Lucia: so yesterday we did another bumpy journey from our beach hotel to the Manuel Antonio national park and stayed in yet another of those high end resorts that is super nice. we did the park in the morning (ummmm, the rainforest is freakin hot and muggy. that is likely to be very evident to all of you, and in theory I knew it, but jeez, it really was) and then tucked in for a nap during our daily afternoon thunderstorm.
I had a delicious dinner of snook, a fish I had never met before. I have vowed to find him again.
and now this morning we are leaving to drop off the rental car and stay in a Marriott by the airport for our early flight tomorrow morning.
I won't lie, I am so ready to go home. I have even been have email fantasies about all the email and work waiting for me on my computer. I am having anxieties about not having my laptop for the airport/airplane hopping I will be doing tomorrow (three flights to get home... and only a 30 minute layover in Detroit... I am very anxious about that too - fully expect that I will be stuck waiting for the later flight...)
I know that we haven't been able to post pictures yet and that these posts have been infrequent. This is because of the internet troubles discussed previously. I will work to beef this blog up when I get home. I have been taking notes.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
concluding a stay at the nicest resort ever
Lucía: Before two days ago I would have told you that the nicest hotel I had ever stayed in was in Walnut Creek CA and I only got to stay two nights working twelve hour shifts in the meanwhile.
uh, the Walnut Creek hotel has now been knocked off the throne by the Peace Lodge at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. I admit, I have been frustrated by the expensive hotel choices that my mother seems to prefer. I seem to like something in between Sara´s hostel for 12 dollars a preson and the 200 a night resorts. But, I fully admit, this place, when you get one of the good rooms is amazing.
The room had a fireplace, a private balcony overlooking the volcán Poás and including a hammock and a jacuzzi, then the bathroom had a deep jacuzzi tub and a waterfall shower. uh, very cool. the romantic mood was a little wasted on my mother and me, but it was in the air.
The hotel also included access to the park, which had five waterfalls and paths that led to beautiful overlooks and even underneath one of them. it was amazing.
I will tell you though, that if you are coming here and you see the note at the bottom of the pamphlet that says ¨must be able to do stairs¨They MEAN it. like really. stairs to everywhere. feeling the burn!
The room was so good, and there were so many stairs everywhere, we actually just didn´t do anything else that first night and morning, just enjoyed the room.
unfortunately we only got the good room for one night and then had to move to what no one should pay the amount we paid, an apartment room. I suggest that you skip the place if you have to stay in one of these apartment rooms.
anyhow, my mother took the nice boys at the front desk to task as I hid in the computer room to write this post.
Also, you notice that the posts are coming relatively slowly. This is because there seems to be an inverse relationship (I am struggling with whether I mean an inverse relationship in math terms, but I think this is the colloquial usage, so I am going with it) between the cost of the hotel room and the internet access. At hostels the internet is free and fast. At these resorts the internet seems consistently slow and often is at an additional charge.
other notes - the livestock continues to rush out into the road to greet us. We are now experts at avoiding chickens, goats, and cows.
Today we head off (well fed on what was the most awesome breakfast buffet in all of CR) to the beach. Tommorrow night we have reservations for three nights at a place on the beach, but tonight we are winging it. This winging it seems to result in stress, anger and frustration at the time to pick the hotel. This anger typically subsides by morning.
anyhow, see the next post for pictures.
uh, the Walnut Creek hotel has now been knocked off the throne by the Peace Lodge at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. I admit, I have been frustrated by the expensive hotel choices that my mother seems to prefer. I seem to like something in between Sara´s hostel for 12 dollars a preson and the 200 a night resorts. But, I fully admit, this place, when you get one of the good rooms is amazing.
The room had a fireplace, a private balcony overlooking the volcán Poás and including a hammock and a jacuzzi, then the bathroom had a deep jacuzzi tub and a waterfall shower. uh, very cool. the romantic mood was a little wasted on my mother and me, but it was in the air.
The hotel also included access to the park, which had five waterfalls and paths that led to beautiful overlooks and even underneath one of them. it was amazing.
I will tell you though, that if you are coming here and you see the note at the bottom of the pamphlet that says ¨must be able to do stairs¨They MEAN it. like really. stairs to everywhere. feeling the burn!
The room was so good, and there were so many stairs everywhere, we actually just didn´t do anything else that first night and morning, just enjoyed the room.
unfortunately we only got the good room for one night and then had to move to what no one should pay the amount we paid, an apartment room. I suggest that you skip the place if you have to stay in one of these apartment rooms.
anyhow, my mother took the nice boys at the front desk to task as I hid in the computer room to write this post.
Also, you notice that the posts are coming relatively slowly. This is because there seems to be an inverse relationship (I am struggling with whether I mean an inverse relationship in math terms, but I think this is the colloquial usage, so I am going with it) between the cost of the hotel room and the internet access. At hostels the internet is free and fast. At these resorts the internet seems consistently slow and often is at an additional charge.
other notes - the livestock continues to rush out into the road to greet us. We are now experts at avoiding chickens, goats, and cows.
Today we head off (well fed on what was the most awesome breakfast buffet in all of CR) to the beach. Tommorrow night we have reservations for three nights at a place on the beach, but tonight we are winging it. This winging it seems to result in stress, anger and frustration at the time to pick the hotel. This anger typically subsides by morning.
anyhow, see the next post for pictures.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Day oh-hell-who knows what day it is
I don't remember what day number it is of the vacation, nor what day of the week it is. That must mean that vacation is working.
we are in Monteverde, a region just west of the mountain range known for Quaker settlement, specialized rain forest called cloud forest and coffee/cheese.
yesterday we went on a hike in the forest and I climbed all the way to see a waterfall. it was pretty nifty, seeing the water right above me cascading over the ridge. mostly water droplets, less sheets of water.
then we went to a coffee plantation and saw our favorite beverage growing up. Our guide was good and we learned a lot. we can't wait to get back and force all of you to listen to our diatribes on coffee. and the damn chileans. they were pretty sleazy.
last night we had beers at a couple bars and some very good french fries. (did I tell you that the food here isn't so amazing? good to get excited about decent food when you have it). Then we turned in early b/c this morning we are going on a guided hike to the Monteverde cloud forest reserve. I want to see an animal!
we are in Monteverde, a region just west of the mountain range known for Quaker settlement, specialized rain forest called cloud forest and coffee/cheese.
yesterday we went on a hike in the forest and I climbed all the way to see a waterfall. it was pretty nifty, seeing the water right above me cascading over the ridge. mostly water droplets, less sheets of water.
then we went to a coffee plantation and saw our favorite beverage growing up. Our guide was good and we learned a lot. we can't wait to get back and force all of you to listen to our diatribes on coffee. and the damn chileans. they were pretty sleazy.
last night we had beers at a couple bars and some very good french fries. (did I tell you that the food here isn't so amazing? good to get excited about decent food when you have it). Then we turned in early b/c this morning we are going on a guided hike to the Monteverde cloud forest reserve. I want to see an animal!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Thoughts from Day 3
Lucia:
1) I need to learn the road sign translations. probably should have learned them yesterday.
2) Despacio might mean danger. or it might mean huge lumbering truck is invariably headed directly into this hairpin turn slash one lane bridge.
3) my mother may or may not have shotgunned a beer with me last night.... you will have to wait for pictures.
4) said shotgunning may or may not have been done in our PJs. with my mother wearing a coat over hers. ballsy for the first time shotgunner. lord knows you will have to wear that coat again, and you are definitely going to spill beer on it.
5) she may or may not have done better than more than a few of you out there in the audience on your first try.
6) Lucia´s sense of direction is poor. This was already well established, but confirmed today on a 90 minute unpaved detour.
7) gasolina is far more expensive here.
8) Sara will be happy to note: remember that town that we wandered into and couldn´t figure out where to go and some man we asked for directions sold us a map for like 3,000 colones? yeah. we went into that town, but I sensibly recognized the situation and just turned around... the sign was just fine when you were headed the other way....
9) it rained. or, it is currently raining. guess this is what they call the green season.
10) we saw a LOT of animals on the road. not only cars, tourismo buses and oddly clad pedestrians use the roads. so do roving bands of cattle, chickens and several goats are set up to eat the weeds on the side of the road. my mother really found the cattle disturbing. She kept picturing them running at the car a la deer. that didn´t happen.
11) weddings are a nice thing to happen upon. but my mother refused to take a picture "I don´t want to intrude!" as if driving your car through the wedding party wasn´t intrusion enough.
pura vida!
1) I need to learn the road sign translations. probably should have learned them yesterday.
2) Despacio might mean danger. or it might mean huge lumbering truck is invariably headed directly into this hairpin turn slash one lane bridge.
3) my mother may or may not have shotgunned a beer with me last night.... you will have to wait for pictures.
4) said shotgunning may or may not have been done in our PJs. with my mother wearing a coat over hers. ballsy for the first time shotgunner. lord knows you will have to wear that coat again, and you are definitely going to spill beer on it.
5) she may or may not have done better than more than a few of you out there in the audience on your first try.
6) Lucia´s sense of direction is poor. This was already well established, but confirmed today on a 90 minute unpaved detour.
7) gasolina is far more expensive here.
8) Sara will be happy to note: remember that town that we wandered into and couldn´t figure out where to go and some man we asked for directions sold us a map for like 3,000 colones? yeah. we went into that town, but I sensibly recognized the situation and just turned around... the sign was just fine when you were headed the other way....
9) it rained. or, it is currently raining. guess this is what they call the green season.
10) we saw a LOT of animals on the road. not only cars, tourismo buses and oddly clad pedestrians use the roads. so do roving bands of cattle, chickens and several goats are set up to eat the weeds on the side of the road. my mother really found the cattle disturbing. She kept picturing them running at the car a la deer. that didn´t happen.
11) weddings are a nice thing to happen upon. but my mother refused to take a picture "I don´t want to intrude!" as if driving your car through the wedding party wasn´t intrusion enough.
pura vida!
Friday, May 9, 2008
La Fortuna - arrived and feeling special
Lucia: so, we arrived yesterday into San Jose', proceeded to get just a bit ripped off by Avis (do not try to book a compact 4WD SUV on their website, apparently you end up with a mid sized sedan. You will then pay twice as much when you just upgrade at the counter to the vehicle that won't get stuck in the mud), and then took a few wrong turns before we were headed in the direction of La Fortuna.
La Fortuna is the town near the Arenal Volcano, and it is a nice little touristy town. We had reservations at a super nice resort, Tabacon (I turned off the Spanish-yness of this keyboard and computer so I could navigate here, but now I don't get access to any of the spanish keys... gnnr), and it was properly lush and fancy.
This morning we headed to the hot springs and had the place all to ourselves. It was very nice, even if some of the pools were being cleaned. After spending exactly 2 minutes in the pool myself (I don't care for sweatyness in a pool) I chilled and my mother enjoyed. we then packed ourselves up and headed back to the hotel.
We hadn't eaten since last night (where my mother may or may not have stiffed the waiter by not paying any attention to the bill - or if there was a place to put a tip - this is significant since the place was pretty empty and we cheated him out of at least 10 bucks... or maybe they already added it. we will never know. Unless we see him in town today and he gives us a dirty look. then we will know.) and we were starving so we headed into town. We just got done eating at a nice little cafe. our Cafe Negro was good, and my casado (a sort of everything together plate) was nicely enhanced by a bunch of the salsa lizano (a local not hot sauce).
Cathy: Ok so maybe I did stiff the guy but I did not mean to. we waited so long for the check..The hotel is very nice but the bathtub drain does not work. The patio was a rainforest with a table and chairs.
La Fortuna is the town near the Arenal Volcano, and it is a nice little touristy town. We had reservations at a super nice resort, Tabacon (I turned off the Spanish-yness of this keyboard and computer so I could navigate here, but now I don't get access to any of the spanish keys... gnnr), and it was properly lush and fancy.
This morning we headed to the hot springs and had the place all to ourselves. It was very nice, even if some of the pools were being cleaned. After spending exactly 2 minutes in the pool myself (I don't care for sweatyness in a pool) I chilled and my mother enjoyed. we then packed ourselves up and headed back to the hotel.
We hadn't eaten since last night (where my mother may or may not have stiffed the waiter by not paying any attention to the bill - or if there was a place to put a tip - this is significant since the place was pretty empty and we cheated him out of at least 10 bucks... or maybe they already added it. we will never know. Unless we see him in town today and he gives us a dirty look. then we will know.) and we were starving so we headed into town. We just got done eating at a nice little cafe. our Cafe Negro was good, and my casado (a sort of everything together plate) was nicely enhanced by a bunch of the salsa lizano (a local not hot sauce).
Cathy: Ok so maybe I did stiff the guy but I did not mean to. we waited so long for the check..The hotel is very nice but the bathtub drain does not work. The patio was a rainforest with a table and chairs.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Starting a new blog
seems like vacations require blog posts. you want to share your joy...
this blog is for that job sharing. :)
this blog is for that job sharing. :)
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