Costa Rica: Day 1 Brumbelow Honeymoon

The alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. We collected our things, did a quick once over and headed to the airport with only one wrong turn that caused us to block traffic while following the GPS to the remote parking. David was driving and trying to think at the same time. Excuse me, Katie was talking to me and distracting me. We did not have a direct flight so we landed in charlotte for a quick bagel and passport check. We completed the second leg of our journey from Charlotte to San Jose with lots of word puzzles and David craning his neck and pointing out geographic features that I could not see from her bitch middle seat. Hey, there was whitewater down there!

After arriving and going through customs we found our tour guide. We drove to the barren streets of San Jose since this is the Holy Week and everyone is off at the beach or crowding up the rivers we are paddling tomorrow! There are festivals going on at the churches and local parks and generally people are all around because they are on vacation. Still it was much nicer than India. Our tour guide stopped us halfway to dine at a side cafe with nice local flavor. Our hosts helped us order food and I practiced my small amount of spanish while David looked confused and lost the whole time. I just CAN'T hear it! It's gonna be a long week of not understanding what people are saying. Therefore, I was deemed head of the household this week!! Halfway through the meal we heard a whurring sound and saw a zipliner zoom past us (upside down mind you) not ten feet from us. Lunch was truly delicious as described by the tour itinerary.

We continued our journey up and up and down and down and around winding turns to get to the Turrialba region. We passed lots of sugar cane and coffee farms. Lots is an understatement. It's too bad we don't like coffee. The cocoa plants are on the carribean coast where we will be on the 6th (my birthday). So much for not having a chocolate bar in a year and a half.

We arrived at the Turrialtico Lodge (The driveway reminded me of the Rockport takeout to the parking lot above, but unpaved) around 5 p.m. and adusted to the close quarters. I mean I freaked a little about how I can hear everything in the entire place! She brought ear plugs. You can't be too prepared for things that bump each other in the night.

We then went off to check out the local trail quickly before the sun went down speedily at 6 p.m. We found a waterfall at the bottom of the trail which we will surely venture to again (minus stepping on biting ants along the way).

We came up for dinner and I personally did not like my choice. But there were mango cocktails waiting for us when we got back to the lodge. It was full of onion, tomatoes and thick corn tortillas. But, David's dinner wasn't bad - a mix of local flavorings of refried beans, eggs, queso, chicken, beef and some cucumber-esque stuff. Surely, we will have to get used to the food or we will be farting until the day we land back in Philadelphia! But we do love our refried beans!

So here we type this at 7:30. It's been dark for an hour and a half, a baby is crying in the background, two girls are playing cards beneath us in the dining area, and we already have our first mosquito bites. But, we are anxiously waiting for sleep and tomorrow!

* Italics is David's comments as Katie typed this (and retyped the names adding capitalization.)