Pura Vida!

Hello 2012! As you may have noticed, I am giving my blog a much needed face-lift and trying to think of a new title. So bear with me here.... and I am taking title suggestions by the way.

There is no better way to kick-off a new year on this blog than a re-cap of our incredible trip to Costa Rica.

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It all started with a few glasses of wine... as most good stories start. Our good friend, RJ, and us had been talking all year about how we wanted to go to Costa Rica. So one night (while drinking wine), we randomly checked flights and, holy cow, they were $350 round trip. A quick call to RJ and we were booked.

The boys talked me into not planning our trip out. Meaning, we had our flights and the first 3 nights booked, but they wanted to play it by ear for the last week of the trip and "go wherever the wind blew us"..... so here's what ended up happening:

Dec. 31, 2001- we flew in San Jose and stayed downtown. There surprisingly was not much going on for NYE, so we ended up at a Casino 2 blocks from our hotel. I got yelled at when I pulled out my camera (I forgot you couldn't take pictures at a casino)- so there are no picks from this night.

Day 1 of the trip. We woke up, had breakfast and headed back to the airport to take a puddle jumper to the Pacific coast. Words cannot describe how freaked out I was to take this tiny plane. I mean, you hear about crashes all the time. If I wasn't so freaked out, I maybe could have enjoyed the views. It was a stressful 25 minute flight.

We landed in Tambor and grabbed a 30min taxi to Malpais/Santa Teresa. Think of this place as a typical Costa Rican surf town. Dirt roads, lots of surfers from around the world, lots of twenty-somethings everywhere, but TINY. Its like this little corner of the earth that happens to be extremely popular if you know anything about surfing. We stayed here 3 nights in a hostel. Night 1 was in a shared room (tiny room with 6 bunk beds). Night 2 and 3 were spent in a private room with our own bathroom, thankfully. The water was FREEZING in the showers and we may have each gotten about 100 bug bites from the open-air rooms, but it was an experience for sure. I tried to act really "cool" like I didn't give a crap about the bites, the water temp, the bugs, etc.

Santa Teresa Beach

Tranquilo Backpackers Hostel

We did a lot of this. Beach, drink, beach, drink, rest and repeat.

You will see my tan slowly build through the pics. I am PA-ALE.

Notice the bug bites? I wasn't exaggerating. I had over 60 just on my calves.

Oh hey, RJ

Did I mention there are dogs EVERYWHERE in CR?

From Malpais, we headed to Montezuma. If I could do our trip over, I would have stayed here longer, as it was my favorite place of the trip! Unlike Malpais, which is a surfer town, I would classify this one as a "hippie town". Think American hippies in the street selling trinkets. And this was the only town we went to where Adam thought is looked the same as it had in 2007 when he was there. Unfortunately, since CR is becoming a popular destination, things are changing rapidly. And we booked an actual HOTEL for this part of the trip. Who knew I would appreciate the common luxury of luke-warm showers (you never know what you are going to get with a shower in Costa Rica).

Tortuga Island

Yes, those are real monkeys

I might have worn the most modest swimsuit in the country.

From Montezuma we took a water taxi to Jaco and a shuttle to Manuel Antonio. Manuel Antonio was the most touristy town we went to, so therefore, my least favorite. The beaches were probably some of the prettiest, but they were so crowded!! We only stayed here for a day and a half and then headed south to Dominical. I do have to mention that we did end up watching the Cat's game at a bar here. We are slowly trying to convert our Denver friends to KSU fans- RJ was a good sport.

Planking pics anyone?

Best picture of the trip?! I think so.....

Dominical is another surf town. And WAY off the beaten road. Tiny, tiny, tiny little place. This was our last stop of the trip and after staying night 1 in a really crappy hotel, we decided to end at a nice place for the last few nights of the trip. So we looked up the #1 place on Trip Advisor and booked a two bedroom villa in the hills. It. did. not. disappoint. I think I was made to live in luxury. And can we talk about the views!!!!!!

Straight pimpin

I did not wear makeup once the entire 1o days I was there- it was fabulous.

Our last night of the trip, ended with a bonfire on the beach

And then in typical Costa Rican fashion... we got a "cab" ride to our hotel, except the cab was a truck, so the boys sat in the bed of the truck. I don't think Costa Rica has rules.

I can honestly say I left my heart in Costa Rica. I want to go back ASAP.

Until next time.....