When we were in Costa Rica I emailed my mom as much as I could and gave her a readers digest version of the stuff we were doing when it was all fresh in my mind. I decided that the letters might be the best way to describe our trip along with pictures.
Hi Family!
What a crazy ride since I talked to you in Miami. The flight was relatively short which was great because the flight from LAX to Miami seemed like forever.
It´s been raining off and on since we got in the country and our plane was towed in and then we took the stairs down and out to catch a shuttle bus to the terminal and customs. Customs was relatively painless, nobody was really there to show us what to do so we kind of followed the crowd. We went to our rental car place which was actually another shuttle bus off the airport and when we got there we found out they wanted 900 dollars total just in case for collateral on our credit card which our credit card limit isn´t anywhere close to that and they bumped up the price to 400 dollars, which would´ve been 400 dollars of our play money.
So we politely asked the car rental people our other options to get to San Isidro which is where we go to climb the mountain. We decided to go with the public bus system. We were taken back to the airport to catch the public bus to downtown San Jose to catch another bus that leaves at 7 pm to San Isidro. I felt like a chicken running around with a head cut off because all my maps and plans are now bogus. Our first bus broke down and we had to get on another bus that we prayed was the right bus. We weren´t really
sure what stop we needed to get off at because the stops are not labeled or anything so we got off when the majority of the crowd got off which turned out to be the right decision.We then got in a taxi that took us to the Bus station for the bus that would go to San Isidro. Our cab driver turned out to be a big help and even a bigger blessing. When we got to the station he directed us in and told us where to buy tickets but the last bus actually left at 6 pm and we were told it was 7. He found out for us that the earliest bus would leave at 5:30 in the morning from the station and told us he would take us to a very nice hostel. So that is where we are right now. We´re in this hostel in San Jose so we can rest up for another adventure tomorrow. This is turning out to be a very tentative trip, Ill keep you updated when I can. I´m not sure if we´re going to be able to start climbing the mountain tomorrow or not, Ill try to let you know.
Give our boy kisses for us
Thanks!
love Lots
Nicole & Jake
The hostel has been nice.....not way nice and definitely a new experience for me. We shared a bathroom and showers with the whole floor. Dorm style. Co-ed....I took a shower with my swimsuit on. Haha! I was worried the whole entire time that someone was going to walk in on me taking a shower! We decided to postpone climbing the mountain until we get a little more into the groove. So we´re gonna do a rafting trip offered by the hostel that includes transportation, breakfast, and lunch. we´re way excited about it.
Sad/Funny fact- We set our phone alarms to go off at 5:50 am because we were to leave at 6.30. Well our phones were still on Miami time for some reason so we woke up 2 hours early and had no idea! We checked out and the front desk guy asked us why we were up so early and we told him we were going on the rafting trip and he said your 2 hours early...... So, we´re sitting on the computers using the free internet until its really time to leave.
We really are wingin it now.
Hope all is well
Nicole
It´s actually day 3 and we are in La Fortuna next to the Arenal volcano and we are going zip lining today! Yesterday we went white water rafting and it was awesome! The rapids were from anywhere to a class I to a class IV it was such a thrill and the scenery was breathtaking. Our tour included a ride from San Jose to the base for the rafting, breakfast, lunch and a ride to La Fortuna. We were almost the only ones going to La Fortuna that way except for a river guide who lived there. He asked us where we were staying and we said we had no idea. He called up a guy named Wally who had some cabinas with private bathrooms for 20 dollars a night and got us a room. The guide´s name is Ricky he´s a Tico(Costa Rican) and he just recently married a girl named Nicky who is from Canada. They met on the river. He and his wife just started a tourism company called Pura Vida, Eh? so he told us the best and cheapest zip line out there so we are going to do that like in ten minutes.
We´ll probably stay in La Fortuna tonight and then make the long journey to San Jose and then to San Isidro to climb the mountain. After we climb we are going to hit the beach and stay in that area until the night before we leave. Then we´ll stay in Alajuela which is where we fly out.
Love you! Give kisses to Dax!
Hola ustedes,
Dad thought it would be a good idea to write back, so... I am. I am glad you're having a great time. It sounds so fun I wish we were with you. tuesday we went to lunch with the Wooleys. come to find out Jesse Wooley is quite the surfer and adventurer. He said he went all over Costat rica with a friend and his mom. It sounded so fun. Dax is in heaven with the dogs and kids coming over to swim. He has looked around for you guys a little but seems to have adapted just fine. I think our time this last month spent with you probable helped him to adjust much better than he would have otherwise. dad gave him a bath this morning and when I came home Dax looked like he had a comb over. I asked, "did you comb Dax's hair?" He said, "Yes I just combed it all back like I do mine." Very funny. Then last night the wind was blowing when Sam was mowing the lawn and Dax was riding on his lap. His hair looked like the Tazmanian Devil. He might need a hair cut when you get home. We are doing great so I hope you relax and have a great time too.
Love, Stacy
We are so happy that Dax is adjusting and that you all sound good and happy. We ate a pinapple we got at the market and ate it at the base of the volcano. We then went through the canopy on a bunch of ziplines. SOOOOOOO MMMMUUUUCCCHHHHH FFFUUUNNNN!!!!!!! That took 3 hours and we got back into town and decided we had seen plenty in La Fortuna. So we caught a bus and headed back to San Jose. We're in another hostel tonight and will be headed to San Isidro tomorrow to go try and hike the mountain. You can cut Dax's hair if you want, I still want to be able to do a faux hawk though. This hostel is alot nicer than the first one we stayed in. Alot more quiet and the bathrooms are semi-private.
Love you
Nicole
Hola Familia!
We Climbed the Mountain and boy was it long. We haven´t had internet means since the last time I wrote you. We went zip lining and it was wonderful and then we caught a bus back to San Jose which was about 4 hours. We met a couple on our bus that were traveling together. Ashlee was from Tennesee and the guy was named Mick from Australia(really what are the odds, he didn't look anything like Crocadile Dundee though) we got off at the same time they did and suggested a hostel that they had already stayed at. It was alot better, nicer, more private and more quite than the other hostel we stayed at in San Jose our first nigh in the country. We had a great nights sleep and bright and early the next morning we caught the bus going to San Isidro where we got a taxi to the town where the trailhead to Chirripo is located. We stayed at this really cool place called the Roca Dura where the owner( a Tico) made from wood and stone with his bare hands, the rooms look like caves, and the room we stayed in definitely had creepy craleys like a cave. Word to the Wise- If you can't stand being around bugs Costa Rica may NOT be the vacation for you. There was a huge spider in our shower. I was going to take a picture of it but the thing was so huge and looked really fast that I didn't want to upset it with a pic and have it attack me. Saturday morning came early, and we started for the trailhead at 4 am. Our hotel was 2 km to the trailhead, no shuttle so by the time we got to the trail head I was done. Long story short we got to base camp 18 km later around 2 pm. Sunday morning we got up at 3 am with another couple we shared a dorm room with and summited Mt Chirripo which was 5 km from base camp. The Summit is 12, 532 ft. I feel so accomplished and I can´t describe the views I saw, pictures don´t do any justice. Hiked back to Base, got all our gear together and headed down the mountain. Thats when body parts started to hurt and it started to rain, the trail becaome a very steep slippery river, so the trek down was alot slower than I wanted to go. But we got back to our hotel about 4 pm took hot hot showers and got al dried off, ate dinner and went to bed. Now we are on Monday, we took a couple of buses to the beach and that is where we sit, at La Playa Dominical. Tons of iguanas everywhere and the water is really warm, we heard it was like 76 degrees. We´re gonna play here until wednesday morning and then make our series of bus transfers back to the metropolitan area so we can be prepared to catch our plane Thursday morning. Ill call you once we are back in the states.
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