Dorothy is on to something!!

WOW!!  What a whirling, twirling, month it has been for us!!

Costa Rica was amazing!!  We had a lot of great adventures in the three weeks we were there.  A few, of course, completely unplanned.  One day, we set off early for a trip to Villa Vanilla.  An hours drive south, and onto a tiny dirt road, to a Spice Farm.  We had heard great things about the tour, and were excited to check it out.  We left from our cabina with plenty of time to make the trip south.  But as things go in this gorgeous little country, we became lost.  Getting lost in Costa Rica has become a habit for us.  And after the first time we were there, 4 years ago, we have become accustomed, to this ritual.  At first it tried our patience, but since, has taught us a lot about “going with the flow” and to always see the good in situations, because you just never know what extraordinary things can come out of them.

So we are lost, but fortunately figure it out soon enough, to turn around, make it back to the road we missed, and get to the spice plantation RIGHT at the start of the tour at 9am, which proved to be another road block.  We didn’t have a reservation??? And didn’t have quite enough colones for the tour, just shy.  Which means we had to drive all the way back out to get to an ATM.  The 1pm tour was full, as were the 2 the next day…BUST!  (We will get to the tour next time, for sure) So…we left.  Sad that we were not able to take in the spice plantation.  Sooo, Greg mentions wanting to hike to a waterfall that the kids and I had hiked to in the past, when he had to leave to come back to the States, and the kids and I stayed an extra 3 weeks.  O….K….this place, IF I can even remember how to get there, was just as far north as we had come south from our village.  Off we went.  I am scouring the road for the tiny, little, handwritten sign, that says “Waterfall” I am pretty sure I remember the general vicinity where the turn off was.  ???  So when I see a tiny sign, we think it is it! Off the road we go, in search of the infamous waterfall. 

**Side note:  When the kids and I found this place, it was completely by chance.  Took the dirt road, followed the sign that ended us at a tiny little house, in someone’s yard.  A sweet Tico man approached us and I asked him if he knew where the waterfall was?  “Aqui’!  Bienvenidos!!” (Here…welcome!)  So…my little troopers and I paid him a parking fee to park in the yard, and he pointed us in the direction of a footpath through his beautiful garden, and off we went.  The trail was long, and a few times I felt like I was leading my kids into a sequel of the movie, Turistas! But, it worked out amazingly, and we found the most spectacular waterfall we had ever seen.

So, we are driving, and driving, and driving, down this rutted, rocky, dirt road, looking for this little house….which we never found, BUT, by some sort of miracle, did end up at a place, that a man stopped us to ask if we wanted to hike to waterfall.  OK!

Off we went, onto the trail.  We hiked through some of the most thick, dense, rainforest.  It was so hot, and sticky.  High humidity!  Just the type of air that you could scoop into your hand.  We made it to a few picinas, or swimming pools, but still could not see the falls….finally, about an hour and a half in, we hear it!  Then as we round a bend, BAM there it is.  This magnificent waterfall.  About 600-700 feet high!  We all just stood, and stared, just taken aback by this wonder.  We hiked to the base, and was cooled by the mist coming from the bottom. It was like we had struck gold!

We swam in the pools, and the water felt like Heaven after being so hot and sticky.  We laughed about how our day had started.  Thinking, like anything in Costa Rica….plans change, but usually better ones fall into place.  When we left, we had a long drive home, which was graced by one of the most beautiful sunsets we had seen on this trip.  All sunsets to me are outstanding, but some more than others.  The sun going down over the ocean, on this day, was remarkable.  It is always an image that I burn into my mind.  That I allow simmering there, for the day when I need to sit, quietly, in the cold, gray of winter, and bring it back to life in my head.  This particular sunset was the one for me.  So even though our original plans for the day fell through, I was grateful, for this moment.  Had we been anywhere else, but right there, at that moment, we would’ve missed it.  What a gift.

 The rest of our time there, we traveled to Playa Dominical, Quepos, Manuel Antonio, did some surfing (well Greg did.  This just wasn’t my surfing trip this time??!!??) Playa Blanca and San Isidro, which was a breathtaking drive.

** San Isidro de El General is a key transportation and farming center in the valley, and is the largest town in this region. Lying just a few minutes away from the Pan-American Highway on the slopes of the Talamanca Mountains. While traveling en route to San Isidro de El General on the Pan-American Highway, one has to pass the dangerous and treacherous Cerro de la Muerte or Mountain of Death. The highest point in Costa Rica at an altitude of over 3,300m (10,824-ft.), this mountain pass offers spectacular views of the surrounding areas and valley below.

We also had a lot of lazy days in the hammock, in the ocean, and on the beaches.  Searched for shells, sea glass, and sand dollars.  Greg surfed in Esterillos Este’ which is south of our village.  Pristine cocoa powder beaches, without another soul to be seen!!

We had our fun nights at The Low Tide, for the Full Moon Party (the crazy moon night) which there…up against the ocean, with the moon so close, it looked like daytime!

 Full moon!! (Greg looks like he is standing in the sunlight)

Manuel Antonio

Me surfing at Manuel Antonio (HaHa)

Playa Esterillos Oeste

At "No Worries"

Happy Birthday, to my birthday boy!!

We toasted and danced our butts off with friends for Greg’s birthday….what a way to spend a birthday.  I HIGHLY recommend it.  We ate at a lot of fabulous restaurants, heard some amazing bands play, and tried various new fruits, that tasted like candy.

The whole trip was, as always, unforgettable.

We flew home after 3 weeks in Costa Rica, unpacked and packed again in 36 hours, and left for Las Vegas, for my birthday…also a HIGHLY recommended way to spend a birthday.

We met friends, who met us at the door of Caesars with HUGE drinks a yard long!  What a way to start a Friday afternoon!

Heading to lounge by the pool!

Alica & I goofing on the mile-long escalator.

Looking pretty good at breakfast after a late night!

Morning after!!

In the Mall

Dinner at Zeffirino

Our guys

No comment!

At The Venetian

Caesars

Bellagio fountains were spectacular

New York, New York

Outside of the Wynn

 We ate at sensational restaurants, saw Zumanity (speechless) danced until dawn one night with some of the Greenbay Packers…!!!! Broke shoes, people watched, lounged by the hot, sunny pools, SHOPPED, and SHOPPED, fed a wee amount of money into some loud, and unforgiving, and, might I add, unloving slot machines, did I mention, shopped?? Laughed our crazy, butts off with friends, drank copious amounts of margaritas, martinis, and wine, snuck for free into night clubs, trashed out feet with unrelenting high heels, and a few other precarious, debaucherous, scandalous, things that I won’t mention for fear of seizure or detainment at the border the next time we all try and leave the country! HAHA!  Needless to say, the trip will be memorable.  And when our flight took off Monday night to come home, I thought I had never tasted anything as sweet, as sleep…even on the airplane.

Now, back to life…back to reality.  Back to running, and training, back to treating my body well, back to our peaceful home, and our routine.

There is always something about coming home, especially after being gone a month.  There truly is no place like home!

Una Caminata Magica y Misterio ** A (truly) Magical Mystery Hike**

Punta Mala

We try everyday that we are here to have some sort of experience.  I feel like everyday is a gift to be unwrapped here.  We never quite know what it is going to be, how it will present himself, or when the gift will appear.

Yesterday, we had the great pleasure of taking an unexpected hike with some wonderful friends here.  I got a quick email (luckily before our internet went down) about a Magical Mystery Hike to Punta Mala (Punta Mala means Bad Point or Bad End in case you were wondering) Anyway, we thought, “HOW FUN” and off we went to meet our hiking buddies.  Our gracious “tour guide” (she really isn’t a tour guide, but LOVES to take people out to PM.  We all agreed she could charge Gringos for the tour) is a wonderful expat from California that has lived here in Costa Rica for a few years.  She, along with a gentleman from London, a sweet couple from San Francisco, a beautiful woman from Israel, and Greg and I (Alli made the mistake of NOT wanting to come along with us, which she regretted after our return) made our way down the beach North, walking, about an hour, at low tide.  The things we saw and discovered along the way were truly amazing.  From monkeys to mangroves, shells, crabs, lobsters, HUGE….I am talking gigantic pieces of driftwood, places that were once liquid, molten lava that cooled and had made some incredible art formations in the rock, and outcroppings in the water, that can only be seen at low tide that was lava rock that has lifted from the ocean floor to rise above the water.

We searched for sea glass.  This was one part, I loved.  Looking for this marvelous, hidden little treasure.  I was like a kid at Christmas with the first piece I located.  It rose up out of the sand like a viridescent crown jewel, just waiting for my eyes to see it.  Gorgeous!  I found three pieces.  All different shades of green, and one piece if Amber.  A tiny little Amber seed. 

Once we made it to our destination, that is where the fun started.  We made our way across the lava rock, searching in the tide pools for little fish and creatures that had been washed up in the tide earlier.  We made our way to the edge of the outcropping, to see over the edge.  It litteraly felt like we were standing in the middle of the ocean, and in a way, we were.  Maybe not the middle, but we were out a good ways.  The waves coming in were incredible, and intimidating.  The narrow opening between these two lava formations was getting pummeled with waves.  So hard and enormous, that if there was the slightest slip, you would certainly be meeting your death.  During the full sun, I hear you can see Tiger Sharks in the clear water below where we were standing.  But during the time of day that we went out, late afternoon, the sun was not high enough to see clearly.  I stood there in awe of this ocean.  Quite possibly one of the most powerful forces on this planet.  We moved along the edge and made our way across a little stream, which was actually the tide making its way back in over the rock.  Lot’s of little sea creatures peered up at us, and then quickly retreated to their rocky hideouts, even a little electric blue Pufferfish…..where is Alli we kept saying????

Yellow Pufferfish swimming in the Dragon Pool

Our next stop was our guide’s favorite spot, which she has named The Dragon Pool.  It is a tide pool with an outcropping of lava that extends over your head that look like a dragon.  It has such a likeness, that it makes you feel that when this lava was hot, and flowing, quite possibly this enormous, fire breathing, dragon was sitting there and was turned to stone.  It was a magical place.  Us four girls all climbed into the pool for a little “bonding time” We sat and stared at all of the tiny fish swimming around us, including a frightened little yellow Pufferfish.  I had a hard time getting back out of the pool, it was such an incredible experience.

But at the ocean works, the tide was coming in, and it was getting later in the day.  We climbed out, with one more stop to make. 

There is a place that our “guide” wanted us to climb up onto the rocks for a photo.  This place, perched high above the water was a little frightening (not really) it was right on the edge where the enormous waves were flooding torrents of water over the top.  The others in the group gave a quick, “NO way, are we sitting on that!!” and with that, Greg and I went to make the climb on the slippery rocks to the top, to get a photo.  It was really not as dangerous as it looked.  But we did get SOAKED!!!!  We sat, posing, with the ocean water, hitting the sides, lapping up over the tops of our heads, and laughing like two little kids!!  What a way to end the trip.  

We made the hour walk back down the beach to Esterillos Oeste, on the way back, just the icing on the cake.... I found a Sea Purse.  This, I could hardly believe.  The first trip that we ever made to Costa Rica our wonderful neighbors gave our three kids and I a Sea Purses on the day we left, explaining that these gorgeous, wooden-looking seeds will occasionally wash up on shore here.  They are meant to bring you *Good Luck*, and are quite the treasure.  We fell in love with these “seed pods” and brought them home with us, and still have them.  Last year, I searched everyday for them along the beach.  Scouring along on my runs and walks.  I FINALLY found one…one in the whole 3 weeks we were here.  I felt pretty fortunate.  This time, I told Alli I would search and search and HOPEFULLY find another one, special just for her.  Just as we were coming back, I just happened to look down and there it was, a gorgeous little Sea Purse.  I was so excited to take my tiny treasure back and give it to its new owner, Alli.  She was ecstatic to get the gift, and has now decided she wants to make the hike to Punta Mala.

Little Sea Purse

We made it back just before dark to share a few beverages with our friends.  It was an amazing adventure. One we will not soon forget. 

Today, we are heading to Playa Blanca.

We just tried a new fruta none of us have ever had.  Manzana de Auga, which translates to Water Apple.  Hmmmm, not too sure what I think about it, but when a sweet Tico man comes up with a huge box that he is handing out to everyone, you feel like you should not refuse his kindness.  I did run across the street to the Low Tide to see if anyone in there has had them before.  ??  We cut in to it, and gave it a go.  A nice Policia came in for a drink, shook my hand, and told me they are "fantasico!!"  They have the smell of apples, and roses.  A soft skin, with a wet, juicy, white inside.  A tad bit bitter to me, but Alli sat and ate three of them in a row.  Hope she doesn’t regret that later today.

Manzana de Agua

Hasta Luego y Pura Vida