Day 0 (Monday, March 14th)
2:00 PM - We say goodbye to Violet for what will be our longest separation. A tear runs down my face as Gene scolds me for showing emotion. Actually, he was more concerned that Violet will associate tears and sadness with us leaving so he suggested we clap excitedly next time we leave.
8:00 PM - Arrive in San Jose only to learn that our rental cars have been brought to the airport instead of the rental pick-up place near our hotel. A woman running a taxi stand volunteers to call our rental car company and tell them that we will be picking up our cars tomorrow, next to the hotel. We agree since we were told it's best not to drive at night in Costa Rica, especially not knowing where you are going.
9:00 PM - After checking in to our hotel, (Grano de Oro) we decide to head to a local place for a late dinner. The woman at the front desk giggles and suggest we take a cab even though it is a five minute walk. I take it we're not in Kansas anymore. We arrive at Soda Tapia and immediately order a round of cervezas (beers). The decor resembles an American diner and has red checkered tablecloths to match. After multiple rounds of beer and some delicious local food, our bill arrives and we are pleasantly surprised to see that it comes out to $8 per person.
11:00 PM - Back at the hotel we crack open a bottle of tequila that Gene bought at the duty-free shop. Being no expert in tequila, I required lime and salt, which appeared miraculously thanks to Slava. The bottle was done before we knew it, so we ordered our wake-up calls and headed off to bed.
Day 1 (Tuesday, March 15th)
7:30 AM- Wake-up and have breakfast at the hotel. We start our humble journey in this third world country by having chef Francis Canal whip us up some poached eggs topped with caviar that we wash down with fresh squeezed Cas (similar to Guava) juice.
9:30 AM - We walk to the rental car place a few blocks away only to learn that our cars are at the airport. Apparently the lovely woman running the taxi stand was more interested in getting paying passengers than solving their car problems - go figure. Half of us ended up sitting at the rental car place for two hours and waiting for the cars to be delivered, while the other half sat in the hotel lobby enjoying the free Wi-Fi.
11:30 AM - With our cars ready and packed, we stood outside of the hotel and wolfed down a few sandwiches - courtesy of Vika via Cherry Hill.
1:45 PM - We arrive at Tabacon where we are greeted with fresh squeezed juice and blue wristbands, which grant us free access to the hot springs. After checking out the rooms, we drop off our bags and head out for the first activity of the trip - Arenal National Park. As we drive up to the base of the volcano, we get distracted by a sign that reads: 1968. The handsome, blue eyed, boy toy at the entrance tells us that while this isn't the National Park, this hike is much better. Who can argue with a blue-eyed hunk? Not this group! We cough up the 80 bucks and start on our 2km journey up the volcano or rather somewhere near the volcano. The view at the top wasn't spectacular so we spent the next 15 minutes trying to balance our cameras on various rocks to get a semi-decent group picture.
4:00 PM - Head back to our resort, grab our bathing suits and make our way to the hot springs. We enter the resort and oooh and ahhh at how beautiful it is and proceed directly to the buffet. Italian night. Delicious. After stuffing ourselves beyond belief there is nothing left to do but submerge in hot water and hope not to sink. There were numerous pools/springs varying in temperatures (from 77 to 102 degrees) and sizes. We moved from one to the other letting the hot waterfalls massage our backs.
After a few hours in boiling water, we headed to the lowest level pool which was lukewarm and most importantly had a swim up bar (and water slide).
9:00 PM - Back at the hotel we all meet up at SS's (Sereja's and Slava's) room to continue our drink-fest. Wine, bloody Marys and vodka with pear juice flow like water as we anxiously await midnight to celebrate Vika's Birthday. At 12:30 AM the concierge FINALLY comes by with her white chocolate cake. We sing Happy Birthday and complain about the slow service before heading off to bed. Tomorrow is another big day!
Day 2 (Wednesday, March 16th)
8:00 AM - We had breakfast at the hotel where we spotted multiple coati's rummaging through the trash. The six of us ate fresh fruits and "desayuno tipico", which consisted of rice, beans, plantains, and two eggs. The service was incredibly slow. It's as if they thought we were on vacation.
9: 30 AM - Our first activity of the day is a hike through a park that has multiple suspension bridges. As we walked along the 2km path, we saw wild turkeys, exotic birds and sloths. Essentially, we didn't see anything that most of us don't see walking along Ocean Parkway.
noon - Back at the hotel we find Vika and Sereja about to order a very late breakfast, so we talk them out of it and convince them to eat in the main town (La Fortuna). The first place we walk into was a recommendation from the boy-toy we met yesterday. As we walk in, tons of cards and pamphlets for the 1968 hike are scattered throughout the restaurant. Along with them are also about a dozen dogs napping underneath the tables. Hmmm, inviting, but we shall move on. There was a restaurant a few doors down that was pretty packed, so we gave that a try. Las Brisas turned out to be a somewhat authentic Costa Rican restaurant, with good food and most importantly, tons of beer. We left feeling stuffed beyond belief and headed to the next most logical destination - the supermarket. The following day we had to wake up early for our rappelling trip, so we wanted to buy breakfast (and booze) in advance.
3:30 PM - We wanted to squeeze in one more activity before heading back to the hot springs, so I begged and pleaded to go back to Arenal National Park since I was convinced that we were swindled the day before and were missing out on the REAL volcanic action. The plan was to do a quick hike but we soon learned that the park closes at 3 PM, unless of course you are with a tour guide. Conveniently enough, there just happened to be a tour guide a few feet away who was happy to take us into the park. Thus our journey with Eduardo began. The first part of the 2km hike (yes, I think all hikes here are 2km) was mostly along flat terrain where Eduardo pointed out a mimosa (not the drink), a baby viper and a taranchula. About 3/4 of the way up, the path got a lot more rough and we had to climb through volcanic rock to get as close as possible to the volcano. After finding a shady area, we sat down and Eduardo told us about the history of Arenal. His 30 minute history lesson reminded me of all the boring power point presentations I have had to sit through in the last several years. He passed around a booklet showing various photographs of Arenal over the last century. After doing a quick Google search, I learned that either Eduardo had no idea what he was talking about or Wikipedia needs a lot of updating. At the end of the lesson, we rushed back to the hotel so we can make it to the hot springs before the sun sets.
5:00 PM - Most of the group takes pictures of one another while Maugli (Gene) and I climb up and down the falls until it gets too hot and too dark to see. Just like the previous night, we ultimately end up at the bar in the coolest of the springs.
7: 30 PM - Back at Tabacon we change and get ready to celebrate Vika's Birthday. The girls donned their highest heels and the boys even shaved for the occasion. The restaurant (Don Rufino) was recommended by our new friend Eduardo and it was fantastic! Looking back now, it was probably one of our top three meals in Costa Rica. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and went to bed early in anticipation of our big activity tomorrow - water rappelling!
Day 3 (Thursday, March 17th)
6:30 AM - Wake up. Brutal.
7: 00 AM - Six of us get on the bus and 20 minutes later we are dropped off in front of multiple open roof 4x4 jeeps.
The 4x4s then take us up a very windy and rocky road to our ultimate destination - a lodge which houses the equipment for rappelling. Mere minutes later, we are standing in a harness, helmet and wearing very stinky and wet gloves. Another few minutes (and a short hike later) and we are standing on top of a 162 foot waterfall (about 16 stories) listening to safety instructions and learning how to descend properly. It was at this point that my knees got weak, my heart started pumping out of my chest and I wondered if I would really be able to do this. Somehow I ended up at the front of the group and a tanned Tico (Costa Rican) was telling me to turn around and begin my descend. Is he crazy? He wants me to turn around and plunge backwards to my demise? I began to reason with myself, explaining how safe it is and that there is nothing to worry about - except of course the rope ripping and plunging to my death. OK, here goes nothing. I leaned back and slowly fell, letting the rope support me as I held for dear life. Just like the Tico explained, I let the rope slide through my hands as I made small jumps all the way down to the base of the waterfall. This was the tallest of all the falls and for me, the most memorable. The remaining four waterfalls were all different in their own way. Some had steep drops, not allowing you to jump too much, while others had heavy streams of water hitting you in the face as you made your descend.
The activity took about two hours, at the end of which we had to hike back up to the lodge. It felt like 20 minutes on the stair-master as we climbed up wearing all of our equipment. Back at the lodge we took off our gear and recounted the last several hours focusing mostly on reaching new levels of fear. We were once again ushered into the jeeps for yet another bumpy ride to our next destination - lunch! The food was served in an area with multiple picnic tables under a thatched roof, with a TV in the corner looping pictures of our recent excursion. As we focused on the screen, waiting to see our scared little faces, we were served fruit juice and casado. I am not sure if it was the rappelling that worked up our appetite, but the food was divine and can be added to the list of favorite foods in Costa Rica. After a great trip and a delicious lunch, the trip concluded with a perfect cup of coffee. It was so good that it didn't need milk or sugar and to this day I still think about that perfect little cup of joe. We got back on the bus and were back at Tabacon before we knew it, preparing for our trip to Monteverde.
1:00 PM - Packed and ready for our next big adventure, we input the address of the next hotel (Rustic Lodge) into the navigation system only to realize that it's a measly 14 miles away. This seemed odd as we recalled someone telling us that it is a 3 hour drive. After calling the hotel, we learned that it is in fact a 14 mile drive but due to the unpaved, windy roads, it should take us 3 hours. Two hours into the trip one of the cars gets a flat tire, in the middle of no where of course.
4:00 PM - We pull up to the town of Santa Elena (Monteverde) and we are greeted with a bold, beautiful rainbow and our host (and hotel owner) Jose.
We are shown to our rooms and it appears that the last person to stay in our room decided to leave some seledka (herring) under the mattress. Jose apologized profusely and explained that the previous occupants must have let the dog into the room. Unless the dog was hiding seledka under his fur, I wasn't buying it. Either way, he was very kind and immediately changed our room.
7:00 PM - Jose recommended a seafood restaurant which consisted of no more than 10 or 12 tables and occupied the second floor of a two story building, with a bakery on the first. The food was once again terrific and most of us couldn't help but get the same dishes: whole fried fish, shrimp with garlic and sea bass covered in guacamole (better than it sounds).
9:00 PM - After another huge meal, there was again only one place we could visit next: the supermarket. It was on the other side of town, but since the town consisted of only 3 blocks, it took us 20 seconds to walk there. We stocked up on fruits (watermelon, pineapple, and a guayaba) and headed back to the hotel. The fruits were delicious, except the guayaba (or guava), which (as Shprints pointed out) tasted like a mix between an apple and a raw potato.
11:00 PM - Back to SS's room to eat our fruits, listen to cheesy Russian music, play cards and drink (wine for the lightweights and vodka for the true Russians).
Day 4 (Friday, March 18th)
7:00 AM- Another early morning as we get ready to zip line through the cloud forest of Monteverde. It was drizzling outside and the temperature reminded me of a cold spring morning in NY. We huddled around the breakfast table and devoured the scrambled eggs, fruit and coffee before getting on the shuttle bus.
8:00 AM - The routine felt familiar as we are once again strapped into a harness and shuffled into yet another van for a short ride up the mountain. Our group consisted of about 20 people but there were 2-3 other groups in front of us, so we knew this wasn't going to be quick. After listening to the instructions, which mostly explained how to break and a few safety rules, we began our wait in the cold, rainy forest. An hour later we are hooked up to a wire, told to cross our legs and pushed off the platform and into the wilderness. Our 13 zip line journey began. It was a lot of fun but the constant waiting at each platform made it somewhat anticlimactic. The last zip line was 1km long (about 1/2 mile) and required two people at a time, in order to increase the weight and subsequently the speed. Gene hopped on my back, and off we went. The instructor allowed me to take off my breaking glove and film the adventure.
11:30 AM - Back at the lodge we meet up with Vika and Sereja to walk the hanging bridges. Since we didn't have too much time before our next activity (lunch. yes that's an activity) we had to pick up the pace. The entire hike took us about an hour and also made me realize that once you've seen one hanging bridge, you kind of seen them all.
1: 00 PM - A van takes us back to our hotel and we grab lunch before our next activity - the Don Juan coffee tour. Jose recommends a local place around the corner, so we gladly take his suggestion. We walk in to find a grinning grandma wearing a colorful apron, gesturing us to sit down. The restaurant is sparingly decorated with only a handful of tables but immediately gives off a warm and welcoming vibe. Exhausted from a long morning, we order cervezas and the first round is gone in minutes. Most of us order the traditional casado dish and patiently wait as our grandma/waitress/chef/busboy prepares our food. A short while later there is silence as we devour our food. I had a fish casado that left me absolutely speechless. The fish was fresh, soft, flaky and oozed authenticity. I would even go as far as saying that this was my favorite meal of the entire trip.
3: 00 PM- We are picked up by yet another van and driven to Don Juan's coffee plantation. Our tour guide, a young chubby blond girl, couldn't possibly look any less Costa Rican. She was very sweet and walked us through the plantation as she explained the coffee growing/making process. Here are some highlights:
1. From the moment you plant the beans, coffee takes up to four years to make
2. Costa Rican coffee good --> all other coffee bad
3. Instant coffee --> very bad
At the end of the tour we made our own sugar cane juice by pushing multiple giant rollers in a clockwise direction. It was delicious!
We also got to try some of the coffee from the plantation, which was so smooth that it didn't even need any sugar. The tour was almost complete, but not before we can ride an oxen, who didn't seem too thrilled about being ridden.
6:00 PM - We return to the Rustic Lodge, for a much needed shower. In the lobby, we run into Jose and thank him for the fantastic lunch recommendation and ask him to suggest another restaurant for dinner. He excitedly tells us that there is a new place that opened up a few weeks ago and they don't quite have a menu because they are just starting out, so everyone gets a choice of fish, chicken or steak. The meal is also served with an appetizer, dessert and a glass of wine, all for $20. He bashfully admits that the proprietress is his girlfriend's mother and since the establishment is just starting out, they are working hard to attract new customers. Having no other plans, and having such success with Jose's other recommendations, we gladly oblige.
8:30 PM - We meet Jose in the lobby to ask him for directions but he insists on driving with us so we don't get lost. It took only about five minutes before we turned off onto a dirt road and saw a tiny restaurant. We walk in to find that it is even smaller inside (5-8 tables max) with simple, yet elegant decor. Along the walls there are multiple wooden, hand carved statues with a plaque of the artist's name and a hefty price tag ($1k-$5k). We are seated and Jose immediately disappears into the kitchen in the back of the restaurant. A few minutes later he brings out some wine and we convince him to join us for dinner. The first course was a delicious cream of pumpkin soup and for the entree most of us got the fish, which was also very tasty. Gene got the steak but after tasting my fish concluded that it was probably the best fish he has ever had. He liked his steak as well but said it didn't compare to the quality of the American steakhouses. By the time dessert was offered we were stuffed, so many of us opted for another glass of wine. We also jumped at the opportunity to talk to Jose about life in Costa Rica. He spoke candidly about politics, ecology, tourism and we even got a chance to ask him about things to do at our next destination - Manuel Antonio.
11:00 PM - Sleepy time!
Day 5 (Saturday, March 19th)
8:00 AM - Wake up and have another tasty breakfast at Rustic. This time we ate pancakes and sausages and as soon as our plates were nearly empty, Jose would rush out and serve us seconds (and thirds). After breakfast we check out and hugs and kisses are passed all around as we say goodbye to our gracious host. I make a mental note to stay at B&Bs more often.
9:30 AM - We start on our trip to the beach town of Manuel Antonio and the road is once again unpaved and even rockier than before. About two hours into our trip we notice Slava waving his hands frantically and honking the car. We stop the car, get out and learn that we have another flat tire. Apparently, they have been signaling for us to stop the last ten minutes, so we have been driving with this flat for quiet some time. By this point all of us have become pros at changing tires and so we were back on the road within ten minutes. Back in the car Vika (who observed, and participated in the tire changing process) declared that if the need ever arises she can now change her own flat tire. Gene and Rizov spent the next 15 minutes convincing her to call AAA if that ever does happen. In true Vika fashion, she ignored their pleas.
12:30 PM - Rest stop at Alligator Alley. Jose mentioned that half way to Manuel Antonio there will be a bridge underneath of which we can see tons of alligators tanning away.
We made a 20 minute stop to snap some pictures, use the restrooms and pick up some refreshments (ice ream and coconut water).
2: 00 PM- We enter the town of Manuel Antonio and are immediately grateful that the biggest chunk of our trip will be spent here. Besides the cute restaurants lining the streets, the town is also surrounded by gorgeous beaches. And unlike the frigid climate of Monteverde, it is 80s and sunny. As we drive along the curves of the mountain, we anxiously await to see our hotel. The GPS finally tells us that we have arrived at our destination and in front of us we see an adorable boutique hotel by the name of Mango Moon. We enter through the small gate and our eyes immediately focus on the pool, surrounded by a breathtaking bay with perfect blue waters. Excitement starts to build as we check-in and reminisce about Buzios, (Brasil) where we had a similar hotel.
2: 30 PM - We eat lunch by the pool and spend a few hours relaxing, reading, tanning and playing cards, all while enjoying cool and refreshing cervezas and mojitos.
4: 30 PM - We drive down to one of the beaches where we take pictures and watch the sunset
6:00 PM - Upon returning to our hotel we see about a dozen monkeys climbing from tree to tree. It turns out they live in one of the trees on the hotel property and return to their home each evening. The monkeys weren't the only animals in the hotel, which we also shared with a 13 year old white husky, 2 cats and Iggy the Iguana. Gene took a particular liking to Iggy and felt the need to feed him flowers every chance he got. He even scoured the property to collect different types of flowers so Iggy can have some variety in his diet. Gene was basically the Jewish grandmother that Iggy never knew he had.
8: 30 PM- The girl at the front desk suggests a restaurant that was a 5 minute walk away, but since we didn't make reservations (and this was one of the hot spots) we had to wait a good 20 minutes to be seated. The time flew by quickly - mostly thanks to the mojitos. Since we weren't too hungry, we decided to order a bunch of appetizers instead of our usual apps+main. Unfortunately, we failed to notice that the appetizers at this place were the same size as entrees, so ordering 12 of them wasn't very helpful. As we ate I overheard the hostess telling the table next to us that she came to CR six years ago on her honeymoon and never went back home. Now she is works here with her husband, who just happens to be the chef of the restaurant. This made me think of my college days when many of my friends dreamed about living on some remote island and running a restaurant out of a cozy little shack. I wonder how many of them actually fulfilled their dreams.
Day 6 (Sunday, March 20th)
7:00 AM - We're up early again, but this time it is for our tour of the Manuel Antonio national park, where we will walk a small trail (2km) and search for various animals that live in the jungle. After we order breakfast, we decide to Skype Gene's parents (who had Violet for the day). At this point it was nearly a week since we last saw her and we missed her terribly. After a few rings our little munchkin appeared on the screen. Only instead of looking at us, she was much more concerned about eating the highlighter that was on the desk. None the less, it was great to see her little face.
7: 45 AM - Bus picks us up and 20 minutes later we are at the entrance to Manuel Antonio park and being introduced to our guide Mauricio, who asks that we call him Mao for short. The tour has a fairly slow start as Mao points out a sloth, lizard, birds, termite nests and a deer. Vika was so excited about the deer that Shprints thought she saw a dinosaur. As we continue down the trail we see different species of lizards, monkeys and birds.
Towards the end of the tour we stopped for a little break at a beach appropriately titled Beach #3.
When we resumed the tour we walked past Beach #2 and Beach #1 and ultimately arrived in front of a van, which took us to a restaurant for complimentary fruits and drinks.
1:00 PM - At the hotel we order salads and mahi mahi sandwiches, which we eat by the pool.
2:30 PM - We were told that there is a direct path from our hotel to a private beach. What they failed to mention was the very steep incline and high tide. As we slid down the mountain in our flip flops, we arrived at a beach almost completely covered by water. After ten minutes there, we were ready to climb back up. The hike couldn't have been more than 20 minutes but felt like a lifetime as we huffed and puffed our way up the hill. The only thing keeping us going was the pool at the end of our uphill journey.
3: 30 PM - Seeing as how I have a hard time sitting still, I suggested we drive down to the beach and swim with the surfers. Everyone agreed and we drove down to a nearby beach to jump waves. The waves kept getting stronger and stronger, swallowing us up under the water and tumbling us towards the shore. Several times I knocked into Gene and our fun ultimately ended when Slava lost a few layers of skin (thanks to the sand) on his arm.
5: 15 PM - We drove back to the hotel, which promised us the best views of the sunset. It didn't disappoint. In fact, it could probably compete with the views in Rockhouse (Jamaica) and Marizan (Greece). We played cards and watched the sunset until it got too dark to see, at which point we went to our rooms and agreed to meet up for dinner.
8: 00 PM - Front desk recommended another restaurant a few minutes away. The place looked cute and was pretty busy, so we decided to try it out. The waiter comes over and starts to list all the thing they ran out of in the kitchen. The list is long. We ask what he recommends and he says that the mahi mahi is delicious and also their most popular dish, but they are all out. Vika mumbles, "ya seichas evo poveshu". We ordered the 2-3 things they had left, displeased with our selection. The drinks arrive and they are not good, so we set our expectation low. The food arrives and as expected, it is barely edible. We pick at it and move the food around the plate, leaving most of it uneaten. It begins to pour so we order dessert to kill more time. The waiter informs us that it will be on the house. I presume that's either because they had no food left or because the food they DID have was disgusting. All of us agreed that after a week of traveling we were bound to stumble upon at least one bad meal.
10:30 PM - We laughed about only old people going to bed at this hour and promptly fell asleep. Let's just blame it on the time difference.
Day 7 (Monday, March 21st)
8:30 AM - Breakfast at the hotel before going to explore yet another beach
10: 00 AM - We park along the road and hike (only about 10 minutes) down to the beach. It was a very rustic and wild beach that only existed during low tide. Luckily our timing was perfect so we sprawled out on our towels and enjoyed the views. As secluded as it was, we still somehow ended up 30 feet away from a group of Russians. Besides us and the Russians there were maybe 5 or 10 other people on the entire beach. Each of us too the time to do what we enjoy most. Gene slept. Slava tanned. Shprints and I planned our next vacation Anya and Zhenya built a sand castle. We later learned that Anya thought she was building a 2 bedroom condo with ocean views, while Zhenya thought he was building boobs. In the end they compromised by sticking a lit cigarette on the very top and calling it a volcano.
Noon - The sun was getting strong so we came back to the hotel to grab a quick bite before our next activity - a catamaran ride.
1: 15 PM - The bus picks us up and we make a few stops at various hotels, ultimately arriving at the docks. There are two boats: one that holds 25 people and one that holds 45. We opted for the smaller and more intimate boat even though the bigger boat had a pretty awesome looking slide.
Within minutes of taking off we were enjoying rum with pineapple juice while laying on the bow of the ship. The cool water splashed our hiney when the boat sped up, making the adventure that much more enjoyable. After about an hour of drinking and dancing we spotted some dolphins. I have seen them on many of the boat trips I've taken but never this close. They literally jumped a few feet in front of us. Vika and I were really impressed but Shprints said he had better views at the aquarium. After the ooohs and ahhhhs subsided we resumed our regularly scheduled activity - drinking. The next stop was a cove where we can go swimming or snorkeling. This was also where we had the option to head over to the larger boat and go down the slide, which was appropriately named the Tsunami. It was about 20 feet tall and had very steep vertical drop. While I only had the cojones to go down once, Maugli did it on his back, stomach, head and probably would have done it if descended into a fire pit. Hombre Loco. While we were frolicking in the water, the Ticos cooked us dinner consisting of sea bass shish kabobs, salad and fruit. Food, rum, music, what else can we ask for? The sun was starting to set but it was a particularly cloudy day so there wasn't much to see. The music mellowed down and the Macarena was replaced by Whitney Houston's, I will always love you. We slowly made our way to the docks and back on the bus for the return trip to the hotel.
8:00 PM - It was our last night in Manuel Antonio so we decided to venture out on our own to a place we often passed, which looked more like a plane wreck than a restaurant - El Avion. The place was pretty packed for a Monday night, so we took our seats and ordered some sangria. Both the food and service were pretty good - nothing to complain about after two pitchers of sangria.
11:00 PM - Another early night before our big travel day
Day 8 (Tuesday, March 22nd)
8:30 AM - Wake up and order the usual breakfast - omelettes, pancakes, etc.
10:00 AM - We start on our long journey to San Jose. Our first stop is the tire shop so we can fix the spare (now flat) tire. The first flat we got (on the way to Monteverde) was fixed by Jose at no charge. This tire cost us a whopping $2 at a nearby mechanic.
Noon - We were driving through Jaco, which is another popular CR destination, and decided to stop off to buy some souvenirs. It is known to be a beach town, so after an hour of looking at t-shirts, hats and various other kitsch, we decided to keep going. Glad that this ended up as a view point, rather than a destination.
1:00 PM - Back on the road
1:45 PM- Our gas gauge drops from 1/4 tank to E in a matter of minutes, so with the help of our navigation system we get off the main road in search of a gas station. Luckily there is one about 5 miles away - on top of a mountain! In 90 degree heat we turn off the AC (to conserve gas) and make our way up the hill in the hopes of not running out of gas. Success! I don't think we could have handled more car trouble.
3:00 PM - We return our cars and check into our original hotel - Grano de Oro. It felt great ending the trip where it all started, especially since that was one of the swankier hotels.
3: 30 PM - Grab a cab to take us to the center of town to see the cathedral, the theater and grab a quick bite to eat a very local establishment - McDonalds. Actually, we were the only tourists there as we looked around to find families, school kids and couples (making out) on what appeared to be first dates. We buy some more souvenirs and head back to the hotel to kill time before our big, fancy dinner.
5: 00 PM - We play cards and my performance slowly declines with each beer I drink. After the 3rd beer, I might as well have been playing high/low.
8:45 PM- Dinner. We knew it was fancy shmancy because there were six pieces of silverware. A group like ours shouldn't be allowed into these types of establishments because surely we must ruin the meal for everyone within a 50 foot radius. Food was great but the highlight was reminiscing about the trip and learning Ukrainian from Gene. Well, actually most of the Ukrainian was taught to us from Swanson (the hungry man or a.k.a. Zhenya). Here are five words that everyone should know:
1. taburetka- pidsrachnik
2. attach - prikopchat'
3. turn - povertat'
4. five - pyatka (pronounced like the Russian word for heel)
5. fight - bitka
11:30 PM - Back to S&S's room to finish the liquor. Since we don't believe in wasting booze, a half a bottle of vodka and a bottle of wine were gone in no time!
1:00 AM - Sleep before our 5AM wake up and flight back home.
Day 9 (Wednesday, March 23rd)
5:00 AM - Wake up. Getting up this early will never cease to feel painful.
5:30 AM- We meet up in the lobby, pay our bill and pour ourselves a hot cup of coffee before getting into the cab and heading for the airport.
8:30 AM - Everything goes smoothly and we are up in the air and on our way back home. Normally, I am sad to return from vacation but for the first time in my life I felt happy to go back home. I had a fantastic week in Costa Rica and now I am returning to my precious little girl.
3: 00 PM - (NY Time) We arrive at my mom's apartment with a huge grin on our face. It's the moment we have been waiting for - seeing Violet. We walk in and she looks at us blankly, without much recognition. In one measly week our baby forgets who we are! It was so sad!
7:00 PM - We head back home and resume our routine like we were never gone.
