We missed the trip kickoff meeting yesterday waiting in the armpit of Florida, so we’re supposed to meet with the guide right now to give him our info.  The group is 11 I think – 2 dudes (including me) and 9 ladies.  Awwwwwwww yeah.

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It was hard to get a boogie board. The sports desk doesn’t give them our for free, you have to rent them from the Thomas Moore travel people at the same sports desk. The sign says the girl will be back at 3:15, but it is 3:30. They say come back at in 10 minutes.

10 minutes later, still not back. They say come back in 30 minutes. I go back to our beach chairs and drink a beer. The waves look awesome. Others are boogie boarding, taunting me.

30 minutes later – you guessed it, still not there. I go to the main Thomas Moore travel desk in the lobby, and they say they can’t rent boards from there. It should only be 15 more minutes until the girl returns. Cynthia is openly laughing at me at this point each time I return to our chairs sans board, taunting that karma is telling me I should just wait until tomorrow.

15 minutes later (it’s now about 5) the “Be back soon sign” still says 3:15. The Sports desk people, either pitying me or sensing my overflowing annoyance, break the rules and just give me a board. I do not have to pay $6 for 2 hours.

Without a doubt, it is worth the wait . I ride 6 foot waves into shore over and over and over. There are 40 people packed into the short stretch of open swim beach, and I dodge and weave through them as they fight the surging sea. I cruise above it all. I push far out, into the deep water, waiting for only the biggest waves. I now understand how the thrill of catching the crest just right for that rush of acceleration is such a drug for surfers. I literally cannot get enough, but after two and a half hours, my body gives into complete exhaustion and I can no longer drag myself through the back through breaking waves.

For dinner, we go to the Argentine steakhouse Ruth recommended. The waiter puzzled we order only salad, veal carpaccio (prepared tableside), and the 14oz skirt steak to split between us. Why, silly Americans, are you not ordering the 28oz “for two” version? Does not your country’s Constitution and your personal sense of of self worth require you to eat the equivalent of an entire grocery store aisle each meal? We have 7oz of steak left anyway, which we have for lunch the next day.

After doing our laundry the next morning, we head to the sailboat race. We are racing 2 other boats in our class (i.e. boats with a two man crew).  Cynthia’s insistence on a creative course at the end causes us to lose our seemingly insurmountable lead, but we are first around the final mark. The other team begins paddling and jumping out of the boat to push it. This would normally be cause for filing formal protest with the race committee, but the rules are apparently somewhat relaxed in this jurisdiction. We are declared co-winners, and I pose in my victory wife beater.

That afternoon, I walk into the sports desk as another patron is throwing a hissy over the once again absent boogie board rental lady. This time, someone comes down from the lobby to help him, and I daisy chain behind him and serendipitously get a board with only a 3 minute wait. The waves are smaller, but I still boogie board my brains out. Cynthia got a good series (click for the rest of the pics from this entry)

We spend the rest of the afternoon at the pool.

That night, we decide to go out for a late, light Italian meal. We walk about half a mile to a restaurant called La Dolce Vita that has a 10% discount. We sit outside, by the lagoon. We split a Caesar salad and a bottle of wine from the Mexican winery we visited on our sabbatical. Cynthia has lobster bisque, I have veal ravioli with mushroom sauce.

I have not been looking forward to today, and it has delivered. Our flight out of Cancun is delayed two hours, which is not a concern since it only cuts into our seven hour layover in Fort Lauderdale. We arrive at the same time as other flights, and there are no gates. Then, immigration and customs are overwhelmed and it takes us an hour to get through. Cynthia is not a fan of this, and is confused as to why we have to wait in yet another line to go through security again to reach our connection. I only smile as she for the first time experiences these joys of international travel. This airport is the armpit of Florida. The wireless is marginal and the food choices are mediocre.

Tomorrow, Costa Rica. As usual, connection will be touch and go, so I apologize in advance if posts are sporadic. I’ll get each day posted eventually.

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