Costa Rica

We had such a great time in Costa Rica. It all started when Christa and Jeanette drove down to Chesterbrook on Feb 13. We got down a little later than expected as we arrived at 11. After stopping at the bank to take out some dinero, we got to see our good friend, Sarah, and her adorable baby, Jackson. After playing with Jackson and talking with Sarah, we went to bed around midnight. We woke up tired, but excited, at 3 am and were out the door by 3:30 am. Sarah's very nice husband, Jason, drove us to the Atlantic City airport. When Sarah and Jeanette booked the tickets, they didn't realize the Atlantic City airport was close to two hours away from Philadelphia...oops. Poor Jason woke up at an ungodly hour to tote us down to the airport. The nice thing about the Atlantic City aiport is that it is so small, and everything moves really quick. We boarded the first plane after a eating a nutritious breakfast of cheetos and bagels. After the flight to Fort Lauderdale, we had a brief layover (about 45 minutes), then headed down to San Jose. Jackson was wonderful on the plane. He barely made a peep, except to laugh. Everyone around us was in love with him. One lady waiting in the line for the bathroom even gave him a kiss!

We arrived in San Jose and found Brent (Sarah's sister, Ellen's husband) who was waiting for us. As we were starving, he took us to a local restaurant, La Casa de Maiz, for lunch. We had some delicious food that included black beans, rice, plaintains, and chicken. It was great! We then headed off for our two hour drive to their house in Esterillos Oeste. The roads are narrow and wind through the mountains before becoming less hilly close to the ocean. We all dozed off for a little bit, especially the longer we were in the car. We were introduced to driving in Costa Rica, despite being driven by an American. We almost crashed twice, but we were fine!

We arrived at Ellen and Brent's amazing home situated in the hills with views of the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The house was open and airy and amazing! Since we were not accustomed to the heat, we stripped down out of our winter clothes into some more appropriate attire (i.e. bathing suits) and took a dip in the pool. We then met Ellen's absolutely adorable children, Leana (3 years) and Asher (18 months). Leana is a little grown up and has an extremely extensive vocabulary. She was as cute as could be. We were amazed to see the rumors were true...Asher actually could swim without swimmies or other floating device. How cool is that! Leana showed off her bilingual language skills and told us about taking surfing lessons. Those kids have a wonderful life and are so fortunate to receive so many different opportunities growing up! Ellen made us some delicious vegetable lasagna for dinner, which we chowed down. We stayed up as long as we could chatting, but faded fast. Despite Sarah and Jeanette being positive that the weather would be cool at night, they were quickly proven wrong. The nights were hot and humid, and no sweatshirts or pants were ever needed!

The next day, Brent drove us about fifteen minutes down the road to go horseback riding. Sarah left Jackson with Ellen while Christa, Sarah, and Jeanette took the ride. It was a great ride with a very nice, young guide named Manuel Junior. The horses looked healthy and listened well, which was nice. The tour lasted about two and a half hours and consisted of a ride through the forest, up a mountain, and down to the ocean. As we approached the ocean, Junior asked us if we wanted the horses to run. We all said, "yes!". Little did Jeanette know her horse could truly run...she should have guessed with a name like "Bandito". Sarah started cantoring in the lead, but Jeanette's horse quickly caught up and passed her. In fact, old Bandito literally left the others in the dust. Jeanette's hat flew off and the others could hear her screaming, "I don't wanna go this fast!" repeatedly while she assumed a jockey position and left the reigns loose in her hands...Silly Jeanette sending all the wrong signals to Bandito. Somehow, she did not fall off the horse and the others quickly caught up on the beach, laughing hysterically at the prior events. We then enjoyed the scenery as we headed back to the ranch. That night, Ellen and Brent's friends came over and we all headed down for a local rodeo, but with donkeys. There was also a fair going on, and the kids went on the rides. Christa and Jeanette ate some cotton candy...yummy! We left early because the kids were tired. We found out the next day that there was a big brawl after we left, so we were glad we left!

The next day, we drove Leana to school and were dropped off for a canopy tour by Ellen. There were only six people in total on this tour, with approximately the same amount of tour guides. There were quite a bit of zip lines (about 10-15), and some were quite long. We saw wildlife (ants, spiders, toucans, etc) while ziplining and walking a suspension bridge. Sarah almost took the Costa Rican/Canadian tour guide out as she forgot to brake enough! It was okay...he had a crush on her anyway as he told her, "You're too pretty to be a linebacker" after telling him that she was a linebacker. The tour was lots of fun and we got same great shots of the forest and Pacific Ocean looking like dorks with our helmets.

We had a semi-relaxing day on Wednesday. We took Leana to school again, then headed to breakfast at Las Olas. It was a great breakfast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We found out a local had recently been killed and there was a surfboard with flowers erected on the beach for him. The views were great! Ellen and Brent's friend, Squinch, who was also visiting for the week, used to co-own the hotel/restaurant. We then walked around Jaco a little bit and hung around at the house. We also took Leana to dance class that day...how cute! Later in the evening, we headed down to a hotel called Villa Caletas for sunset. We were amazed by the landscaping and the infinity pool. The place was beautiful!! We were shocked to discover that it was fairly reasonable to stay there...perhaps if we ever return to Costa Rica, we may stop by! After sunset, we headed to a sports bar kind of place called Claritas, which was also on the beach. We had some yummy food before heading home.

On Thursday, we hung around the house again. Christa and Jeanette walked down to the beach by the house. The water was bathtub warm and was not quite refreshing. We saw lots of scarlet mackaws (spelling?) in the trees and some fish in the water. We then went back to the house and relaxed. Later on that evening, Ellen and Brent drove us down to the river, which had been dried up as it was dry season. The river was so dry that we were able to drive through it. We sat down, ate some snacks, and saw monkeys in the trees, which was cool! After the sunset, we drove home, stopping at a "tican" truck stop restaurant for dinner. We had a nice dinner of fajitas and arroz con pollo before heading home.

Friday was eventful for Christa and Jeanette as they took the local bus to Quepos to go white water rafting. After thinking they had missed the bus (it came around 7:30 even though we were at the bus stop since 6:45), it finally showed up! We hopped on the bus, knowing that we would be late for our tour. Luckily, Ellen had lent us her cell phone. We called the tour company, who told us they would wait for us. We arrived quite late for the 8:00 tour (around 9), apologized to the other people, a strange couple from Maryland who didn't really want to talk to us (perhaps they were annoyed!), and then hopped in the van that drove us to the launch point for the white water raft trip. It was a beautiful drive through county roads, passing through a typical Costa Rican village along the way. We learned that four things make up a Costa Rican village...a school, a church, a soccer field, and a bar, preferably across from the soccer field. The guides showed us different fruit and animals along the way and stopped so we could taste some of the fruit. When we arrived, we split into two groups...the couple from Maryland and us. Two guides were in the boat. We got placed with Steve-O, the guide from Northern Ireland, and Danny, from Costa Rica. After lots of scary safety information, we were off in our tiny rafts through some supposed class IV and V rapids. It was so much fun! We had to get down into the tiny space quite a bit. We got stuck vertically at one point and were told to move back in the raft. We went for a swim at one point. The water was cool and refreshing. The trip lasted about three hours. We then took the van ride back to Rios Tropicales, quickly walked to the bus station, and hopped on a bus back to Esterillos Oeste. We hung around with Ellen's family, then took a ride down to the beach for one of Leana's friend's birthday party...however, we couldn't find them. We took the opportunity to get some great pictures of the beach, stopped at the local store to pick up some dinner of macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets, then headed back home. Sarah, Christa, and Jeanette watched all of the children when Ellen and Brent went out to dinner to celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary. We then went to bed.

The next day, after saying goodbye and thanking our hosts for their wonderful hospitality, Brent drove us the long drive back to the airport. This time, we all stayed awake! We stopped at a bridge along the way to view about 25-30 very hungry crocodiles waiting below! We flew back to Fort Lauderdale, met with Sarah's parents for the layover in the airport (they brought us dinner!), waited as a breach in security progressed (nothing major, but all the exits were closed and we were next to go through the security line), and boarded the plane. Jackson slept the entire way home to Atlantic City. Jason, poor guy, picked us up at midnight and drove us back. We woke up the next morning, grabbed breakfast at Ed and Jeanette's favorite place, Nudy's, then drove back home. Now, we're back to reality and the cold!

Costa Rica!

Jeanette, Christa, Sarah, and Jackson will be going to Costa Rica to visit Sarah's sister, Ellen. We're so excited and should have a great time!

Reminiscing

We're making our albums from the trip, reminiscing about what a great time we had! We wish we could do it again. If we could, we would take a longer trip and see more places and cultures. What fun! Oh well...we can dream. Now, if we only get that job for the Australian tourism board! $100k for six months living on an island in the Great Barrier Reef...we'll take it!!!

Costa Rica?

I'm trying to find airfare to Costa Rica to visit with my friend Sarah, her baby (Jackson), and my sister, Christa. Hopefully this will work out...it would be awesome to go on vacation with everyone!

Happy New Years!

We wish everyone a very happy and safe New Year! We hope 2009 is a great year. We are headed up to Ed's place to visit with his family and friends. It should be a great time!

A-Trekking We Will Go

We're very excited to report that we've booked a trip to Peru in April. We will be hiking to Machu Picchu during a four-day, three-night excursion with the company Peru Treks. We're very excited...better start getting in shape now as there are lots of steps to climb in a very high altitude.

Merry Christmas

We wish everyone a very merry Christmas. We hope that 2009 is your best year ever!