A Month Late but they are FINALLY here: COSTA RICA Photos
Just arrived in San Jose and on our way to pick up "Muchi" (rental car). Super excited because I thought I would be at the beach before sunset. As you already know, that did not happen.

This is what we woke up to the next morning at our hostel (Cuesta Arriba). Imagine monkeys crawling in trees above you and two foot igaunas crawling up trees as you walk by. Really cool!

Day 1 on the beach: As white as beach and ROASTING HOT!!! The ocean was as warm as bath water so Leana and I sweltered for 90 minutes before heading into the shade. The cool thing was that Santa Teresa has not commercialized the beach so it was totally tree-lined.

This is the "metropolis" that Leana and I finally stumbled upon after hours of driving. We were SO EXCITED to find a town, even if it was only a block long.

"El Muchi Torro" or "Muchi" for short, our trusty rental.

Favorite local saying "It's the shit!" (pronounced shee-t).

Beaches of Santa Teresa at high tide. There was no shortage of good waves for surfing.

Costa Rican fruit: FRESHEST and TASTIEST fruit I have ever had!!! So good!

Day trip to Isle Tortuga.

First time snorkeling. As I said before, I thought it was cool but appearantly it wasn't that great compared Great Barrier Reef snorkeling. Satisfying for a first timer and I will totally do it again!

Hanging out on the beach on Isle Tortuga after snorkeling.

Final night in Santa Teresa. Every sunset was a little cloudy but still incredible with the huge waves crashing in.

Unfortunately, we spent Easter morning in line for the ferry so this is how I celebrated: listening to Jesus music on my iPod.

Hostel #2: Backpackers at Arenal in La Fortuna. Much nicer and even had air conditioning, super helpful for sleeping!

Arenal, active volcano in La Fortuna, on Easter evening.

Getting ready to swing like Tarzan and fly like Superman (ziplining).

Arenal during the daytime while crossing the lake from La Fortuna to Monte Verde.

Final day in Costa Rica repelling during waterfalls. So fun! :)

Back through the Forest, across the lake, and into the Lost Canyon we go...

Tuesday morning Leana and I woke up early to catch the jeep (minivan), boat (tiny little boat), jeep (another minivan) tour back to La Fortuna. It was a little overcast but we still managed to find an hour of sun at our hostel and actually got rained on during our afternoon adventure. Fortunately, we were repelling down waterfalls so we were already wet.

Our waterfall adventure was lead by Des A Fio and took place just south of La Fortuna on "the Lost One," a creek so small it is not recognizable on a map. Although the creek was small, the tour was a lot of fun. We started with a short repel down a 25 ft waterfall to practice our skills. After tromping through the creek, we repelled down a 140 ft waterfall off a platform (involves falling backwords into the air and lowering yourself to the waterfall). Then we came upon the world's smallest diving hole. It was about 2 ft by 2 ft but deep enough to jump into...and jumping into it was the only way to keep on moving. So cannonball we did and off we went. Next was a smaller, 25 ft, repel without a platform and then our guides created a dam and positioned us along a waterfall without water. Once we were all set, the guide got up (the dam) and let the flash flood go. I was fortunate enough to be at the back/top of the waterfall and got pummeled by the flood. Finally, we repelled off a 220 ft waterfall and basically free-fell all the way down. Overall, we covered 4 km of creek/waterfall. It was a blast. Not as adrenaline pumping as the zipline but so much fun and I would totally do it again!

After our waterfall adventure, Leana and I sadly had to pack our bags and head into San Jose for our trip home. I would like to say the final drive was easy but, lucky for us, we literally had to drive through the clouds (hence "Cloud Forest") to get back. The fog was so dense I could only see about 10 ft in front of the car and had to navigate mountain roads (read: twisty turny uphill/downhill) by the little reflectors on the side of the roads. Not so fun but we made it to our hostel in the ghetto (not so fun either) and caught our plane home on Wednesday.

I have tons of pictures and will post them as soon as I get a chance. For now, I am trying to get a lot of dissertation work done as I head out of town again Wednesday to visit Eric.

Monday Funday
As promised, more on Monday's adventures. Leana and I spent Monday afternoon with Extreme Adventures ziplining over the rainforest. The tour had 14 cables that provided 4 km of zipling. We got to ride tandem twice, rapelled down off a platform, swung through the forest like Tarzan, and flew like Superman. The videos do no justice for how incredible the adventure was but at least they give you a taste of what we did.

Tarzan: I jumped off a platform, free fell for a few seconds, and then swung on a 30m rope 50m into the air. I had to look straight out (instead of down) and the guides literally pushed me off the platform. Talk about scary...but SO FUN!



Superman: I literally flew across the rainforest like Superman. It was my last ride of the day, 1km long and 180 meters (590.5 feet) above the forest floor. I alternated between enjoying the view to freaking out and worrying about falling out of my equipment. Of course, being the adrenaline junkie I am, I would totally do it all again! :)

Over the bumps and across the ocean...

To Isle Tortuga we went. Saturday Leana and I took a taxi (minivan) across my favorite dirt rodes to Montezuma where we hopped on a boat. The boat took us to Isle Tortuga where we spent the day snorkeling and hanging out. It was my first time ever snorkeling so I thought it was cool when I saw fish with bright blues, oranges, purples, and yellows and vivid black and white contrast. Leana, on the other hand, has snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef and thought it was kind of lame. I would love to go snorkeling again at a place where the coral is alive and fish are all over the place.

After snorkeling, we went over to the island and they made us BBQ for lunch. It was not our best meal but fun to eat on the island. We spent the rest of the day swimming and hanging out on the beach until it was time to take the boat and taxi back.

Sunday we left early in the morning (5am) to catch the 9am ferry that was 90 minutes away. Fortunately, the roads were not as bad in daylight. Unfortunately, we got there at 6:40am and were already too late (too many cars ahead of us) for the 9am ferry so we had to wait in sweltering heat for the 11am boat. Not exactly how I wanted to spend Easter Sunday but there were no churches in Santa Teresa and we had to catch a ferry. It was a long day of travel (5am-4pm) but we arrived in La Fortuna with no trouble.

We actually spent today in Monteverde and head back to La Fortuna tomorrow morning. Then we head into San Jose tomorrow night and fly back Wednesday. Today's adventures were absolutely incredible so I will save them for when I have more time. As a teaser, it involved flying like Superman above the rainforest and jumping off a platform...

Over the ocean and through the rainforest to Santa Teresa we go...

As most of you know, I am in Costa Rica to celebrate my 30th birthday and kicking cancer's a** with Leana. I don't have a cord to download photos so those will come later but there are too many good stories to not update with.

I left my apartment at 7pm Tuesday evening for our 1am redeye flight out of Denver International Airport. Wanting to save money, I booked a flight with a layover in Charlotte....so we flew from Denver to Charlotte, got in at 6am and then had a 6 hour layover until we left for San Jose. Next time I think I will pay the money for a direct flight. We did manage to keep ourself entertained by doing all of our activities (eating breakfast, perusing bookstores, and going to Starbucks) throughout the six hours. And, fortunately, I managed to fall asleep before take-off on both flights and slept through half of each with the aide of Ambien (Flight 1) and a sport psychology hypnotic CD (Flight 2: Greatest sleep aid I have found to date, shuts my brain off and out I go).

When we got to San Jose, we thought we had another 4 hour trip out to Santa Teresa. It is located on the Nicoyan Pennisula on the Pacific ocean. Then we thought we really scored because there was a new toll road so it should only take 3 hours....well, we left San Jose at 2:45 pm and arrived in Santa Teresa at 10pm. Our trusty little Peugot 06 (I named him "El Muchi Torro") was good to us but the drive was long. It started on winding little roads, then I made a wrong turn down a one way "street" thinking I was merging onto the highway, than traffic jams, then we missed the ferry and had to wait for the next ferry and then the nice paved roads turned into paved roads with monster-sized potholes (they put MI potholes to shame) which then turned into washboard dirt roads...with pavement when the hill was too steep for dirt.

But we eventually made it and were able to Santa Teresa. We heard it was an untouched surf town and that is no joke. The town is not really a town, just some random restaurants and surf shops down the road. The beach is great, miles of sand and forest. No businesses or hotels are built up on the beach. The waves are awesome. We took surfing lessons today and I got up most of the time and had my longest rides to date. Even learning how to turn the board now. And the food is amazing. I think it is primarily surfers from countries all over the world that come here to surf and they make a living by cooking food. That is pretty much all you can do here: eat and surf...well and lay out on the beach; although, it is SO STINKING HOT it is hard to do that for very long. I am literally drenched in sweat all day long and the ocean is as warm as bath water. We learned laying at at noon is a REALLY BAD idea so we have been getting up early and going out later.

Other interesting notes are the spider monkies which are all over in the trees...and the giant iguanas (2 feet long)...and the locusts which are going all day and night. I am in charge of driving since we have a manual car and I have gotten really good at dodging ATVs and people and bikes and dogs and passing randomly...kind of learning to drive like a local. I am also learning some spanish, like "Reduction" means "Speedbump" and "Ceda" means "Merge."

Tomorrow is our last day in Santa Teresa and we are going to Isle Tortuga for a day of snorkeling. Then we head to La Fortuna on Sunday.