Sept. 3rd (Saturday):
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| Our rainforest cabana at Tierra De Suenos |
We woke up around 3:15AM and groggily made our way to the kitchen to
make coffee’s for the road. We had all our bags packed up the night before, so
all I had to do was brush my hair. I didn’t even bother with makeup (this
becomes a trend of the rest of the trip, never blow dried my hair the entire trip, and rarely put on anything more than mascara). One thing that sucks about flying out
of Atlanta is that we pass from Central time to Eastern on the drive there,
therefore we have to leave EXTRA early for flights which are at reasonable times in the
morning out of Atlanta.
While we walked to the gate at the airport I got a weird feeling in my
stomach and it was like our honeymoon all over again. Would the flight get
delayed, or cancelled because of the weather in the gulf? Would Frank not get on as
a standby, leaving me to fly there alone? Ugh – I told myself if we don’t get to CR this time, we aren’t meant
to go! If you didn’t know, we were supposed to go for our honeymoon, but the
flight got delayed and we missed our connection in Atlanta, and the gate agent
literally closed the door in my face and wouldn’t let us on the flight. The
next flight didn’t leave for 2 days. Delta lost our luggage for 4 days. We
still had a wonderful honeymoon at the Grand Cayman islands instead, but we
wanted to make it to Costa Rica eventually. This was our second chance.
Everything worked out perfectly this time. Frank got a first class
ticket flying standby and offered it to me (he’s a sweetie), so I got to enjoy
mimosas and a free lunch on the flight. It was pretty non-eventful, I read the
entire time. Once we started the decent into San Jose I couldn’t keep my eyes away from the window. It was so green and beautiful; I didn’t want to miss anything…everything
is so pretty from the sky.
I was pretty giddy once we landed…we’re finally here! We’ve wanted to go
on this trip for over a year, and we’re actually here! We took a cab to the bus
station about 30 minutes away, and waited for the bus to Puerto Viejo (which is about
4 hrs away on the southeast side of CR). Once we got to the bus station, it was
pretty apparent that we need to learn Spanish…ASAP. We finally figured out what
bus we needed to be on, but not knowing much Spanish made it a little difficult.
The bus to Puerto Viejo was nicer than what we expected, pretty
comfortable, actually! The thing that struck me first about CR was the fresh air. We sat
near the back of the bus and opened the windows…once we were out of San Jose
the air was so fresh and smelled sooo good. I swear it was the freshest air I’ve
even inhaled…I guess that’s typical for being in the rainforest! It was awesome. The drive
was beautiful; we drove through rainforests and mountains and saw a good
portion of the country (lots of banana plants). About halfway through the
bus ride it started to drizzle and rain very lightly…Frank fell asleep leaning
on the side of the bus wall, and I passed out on his shoulder. It was the best
nap ever. We talked about that nap the whole trip. The cool air on our faces
with the light rain cooling us off, and that fresh air…ahhhh…There are a couple
of naps I remember with Frank that I love the most, and they all include rain.
This one takes the cake, though :).
We had a short stop in Limon on the way to Puerto Viejo, we just stepped
out and grabbed a few snacks and we were on our way. We got to Puerto Viejo
around 6:30ish and decided to wander around with our bags and find a place to
eat dinner. We stopped at this place called Tamara’s (which we later found out
is one of the oldest original restaurants in town) and had a pretty good
dinner. We didn’t stay too long, though, since we needed to check in at our cabanas
before 8.
We stayed at Tierra De Suenos, which is about 7 rainforest bed &
breakfast cabanas tucked away a few miles south of Puerto Viejo. Once we
arrived and met the owners, I knew we would like it there. They were a younger
couple from DC (Jake and Maureen) and had been in CR a little less than a year;
they were really laid back. We all got along great, and ended up hanging out
with them quite a bit during our stay. The cabana was so cute! It was all
hardwood, and had this romantic bed with a mosquito net around it, with really
pretty mosaic tile work in the bathroom. The patio in the front had a small
table and 2 hammocks waiting for us. It was nice not having a TV or internet…we
were off the reservation and ready to chill out and relax!
Sept. 4th (Sunday):
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| Snorkeling at Punta Uva Beach |
We woke up a time or two during the night to the sounds of the
rainforest, namely…howler monkeys! It didn’t bother me, though…it was pretty
neat being in the rainforest with all the animals, even if it wakes you up now
and then. Howler moneys sound nothing like I had expected, so much noise from such a small animal! It's pretty crazy that they can make so much noise. The sun rose early and we showered and got ready for the day. We didn’t
have plans, we just wanted to explore Puerto Viejo and check out the nearby
beaches. We had breakfast at the reception area…the fruit was really, really
good! You can’t beat eating fruit in Costa Rica, from Costa Rica…yum. Not even
the freshest fruit here compares with the fruit we ate there.
We rented two pedal bikes and biked our way north to Puerto Viejo. Our
first stop was Playa Negra, a black sand beach. It was pretty, but we didn’t
stay there for long. We biked around town and checked things out. Puerto Viejo
is a neat little town. It has a surfer/Caribbean vibe…lots of small restaurants
line the street with little trinket shops here and there. The nearby beaches
are big for surfers, especially Cocles beach, just south of town. We saw lots
of younger people who looked like the backpacker type hanging out, very laid
back atmosphere. We split some fajitas for lunch at a beach bar/restaurant…and
ordered two margaritas. They were super good…and quite larger and stronger than
normal…which may or may not have had anything to do with the events that occurred
later that day.
After lunch we started biking south towards where we were staying.
We stopped along at a small place that had wifi so we could email the family
and let them know we were alive and had made it okay. We also wanted to look
into flights from Panama back to San Jose in case we decided to go there for a
few days. The woman running the roadside wifi bar was an American expat, but had
traveled a lot in Panama, so she was able to give us some good advice. What was supposed
to be a quick wifi stop turned into a 2 hour stop and a beer or two, and I’m pretty sure we know
this woman’s whole life story...her views on religion and politics, and pretty
much her entire personal life…ha. She was a talker.
After we left the bar we stopped by the cabana to drop some stuff off
and get some beach towels and head to the beach. At this point it was already
pushing 3PM. It gets dark early there, around 5:30…so we didn’t have much
daylight left. We headed to Punta Uva…a beautiful beach about a 5-10 minute
bike ride south of where we were staying. It was probably the prettiest beach
near Puerto Viejo…think wild, untouched jungle backing up to white sandy
beaches with crystal clear blue water. Frank rented some snorkel gear and we snorkeled
along the rocky ledges that framed the side of the beach. Frank found some
lobsters, but didn’t try and catch them because he wasn’t sure what the rules
were on catching lobster. When we returned the snorkel gear we told the guys
renting it about the lobsters, and they said if he would have grabbed those lobsters, they would
have cooked them for us. Darn! Oh well…Frank had it in his head to go back and
get those lobsters for the next few days.
He actually asked a few people in town if they had a lobster snare…they
just looked at him like he was crazy…haha.
Then we have the bike ride home from the beach. Note: Never try
and race someone on gravel roads on a pedal bike. Bad decision.
So yeah. I had this bright idea to race Frank home from the beach. I
picked up a lot of speed on a portion of the road that was paved, and then it
turned into gravel with potholes. That is pretty much the last thing I remember
before I was laying on the ground and watching feet walk past me. Apparently I
crashed my bike (this dude walked by and didn’t even see if I was okay! What a
jerk…ha). Anyway, Frank didn’t see it because I was around a corner. Once he
turned the corner and saw me laid out on the road he rushed over to make sure I
was okay. I was mostly okay…no broken bones or anything. But, I was covered in gravel
road rash and bruises. Ugh. Wonderful way to start the vacation! Haha. I looked
pretty beat up, not gonna lie. I had this one really big bruise on my chin that
basically looked like a beard for the first several days. Even now it’s not
completely gone, but it’s much less noticeable. I’m just thankful that the
crash wasn’t any worse; otherwise it might have affected how much I enjoyed the
rest of the trip! The first day afterwards I was pretty sore from it all, but
after that it wasn’t so bad.
*I'm going to upload a photo album soon with all our photos *
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