Pura Vida!

About 13 days ago I embarked on a new adventure and what an adventure it turned out to be! I drove up to Charlotte the evening of the 24th of May and checked into the Red Roof Inn. I was starving at that point (after passing exit after exit looking for an Arby's that never came). So I paid for a pizza that came 1 ½ hours late and cost me $18 because the delivery guy didn't have change. Some great start to my vacation.

It got better. The next morning I made to the airport on time and had no problems checking in. The problem came when my flight started boarding and my two friends weren't anywhere to be seen. By the time I was on the plane they called and said that they missed the baggage cutoff by 5 minutes and had to wait until the next day to leave. Ugh. They were my ride from the airport in Costa Rica to their hotel. Fortunately Ana (my friend I stayed with in Costa Rica) had a taxi driver waiting for me with a sign with my name on it. So, our plans were changed a little bit but everyone ended up getting there.

Friday, the day Amanda and Kenny arrived, we drove up to the Arenal Volcano and stayed at the Volcano Lodge. The fact that we got there was a miracle. The road system in Costa Rica is not by any means safe. The people turn a two lane road into four (there aren't lines dividing lanes). Between the cars are people walking around and selling things to cars passing by. Needless to say, there are a great many of them who are killed.

The road up to the volcano is very windy and hilly (since we were climbing a mountain into the cloud forest) and we regularly ran into herds of cattle in the middle of the road. The worst came when we arrived at a bridge that was “cerrado” (closed). There were giant boulders and rubble we had to drive around and then we had to cross a part of the bridge that had huge holes in it covered with wooden planks. Now, there was about a 500 foot drop if this bridge gave out, and it was about 200 feet long...not my idea of a good time. There was another hole (even bigger than the first one) at the other end where they had placed a small metal bridging element over it so we had to hit it at the exact place to cross. We were all shaking at the end of it.

After that we had a nice time at the volcano although it was so cloudy that we never actually saw it. The next day we traveled to Tamarindo Beach (on the Pacific) where the roads were even worse. They changed from paved to dirt with huge potholes, back to being paved. This went on and on, I almost got sick in the car from all the bumping. The beach was absolutely beautiful. We spent two days there and relaxed and ate great food (except for the flies all around our food).

On Monday we made the trip back to San Jose and got settled in to city life. I stayed at Ana's house with her and her parents in Escazu (area of San Jose) and Amanda and Kenny stayed in a hotel. Ana had to go back to work on Tuesday so Amanda, Kenny, and I took part in a canopy tour in San Lorenzo. We had heavy harnesses on with safety lines and we were hooked up to cables and we flew through the tree tops of the jungle. It was great.

Wednesday we spent in the city walking around town and shopping at the open markets. We got more of a taste of their culture. Thursday was the highlight of the trip. Amanda, Kenny, and I (Ana was sick and couldn't go) went white water rafting down the Pacuare River on the Eastern side of the country. It was a class 4 rapid and we rafted 22 miles. It took us 4 hours in the water but it was amazing! The Scenery was incredible. We were in the rain forest and while we were rafting, it started to rain on us. It was perfect. We all got soaked.

Friday was a lazy day since we had to leave on Saturday. I had such a great time but I was ready to go home by the end. I was ready to speak English and have myself understood and I was ready to get back to my hubby! I missed him so much!