All about Costa

Yesssss.............

I am back from the somewhat-like-Pinas-only-cleaner-Costa-Rica.

Ooooh, everything was a lot of fun. From start to finish. I didn't even mind the almost 24-hr plane time (yes, flying time lang, di pa kasama dyan ang layover, airport time, at kung anu-ano pa) hehehe.

Okay, okay. so many things happened, I'm going to just enumerate them, in lieu of this post becoming a full-blown journal. Besides, I'm sure if any of you really want the juicy details, you'll ask me, right? ;-) haha. Wish!

Anyway, here goes:
- From Manila to Japan, I was in first class, and seated beside me was an american in his thirties. We started to talk. And we chatted about the Philippines and the economics of offshore work to us (Filipinos), and our reasons for flying, etc. This is the first time, in all the flying I've done, that I actually met someone on the plane. Very cool. And then, as an afterthought, we exchanged numbers so when he came back to Manila with his wife, and my bf was in town, then maybe we'd all go out. You know how it is, foreigners love other foreigners when they're in foreign countries. Hekhekhek.
- I had an overnight layover (is this a redundant phrase??) in Houston, Texas. ALONE. I watched TV (oooh, I missed new CSI episodes so much, I was psychologically salivating haha). I caught their season finale. Woohooo! Beat that.
- I checked in at the airportat 430 am for my 545 connecting flight to Atlanta. Apparently, the flight was cancelled. The Delta folks were soooooooo good though. They escorted me to a cab that took me to Hobby Airport (30 mins away). I didn't pay for anything. And yes, i got to take that alternate flight instead. I felt like I was part of Amazing Race for a second there.
- Finally saw the boyfriend in Atlanta and thought I heard angels sing (o, taray hahaha)
- Landed in Costa Rica and immediately felt like I was back in Manila ---- huwaaaaaaaaatttttt!!!! The weather was the same there as we have here, the people have more or less the same skin color (mas madami nga lang kulot hahahah), and everyone was out for a buck.
- HOWEVER, one thing I noticed through my entire stay was the bathrooms. Voila! All the bathrooms were clean and functional. It didn't matter if it was in a house-turned-hostel (zero stars), or a makshift one right beside the starting trail of the rainforest or the waterfalls, or a bus terminal! They all had working flushes, toilet paper, sinks with running water, and SOAP. Oh, joy, joy, joy! Hahaha, fine. I know. I'm weird.
- Before I went to Costa Rica, I searched the net for some info on it. Apparently, monkeys are big over there. So I went. And monkeys, we did see! They were hanging out beside the road, in the rainforests, in trees on the beach beside restaurants, and of course, in the mountainous areas. Of course there were sloths, eagles, herons, hawks, horses, and cows too ( some guides told us the names of the other birds, bugs, crabs, blah blah blah, but I forget).
- We stayed at Cala Luna and it was awesome! The service was great. Of course, it was one of the pricier places at Tamarindo wehehehe.
- It was the first beach wedding I attended, and it was breath-takingly wonderful. I was told that it had been raining for 3 days, when, all of a sudden, on the afternoon of the wedding, the sun came out and winked on the couple. Oh, heaven!
- We did some activities in Tamarindo (the Surfer's Beach Town), namely:
--> horsebackriding through the back-hills. It was the bf's first time, and he was hooked!
--> going on a sunset cruise.
--> going on a rainforest canopy tour (aka zipline tour)...and yes, it did rain in there hahaha
--> boating on the hidden marshlands beside the beach
--> food-tripping, and bar-hopping (of course)
--> swimming
--> another group went deep-sea-fishing and they caught 6 12-pounder tuna fish(es? someone tell me how to say this right...a basta, anim na isda hahaha) and we had the chef at Cala Luna prepare it for all of us. It fed around 40 people, I think. Yummeh!
- Me and the boyfriend also went to see the Arenal volcano (4 hrs away from Tamarindo), and stayed the night there. Got ourselves a package tour that included going to the hot springs, doing a trek in the forest towards the viewpoint of the volcano, and horseback-riding (yes, again...I told you the bf got hooked hahaha) to the waterfalls.
- My eyes were opened to the 'spoiled' nature of some (again, I say SOME) sheltered Americans. They can't seem to enjoy nature, or understand it. They also can't appreciate other cultures different from their own. Nor can they employ tact when tact is due. Not very flexible. Sigh. that's why I still love being a Filipino. Proud memeber here. Hahaha.
- Ooh, before I forget. Our guide during the trek pointed out 2 plants, was trying to be impressive, and was asking us if we knew what they were. They were --- the 'makahiya', and the guava tree. Hahaha. I think I kinda spoiled the moment for him both times. After that, he didn't ask us if we knew the plants' names or not anymore. He just went straight into his speech hahaha. Sorry, I wasn't trying to be a smartass. ;D (Maybe I just am, sometimes).

Anyway, the pics below are just some of the ones I took. I think I took a total of 250 pics or so. Of course, these are some raw images I just thought would be a good representation of the trip.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this (if you got to this part). I have coffee at home, if anyone wants to taste the rumored Costa Rican coffee. Just come-a-knockin'.