When It Rains, It Poors

July 11th

Our last full day in Costa Rica. The rainy season can now begin, we are leaving this place soon. It sure does make it easier to plan your day when the weather forces you to stay in doors. After our last, usual healthy morning breakfast, we came back to our Villa #4 and started packing our stuff up. Trying to dry our clothing up quicker, Greg put the damp clothes in the closed quarters where the AC is located and dropped the temperature to 69 degrees. While the clothes were drying we started writing some Thank You cards for the recent wedding we just partied at. What a wedding that was! DJ Grandpa was off the hook!

As the rain continued to fall all day, we grew more and more homesick. We missed our dog, we missed our family, and we missed our friends. We're ready to come home. Oh, and by the way, Greg's tan is already starting to peel. Which means Callie might be the winner of the darkest tan.

Can't wait to see you all soon!!!!!!!  Although there probably won't be much to tell about our honeymoon if you've been following our blog ; )


LaLa,
G & C

If At First You Don't Succeed. . .

July 10^th

The nights rest was challenged throughout the prior evening by bright flashes of lightning and deep thunderous roars. Greg snuggled closer to Callie to help calm her back to sleep. By morning, the skies were clear, the sun was bright, and the granola and yogurt was calling our names. We ate our usual healthy morning breakfast and decided we were going to ride back into town again. So we prepared our bikes and pedaled our way into town. We spent only a short while in town this time. As it was Sunday, the majority of the shops were closed which forced us to do an even more detailed tour of the small town of Mal Pais looking for anything that was open.

After searching the town from top to bottom and only finding closed signs, the hot sun convinced us that it was time to head back to the resort and make another attempt at surfing. If at first you don’t succeed, get a surfboard that is twice as long as the first one you used. Let me tell you the difference that made! We practically hit the water running. Callie was riding every other wave all the way to the shore. Greg, was trying to do the same. But it was a whole lot more fun surfing when you actually stood all the way up for a while.

At a cataclysm of events happening at once, Greg being slightly stung by what he thought was a jellyfish, and Callie falling off the surfboard and landing wrong, we felt accomplished enough to call it a day and headed back to the resort. I’m sure we looked the part of tourists as it took the both of us to carry the giant surfboard back to the resort. Greg insisted he carry it by himself on the way to the ocean I might add. But the exhausted feelings after surfing didn’t leave much energy for arguing when Callie insisted she help this time on the way back.

Greg still worried about the slight stinging on his left ankle; we decided we should try something to aid the pain. And if there was anything we learned from MacGyver, it was that urine was supposed to be a remedy for jellyfish stings. So, we then. . . yada yada yada, washed up and relaxed some more until dinner time.

By dinner, Callie’s back was feeling better and Greg’s ankle was not stinging as much. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day, minus a couple yada yada’s.

LaLa

G & C

P.S. These yada yada’s do not correlate to the yada yada’s that Elaine referred to. And the Lobster Bisque was delicious.

Bicycle Built For Two

July 9^th

The day following the great surfing experience, we were expecting to be much more sore. But I guess we just didn’t push ourselves hard enough, because we both felt well rested and ready to do some more adventuring today. Rising much earlier today, we ate our usual delicious breakfast around 10:00 and found ourselves out front of the resort preparing the bicycles. We were advised during our initial tour of the resort that if we did desire to ride into town, that we should only bring what we needed leaving behind cameras, jewelry and passports. If that doesn’t strike a big vote of confidence and safety, I don’t know what will.

So we took off down the pot holey road and headed into town. Greg secretly stashed some folding money in the inside brim of his hat. We were ready to experience some Costa Rican culture! Most everyone we passed were very friendly offering a “Hola!” or some other nice gesture. Lots of dogs too! If we haven’t commented on the number of dogs we have come across, I’m taking a second right now to let you know that the number of dogs in this area almost match the number of residents. But not to worry, the dogs appear to be just as friendly as the people.

After crossing a river or two we eventually made it into town. We locked up the bikes to a chain link fence and started checking out the local shops. Mainly visiting the most touristy looking shops we could find, we were looking for something we could bring back with us to remember our Honeymoon in Costa Rica. Greg had his eye on a wooden frog that he had seen earlier in the week. But finding it again may take some searching. We did however come across a cute cutting board we liked. We have already started a cutting board collection at home and this fit perfectly.

Walking from shop to shop we took full advantage of the AC being blasted in your face as you entered the stores. Did a little browsing, said some “Gracias” and moved on to the next store. Eventually we had had our fill of shopping for the day and found ourselves at an ice cream shop to take a quick snack before hopping on the bikes again. Not being able to communicate fully, Callie ordered what looked like Chocolate Chip Ice Cream only to hear the fellow behind the counter reply, “Rum raisin?” “No, no, no! What is this one?” She said pointing to another drum of ice cream. “Carmel and vanilla.” He replied. Perfect! We both ended up getting a scoop of that to treat ourselves to.

The ride back was just as bumpy as ever. But we made it, with sweat beading all over our faces. A quick rinse before jumping in the resort pool, we found ourselves poolside once again soaking in the sun. We wanted to try surfing again, with a much larger and more stable board, but were willing to wait one more day. Today was for relaxing again. We laid by the pool for the majority of the day, watching the iguanas scuttle around the floor and along the tree branches high above. We watched as another couple indulged themselves in what appeared to be at least 8 fruity drinks from the bar. Feeling slightly inspired, we ordered some smoothies of our own.

Bringing our drinks back to our Villa with us, we read some books and stole some naps waiting for the right time to head down to the restaurant for dinner. Finally, it was 6:00 and time to get some food. Feeling somewhat proud of conquering his fear of sushi, Greg offered that we get California Rolls for appetizers, Callie was happy to oblige. And for dinner we split a brown rice and jerk chicken topped with a mango salsa. The food was excellent as usual.

Feeling the end of our Costa Rican trip approaching. It was getting easier to plan the remainder of our days. Leaving plenty of time for more relaxation, our biggest concern at this point, is wondering how we’re going to dry out the majority of our damp clothing in this insanely humid climate. Guess we’ll just drop our bags off at the parents house and let them open them.

LaLa

G & C

Check one off the bucket list!

July 8, 2011

We woke up as usual after our 12 hour slumber and continued our morning routine of sharing the “healthy breakfast” which consists of homemade granola, fresh fruit (usually pineapple, watermelon, papaya, and banana which Greg removes the latter two and promptly puts them on my plate in disgust), and homemade yogurt – today the yogurt flavor was pineapple which was delicious.  We parted ways as I wanted to continue my relaxation journey with morning yoga and Greg thought laying still by the pool would be more relaxing - touche.  He promised to stay in the shade and put spf45 on his lobstered body while lounging aka falling asleep for another hour. 

Yoga was…interesting.  I consider myself a pretty limber person, but having abnormally short arms and legs does not lend itself to getting into positions the long, lean, giraffe-esc yoga instructor was demonstrating.  However, I did not fall (which is more than I can say for over half of my compadres), I worked up a good sweat while listening to the ocean, and prayed the bats overhead wouldn’t drop guano on my prezelled extremities.  It actually was relaxing in the end and I thought to myself, “I need more yoga in my life,” as I left so I may go again tomorrow.  Namaste!

By the end of class Greg was ready for an adventure.  An adventure of a lifetime in my book, a dream come true really.  I can now check off a bucket list item – SURFING!!!  Well sort of…we weren’t completely successful but we had fun, have video to prove it, and almost tackled those Costa Rican waves!  I’ll start from the beginning.  After lathering up we decided to go to the surf shack to grab a surfboard.  Yesterday we decided to grab one so we could help each other out and videotape one another once we got the hang of it (such a supportive marriage, ha).  We were told the longest ones were the easiest to ride on and beginners should start with those.  Well, standing in front of a board that was the length of both of us combined we decided to carry the shorter board down the beach to playa del Carmen – a not so rocky surf spot with gentle waves.  Greg, the chivalrous man that he is, carried the surfboard and I carried the boogyboard for when we were tired of surfing and wanted a much easier ride on the waves. 

We made it to our sought after surfing destination, dropped off our clothes, sandles, sunglasses, and boogyboard and headed full blast into the ocean!  I tried first, and almost immediately came to the conclusion this was much harder than it looked and next time we should definitely start with some lessons instead of googling “how to surf” on the internet and calling it good.  Needless to say I was flying everywhere, the board was flying everywhere and it was soon Greg’s turn to try his hand at mastering the surf.  He ventured out much farther than I did and had some choicier waves to work with.  He made a valiant effort to stand on the board but alas did not succeed.  Eventually I rode a wave in on my knees (as I was trying to stand up and just went with it) and you would’ve thought I won the Olympics I was so proud of myself.  Equally as enthusiastically I stood on the board for a nanosecond, but try as I might could not put the two together.  Greg rode a wave in on his stomach and that’s when he called a spade a spade and decided boogyboarding was more his style.

The rest of the evening was same as usual, just like the morning.  We layed out by the pool, Greg in the shade to protect his burn :( (he literally made that face as he pulled his chair under the palm tree).  Followed by some delicious tacos (mine fish, Greg’s pulled pork), chips and salsa, and a nap to cap off the afternoon.  In order to save money, b/c the cost of food at a resort is a little ridiculous; we had homemade ice-cream sandwiches for dinner :).  We just skyped with some friends and family from home, whom we miss so much and wish were here with us (most of the time ;) 

LaLa

C & G        

Monkey Business, As Usual

July 7^th

Day four. Still, no sign of rescue. We helplessly wait in the sun looking to the horizon. It feels as if we have been abandoned on this 75% water locked island for nearly half a week. Drinkable water is scarce in the ocean. We’re lucky to find pools of them collected near our belongings in little bottles. This day has been a long one…

We drug ourselves from our air-conditioned cave at the crack of noon. Walking nearly 125 or maybe even 150 steps to the place we commonly find something edible. Granola with yogurt and some mixed fruit. Callie hunted it down with her weapon of choice: American Express. We eat it all, not saving anything for the other creatures lurking in our midst. We sign the bill and head to the ocean, keeping a keen eye for a passing ship or a plane. Anything.

We wandered down the coastline for what seemed like an hour but was most likely 15 minutes. Either way, it felt like a while and we were getting hot. “Look!” exclaimed Greg pointing to the crashing waves. “We can cool our bodies in the ocean!” It seemed liked the right thing to do at the time. “Be sure not to drink it, again,” said Callie, as a look of idiotic fondness passed over Greg’s face. “Fine.”

The quick dip in the ocean was very refreshing. It cooled the bodies to an extent. But also left them very tired from the efforts to stay afloat. Leaving the ocean, covered in sand and salty water, we tried to find a place in the shade to take refuge, but fell just short. We passed out in the blazing sun right on top of a couple towels. None of the natives came to our rescue to help us. So there we lay. Burning our skin in the Costa Rican sun.

But all hope was not lost. We soon came to, dizzy and disoriented the pictures we took through the cameras looked. It was hard to see the digital screen from the glare of the hot sun. We got to our feet and headed back to our place of solitude. Once again in search for the water collections we have grown to rely on.

Returning to our common grounds, we were unexpectedly separated. Callie had fallen once again by a fresher water source that had a slight smell of chlorine. Greg was on a mission. A mission to remember, so that others who followed in their footsteps would know what to expect in these surroundings. Round and round Greg walked collecting valuable information. Watching, recording, watching, narrating a little, he completely covered the grounds and felt satisfied. What he had done, would undoubtedly be used by others in the future.

Callie screamed in the distance so Greg returned quickly to her. There, an iguana beast stood above her fallen body. Its tongue lashing in and out. Greg frightened it away by the mere pitter patter of his footsteps. Soon after the near death experience, they noticed something else suspicious in the air. It was as if we were being watched. “There!” Greg yelled pointing to the trees. Monkeys were everywhere. Lazily watching us with their half sleeping hands pointing at us. Maybe they were pointing at the ground. Not sure. But it was intense. A whole family of monkeys wanting to eat (with) us.

Hunger came upon Greg and Callie’s “frail” bodies. Following a common path used before, they came upon the smoothie operator, Callie armed again with her weapon of choice. Success! Callie’s weapon had no match! The sweet taste of tropical fruits blended with homemade yogurt on ice was enough to keep us barely alive. Leaving the food area, heading back to our air-conditioned cave we were stopped in our tracks again. The monkeys returned to finish the job they may or may not have started earlier. A dozen monkeys surrounded the cave. Eating wild fruits and sleeping the savage beasts did.

Slowly we eased our way into the cave and took a comfy nap. Hopefully when we wake, we will be safe from the monkeys, hopefully. Sure enough, when we awoke, the monkeys were not to be seen. But hunger had returned. Crawling on our feet back to the hunting grounds, Callie hunted some more food for us. Carolina pulled pork appetizers and some seared yellow fin tuna for the main course. She fed us well this evening. The sun is setting now and it is time to hide ourselves deep in the cave.

Hopefully tomorrow our rescue shall come.

Hopefully tomorrow.

LaLa

G & C

Adventure Day

July 6^th

Yet another sunny, bird chirping day. We had requested the night before to get a wake-up call this morning for 7:30 so we would not be late for our adventure at 8:30. But after Greg went to the little boys room and returned to fall back asleep, Callie insisted he check the time because she had a nightmare that the concierge desk forgot to give them their wake-up call. 8:07 am… perfect. Quickly we gathered ourselves and hustled down to the concierge desk.  We ate a quick, but oh so delicious, breakfast and headed out to meet our adventure guide.

I’m not going to try to spell his name, but “old man” was how we pronounced it. He was our guide for the day. He gave us a 4 second rundown on how to ride an ATV and soon Callie jumped on behind Greg and we were off. Flying down the road, dodging the same potholes as before, we found that traveling by ATV was a lot more fun than the SUV. Wind blowing through Greg’s luscious hair was a sight to see.

We arrived to our first destination on this adventure, the canopy zipline! Everyone got strapped in with a full harness and given specially made gloves with leather strips lining the inside palm of the glove. It felt too safe if you ask me. Not like the old days when Greg and Joe made em. Breaks? Who needs em?! The staff of the zipline gave us instructions in the best English they could muster, throwing in key words like, “you’re a proffesional!” and “you got it!” We jumped in a truck and they drove us up the hill to begin the cable course back down.

There was about 5 legs of this course. The longest span measuring over 500 meters. From way up in the trees, above the jungle, we could see all the way up and down the coastline. It was miraculous! If only Greg’s video recorder could have been set up on his right side, the videos being brought home would have shown you some excellent footage. Callie even hung upside down on the second to last line, a feat she is very proud of!  Zip. Zip. Zip. Zip. Zip. And we’re down back on the ground. What a thrilling way to start the day.

Once again, jumping on the ATVs, we roared off up and down some beautiful countryside roads to finally reach the Montezuma Waterfalls. Packing somewhat light, we trekked our way back up the bending river and reached a gushing waterfall. The brown water at the base of the thundering falls was too inviting to pass up. Callie and Greg jumped in and took a little swim. We were told, if we did not fear heights, we would be able to climb our way up the side of the waterfall and jump in… at our own risk. So we did. As long as you came back up and were able to swim back to the shoreline, no matter how scared you were, the brown water was more than able to hide the proof any fear produced.

Making our way back to the ATVs once again, we were now headed into the city of Montezuma. It appeared to be a little fishing/surfing town mainly catering to the tourists that pass through it. We did a little shopping and had some lunch. A beautiful blue bird visited us during lunch waiting for someone to drop anything it could put in its beak. After lunch, we got on our bikes for the final leg of our adventure and drove back to the resort.

Quite an exhausting day left us very tired. To try to take advantage of the remaining parts of this day, we sun bathed for a while occasionally jumping into the pool. Hunger made its way present once again. (On a side note: We found that the humidity and the heat somehow stifle any hunger pangs. And that the desires of eating comes less frequently than back home.) Sushi. Callie loves sushi and Greg had failed to try it… until today. Finding our way back to the resort restaurant, Callie ordered California Rolls and Greg ordered Philadelphia Rolls. Only realizing 5 minutes later that of all the options on the menu, we ordered the only two named after U.S. locations. Shrug. Tourists. Greg conceded. Sushi was all right.

Still exhausted, but at least well fed. We moseyed back to the room and replayed some of the videos taken from the day. It had been an extremely very fun day. The first three days we have completed the majority of our desired activities already. I fear the remainder of our blogging will now be filled with failed surfing attempts, and which one of us can sun tan darker. Either way, we’re both pretty sure we’ll be tanner than Angela when we get home.

LaLa

G & C

Time for Relaxation

July 5^th

Forecast called for thunderstorms, but we awoke to chirping birds and the golden rays of another sunny day. After waking from a twelve-hour slumber, we felt refreshed and quite certain we have properly adjusted to our one-hour time difference from home.

We slowly wandered down to the resort restaurant this morning after stopping off at the concierge office where we made our appointments for tomorrows adventures. A small bite to eat, we satisfied our morning hunger with delicious granola, creamy yogurt, and a blend of tropical fruits topped off with a tasty smoothie (minus the bananas).

Today’s plan was to take it easy and fully relax ourselves in the Costa Rican sun. We took a romantic walk on the beach after breakfast splashing our toes in the warm ocean waters. Hand in hand we walked observing the locals surfing trying to absorb as much as we could. Later in the week we will be making our own attempts at standing on a floating piece of foam as Mother Nature crashes down her mighty waves undoubtedly knocking us out of balance. We’ll be sure to video Callie’s attempts at surfing.

Returning to the resort after our walk, we laid in the sun, basking our pale skins. Had it not been for the periodic cooling breezes, it would have been futile to remain in the heat for any amount of time. Trying to pace ourselves for this tanning process, after flipping once to evenly tan our hot bods, we headed deeper into the resort away from the ocean to take a dip in the pool. Numerous iguanas and lizards joined us while we swam in the resort two-tiered pool. Our plan of relaxation was easy to accomplish.

By two o’clock it was time to eat. We made our way back to our Villa #4 to prepare ourselves for lunch. Our “outdoor” bathroom shower called to us, reminding us that we haven’t bathed since after the morning of our wedding. Taking a shower is refreshing… taking a shower outside is doubly refreshing.

Walking back to the restaurant we came across our first monkey! High in the trees, Callie followed the trails of small objects being dropped from above and through the leaves and branches we spotted it. Very exciting. At the restaurant, Callie continued to fully delve herself in the culture and ordered a lunch special with prawns. Greg…. got a cheeseburger with fries. Both meals were amazing as expected.

As the day continued to get hotter and hotter we took a quick refuge in our air-conditioned room. Stealing a nap for a short while, we later decided to walk down to the beach to read. Barely missing the sunset, we were awed once again at the still lingering golden-red horizon. The reading session was short lived as Greg felt a small drop of rain on his shoulder and the presence of storm was making itself known.

We headed back to the restaurant that was opened to the surrounding jungle and ocean views. For dinner we treated ourselves to a creamy goat cheese cake and chocolaty chocolate soufflé with ice cream. Tempted by the words “cheese cake”, Greg longed for his Philadelphia cream cheese triple thick cheesecake, but was satisfied by what this creamy goat offered.  By this time, the jungle was flashing with lightning and heavy rain drops had the resort surrounded. We ran back to our room as the warm falling rain wet our clothes as if someone was spraying us with warm… well… you know… warm water.

The clashing sounds of thunder, reminded us that maybe we could check in our dog, Olivia. Not exactly sure on how we were going to make contact with our families back home, we came to the conclusion that skype might be the answer! But alas, for skype to work well, we needed someone online on the other end. As I drug our computer and iphone out of the electronic safe in our room, a missed skype call from Valerie on Greg’s phone was a little eerie. The missed call only lit up the iphone for a minute, so we had missed her call by only seconds. Which means Callie and Valerie have superhuman telepathic communication skills that could possibly rival the superduperhuman triplet telepathic abilities. Yes…. okay… one second… Chris just told me to tell anyone reading this, “Hello”.

We skyped for a little while with Valerie, which was pretty cool considering our international communicating was FREE. We then had Valerie call Kim so that we could check in on how Olivia was doing. Kim and Angela skyped with us for a little while and we were informed that Olivia does not like fireworks but was doing just fine digging in the backyard flower bed and hanging out with Angela.

As the evening continues to rain, we remain quite cozy in our outdoor living room and entertain ourselves to the tropical sounds of the animals and falling rain. Day two felt very relaxing and we can’t wait for our adventures tomorrow.

LaLa

G & C

Costa Rica Here We Come!

July 3rd & 4th

Well it is almost midnight and we’re getting ready to fly off to Houston. Already feeling tired we board the plane to discover that neither of us have a window seat. Callie quickly called the aisle seat, which Greg was happy to give. Cause she is his wife, ya know. The third stranger sitting on the other side of Greg was a very quiet secluded woman whom kept to herself the entire trip, her loss. We were hoping to maybe see some fireworks from the pyro-happy kids who wanted to test out their explosives on the third of July, but our eyelids got the best of us and we fell asleep.

We arrived in Houston just barely leaving enough time to get ready for our next plane trip to San Jose. The three hour lay-over went by very slowly as Callie tried to fall asleep on a couple of bench seats pushed together while a broken TV speaker annoyed the heck out of everyone. We boarded the plane soon afterward and found that we were sitting in pretty much the same location, however, our stranger this time was delightfully more talkative. His name was Erich (which I stole from him as he filled out his customs form). He enjoys surfing in Australia and long walks on the Costa Rica beach.

Eventually we landed in San Jose and very wisely Callie asked for directions to our next plane trip and we gained valuable information that our next airport was only one block away, which we figured we could walk. But nonetheless, as soon as we exited the building, 4 taxi drivers offered very insistently that we needed to take their taxi to get there. We said, “No Gracias!” and strolled right on by.

After walking that grueling block, we entered the Sansa Airport Service where our luggage was weighed. Apparently, our luggage was “too heavy” and we needed to pay an additional 5 American dollars. Of course, she had no change for a 20 dollar bill, so we paid her in Colones. That was our first suspicious additional charge of the day. Fortunately, our bodies did not accrue an additional “too heavy” fee as we both stepped on the scale for the first time at an airport. Phew!

We were the first to arrive to the waiting room where we watched the runway as small 12-seater planes waited anxiously for new passengers. As we boarded the plane, we said a quick prayer and commented to each other how neither Greg’s Dad nor Valerie would ever be able to go thru what happened next. The plane jerked forward and we clumsily waddled down the runway and with a quick upward lift we were airborne. With our new video recorder, we filmed the takeoff and other spectacular views. High above the clouds we went and off towards the ocean we flew.

After a half hour or so, we nearly skidded the ocean waves as we squealed down on a gravel landing strip in the middle of the Tambor jungle. Safe at last we looked out the window to see some familiar names written on a dry-erase board: Callie and Greg Feltz.  :(  Close enough. Greg in his eagerness to get to the resort forgot his luggage and headed out of the gate. Callie quickly called Greg back to get his bag as the sound of about 6 Costa Ricans laughed at him. Then came our second suspicious additional charge. Apparently, there is a 1 dollar airport charge per passenger. Shrug.

We hopped in the Florblanca SUV and bounced down the broken streets of Tambor dodging potholes that came from everywhere. This portion of the trip lasted at least 45 minutes, give or take a spare tire, and was nearly accomplished in complete silence because the driver knew very little English and our Spanish was a little less than par. Greg whipped out the video recorder once again in an attempt to capture the beautimous scenery that surrounded us.

Soon we arrived at the resort and were greeted with cold towels and a friendly host, Esteban, aka Stephen. Estaban knew quite a bit more English and it was very comforting. This resort is looking very promising from the free Jacuzzi and morning Yoga sessions to the complimentary tandem Bikes and Surfboards at our disposal. We are in heaven! At least a Spanish Heaven! The Villa #4 we’re staying in has exceeded all of our expectations. It even came with a lizard or two, a couple crabs, and a frog. It has a hammock built for triplets and an outdoor bathroom, which we were promised that only the monkeys would be able to see in to.

We quickly unpacked and headed down to the beach. In all of our excitement, we fell asleep for about an hour as the sun was setting across a horizon of ocean. The good nap was then followed by a splendiferous dinner in a restaurant virtually our own. Callie shared her Red Snapper with Greg and Callie pretended to like his Marsala Chicken. They were both amazing dishes and worth every Colones.

Day one is done and hopefully more to come!

LaLa

G & C