Costa Rica, Parte Uno (or "how Kelvin got over vacation PTSD")

Costa Rica is FABULOUS.

When K and I were deciding in December-January where to go for our March-April vacation, we were torn. Still healing from our October-November India vacation disaster which you can re-live here, we were a little gun-shy when it came to our next trip (esp an international one). We have always wanted to visit Costa Rica (a country about which no one has anything but great things to say) and my parents (who'd visited just before Christmas) encouraged us to give it a whirl. But it was kind of tempting to go somewhere a little less exotic and to "take it easy" or even take a "stay-cation."

When we had decided that we could probably handle Costa Rica, Kelvin tried to talk me into arranging a group tour (like riding on one of those tourist buses that we joke that "old people" ride and which we would highly recommend if you are thinking about visiting India). However, I always seem to think that, despite their making transfers and long-distance travel very easy, you end up overpaying for such tours and that we (particularly thrifty travelers, and even more thrifty in light of trying to save for the big day) could probably do things much more cheaply. We got a steal of a round-trip air deal from LAX, flying on a Monday, and (returning on) a Tuesday, booked a few hotels ahead of time, but are just "going with the flow," and it's been great. There have been absolutely no issues in getting around.

Here is a guest post from Kelvin, who kept exclaiming the whole way home from the international airport outside of San Jose, "I can't believe how great this is!" And it's just gotten better.

"Costa Rica #1"

Dear journal:

TINI (This is not India)!

Reasons why our Costa Rica vacation is not a sequel to India:

No honking during taxi ride.

Streets are cleaned.

No hassling by taxi drivers.

No one trying to sell us something.

We arrived in Costa Rica at 6 pm (on time), crossed Immigration, picked up our baggage, passed Customs, got a taxi and was on the road by 6:30 pm; reached our hotel, and got into our room by 7 pm.

During our car ride, we passed numerous restaurants serving MEAT!

We can understand and speak the language.

So far, not an ounce of stress crossed my mind. I have not tried to come up with a back-up plan in case we get stranded. I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a nice sleep tonight without nightmares of being tricked, mugged, or lied to.

This is what a vacation should be!

Sincerely,

CR #1 Fan" (pictured below).

As I wrote, it has only gotten better since we arrived, making this surely one of the most enjoyable and relaxing vacations I (we) have had in a while. In San Jose, we stayed at the delightful Hotel Aranjuez, which impressed us the morning after our arrival with a dramatic and delicious breakfast buffet including every type of fresh fruit you could imagine, juice, cereals, breads, cheese, meats, eggs, quiche, Spanish rice, omelettes-to-order, coffee, and tea. What a great way to start the day!

We took a hassle-free taxi ride (where the meter displayed the fairly-calculated price) to the bus station (the correct one; as there are several in the city), where we asked for and were sold the correct $4 one-way tickets to La Fortuna, with the reported departure time the same as that which signs specified and which we had researched ahead of time. Friendly Ticos (Costa Rican natives) conversed with us in line, without wanting or needing anything. We stored our luggage under the bus without fear that it wouldn't be there when we got off. En route, the bus driver stopped to pick up some children, walking home from school, just to give them a lift. We were not told we needed to get off the bus prior to it arriving at the station. We arrived a half-hour ahead of schedule. While we were greeted by several tour company representatives, they were only helpful in pointing us in the direction of our hotel and asking us to consider their packages (which we willingly did, later).

We checked into our hotel and enjoyed a lovely lunch of Arroz Cantonez (well, K did) and ceviche (guess who ordered that) before wandering a bit around the quaint town of La Fortuna, which sits not far from the base of Arenal Volcano, an active volcano which had its last major eruption in 1968 but which spews a little hardened lava here and there.

Charming La Fortuna

We took an afternoon-evening tour which offered us a chance to see some of the surrounding areas and experience some of our "Costa Rica firsts"

• The waterfall (Catarata in Spanish) where you can swim, or jump off the rock amidst the stream (I found the water too cold to swim, but K headed in).
  

• A chance to spot wildlife, including iguanas, and this toucan!
  

• Watching the sunset over Lake Arenal

• Soaking in some natural hot springs (a hot river!) outside of town. I had never been in a natural HOT river before! Sorry there are no pictures (non water-proof cameras were not deemed a smart thing to bring, as we had to slide down some mini-waterfalls to get to the springs).
  
  Today was filled with more new adventures:

• Spelunking
  

This morning, we took a trip to Venado caves, a series of caverns dating back over 7 million years, carved out of water (formerly the ocean) running through limestone. We were told not to bring our camera, for fear it would get wet, but I don't think either of us realized what an adventure we signed up for! Luckily, we had both a guide and a flashlight, but we found ourselves rock-climbing through crevasses (the movie 127 Hours came to mind!), army-crawling through some water-tunnels 40 cm wide, ducking so as to not smash our heads on hanging rock, dodging bats, and trying not to come across any of these:


(luckily, we didn't)

These, however, were fairly plentiful: (luckily, they don't eat humans)


Here are some stolen pictures of others doing what we were!

• 

• Segway riding!
  

K and I have both been interested in trying out Segways... apparently there is a city tour of Sacramento you can do on them. However, when we noticed a Segway brochure here, we jumped at the chance to try them out! The two ladies who led our tour of Fortuna were Americans marketing Segways here (both to sell, and for use in tourism-- as Costa Rica is a very eco-friendly country). We caught on fairly quickly (I feared that I would do a face-plant, which is actually nearly impossible to do; the machines just sense your weight shifts), and had a great time riding around! They are actually quite remarkable-- they apparently just need their batteries charged periodically, can be parked and not stolen as only the owner's "key" can make them work, and can be ridden in rain, sand, snow, and off roads!). We are both kind of "sold" on their functionality and Kelvin is currently plotting how we can get one (they run somewhere between $6000-7000).

• Baldi Hot Springs-- This resort, just outside Fortuna, boasts one of the world's largest pool complexes, a series of 20+ (hot) pools, of 12 different temperatures (the hottest being a mere 152 degrees Farenheit!). We passed a great couple of hours there, popping in nearly every different warm pool (but couldn't handle that 152-degree heat), trying out the water slides (I LOVE roller-coasters and just had to try all of the slides, which are the closest I've come in years!), as well as visiting the swim-up-bar for a Costa Rican pina colada. Can you believe that, until today, I had never had a drink at a swim-up-bar? Quite glorious, I must say.

Here is us with the "Baldi lady" at the entrance

And enjoying the pools...








AAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS is what vacation should be about!
We head tomorrow to Monteverde (Cloud Forest) and then to the Pacific Coast.
Pura Vida, as they say here!