Honeymoon Diary: Week 2

Happy Spring boys and girls!

Where does the time go? On May 10th (this upcoming Monday) we celebrate our official 1 year anniversary! wowowow! and what a great year;)

Well it's finally happened, I've taken the time to get our second week on paper. Sorry for the delay:) And here is the start of our pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/AJtrA9cXSaaT6Z2AMKwH-w?feat=directlink

Don't feel like you need to read the following journal. It's time consuming, I know:) But it's a great account of our trip and if you have the time, it's a fun read!

HONEYMOON JOURNAL (WEEK 2)

We arrived in Costa Rica at Liberia (such a small airport) and then waited in line for customs. A guy in front of us gave his passport to the official and when he went to swipe it, it fell apart.  So the guy had to stay in Costa Rica, in the airport, cuz there were no flights out for the next 5 days...they were all full!  What a catastrophe that would be!

SUNDAY (Domingo), 1/3: TABACON

We first had to figure out how to get to the Best Western, El Sitio, as that is where our "ride" is picking us up.  There are about 25 taxi drivers and such outside as we walk from the airport. Hard to know if we should trust them, but what other choice do we have.  It turns out they arrange a ride to the hotel, where we eat yummy Costa Rican food and drink yummy bebidas! Then our driver picks us up and we are on our way!

We arrived at Tabacon after a good 4 hour drive from the airport on very windy roads. I had to rest my eyes because I was getting motion sick! And so many times we have to stop or slow way down to accomodate the potholes that are left by constant rain in the rainforest. what fun! I don't think I'll take a nice road for granted again!

Keep in mind that the room we got was originally $440/night and we got an amazing deal of $175/night, which includes access to the hot springs ($60/day if you pay just for that!!!) The lobby of the Tabacon resort is open air and colorful and the grounds are plush. We get a welcome drink as we check in:)  I'm liking the place already.  Then we get a ride to our room, which is not very far, but far enough with our luggage. It's about 7 PM when we arrive at the resort, so it's already dark by now. When we walk in our room, we are floored with the grandiosity of it all:) We first unpack, then take a bunch of pics of the interior, then run the bath and have some wine. Oh yeah, this is the life on a honeymoon. We are ready for bed by 9:30 PM and someone knocks on the door and it's turn down service. I said we didn't need turn down service, but we'll take the chocolate!

MONDAY (Lunes), 1/4

We wake up to an amazing view outside our windows....rainforest as far as the eye can see! We decide to order room service for breakfast and it is fabulous...poached eggs with beans and rice and coffee and tea and sugar cane water and toast and salsa. yum! the eggs were poached perfectly:) Then we get ready and go to La Fortuna. We find a grocery store and buy $100 worth of goods (mostly alcohol as we can already tell that we'll be paying an arm and a leg for drinks back at the hotel). a $50 bottle of Don Julio Silver and we're good to go:) We walk a around a bit and eat at the Lava Lounge and some other place and just enjoy the town. We also bought tickets to zip line on Wednesday for $55/person which included 9 zip lines and a horseback ride at the end. Not too shabby.

Then it is back to the resort where we decide to make use of the hot springs...after all that is why we chose this place! We go sit in the pool bar (in the warm water...probably 100 degree water...oh yeah) and meet two fabulous new peeps Mike and Laurie. We then hung out with them all the rest of the night, drinking, playing in the water and springs, eating and then going back to show off our room:) a fun time with fun new friends! I hope we can one day find their contact information!

TUESDAY (Martes), 1/5

It's raining when we wake up, so we decide to lounge around the hotel this day. We had breakfast in the room again (each day it got progressively worse, but still tasty) and then walked around the property and just relaxed, napped and bathed;) it's a HUGE tub! That night we decided to connect up with Tiffany, Danny and Allison as they were staying in La Fortuna, not too far from us, coincidentally.What a blast! We first hung out in the room, put on tattoos from our wedding and took pictures:) then we went to the hot springs and had a gay old time! we investigated the bar at the top (closed!) and then some of the springs on the way down. As you travel down from the top, the water gets a bit cooler...starting at 104 and ending up at 100 probably. They probably had 20 different pools that all flowed together and made a really nice rushing water sound. with the rain on the plants and the sounds of the water it was very relaxing, tranquil and fun:) I brought my Oggz Poi and played with those for awhile in the dark by one of the pools, which was a blast. We had a wonderful time visit with Danny, Tiffany and Allison! We retired to the room after awhile and just talked and had fun times;)

WEDNESDAY (Miercoles), 1/6

 Today loomed gloomy just as yesterday and we are supposed to zip lining and horseback riding. We wake up late and grab a bite to eat in our room and decide to go to the front desk, just in case the guide comes to pick us up for our trip.  and lo and behold he is there...so off we go in the sputtering rain, just 3 or 4 miles up the road. we stop and meet other people on the trip and suit up.  phew, it all seemed fine until I saw that first line! scary! So we went second to last and boy howdy was it fun! We had to walk to line 3 and the legs were a little wobbly from the adrenilin hit of the first two lines:) After Craig's glove/brake rivet burned a hole in his little hand, 9 zip lines and the horseback ride in the pouring rain later, we were ready for a drink;0- so back to the resort we go to have lunch and nap:) I had a passionfruit exfoliation, which was indulgently wonderful with the rainy rainforest sounds as a background. We had room service and chilled in the room the rest of the night since we leave by 8 AM the next morning. We go to sleep with the sliding glass door open, screen in place, to the lovely sound of rain in the rain forest. ahhhhhh

THURSDAY (Jueves), 1/7

We wake up at 6:30 to finish packing and have breakfast in our room (we're fairly spoiled by this, but the quality did decrease a little every day, if it makes you feel any better;)). Then on to the 4 hour shuttle with tiny seats and no leg room. fun fun. we got to see some monkeys, so that was nice! We picked up a Suzuki Jimny 4x4 and we were off:) We drove an hour to Playa del Coco and found the condo owner's house to get the keys. When we get there they don't answer the door...they were having a small party! sheesh. so in we went, were served a drink and met the other guests...and one of them knows Craig's CEO fairly well...such a small world, truly. We got taken to the condo and quickly shown the ropes and he was off. Well the condo was tiny, the pool was nice, the security guards were friendly, the neighborhood was the bario, the beach was ghetto, the people were nice and I had a MAJOR breakdown.  The final straw was having to boil the fresh Mahi Mahi on the stove because the stove was wired up incorrectly! Going from a 5 star resort at 70 degrees to a ghetto beach at 95 degrees with humidity just messed with my mind.

FRIDAY (Viernes), 1/8

After a night of Don Julio shots and heavy on the rum pina coldas and a good game of strip kings in the corner, we woke at 8 thinking we felt great...at 9 we felt like a train was running through the tiny condo spewing wet charcoal. we stayed in bed and read this day...i got up to take a shower and the hot water heater exploded under the kitchen sink, first spewing cold water, then massive steam. so we put the head lamps on and packed up our stuff in no time flat, high tailed it to the owners house and he happened to have a brand new condo in Playa Ocotol so we took it.

By this time I was sick sick sick! burning piles of rubbish, severe temperature and humidity changes and the stress of the barrio put me over the edge.

So we left our suitcases and went to the restaurant we saw on our way over to the new condo, Suelys...French restaurant extraordinaire! That first meal there was out of this world and EXACTLY what we needed to soothe our high falutin, travel weary bodies:) $110, including tip, got us 1 bottle of wine, 2 drinks, 3 appetizers a main course and dessert. Out of this world food!!! It's chronicled in photo album. 

SATURDAY (Sabado), 1/9

Waking up in the new condo was blessedly nice:) AC worked great, pool outside the patio and we had food to feed our tummies and alcohol to feed our livers:) We hung around the condo this day for the most part, and just read and chilled out. Besides the many large ant sightings, the day was uneventful and lovely, just hanging with each other and relaxing. We did eat out and shopped some. We had some good steak, heard some raucous birds at sunset and purchased a few trinkets that were amazingly perfect for their recipients. All in all a perfect vacation day with the love of my life!

Stay tuned for the last week:) Dean and Shannon are honeymooning in Costa Rica in two weeks, so I'm forcing myself to get these all done before they go!

Thanks for your patience grasshoppers!

smooches and unending love, Melinda & Craig