Sunday, August 17, 2008

Pura vida!

Hot springs at Arenal Paraiso. Ahhh....

I just returned from my belated honeymoon-postbar trip to Costa Rica and it was fun, fun, fun! The country is lush during rainy season. K planned our trip beautifully - from the mountains to the beach, back to the mountains, then a last stop on the coast again. The highlights of our trip: lots of hiking, unpaved roads (thank goodness for 4WD!), beautiful beaches, ziplining/tarzan swing, waterfall rappelling, outrigger paddling, snorkeling (among other things, we saw a shark, sting rays, mating turtles and a couple of blowfishes), dipping in the hot spring pools in the rain, volcano eruption sightings, and last but not least, highway robbery (had to pay a cop $150 for four tickets - (i) passing in a no-pass zone (ii) speeding (iii) failing to stop and (iv) evading an officer.) I fought the law, but the law won... And luckily for me, I got food poisoning on the very last day we were there - K and I think it was the jugo de guanabana con leche drink that I had. Ironically, this was my all-time fave drink in Costa Rica (can I just add how much I enjoyed Coca Cola Light there? Much tastier than Diet Coke here in the States...)

The view from our room at Hotel Sugar Beach

Zip-lining in Monteverde

Canyoning or waterfall rappelling (yup, that's me)

Our view from our room in Manuel Antonio.
K and I spent an entire day reading and doing sudoku puzzles on this balcony.
How can anyone NOT want to be lazy here?

The scariest thing we did: waterfall rappelling. At the mid-point of a 100+ foot waterfall, I had so much water pounding into my face that I seriously thought I was going to die. A split second after the occurrence of such a thought, I firmly told myself that I was the only person to save myself and I needed to climb down the waterfall! Second scariest: the tarzan swing (not pictured above.) During our ziplining tour, we climbed up a series of ladders, hooked ourselves onto a rope and were pushed off a platform, swinging Tarzan-style. I couldn't stop screaming.

Culinary thoughts: If any of you decide to stay in Monteverde, I highly recommend Sofia, a "Latin-fusion" restaurant. Kanji and I had probably one of the best steaks there - the grilled tenderloin. Its sister restaurant located nearby, La Chimera, serves delicious tapas and drinks, notably the passion fruit caipirinha. If you visit Manuel Antonio, do not eat at Coconuts - the worst sushi we ever had in our lives, although a particular sushi spot here in San Diego may compete for that position.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Nasus!! Sounds like you had quite the fun trip (tickets and food poisoning aside) - I want to hear ALL about it! So glad you're back! xo-S.

mle said...

What a wonderful adventure!! I would love to go somewhere like that!

Disentangled said...

Welcome back!! The photos were such a nice surprise this morning! Can't wait to hear more :-)

Anonymous said...

Welcome back! Sounds like you had fun! (but so busy. My itinerary would have been more like "beach, drink, repeat")

Mercedes said...

I'm totally jealous! We've been dying to go to Costa Rica. You definitely deserved a break away! Looks like you had tons of fun. We miss you two.