Apologies and Good Times

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately.  The past three weekends have been jam packed with trip preperations, fun, and more trip preperations.  There's a lot to tell, so here goes nothing.......

AMAZING TRIP #1: 

Santa Maria de Dota, Playa Dominical, and Quepos with Greg and Leah

Our first Vermont visitors landed on a Monday night to find a very excited Dan and an excited, but just-getting-over-a-stomach-flu Jill.  We tried to rally their first night here, but with somewhat mixed results.  

Dan and Leah clearly were having an amazing dance party (oh if I only I could find a way to post those videos). 

Greg, Leah, and Dan then headed out bright and early (okay, well maybe mid-day) to Santa Maria de Dota, a small rural community about an hour and a half outside of San Jose.  

Absolutely beautiful.  Here are some lovely scenic shots to paint the full picture.

       

   

They then headed out to Playa Dominical, a beautiful beach about 4 hours outside of San Jose. To get there they took the "back road," which is a one-lane quasi-road that snakes through the rain forest. 35 kilometers, 4 hours and a river crossing or two later, they arrived at the coast.  [I'll let Dan fill in all the funny stories that came from this portion of the trip].  Suffice it to say, they had an AMAZING time.

                  

The next day, while Greg and Leah did this.....

  

Dan did this....

(yes, that's him in the back of the restaurant working on a conference call).  

and later this....

(clearly its a rough life being a lawyer in Costa Rica).

The fearless threesome also somehow found the magical, mystical Playa el Rey in Quepos.  Imagine a beach where you are one of three people for miles, where only entrance road looks more like a hiking trail, where you are seperated from Manuel Antonio National Park and the main road by palm forests and crocodiles.  This amazing place is Playa el Rey.

        

Here are some amazing additional shots from the Playa Dominical portion of their adventure: 

    

Finally, after having to suffer through phone calls where I was forced to listen to the ocean waves hit the shore, I joined Dan, Greg, and Leah in Quepos (home to Manuel Antonio National Park).

Upon arriving we managed to find some of Cost Rica's national treasures: delicious fresh red snapper, pina coladas served in pineapples, and MONKEYS!

              

The next day we headed out to Playa el Rey again, and so all could marvel at how Greg managed to drive a 4-passenger diesel truck over a bridge that in places is only two steel beams. (The trick was to go fast.)    

We also managed to find crocodiles. These same crocodiles were likely waiting for us under that bridge.

After setting up camp and going for a nice long swim, we also found a Costa Rican beach party in full swing (or, for the sake of accuracy, about two hours after full swing). 

      We invited them over to our small campfire, where they proceeded to build a giant bonfire.  All was wonderful until the park rangers informed us that we were in park grounds well beyond closing time, and told us to hit the road. 

The night ended (as all my Costa Rican nights do) with karoke.  

Finally, on Sunday, slightly worse for wear we began our journey back to Escazu.  Greg and Leah had the wonderful idea of stopping at Villa Caletas, a hotel just north of Playa Herradura.  The hotel's somewhat eccentric owner built an amphitheater into the hillside specifically for sunset watching.  Unfortunately, it was a cloudy night, but we were still able to appreciate an AMAZING view.

   

         

   

Next up, my Costa Rican adventure with Mom!  (post to be continued...)