Costa Rican Adventure!

I'm up to my eyeballs in the aftermath of Atlanta and a week-long vacation, so please don't hate me for taking so long to get my life back together. This morning I made a critical to-do list - things that I've been procrastinating for months and the crap has finally hit the fan and ohmygoshIhavetogetitalldonetoday. or else. As of lunch time, I have crossed 6 things off the list - hopefully by the end of the day I'll be much closer to getting done. ...breathe...

So for your enjoyment, sit back, relax and pretend that you went to Costa Rica with me for a few minutes.

The first thing we really did upon our arrival in San Jose - other than sleeping - was get in an armored car (I was obviously traveling with my Dad) and get on our way to Guanacaste, which is a region of Costa Rica. Along the way was the Costa Rica temple. Here I am with my Dad in front of it - super small, but I was glad that we got to at least stop by and see it.

After a few hours of driving through the countryside, we arrived at La Pacifica, which is a restaurant on Hwy 1. Considering that I live in a town that Hwy 1 also runs through, it is strange to think that if I just go south for a few days, I'd be able to drive there. Little did I know that I'd be eating most of my meals at this restaurant over the next three days. Good thing it was delicious. The best part of each meal was the jam - homemade of course - that went with their warm bread. Oh deliciousness. I brought some back home and my resident experts have informed me that it is guava jam.

And on our way out of the restaurant, this was next to the driveway, wishing us a nice day. Please note that there was no zooming involved on my camera's lens. I seriously just opened the door of the armored car and took the picture. Remember that one time that I was so grateful to live in the US where these animals aren't the normal varmints in my yard? Oh yeah - I remember that time.

We arrived to our beach house in Playa Coco in the afternoon and enjoyed the warm weather. Here I am with my Mom out on the patio.

And then I met my new best friend - I asked her in Spanish what her name was several times, but she never answered; just followed me around the entire time we were there.

All too quickly the sun set, but lucky for us, the view was spectacular. Check that out! I'm not so sure anymore than pollution makes for beautiful sunsets. We weren't exactly in LA, ya know? To escape from the bugs, we shut ourselves inside the house - (mosquitos are to my legs like Edward is to Bella. Seriously - they lurve me.) - and my dad, Gary, and I proceeded to play various card games until about 1am. Yeah, that's about 7 hours worth of card games. Hearts and rummy - my bum was sore by midnight and I had to stand around the table to finish. I knew that I wasn't going to win, but I don't think my dad wanted me to have the pleasure of having a sore bum AND winning. :)

In the morning, we had the option of going fishing or giving the zip lines a whirl. We unanimously decided to go with the zip line. Here's a picture from the club house of someone in the group before us going on the first segment of the line.

And this is the only picture of the entire gang - all ready to strap ourselves to a cord and swing across the jungle. I think that Kim and Gary look a little nervous - don't you?

We were on the lines for about 2 hours - you zip from platform to platform through the tree canopy and dodge snakes along the way. Well, maybe not at least while I was there, but I hear it's possible. And I even wore flip flops (my all-weather-all-terrain shoes of choice) without a problem!

I should have taken more pictures of the bridges and ladders we had to climb during our adventure. If you are afraid of heights, I'm afraid to say that maybe this isn't the activity for you. My sister Allison NEVER would have made it. Swinging bridges aren't even on my top 10 list, if you know what I mean.

But hanging out with hot Costa Rican guys, ok, twist my arm.

Of course I stood on the hill so it makes me look like Gigantor next to my zip line crush, Giovani. Of course all the guides were quick to learn my name and luckily I speak just enough Spanish to get by and talk a little with them. And no, I wasn't dumb enough to do any of this with my Dad around. :)

That evening, we drove back to La Pacifica, which is by Canas. My dad's boss owns the ranch, which has some hotel-like rooms, tilapia farms, horses, and other random things. Here's a picture of the little room I stayed in. My parent's was much more like an apartment, but mine was just a little bit more rustic of a hotel room. Supposedly there were little frogs in the shower, but I didn't see them if they were there.

The next morning, we got up early and after eating some more delicious food, we went horse back riding. I took a basic equitation class my sophomore year in college, so it was nice to be back on a horse after so long. My horse didn't seem to like me too much, but here was my view as we went around the ranch that morning:

Rice paddies

Some canals with signs that (translated) said: Danger - crocodiles could be in the water. Eek! I was very glad to be on a horse.

I tried several times to take a self portrait but being jostled around by a horse who doesn't like you doesn't always make for a steady or good picture. :)

Here's a tilapia pond. In fact, all of the tilapia that is raised here is sold in the United States. I could have seen your dinner. Weird. The age of the tilapia determines what pond they live in - and here are some guys harvesting some of the tilapia with their nets.

I didn't take any pictures inside the restaurant of our Thanksgiving Tilapia, but I had mine with a side of plantains and avocados. Oh yummy. I'm not a huge fish person, but the tilapia was quite delightful if I do say so myself. Our flight was early early the next morning, so we left after dinner to go back to San Jose and stay the night close to the airport. Before leaving though, we checked out some of the rescue birds that they keep outside of the restaurant. Based on the personality of these birds, I'd never want a parrot for a pet. MEAN birds - sheesh. I'll stick to a mean cat, thank you very much.

I thought Costa Rica was a beautiful country and even though my Dad scared me half to death about the snakes, I didn't have a single problem with a bug or a varmint of any kind. I'd definitely like to go back and have more time to enjoy the scenery - and maybe some of the locals. :)