Pura Vida - Thanks and Gig 'Em

We hit the beach EARLY this morning so we could have a full last day in CR.

I teased Charlie that the "surf wax" that came with his board rental was just a huge block of bubbalicious gum.

Here's our little Yaris rental all loaded up.

There was a whole lotta this going down today and I am happy as a clam!

Bodies in the sand...

Tropical drinks melting in your hand...

{via Beach Boys}

{pedicure, it make look nice, it's so sexy, it's better for you}
These two macaws flew out of a palm tree right next to me. 

Aren’t they beautiful?

So crazy to see these animals in the wild and not just at the zoo.

After "beachin'" it up we came back home to watch the sunset from our balcony.

Not a bad spot to be blogging at!

We finished off the night with our usual ice cream stop.

Here is our lovely "helado barista" Monica who is originally from Washington D.C.
She runs the TCBY here in Jaco and is awesome!
We love making new friends!

Adios Costa Rica, Pura Vida!

or as we Texas Aggies say, Thanks and Gig 'Em!

Flying in the rainforest and chillin' at Hermosa

Our canopy zip line tour of the rainforest was fantastic…and a little scary.
Apparently the zip lines (how you get from tree to tree on the wire) could be up to 300 feet in the air.
 

I tried not to think about that part.

Notice the high tech green matresses they have set up to keep us from crashing into the trees at 60 mph.
More on that later...

  The guides had fun telling us how it was their first day on the job, etc.

 I guess people who work in possibly dangerous professions think it’s funny to freak out their clientele.

Luckily I’d heard that song and dance from the skydive instruction before and that was a significantly more frightening experience.

Remember those green mattresses?  Check out what likes to live behind them…

Our guides said their names are Lupita, Wilson and Mike.  There are over 100 species of bats in Costa Rica and 3 of them are the vampire kind.

This is a fruit loving white-nosed coati from the raccoon family. 
The staff at the zip line place leave fruit rines to lure him out and work the tourist crowds.Sweet lookin’ but most of them have rabies L

We wrapped up the day watching the surfers and the sunset at our favorite place, The Backyard Bar.

On our way to dinner (which turned into us just getting groceries and eating at the condo since the place we wanted to go was closed on Sunday) we saw this big tortoise crossing the road.  
He must have been in a hurry because I’ve never seen a turtle move that fast!  Well relatively speaking…I was worried that he might get hit out in the road like that but he turned himself around and made his way back to the beach. 

Well lookie thur!

Look at what washed up on our beach this morning!
(double click any of the pics for an closer look)
It’s a black dolphin and even the locals came out to watch it being hauled off.  I don’t even want to think about meeting that thing out in the water!
It's a good thing his mouth is small because those are some serious "noofies"
(teeth in Fontenot family lingo)!

Our mornings are usually overcast and drizzly since this is the end of the rainy season, so Charlie and I took an hour drive to Manuel Antonio National Park.  The beach or “playa” there was suppose to be amazing and we had to see for ourselves.

The hike to the beach takes about 30 minutes and you can have a guide walk with you to point out the rainforest creatures along the way.  We opted for the cheaper version and just decided to keep an eye out for “Toucan Sam” and anything else interesting.

We saw this sweet sloth carrying her baby on her stomach.  She was moving pretty quick for a sloth and the baby had the cutest face!

The beach was well worth the drive and I picked up lots of coral pieces that I can't wait to bleach when we get home.

The other thing that made the beach trip memorable was the obvious presence of raccoons and monkeys; some the most mischievous creatures around and to the Ticos, they are just like aggressive squirrels.

They kept getting into our stuff even with a fellow sunbather shooing them away with a stick.

Oh well, at least they’re cute!

The monkeys reminded me so much of Ross’ pet, Marcel, on Friends. 

They kept trying to steal our stuff but we didn’t mind too much.

We grabbed some lunch in town before heading back to Jaco.

I loved seeing the horses walking on the beach.

They all seem to be very polite and haven't left us any steaming divets.

I guess I'm easily impressed.

Before we went back home for the night, we decided to check out this surfing competition we'd been hearing so much about.

While we waited for it to start I schooled Charlie in a game of darts.

Costa Rica must be agreeing with me because I never win when we're in Texas!

The surfing was amazing to watch and the guy M.C.ing the whole thing was hilarious.

He sounded just like Nacho Libre:

"Put yo hends togeder fur de sufers!"

"E love what E'm seeing yew butiful peoples!"

He did a great job and kept me laughing the whole time.

It was abother fantastic day in Central America and I have loved all the people we've met so far.

Everyone is genuinely satisfied with their lives.

The surfers are passionate about their sport and the futbol players are devoted as well.

I love seeing the families walking or riding their bikes through the streets together.

Life is life no matter where you are in the world.

Tico mothers kiss their sandy babies on the beach, dads playfully toss their kids into the ocean and you can be greeted with a fist bump by any stranger who will soon become your friend.

This is a beautiful country from their "Pura Vida" manifesto to their contagious thankfulness.

Most Excellent

We had a great first full day in C.R.

We drove to a National Park and along the way saw some of these..

and they were hungry!

They were hanging out under a bridge and went crazy over a ham sandwich someone threw over to them.

We counted 18 crocs in all!

Apparently the river where they hang out flooded until it nearly reached the bridge. 

I certainly wouldn't want these bad boys to have free access to the streets.

This large fellow was sitting quietly in the grass at the national park and we saw them running along the

side of the road.

Apparently the aren't as delicious to eat as their lime-green relatives.

And saw a butterfly farm.  If a bat ever gets into that place he will have a smorgasbord.

{i spy with my little eye...a hot sufer dude}

We took some surfing lessions....had some gelato with a new friend and saw a concert.

{if the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall or the mountains should crumble to the sea. i won't cry, i won't cry. no i won't shed a tear. just as long as you stand, stand by me} 

{my buddy, my buddy, margarita and me}

The band was great and played lots of Incubus and Pearl Jam.

It was hilarious to hear them play and then say "Muchas Gracias" after singing their set.

We are pooped out but really happy and can't wait to start another day!

Hola from Jaco

Charlie and I arrived in the lovely San Jose, Costa Rica around 2 pm this afternoon.

(road sign: imagine how cool it was seeing a sign for Panama, only 350 kilometers away)

After picking up our rental car, sans GPS, we set off to explore the captiol city.

Charlie did a great job driving us around and adapted well to the "cultural driving" experience.

Actual lanes do exist but are pretty much ignored. 

Basically if your vehicle can fit through a little gap between two other cars and you can manage to get there first,  then it's all yours.

Charlie had researched the best restaurants in the capitol city and decided we had to try La Esquina de Buenos Aires, an Argentine steakhouse in downtown San Jose.

We knew they closed at 3pm so we were trying our darndest to get there in time.

And the effort was totally worth it!

The food was so delicious and we had the coolest waiter.

From the moment we walked in the door Walter made us feel right at home.

We arrived 15 minutes before they were going to close but he never rushed us.

In fact he encouraged us to explore the restaurant and take as many pictures as we wanted.

The first time we tried to take the above pic the top wasn't screwed on the bottle well and alot of the liqour

poured out all over my shirt.  It was pretty funny but I was stanky!

{quit the small talk and feed me already}

Charlie got the Churrasco steak and I got the salmon with veggies.

It was one of the best meals of my life and it filled me up for the entire day!

As we were eating and visiting I kept noticing these two sweet puppies sleeping across the street

from the restaurant in the rain.
Well the sight was so heart-wrenching and they were both pulling off their
 "I am pitiful and need steak" look like pros that I totally caved.

I asked Walter if they were of the friendly sort who would appreciate scraps of steak.

Without hesitation, Walter walked me outside and introduced me to the two pups.

He joking commented they would only dine on the finest tenderloin but they may

concede to eat Charlie's left over steak lunch just this once.

Then I proceed to do two things my dad always told me not too...

approach strange dogs and then feed them.

He was such a sweet little guy but Walter was right…the pup didn’t even bother standing up to

eat his tasty morsels I brought him and even seemed to hesitate before devouring the treats.

The other dog in question ran the other way like a scalded...well, dog (forgive the expression).

I guess they weren't in the terrible shape I thought they were...life is good for a stray in C.R.

After we bid farewell to Walter we proceeded to try and get out of downtown San Jose and

on the road to Jaco beach.

We saw some interesting sights along the way as exiting the city turned out to be
a bigger feat than Charlie and I were planning for.
It took us a good two hours to finally get our bearings.

But this is a plus side for not being on a schedule. 
We got to explore the city, talk to lots of people in our quest for directions,
and I even got to peak in a church where they were having adoration! So cool!

Finally we got ourselves out of downtown which turned out to be even more confusing

than downtown Houston.

Before we got to the condo at Bahia Azul we stopped by AutoMecado grocery store to get some

grub for breakfasts and lunches.

I think we could totally subsist on coke/diet coke and fruit for…quite along time.

maybe not forever but as you can see we won’t be going hungry any time soon!

The condo is beautiful and we even went for an evening swim at the pool just to kick off this quickie vacation.

In an attempt to save a frog from drowning in the pool, Charlie grabbed a small table near by
to scoop up the floundering reptile.  As he tilted the table over the teracotta plate fell out of it's base
and broke all over the sidewalk...poor Charlie...no good deed goes unpunished!

The cherry on top of the whole night was when we turned on the TV
and saw they were showing the A&M and UT game on ESPN/EN VIVO!

We caught the tail end of the game. The Ag's were up by one touchdown and t.u. was threatening to put some points on the board and tie it up. But with about 15 yards out from putting the ball in the endzone the t.u. quarterback tossed a pass which was tipped by a lineman and then intercepted by the one and only Von Miller! Aggies win!!!

Imagine our delight as we cheered the Aggies on to beat the Longhorns all the way from Central America.

WHOOP!

Favorites

Aw, yeah...that's right

So I thought I would go over a few of my recent favorites:

CHILDHOOD TOY:

Polly Pocket

 

MOVIE:

The Talented Mr. Fox

ACTRESS:

Ms. Zooey D.

BAND:

She and Him

COUPLE:

Will Arnett and Amy Poehler

RIGHT NOW:

Excited about spending time with the most amazing 8 and 6 year olds in the whole world.

They are my sunshine and I can't wait for them to spend the night with us!

au revoir!