After returning to the car, Eric decided it was latte-thirty and we made our way to La Fortuna to fi

We are married and ready for our honeymoon! Mama T dropped us off at the PWM Jetport and we quickly boarded the plane for LaGuardia. We had a perfect New York experience here filled with sarcasm, impatience, and a think queens drawl. We hardly had time to sit before we were on the plane to Atlanta. This flight was uneventful. We landed and scurried to our next flight as the boarding process had begun as soon as our flight landed. Getting to the gate was down a long winding hallway, and the cacophony we heard as we grew closer crescendoed as we rounded the corner, and here was our first Tico experience! The rowdy bunch was the excited champions themselves, the Costa Rican Aquatics summer cruise jobs Special Olympics Team! We boarded the plane and found ourselves seated next to a Tico chaperone, David. With our broken Spanish and his excellent English we had great conversations about the team, their country, and our plans for adventure. David was the first to solidify what we had heard about Ticos; incredibly friendly and helpful summer cruise jobs people. We learned that the team had been traveling in Puerto Rico and each athlete shared their exuberance by laughing, throwing summer cruise jobs objects, grabbing and shaking seats…and regardless we couldn't summer cruise jobs help but sing along…ole! Ole ole ole! Tico! Tico! We landed in San Jose and were ushered off the plane by the most exhausted and frazzled flight attendants we had ever seen! We are in Costa Rica!
We found our luggage, were forced to throw away our fruits, and were herded to customs. We were greeted with smiles and the process was overall pretty easy. Next stop, pick up the rental car. Walking into the rental zone felt like being celebrities around the paparazzi…white people! Money!! Everyone was vying for our attention! Little did they know we just spent all our gringo green on our wedding, which is why we already booked our rental car though "economy" car rental. I guess you get what we pay for. Our too good to be true $75 reservation suddenly became $275…"mandatory insurance" and other hidden costs. But Eric was a force to be reckoned with, and with the growing supports of the Tico peanut gallery, we fought back our price and walked out with our cabooses held high, photocopies in hand, and iPhone picture copies of the documents they refused to let us copy! Next job, navigating a new city with no street signs or paved lanes! As we were told previously, Ticos are more than willing to help, even when they don't really know the answer. Hotel Martino was anywhere summer cruise jobs from 5 kilometers with no turns to 20 miles with derechas y izqieras galore! Somehow we managed to find it and settle in. Besides, who wouldn't want to fly all the way to Central America for some of the best Italian food in the world??
We woke up early in the Tico tradition and enjoyed a light breakfast at the hotel. It wasn't "comida tipical" but it was still quite good, and we enjoyed our first fresh fruit from CR. Using the wifi while we had it, we planned our route to Volcan Arenal. We followed the winding roads, often questioning if we were even heading summer cruise jobs in the right direction as there really are no street signs, summer cruise jobs simply signs pointing toward summer cruise jobs the next cities. The jungle also has a tendency to cover these signs up, but still, we traveled on without much difficulty. We drove in and out of the clouds admiring summer cruise jobs the green scenery, spotting animals, both domestic and wild, that are different than ours. Again, following the signs we made a turn towards Arenal. Here we saw several police men standing in the street. As soon as they spotted us, they flagged us down. We were ready to grab our passports and wondering how many Colones we would need to give them to let us go without a hassle. We put on our most innocent smiles and asked them if they spoke English. summer cruise jobs They questioned our travel plans and looked at our maps. They bantered back and forth in Spanish summer cruise jobs so fast we couldn't summer cruise jobs make out a single word. The one man who had been asking questions leaned over and started giving us advice on what roads to take, and telling us to enjoy our time here. As we drove off we looked summer cruise jobs at each other with puzzles looks a what had just happened…just summer cruise jobs another Tico trying to help out!
The Lonely Planet summer cruise jobs guide book took us to a waterfall that was apparently a good hike but also somewhat summer cruise jobs of a tourist trap. We learned of another hike that was more difficult and sounded like a better challenge. Indeed it was challenging, mostly due to the humidity. We found ourselves hiking straight uphill and sweating profusely in minutes. Our encounter with Costa Rican wildlife stared off early when Amanda was stung by a large jungle creature, probably a hornet. After locals assured us that her arm was not going to fall off, we carried on. The hike took about an hour and a sweaty summer cruise jobs half, but the scene we arrived summer cruise jobs to was worth it all. A green lake filling the crater summer cruise jobs of an old volcano, shrouded in misty clouds. Frogs and tadpoles scurried summer cruise jobs in the shallow water. Eric lost no time ditching summer cruise jobs his sweaty clothes and diving in. His lovely bride was not so keen on getting in the cold and cloudy water, who knows what kind of sea monsters may be lurking in the depths?!
After returning to the car, Eric decided it was latte-thirty and we made our way to La Fortuna to find a cup of coffee. The cappuccinos were fantastic and decorative. Armed with our coffee jitters, we pushed on to find hotel Linda Vista in the town of Castillo summer cruise jobs (or as Eric calls it, "chebatta bread," kind of like how he calls Guanacaste "guacamole"). summer cruise jobs A few landslides and rental car dings later, we arrived at hotel Linda, nestled on a hill on the outskirts of chebatta bread. We spent the afternoon drinking costa rican lagers by the pool and admiring the outline of the volcano in the moonlight. Although the prior weeks earthquake summer cruise jobs lead to significant damage to the hotel which led them to close their restaurant, Amanda convinced the bar staff to share their typical food with us for dinner. This was our first experience with gallo pinto, the Costa Rican national dish. This dish consists of black beans and rice and subtle spices. Although very tasty, what we read was confirmed; Tico food is not overly flavorful or spicy. The highlight of the night was having beers with Hilbert, the bartender that arranged our meal. It was amazing that although Hilbert had never left Costa Rica, he was very informed of worldwide events and spoke almost perfect English. We discussed foreign politics late into the night, concluding with a clink of our glasses, a hardy "pura vida" and we said buenos noches.
We woke up on Wednesday peeking out our window at a volcano swathed in silky clouds, the sky pink in the sunrise. Tropical birds flittered in and out of the jungle sky, beckoning us for more adventure. An adventure was certainly what we were in for. We packed for the day and headed to SkyAdventures, a zip line company only a few kilometers from Hotel Linda Vista. We arrived as several other parties were arriving, and it was clear that we were grouped with a few other adventurous newlyweds married on September 15th as well. We donned our harnesses and helmets and rode the slow gondola through the jungle canopy. We spotted sparkly blue butterflies, learned about cohabiting plant life, and kept our eyes peeled for a monkey spotting, but unfortunately no furry creatures showed their faces. At the top, we got a rundown of how to ride the zip. Lean back, knees up and soar! After two short practice runs, we got right to business. The highest line, measuring in at 2000 feet tall took us flying at around 50 mph with a view of the volcano and the lake. What a rush! Flying so fast was definitely the best, but a close second was watching everyone come in for their landing!
All too soon we were finished on the zip line. We all agreed that we could zip all day and that the employees at SkyAdventure certainly summer cruise jobs have the best job around. The thrill of the morning worked up quite the appetite, so we took the rocky and dusty road to Rancho Margot, a 100% off the grid and sustainable farm/restaurant/hotel about 5 bumpy kilometers from the hotel. summer cruise jobs Although not traditional Tico food, it was certainly good. It was festinating that the farm was so far off the grid that it has its own hydroelectric plant on a small river to produce summer cruise jobs their electricity. After we ate, this same stream offered a great swimming hole that was a respite from the growing afternoon heat. After heading back to the hotel to clean up and relax, we shared a romantic Bogel Beaujoulais courtesy of Mr. Janning, summer cruise jobs on our hotel balcony watching the afternoon rains coming in over the mountain. Per a recommendation from Dan and Caitlin (who were essentially our travel summer cruise jobs agents for the whole trip), we took a drive toward Castillo to find Pizza John, an American who had moved to Costa Rica 5 years ago in search of a simpler life. Apparently this life includes fantastic home made pizza, talking like a pirate, and lots and lots of rum. After a pizza, several beers each and taking away our shot glasses summer cruise jobs to keep John from pouring more rum, we found Dan and Caitlin's summer cruise jobs names among the thousands written on his walls, added our own, and made our way home.
The next step in our adventure was to wake early for a Tico breakfast, hop in the car and head to Guanacaste, the Northwestern coast of CR. Time for blue waters! We bumbled down the rocky road, and at worst suffered a dropped hubcap that we simply tossed in the backseat and continued on. The drive to Playa Hermosa took us through Liberia, a bustling city with one of the country's Universities. Our trusty Yaris (rattling nicely at this point) rolled us up and over a hill and we had our first view of the Costa Rican pacific summer cruise jobs coast. Surprisingly, it is not incredibly different than Oregon's. A lot of sharp cliffs into the ocean, rocky islands. The major difference: palm trees and warm water! We checked into our hotel "Villa Sol" couresy of Mama Thomas and took the afternoon summer cruise jobs to walk the charcoal black beach. We saw loc