Back to Costa Rica again!

So, I'm going back in time again on the blog. Back to our Costa Rica trip since I still had a few more pictures to share. It seems like such a long time ago now that I can't even remember if I have any stories to share!

Charley and I took the TicaBus down there. It was a long trip, about 9 hours. We left Nicaragua on the 91st day of our visa (visa lasts 90 days!) so that cost us an extra $12 each and is perhaps why we were at the border quite a while! We finally got to San Jose, Costa Rica and got a taxi to the hotel. It was a really nice place. A two bedroom apartment with a kitchen, full hot breakfast every morning, and a pool. 

About 5am I heard the door and it was Blake & Madalyne arriving from the airport. So, that day they slept a while, we lounged around, then went to see downtown San Jose. It was a lot cooler down there, so I had to borrow a sweater from Madalyne - I didn't go very well prepared. And I never got in the pool because it was never warm enough in the morning or evening that we were actually at the hotel. Blake & Madalyne did get in one evening - here is Blake walking on water:

The next day we took a trip to a national park, and toured a private property that has an aerial tram that takes you across the top of the rainforest. Madalyne was expecting to see all kinds of animals, so it was a bit of a disappointment since all we saw were trees mostly! Our tour guide was pretty good, but he talked a bit too much. While we were on the aerial tram he kept talking about how wonderful the silence of the rainforest is, how quiet it is, listen to how quiet it is, quiet, quiet, quiet, blah, blaaahhhh blahhhhh - needless to say we didn't ever enjoy any silence with him in the car.

The aerial tram

They made us sit in a certain order to even out the weight. Heavier people towards the front I think!!!!

Looking down over the rainforest.

The bus system in Costa Rica is really impressive. The buses are really comfortable, and once the seats are full it's considered full, not like Nicaragua where it's empty if there aren't at least 40 people standing in the aisles. And there's no guy hanging out of the window shouting to people at bus stops and trying to persuade them to get on. And you pay the driver, not some guy wandering around charging whatever he likes. It rained on the way home that day, so we got a bit more than wet getting home on the buses that evening.

Nice and drenched!

 The next day we decided to take a bus trip to the beach. The nearest beach was about 1 1/2 hours away. We got a taxi to the bus station and got there about 10 minutes before the bus was leaving, ran to the little office to buy tickets, ran to the bathroom, hopped on the bus, and off we went. We arrived in Jaco around 10:30 and decided to have breakfast. After breakfast it started to rain - great way to start the day at the beach! Eventually we made it down to the beach. It was the beginning of rainy season so not peak time. But the beach was pretty empty, and there were no chairs available to rent, and not much shade anywhere. It took us a while to set up, but we did eventually. I don't think any of us were really that impressed with the beach. It was dark sand, but Madalyne got to see the Macaws that she didn't see in the rainforest so that made her day! And Blake rented a surf board, which Charley got to try out for the first time too. I got some good shots of that adventure!

Blake off to surf - taken by Madalyne

Charley learning to ride the waves

Doesn't he look cool?

If you look really closely you can see Charley's toes at the end of that surf board cord!!!! Talk about having the camera in your hand and just the right time!

There were about half a dozen flying back and forth to this tree

It rained on the way home from that trip too, so we got wet again! But we had a good day. We actually got drenched getting to the bus stop. We walked past three bus stops to get to the main bus stop for the bus back home, and it was pouring at the time. But we weren't sure that the bus would stop at those other stops. It did of course!! Better to be safe than sorry though!

Charley's little friend he found on the beach. He walked like a little cartoon crab!

And we enjoyed a delicious dinner in Jaco with free freshly made smoothies!

This is on the bus - for those who read Spanish I thought you might like it.

So, that was our brief trip to San Jose, Costa Rica. Probably our only trip, unless we have reason to go to the airport or be near it again to receive friends or something. The trip home took all day but it went smoothly. The young taxi driver in Masaya when we got back that tried to charge us 300 cordobas ($12) lost our business. He took us for clueless foreigners. I said "300 cordobas!!! Last time it cost me 150 for four people from here". As I said that, some other taxi driver was coming by and he's like yeah, 150, let's go! The young guy learned a lesson from it maybe!

To close, I leave you with a video of Charley catching a wave! Click here to see it.

Next time I'll blog our Ometepe stories - there are PLENTY of those!!