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Final Thoughts – Costa Rica

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

 
 

By the Numbers…
• Number of identified birds in Operation Bird Discovery – 47
• Pounds of gallo pinto (rice and beans) consumed – 6
• Number of monkey photos taken by Monkey Photographer BP – 1,000+
• Percentage of random foods Brendan made Mel eat – 24
• Number of Brel disagreements – 3 (that we’re counting, anyhow)
• Percentage of time Mel spent whining while hiking – 30%
• Number of hours Brendan claimed to be working when really, he was just surfing the internet – 26
• Ratio of Freebies to Personal Money spent – 2:1

Moments We’d Rather Forget…
• The 2.5 hour local bus ride to Dominical – spent standing in the aisle (until the whining finally got someone to give up their seat)
• Mel’s sun rash and Brendan’s food poisoning
• The plastic covered bed in Monteverde – shielding us from bed bugs perhaps?
• The many impossibly slow internet connections and the ridiculous amount of time we spent uploading content to the blog, and photos to Flickr

Highlights
• Titi Monkeys eating bananas out of Mel’s hand (I know, you’re not supposed to feed the monkeys, but have you seen the pics? Who could resist!?)
• Waking up in Mel Gibson’s bed with waves crashing just metres away
• Being treated like VIP’s – when we all know this just isn’t the case
• The rooms at Arenas del Mar, the privacy of Latitude 10, the clubhouse at Rancho Pacifico and the service at Tabacon Hot Springs
• Meeting great Ticos (locals) and fascinating tourists – hola!
• Mastering some great salsa and merengue moves – and being applauded while trying them out in at a local restaurant
• Realizing people are actually reading our blog – thanks! We love the comments, so please keep ‘em coming!

Dominical Sunset

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

After all this silly luxury I thought it was time to get down with the peeps. You know, keep it real. Otherwise known as the local bus. (Chicken-free)

I assured Mel there was “hardly any” chance of having to stand on the public bus to Dominical. As long as we were there a little early it would be no problem.

At about 15 minutes waiting for our taxi things started to get a little tense. Arriving at the terminal at exactly the departure time to see a huge queue and a full luggage compartment I could feel Mel’s eyes burning into the back of my skull. Five minutes later, straddling our bags and crammed standing into the back of the sweaty, dust-choked bus, the burning had become a scorching inferno. Then the whining began.

The trip—2 ½ hours on unpaved roads—got much better tho, especially after a nice man gave Mel his seat. It was all worth it though, to discover Dominical.

Dominical was a surprise, small, cozy, community-oriented, a surf town without attitude, with enough cool restaurants and bars to keep you entertained but without ugly development to ruin things. Plus a stunning beach with killer surf. We instantly wanted to stay for a week.

Alas, it was not to be, as we had another date with luxury, but we had enough time there to party it up at the local disco (we do mean local), spot a crocodile for Mel in the river fronting our hotel, meet some great expats and vow to return to chill one day.

Lessons learned on the road…Volume Uno…

Thursday, January 24th, 2008
Brel 1. When travelling with limited underpants, the following manoeuvres are permitted: • Continuation – the continued wearing of a pair of semi-clean undies, after for example, a shower or swim, if the undies have been ... [Continue reading this entry]

Enough with the tree facts, already!

Thursday, January 24th, 2008
Downside to dating a former tour guide: enormous amounts of random, mostly useless knowledge. Brendan told me all about this gunera, but I 'soft focused' the details. Message to Brendan: stop with the tree facts - ... [Continue reading this entry]

Somewhere down that crazy river…

Sunday, January 13th, 2008
B: After all the plush and cush of the first few days, it seemed time for a little adventure, Costa Rica-style. First up: canyoneering! Canyoneering is a combination of scrambling down a steep river canyon, often neck-deep in water, and rappelling ... [Continue reading this entry]