Day 22

Welp, it's over. It's fitting that today, things ended how it all started: raining. I like to think of it as, Costa Rica's inner mood being reflected in terms of weather (because we're leaving). We had a few brief hours of non-rain, which by no means meant there was sun. We've grown to think that the absence of rain is a home-run & when the sun is present, it's a grand-slam! Today was neither. We stayed out through the rain as long as we could…but it seemed to be a lost cause. We spent the afternoon watching movies or at the gym. 

loving our robes & slippers

Tonight, we went out for the official last supper. We had lots of wine, laughs, some almost-tears and lots of love for Costa Rica. 

what you can't really see is me trying to take MK out with my thick wood menu

Tomorrow we leave the Marriott at 6:15 to catch our 7:10 tin-can flight to San Jose, then a 9am shuttle to the international airport. We will reconnect with Liz and her beau to fly into MIA, all minus MK. We are so sad that MK is not continuing with us into the home-stretch. So so triste.  Costa Rica - you were great. All I have to say to you is -- "Pura vida, no pass nada…adios…"

isalud!

I'd rather say, "hasta luegs" - because I know I'll be back.

Day 19 & 20

Day 19 was full clouds but it was our first full day without rain! We'll take it. We laid at the pool/beach from 7-3:30, taking full advantage of our close proximity to the equator to toast our bods. (don't worry, mom - I'm wearing sunscreen). We all lay down in efforts to cool off before we hit the gym for another insanity sesh when we hear a pounding at the door. Could it be room service with more ice? No, enter the sexy sweed,("the SS") Fredrik, one of our many friends from the night before. We ditch the gym and head down to happy hour by the pool. The SS takes a quick dip and when he meets us back at our table, MK asks "so, why did you put your shirt back on?" We all have a good adolscent girl giggle before moving on to the more mentally stimulating conversations.

A few hours past happy hour, we ask Fredrik to join us for dinner on property, but he has other plans in store for us. He met some other friends and invited us all to dinner in Tamarindo. Us girls get ready, hail a cab and we're back on the dirt/gravel road down to Playa Tamarindo. We meet the SS and pick a place for din-din. We meet more friends on the way. Lots of beers and hours laughing later, we head home. Hasta Luegs- Fredrik, the sexy sweed, you will be missed until we visit you in Stockholm next summer. :)

Day 20
Please don't think that tomorrow is our last day here. Please don't think about that tomorrow is our last day here. YOU MUST STOP THINKING THAT TOMORROW IS OUR LAST DAY HERE. I'm so sad. Tomorrow is our last day here. Of course, those miserable first days at Cabinas Pedro Miguel dragged by like stick in the mud and these glorious 6 days in paradise have flown by faster than Costa Rican cab drivers (which is fast, BTW). Today we lounged at the pool all day next to our fav LA couple  (who are sadly leaving tomrorow). Sunshine all day, and no rain to date - knock on wood. Tonight we're going to have dinner at the sushi restaurant on property and try not to think that tomorrow is our last day here. Crap. I did it again.

Day 17 & 18

Day 17
Life in Guanacaste is great! Would you believe that after 14 days of pure dry climate and nothing but glorious sunshine on our first full day here -- it rains??

 We woke up super early to hit the beach/pool and laid out until the rain came at 1ish. While at the pool, we met two cute couples - one from LA, the other from Canada, eh? The LA couple have been here for almost a week so they had lots of advice and info to share with us about the ins and outs of the resort and the surfer town, Tamarindo, which is only 15 minutes away. When the rain came we retired to our room for an unintentional yet great cat nap. After the nap, we hit the gym and did insanity. Seems kind of counter-productive, huh? Oh well. Better than nothing!

We came back for a quick shower and were off to dinner at one of the restaurants on property. Would you believe that we were sat next to our fav LA couple at dinner? It was so cute, when we walked in the man loudly whispered, "is that our girls?" I guess we all look different when not in drowned rat-esque hair & bikini attire. :) At dinner, we had a couple bottles of wine - something that we haven't had in CR yet! We needed it to hopefully put us to sleep at a decent hour (despite of nap) so we could rise early with the sun.

Day 18
Up early to hit the beach/pool. Not a cloud in the sky - hallelujah! We laid out all morning/afternoon with only a brief 15 minute shower that didn't deter us. We may have become delusional here because we laid there in the rain because the sun was still out. The sun rays can still tan us through the rain and clouds, right?
We are heading into Tamarindo at 4 to check out the little surfer town, go shopping, grab some dinner & hopefully steal some Wifi. The JW is great - but we are so disappointed that wifi isn't free here!! It's $15 for 12 hours, per device. Annoyed. With a lap top and 4 smart phones it just isn't worth it -- so to town we go to hopefully re-connect with the world & update the blog. :)

Ok, so scratch that. We went into town sans computer to a local bar and met so many friends. We were wondering why we didn't have millions of friend requests from all the people we've met so far…apparently all of our friends were in Tamarindo. Lots of beers and chats later, we're the most popular friends that you didn't have to pay for. There may or may not have been a prostitute on the shuttle bus back with us. She introduced her "friend" to us and showed us where the communal bathroom is. In a drunken stupor, Kimberly shimmies into the concierge desk and starts playing her sweet, sad, violin story of not having internet on property…wham bam thank you mamma, now we have internet for free!! Except blog updates on the reg, kiddos.

Day 16

Up early because we were too excited to sleep. Today was the day we had been waiting for - fly to Guanacaste, CR. We said "hasta luegs" to Liz and headed for the airport.

Bags and bodies on the scale first, then we were waiting for the puddle jumper to arrive. We were nervous because a cow had wandered on the runway. A man shimmied out and shooed it away so our plane could land. I guess nobody wanted ground-beef. har har har.

This quick 20 minute flight to San Jose was so much better than our other flight, but still more than just a little nerve-wracking. We only had 10 minutes in between flights - a quick run to the bano and grab some peanuts to up the blood sugar & we were off again. A 45 minute flight to Tamarindo, culminating with the most gorgeous view of the beach while approaching the landing strip. The moment we've been anticipating has arrived - JW Marriott/Playa Mansita time!!

The only way we survived the four long nights at the Cabinas Pedro Miguel was anticipating the moment of arriving at the JW. It's bittersweet that our last stop on our incredible 3 week vacay is here. We wandered around the grounds and ended up having dunch (or linner, if you will) at the azul grill overlooking the beach/pools. At dunch/linner, Kim, Susan, MK & I all had some reflection and share time about our favorite and least favorite days of the trip so far. One of our favorite/funny story that we haven't shared yet is when a cow charged our taxi-van, relampagos & the 3 sizes of Jose's - pequeno, mediano, & grande. So many vacas all around. It seems like we've been here so long but it's gone so fast. All I know is, I could get used to a permanent vacation & I definitely do not want to go back to school/work.

Guest Blog by MaryKate McDonald

And all is right with the world....the Baldi Resort is behind us, our lovely "Asian" hostel receptionist has allowed us to spend the night, and the sun is shining!  Liz, Suzie, and I happily jump into our SkyTram Skytrek van and depart for zip-lining through the rainforests of Arenal. Suddenly, the heavens open up (nothing we can't handle, with all our rain experience), but then Disney workers join the van, and then wouldn't you know it, we pick up more Disney freaks! Unbelievable, they know each other! Isn't it a "small world after all?" After much Magic Kingdom and Epcot talk, we arrive at our destination. There are a number of steps before taking the zip of a lifetime. 1- Sign your life away.  2- Allow a Tico to adjust your helmet and harnesses. 3- Use el baño. Ok and we're off. Tres amigas sit cautiously in a Tram, not the smoothest of gondolas, heading 3000 feet on a mountainous ascent. Upon arriving at the top, we are greeted with glasses of Iced Tea. We would have preferred Tequila to ease the shakes. Our "bilingual" guide snaps on his carabiner and does his best "speaking the English" while explaining how to zip line safely. Suzie steps up onto the platform, gets into position, and zips across, perfecto!  My turn, I inform the guide that estoy nerviosa and he replies, "yo tambien, it's my second day and I'm still in training." NO GRACIAS!  With muchos butterflies, Liz and I zip across, success. One small, short zip-line down, seven more terrifying lines to go! Zip-line numero tres separates the pollos from the hombres. With the bravest of faces, we flew from mountain to mountain overlooking the most beautiful hillsides, not to mention the famous Arenal Volcano and Lake. Seeking even more of an adrenalin rush? I think so! In a superstitious fashion, Suzie, then myself, and holding up the caboose, Liz soared above the treetops, experiencing zip-lines named, Speedy Gonzales and Big Daddy. What a thrill! Eight zip-lines, sixty spiral steps, and three huge smiles later, we were back on solid ground. With excitement from the day's events and hungry bellies off to The Springs we went. Sushi for five, por favor.

Day 15

Today started off & ended really great. We had breakfast at our hotel in La Fortuna and hit the streets to scourer for great buys/souvenirs. 

La fortuna is the little town at the base of the volcano that's been turned to ash a time or two by lava. It is really clean and doesn't smell like Quepos did (the town outside of Manuel Antonio). We were craving chocolate again and all of the sudden, out of nowhere, a chocleteria mirage appeared- except it wasn't a mirage!! Chocolate!! mmm. 

We grabbed a cab to The Baldi Springs Resort - which has been recommended by several people we've met here and was featured in my Costa Rica book. We get there early and tried to check in but our room wasn't ready. The dude gave us wristbands to use the springs until our room was ready…we walked around and were more than underwhelmed - and not just because we were spoiled the day before at one of the top 5 rated romantic places in the world (The Springs). 

Depressionville

all fake smiles

at the winemine aka baldi

We were shelling out a pretty penny to stay at a place like that and, frankly, it reminded me of the watermine. so Kim decided to see if we could get our money back and dip set. Eureeka! it worked, we checked in and checked out equally as fast. Liz, Suz & MK were being picked up at Baldi for their zip line excursion, so they had to stay. We threw all of our luggage (again) into a van. Kim & I high-tailed it back to town, dropped our luggage back in our room and hailed a cab back to The Springs. Not to sound bratty, (ok, this is going to be bratty) but how do you go back to canned tuna fish when you've been eating caviar? 

Kim and I lounged at The Springs all day and the girls met us there for the last supper after their zip line experience. How did it go?? Well, they survived! One of them is going to guest-blog about the experience later & share photos/videos later. 

Tomorrow we lose another - Kim, MK, Susan and I take the NatureAir puddle jumper to Tamarindo & get back to caviar at the JW Marriott Guanacaste. Liz will meet her beau in San Jose on Wednesday to then hop over to Tortuguero for the rest of the time here.

Day 14

Day 14
It is safe to say that yesterday was one of the least fun days in CR and today was one of the most!!! Dare I say the best? We woke up and took a cab to The Springs Resort & Spa. It was recent host to The Bachelor. It might be the best place on Earth. 

MK, Susan and Liz were scheduled to zip line at 2 but upon arriving to The Springs, they immediately starting working on changing their zip line adventure to tomorrow. We asked our cab to come back for them at 1:30 so they could make their appointment. The front desk called the number from his card and told him we would no longer be needing him. We explore the springs perdidos (the lost springs) and all the other springs on the property - there were tons raging from all different depths and temperatures. 

We had one 15 minute downpour today while we were in the springs but it was incredible to be in the warm water with the cool Costa Rican rain coming down. Finally the clouds parted and we had sunshine for the rest of the afternoon and could even see to the top of the volcano. While we were heading up to lunch, we run into our cab driver. Uhh..What? He said he was there to pick us up. Liz and I in our most forceful and angry Spanish tell him that the hotel called the number from his card and said we wouldn't need a ride 5 minutes after he dropped us off. 5 minutes of very uncomfortable Spanish exchanges (him telling us that we must have called the wrong number, and that we should pay him anyways). Finally, I yelled "pura vida, no pasa nada" as we all shimmied into the Dama's bathroom. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in the various springs, sauna and swim-up pool bar. We went to a delicious sushi dinner at the resort before hopping in a cab and heading home. Tomorrow we head to the Baldi Springs Resort & the girls are going zip-lining in the longest, highest, (prob scariest) zip line in Costa Rica. Wish them luck!!

Today was great. No way to really describe, just be jealous of the pictures. I love Costa Rica!!