Posted by M on Mar 8, 2009 in
Savvy Travels Hola!
This morning started off at 5:40 am, when Cliffy had decided to turn up the airconditioning. So even though it was a sweltering bazillion degrees outside, I was forced to wake up shivering and put on a sweatshirt. Cliffy’s answer to this, “well, on my side of the room, I was fine.” Because I had spent the night sharing a bed with David, who enjoys hogging the entire mattress and the blankets, I was irriated, but because I am weak to beautiful things, such as a bed, so it seduced me back into a deep sleep before I could put on my crabbypants and chastise the pair of them.
Anywhos, many hours later, I woke up to begin my day. The hotel includes breakfast, so while David and Daddy got down with the natives, ordering a true Costa Rican breakfast of rice and beans, I went with the pancakes. I don’t think I need to tell you who went home more satisfied.
Afterwards, we laid out by the pool until the sun had sucked all the energy out of us and it was time for a nap. Cliff refused to particpate in this extracirricular activity, but I must say, it was delightful. Once we were awake again, we drove to near by La Playa Coco and walked on the beach. The Pacific Ocean is, by the way, frickin freezing. It sends chills through your body when you first step into it. We then had a lemonade on the beach, walked around town, and then headed back to the hotel for a jog.
The jog was rough because it’s super hot and it’s on sand. Although, we did manage to, remarkably, run into a friend of David’s from High School, Maggie. Small world, right? Also, our hotel is at the top of a very, very, very long and steep hill. When it came time to run back up that, I declined. I feel it was one of my better choices of the day.
We ended the day in the Hotel Restaurant, where David and Dad drank their sorrows and as usual, I was the sober sally. I did have to steal a knife from the kitchen though–David’s soulmate, his watermelon, needs to be eaten soon.
I have not been told what’s on the docket for tomorrow, but I am certain it’ll be an adventure. In this part of the country, we’re mostly being beach bums, but we leave for the volcanoes/rainforest in a few days where we get too zipline and have canopy tours. Stay tuned!
Posted by M on Mar 8, 2009 in
Savvy Travels Hola from the gorgeous country of Costa Rica!
Captain Cliff, only the world’s most savvy traveler, complete with his traveling cargo pants (he can’t travel without them), departed from Detroit yesterday. It was an early day, with a wake up call coming from the front desk of the La Quinta Inn at 4:00 am. I promptly ignored it, and finally rolled out of bed at 4:20 and into the waiting transportation bus at 4:25 am. It was us and a large family reunion traveling together. We had to wait for another two people, which prompted a very crabby man (clearly not a morning person) to comment that he needed to get going because his family had “special seating.” I don’t know what special seating he was referring to because a few hours later, we saw him pacing the airport while we were in line to board our plane. He managed to ignore us.
We flew what one may consider a discount airline. At first, I just thought maybe the seats were cheap and the plane would be old. But by discount, they mean that they will squeeze as many people as possible into a very small space. So, the aisle is actually smaller than the seats themselves, which made for some comedic people viewing because hey, Americans are fat. Most people didn’t fit. To bring in some extra revenue, the airline also rented out the interior of their aircraft to a variety of different advertisers, including the tray used to put your food on. In addition, they also forced everyone on board to listen to a ten minute presentation about why a Mastercard was the way to go. I fell alseep pretty quickly into this, but was awoken by the person next to me, who’s fat was spilling onto my seat. I put down the armrest that he’d put up to allow for this, prompting him to have to switch seats with his wife. That is true love: allowing your partner to spill their fat into your incredibly tiny airplane seat.
Once in Costa Rica, we made it swiftly through immigration. There was a blip in the radar, when Cliff insisted we wait for our luggage in baggage claim. He must be starting to lose his mind because we certainly didn’t check any baggage… After customs, we walked outside, expecting to meet David. Dave’s flight had come in 45 minutes before ours, and meeting him was supposed to be simple because there’s only ONE exit from international flights. But, somehow, us three worldly travelers, messed it up. Like, really messed it up. TWO hours later, we found him. And yes, he had come in an hour before us. I just am too embarrassed to get into the details of how this clusterf#*k happened, but let’s just say it was remarkable.
After finding eachother, we had to drive from San Juan, where we flew in, to our hotel, La Finisterra, which is on the west coast of Costa Rica. It was a very, very long drive and involved a lot of getting lost. The rental car company had forgotten to mention that we had no gas in the tank to begin the journey, so we almost didn’t even make it out of San Juan until David found a nice little farm kid selling watermelons and bought one, then slyly asked for directions. Well, actually, he asked four or five people, then farm boy gave us the best directions. Now, though, we have a watermelon we don’t know what to do with. This morning, I woke up to see David spooning with it. It was awkward.
Getting gas aside, the rest of the journey had a few hiccups. The guidebooks all say to not drive in Costa Rica after dark because there are people in the towns that simply walk in the middle of the streets or ride their bikes out into busy roads and because the roads aren’t lit, you will not see anyone until you know, you hit them. But because of the two and a half hours we lost in the airport, we had no choice. We actually did see one accident on the way and managed to barely avoid another, when a biker rode out in front of our car. Dad kept his cool, as always, of course. Not really, he had a mini freak out and was only settled by the fact that soon we would be at our hotel, where he had been informed a fully stocked wine cellar awaited him.
We made it to the town of our hotel, but then spent another solid 45 minutes looking for our hotel. While this is frustrating and certainly annoying, it does allow David to practice his Spanish because to get anywhere, we have to ask about eight people for directions. But, we did make it. And it is gorgeous. We put our stuff in our room and then went downstairs to the restaurant to have our first meal of the day (perhaps, in hindsight, some of Cliffy’s temper came from low blood sugar as he’d only had one coffee and no real sustenance all day). The food was amazing and although it was too dark to actually see the view, hey, it was promising.
Anyways, we’re off to begin the adventures for day two, which I promise to report later tonight.