Day Three began with breakfast, oddly enough, and we brought the camera to get a picture of the owl-man. We'll share our photos as soon as we get back. Right after breakfast and the owl-man's close-up, we hopped in a van on the way to our first zipline tour. We were teamed up with a pair of large, middle-aged gay men (also from Atlanta), and an older woman who flew solo because her girlfriend was too afraid of heights.
The ziplines were a lot of fun, but we're just considering them a warm-up for the crazy all-day zipline adventure that awaits us in Arenal. Rachel was very brave, and the zipline boys seemed to fancy her, so she flew "superwoman"-style, and upside down with them. A couple of the lines were very long and fast, and we look forward to jungling it up in the coming days.
Right now we're in the lobby of the Riu. We just checked out and we're waiting for our car to pick us up, but it's been pouring rain all morning--actually, not ALL morning: it waited for us to be kayaking in ocean near a craggy cliffside. I hear that the trip to Arenal is long and bumpy and winding, something like four hours, so I'm sure with the gravel roads, mountainous landscape, and pour drainage we're in for quite an adventure this morning.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Costa Rica, Day Two
We got up just as the rain was clearing, and the morning was misty and gorgeous. We went down to the breakfast buffet, which has at least one of everything that anyone from any culture might eat for breakfast: fresh fruit, fried bananas, beans and rice, a variety of meats, sandwiches, omelets. I got a huge plate of melon. Rachel waffled up.
As we got coffee we noticed something odd. To the left of our outdoor seating, in the cloister, a man was walking around carrying a long stick with a fake owl on the end. This was presumably to keep the birds away from breakfasters, but I think it only served to make the howler monkeys in the distance laugh at us. Actually, it might have worked, because I didn’t notice any birds lurking, as they had been at lunch the previous day. Probably a coincidence, though.
After breakfast we got massages. After that, we went and spoke to salespeople with some local tour companies about things to do the next day. We ended up booking a canopy/zipline tour, where you walk on tree-to-tree rope bridges, look at local wildlife, and go down ziplines. It is not the epic, middle-of-the-rainforest zipline tour we intend to do when we get to Arenal, but it’s a good warm up.
We changed, hit the pool and had a couple of drinks. Then lunch. Then came Nap #6. I wonder if they’re putting something in the drinks here.
As we got coffee we noticed something odd. To the left of our outdoor seating, in the cloister, a man was walking around carrying a long stick with a fake owl on the end. This was presumably to keep the birds away from breakfasters, but I think it only served to make the howler monkeys in the distance laugh at us. Actually, it might have worked, because I didn’t notice any birds lurking, as they had been at lunch the previous day. Probably a coincidence, though.
After breakfast we got massages. After that, we went and spoke to salespeople with some local tour companies about things to do the next day. We ended up booking a canopy/zipline tour, where you walk on tree-to-tree rope bridges, look at local wildlife, and go down ziplines. It is not the epic, middle-of-the-rainforest zipline tour we intend to do when we get to Arenal, but it’s a good warm up.
We changed, hit the pool and had a couple of drinks. Then lunch. Then came Nap #6. I wonder if they’re putting something in the drinks here.
Costa Rica, Day One
Day One was a blur of airplanes, cocktails, and a triple-dose of naps.
We got up at five a.m—exactly the time I’d asked the car service to pick us up. We put on whatever clothes were within arm’s reach and raced to the car. At the airport, we said goodbye to Alex, who would be stuck in there until her mid-afternoon flight back to France, the poor girl. We got through check-in and security quickly, and before we knew it were in the air, sleeping again.
We had a change in Miami, where we bought a couple of books (who knew Thomas Pynchon had a new novel out?) and hopped on another plane where I quickly fell asleep again. We landed in Liberia, Costa Rica, where I finally opened my eyes.
The Liberia aiport was about the size of a Wal-Mart. It’s a converted hangar filled with immigration guys who didn’t like the fact that we knew the city—but not the name of the resort—where we were headed. After a few sideways glances, we were finally free to go.
A young man holding a sign that said—now inaccurately—Evan Rowe & Rachel Gainer, led us to a little 5-speed camper van that was to become our first adventure. Most of the roads from Liberia airport to the Riu Guanacanaste resort are unpaved, and we bounced around the Costa Rica countryside like popcorn for the next 45 minutes, passing tiny towns and makeshift rainforest houses. I remember seeing a fence made entirely out of cacti, but we were still in too much of a haze to think to pull out the camera.
The Riu Guanacanaste is a huge resort on the water. It looks a little garish in the afternoon, especially after driving through the desolate countryside on the way there. It can probably hold several thousand, but there are, for whatever reason, only a handful of people here now. We were handed a cocktail while in line to check-in, which I think was the first liquid I’d put in my mouth all day.
We got settled into the room for a bit, learning how to work the safe and the patio door and the lights, before going to explore the premises and find some lunch.
We discovered lunch at a huge cafeteria by the pool. It was kind of like Golden Corral in its attempt to cater to every conceivable desire—pizza, quesadillas, sandwiches, fountain drinks, and beer on tap. We ate quickly and took a walking tour of the premises. There’s a giant, heated, winding pool that overlooks the ocean, with pool-soccer and volleyball, and a swim-up bar. By the way, the Riu is all-inclusive, which means we get three meals a day and all the cocktails we can drink for free. This was not the time for cocktails, though, so we went back to the room for Nap #3.
We woke up around three, and decided to put on our vacation gear and hit the pool. We jumped in straight at the pool-bar, and got some mojitos and found a nice seat in one of the hot-tubs. We were expecting rain, but the weather was gorgeous, and we admired the scenery for a while, occasionally hearing the drunken shouts of other couples, all of whom were married on the same day as us. We had a couple of drinks and decided to head back to the room and grab some money to buy sunscreen, which we didn’t bring for fear of being confiscated at the airport. But this plan only led to Nap #4.
We woke up around six thirty. It was a bit darker, and we walked around the resort, which was now less garish, and in fact, absolutely beautiful at dusk. There was a bit of cloud cover and lightning off in the distance. We went to the pan-asian restaurant (one of about five restaurants at the resort) and got some sushi and fried rice and various other semi-thematic foods for dinner. Then we popped in at the “Sport Bar,” equipped with a dozen flatscreens, air hockey, and pool. We had a drink there and toured the premises more, discovering the casino and a shop that will gladly sell you sunscreen for $25. We passed on that, had another drink at the Sport Bar, and then the rain came.
It poured like I imagine it only pours in tropical climates. We went back up to the room to recuperate. Rachel asked if she could take a little nap. “Wake me up in a little while,” she said. Nap #5 lasted until morning. It rained all night.
We got up at five a.m—exactly the time I’d asked the car service to pick us up. We put on whatever clothes were within arm’s reach and raced to the car. At the airport, we said goodbye to Alex, who would be stuck in there until her mid-afternoon flight back to France, the poor girl. We got through check-in and security quickly, and before we knew it were in the air, sleeping again.
We had a change in Miami, where we bought a couple of books (who knew Thomas Pynchon had a new novel out?) and hopped on another plane where I quickly fell asleep again. We landed in Liberia, Costa Rica, where I finally opened my eyes.
The Liberia aiport was about the size of a Wal-Mart. It’s a converted hangar filled with immigration guys who didn’t like the fact that we knew the city—but not the name of the resort—where we were headed. After a few sideways glances, we were finally free to go.
A young man holding a sign that said—now inaccurately—Evan Rowe & Rachel Gainer, led us to a little 5-speed camper van that was to become our first adventure. Most of the roads from Liberia airport to the Riu Guanacanaste resort are unpaved, and we bounced around the Costa Rica countryside like popcorn for the next 45 minutes, passing tiny towns and makeshift rainforest houses. I remember seeing a fence made entirely out of cacti, but we were still in too much of a haze to think to pull out the camera.
The Riu Guanacanaste is a huge resort on the water. It looks a little garish in the afternoon, especially after driving through the desolate countryside on the way there. It can probably hold several thousand, but there are, for whatever reason, only a handful of people here now. We were handed a cocktail while in line to check-in, which I think was the first liquid I’d put in my mouth all day.
We got settled into the room for a bit, learning how to work the safe and the patio door and the lights, before going to explore the premises and find some lunch.
We discovered lunch at a huge cafeteria by the pool. It was kind of like Golden Corral in its attempt to cater to every conceivable desire—pizza, quesadillas, sandwiches, fountain drinks, and beer on tap. We ate quickly and took a walking tour of the premises. There’s a giant, heated, winding pool that overlooks the ocean, with pool-soccer and volleyball, and a swim-up bar. By the way, the Riu is all-inclusive, which means we get three meals a day and all the cocktails we can drink for free. This was not the time for cocktails, though, so we went back to the room for Nap #3.
We woke up around three, and decided to put on our vacation gear and hit the pool. We jumped in straight at the pool-bar, and got some mojitos and found a nice seat in one of the hot-tubs. We were expecting rain, but the weather was gorgeous, and we admired the scenery for a while, occasionally hearing the drunken shouts of other couples, all of whom were married on the same day as us. We had a couple of drinks and decided to head back to the room and grab some money to buy sunscreen, which we didn’t bring for fear of being confiscated at the airport. But this plan only led to Nap #4.
We woke up around six thirty. It was a bit darker, and we walked around the resort, which was now less garish, and in fact, absolutely beautiful at dusk. There was a bit of cloud cover and lightning off in the distance. We went to the pan-asian restaurant (one of about five restaurants at the resort) and got some sushi and fried rice and various other semi-thematic foods for dinner. Then we popped in at the “Sport Bar,” equipped with a dozen flatscreens, air hockey, and pool. We had a drink there and toured the premises more, discovering the casino and a shop that will gladly sell you sunscreen for $25. We passed on that, had another drink at the Sport Bar, and then the rain came.
It poured like I imagine it only pours in tropical climates. We went back up to the room to recuperate. Rachel asked if she could take a little nap. “Wake me up in a little while,” she said. Nap #5 lasted until morning. It rained all night.
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