Pura Vida, sure that's what tourists consider Costa Rica's claim to fame. Little do most people know, this catchy phrase is a way of life and I even caught a few of our tour guides use it as a salutation. . "Ticos" are so friendly and everywhere you go, there is a tourist trap awaiting to pull in your hard earned dollar for a ride down a zip line, a cruise out to catch a marlin or surfing. Ugh, so much surfing!
Our trip started at the end of last October where Kyle took his first plane ride out of our country. Passports and Dramamine equipped, I struggled through the first two plane rides, but Kyle was a champ. We didn't get to sit next to each other for the last 3 hours and unfortunately for many Cardinal fans on our flight, Direct TV had not been installed in our brand new plane so the highlights of the last game in the World Series were given to us by the pilot every so often. That is, or course, until we hit a nasty thunderstorm and he found it more important to navigate us through the storm than to call the game for some reason :). Kyle made the mistake of asking the stressed captain after touchdown who won the game and he politely, yet sternly replied, 'No, I'm sorry, I had to fly the plane through some bad weather.' I also had the misfortune of asking a flight attendant for some Pringles on the way home...but more on that later.
So, after 10 hours of traveling, we touched down in San Jose, Costa Rica ready to start our adventure. We rented the cheapest possible car that we could find whom we endeared as "Winston - the disposable car". I feel inclined to tell future Costa Rica travelers that unless you plan to drive through swamps or up steep game trails, it is completely unnecessary to rent a giant 4x4 SUV. You'll save four times the amount of money on gas and costs by renting a mini. Our little Winston made it up one of the most horrible roads on the way to Monte Verde. My Subaru couldn't have even made it.
Luckily, the rental agent informed us of the speed trap cameras all over the major highways. Even more luckily, we rented a GPS. This was under the careful advise of my husband. Usually it's the other way around with a man, but Kyle is a sensible man and likely saved us a few hundred dollar in speeding tickets because the GPS and knows and tells you when you're approaching these cameras. The average speed on major highways is 55 KPH. That's only 34 MPH! It gave us time to look at the beautiful scenery on the way out to the coast, but my lead foot got us into trouble outside of Flamingo Beach, which brings us to our top moments of our honeymoon.
Mindy gets pulled over in a foreign country
One would think that the act of pulling someone over is universal. There's a cop, and the offender, in this case myself. Sometimes there is a cop car, or even a motorcycle. Oh no, not in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has no active military, so instead they have a police force that in ways also acts as their military. So, the fact that we came upon a roadside roadblock isn't as unusual as I had originally thought.
For the record, I was not going 100 KPH as this cop pointed out on his radar gun. I was going 71 in a 65, yet the kind gentleman who passed me at an outrageous speed prior to our "crime", was indeed going well over 100 KPH. My blubbering Broadway performance paid off, he let us off with a warning. Or, I hope he let us off with a warning. I couldn't read the ticket that he never gave me. There have been documentaries made in Costa Rica about some dirty cops that like to play rip-off-the-tourist, but I will say these cops were clean as whistles. They were kind and didn't give me a ticket, even though I didn't deserve one in the first place. But nonetheless, our vacation budget would've been blown had he not taken mercy on me. Here are some tips should you ever find yourselves in one of these situations with el polica de Costa Rica. Unfortunately, I was unable to secure a photo during the incident (I don't think the cop would've liked that much), but here is a picture of our trusty Winston as he safely took us through Costa Rica.
Kyle Catches the Smaller Fish
Kyle, bless his heart, put up with many of my ideas of a good time including beach going, sun bathing and zip lining. But let's face it, this man loves to fish no matter where we are. On our last day at the coast, we rented a private boat that looked like it might sink, but what the hell, it was deep sea fishing. The weather had really been up and down most of the trip, but God brought the sunshine out during our sea voyage and I have never had some much fun fishing. My original plan was to sun tan while Kyle caught the fish, but the captain and his first mate had other plans for me.
The fish were biting like crazy. We caught several Black Tuna, Jack Crevalle and Mackerel. Not the best eating, but we gave the fish to our guides because it appeared they could make better use of it than we could. It's hard work to reel those big guys in, I'm used to catching like 5 inch brown trout and freaking out because I caught a fish instead of a bush behind me. My Jack Crevalle was bigger than Kyle's and I am pretty sure he was jealous, even though he tried to act cool. It was a little traumatic when the captain speared mine, but he seemed unfazed by the blood dripping into our boat.
My by far most awesome moment of Costa Rica were the dolphins that swam up to our boat and started playing. Anyone who says they don't love dolphins are full of crap. Dolphins are happy, they smile, they squeak, they're just terrific. I stopped fishing after I saw the dolphins because I'm an easily distracted human. If you go to the ocean, eat the extra expense and go deep sea fishing. It's worth every penny, and I didn't even get sea sick!
We are held captive on a beach
Although I can't tell you the specifics about this just yet, I will say that should you ever find yourself on a turtle watching tour in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, be sure you are fully equiped with an iPad, pants and bug spray, at least two bottles.
To Be Continued...
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