costa rica was awesome!

Besides the flights and the lay overs and all that jazz rah rah rah the rest of the trip was spectacular! When I flew into san jose I was immedietly surrounded by a familiar feeling of complete unfamiliarity, such was the feeling when I flew into korea for the first time and was surrounded by a mass of people who I am incapable of communicating with for the most part. I was worried when Icouldn't make my phone call out, I was ever more flustered when the only information my phone would give me as to why I could not call out was all in spanish. Tmobile had once again let me down. Luckily I found kristy waiting for me just outside the airport. Her phone didn't pick up any bars in San Jose as well, so it was rocky there for the both of us on arrival. We then took a taxi to the other side of san jose to the smaller jet port taht would fly us to our beach destinatin, Manuel antonio! I was tired and stinky and couldn't wait to arrive! The flight to the beach was short, 15 -20 tedious minutes with serious drops and swoops and dangerous banks that had us clinging to our seats and praying, well on kristy's part, I mostly just hung on for dear life and screamed everytime our little tiny plane hit any serious turbulance.



Our hotel, the mono Azul, the blue monkey was pretty impressive. It was just as I had expected Costa rica to look, and every building was all open and airy, with a hint of the third world country that we were in, which I liked a lot. It would seem pointless to visit a third world country, ( and they called themselves that, I didn't say it) and have it look just like the hilton hawaiian, everything felt more real, rustic, and authentic there. Quepos and Manuel antonio are joining towns split by a small winding road littered with little restaurants and grocery stores. We stayed right in the middle, closer to Quepos side than Manuel antonio.



First day there we jsut settled in, we had to switch rooms in the morning cuz of some conflict in scheduling. it was a nice room with one big bed. the hotel had wireless internet and 3 pools, and it was only 50 a night, for that I would consider it quite luxerious! Our first day tehre we saw the monkeys! there was a small blue line going acrossed the road so the monkeys can cross safely. We heard them first, then a whole slew of them bounding across the rope 2 or 3 at a time, playing and screeching. One little one almost fell off and all the observers gasp! then he stablized himself and continued across. I got some of this on video, unfortunately my camera was lost somewhere between the laguardia ariport and the queens motor inn... :(tragic indeed.



Our second day we left early for the Manue antonio National Park. That was fabulous! It was a pretty good hike, then we took another extra trail away from the main beaches to hit up a couple smaller ones. It was the most gorgeous views, the water was green and blue in the most amazing shades. there were wild iguana littered all over the beaches and all through the park. I almost stumbled right into a huge one who just refused to move! Kristie saw it and was yelling to me, but i just kept walking right to the last second when I saw the second one next to him, and yelped and jumped. then did i see the one that almost ate me, twice the size as his partner, it was a close call- i was close enough to have reached down and touched it one of the people near us told me. no shit... don't wanna do that again! The main beaches were breath taking as well, and there were white faced monkeys crossing our paths, they are so playful and tame I was shocked! The little monkeys by our hotel were smaller called Titi monkeys. A raccoon came up and stole a bag of cookies from a woman while she was sitting right there holding on to them! so I guess the monkeys aren't the only things that are tame in the area! We saw sloths and kristie saw a snake in the national park too. I got pictures of the sloths, but the camera thing again.. you know.



We just walked around Manuel Antonio for a while after we were done in the park, which is really only one main road and people set up their kiosks and sell "original" my ass costa rican trinkets. most of the things were things you could buy in the "international marketplace" in hawaii. so it took us a while to come upwith some real authentic (as far as i know, at least it wasnt hawaiian loking) gifts for everyone.



I think the next day we were pretty tired, I had a headache that lasted almost 3 days, I think it was something to do with the pina coladas i had the first night I was there, so no more dirnking for me after that first night. We went zip lining a few days after arriving, the front desk set that up for us and a tour bus picked us up. it was so much fun. we didn't see any wildlife really but we were also at the end of the line so anything would have been scared away by the time we got there. the point was we went ziplineing through a rainforest! attached by only pully things I dont really get. the guides were nice, especially one, stephen who was a cutie! he hit on us we flirted back, but i'm guessing he was married or something, way too cute to be just single hanging out in a rainforest. anyways i have someone, so we decided to not go out after he invited us to meet up out on the town. the ziplining tour had ziplining, doi, repelling, which was scary especially after they told me the link was going to be really hot and watch out it doesnt burn your skin off when we strap it back on to your belt line, oh ge thanks for the heads up! i was so scared! it was relaly hot i caught my hand on it once right after we repelled, ouch!! the tarzan swing was scary too, that i was just afraid the person who was supposed to catch me on the otherside would miss and i'd be stuck dangling between two trees all day. irrational i know. it was a loooooong ass way down though and that was a little scary too, even though i'm not afraid of heights I don't think i would enjoy falling like 10 stories down.



We had a couple days of rest and relaxation and some shopping in Manuel Antonio. Our last adventure was the white water rafting. We chose the easiest one, but turns out we didnt' get the easiest one, we got the hardest one, and they looked pretty calm but it was all the work I could do to keep myself in that raft. We had a lot of fun, and our guide was nice. he had a tattoo on his leg of a sea horse too! same leg about the same size as mine too! crazy!! the river was fun, we had a water war with the other raft but they had more people.

our last day we spent sight seeing in san jose the capital and went to a zoo like biopark thing, not many animals but we had fun anyways. we shopped at the market center and then flew out at 330 the next morning. so much fun so many memories, def gotta do it again sometime