Ziplining, mountain driving, surfing, & sunsets...oh my!

We finallllllllyyyy made it to our final hotel destination...through the potholes, streets only wide enough for 2 moped's & a fart, hundreds of people walking on the streets like sidewalks who expect you to dodge THEM go figure, bridges for 1, fog, rain, 90 degree turns with motorcycles flying around every corner, steep embankments which require down-shifting just to make it up the hill & more down-shifting not to fly down the side of the mountain at 60kph...and where you should really pay attention when the gps registers unpaved roads as potential detours to save time. Warning!!! Warning...it doesn't actually mean potential detour, it does means that it will invariably cause you an hour of lost time due to 20 minutes navigating up around potholes & boulders, 8 minutes deciding to keep going or turn around and 32 minutes back down to where you started from i.e. unpaved road. Ugg! However, our gps could accurately tell us where each speed bump & school zone was however, it could not warn us about the trechorous roads ahead that our little 'Betsy' could not handle. ...all part of the adventure though!

...and as I lay here happy that we made it in one piece and returned our little Betsy to her rightful owner....i.e. the people holding our credit card # for ransom ;) ...or at least until we bring her back I think about the last few days and what an adventure we've been on over the last few days.

Day 3
Mission: Don't pass out ziplining


Activities: ziplining - 8AM-10AM

By the end of the zip line tour I found myself hanging upside down at the end of it all gliding down the last zipline through the rainforest watching the small creek zoom by me and completely relaxed in the harness that seemed to be choking me into a panicked fear before then. But I definitely had a sense of accomplishment. I guess that's why it was ok for me to let go of the leather glove that was our only method of stopping from flying down those ziplines at mach 3 speed and just relax and 'let go'. However, it wasn't until that last zip line that I was finally able to let go completely. It took a few extra minutes of convincing myself that everything would be ok before I slid down the first zip line but it wasn't truly until platform #7 that I was really feeling the pressure. When I put my feet to the edge of the platform on #7 my body wouldn't go. The instructors kept telling me sit down and put your hand on the pully rope. I needed time. My breathing was panicked, my arms shaking. Fear came over me. I knew this moment would come when we set up all of our excursions. I knew my fear of heights would be tested. But my stubbornness and sense of adventure are what helped my feet finally lift off of the platform, putting all of my weight into the trust of that harness and started flying down the #7 zipline. I was terrified!!!! I shot down in record speed ~240 ft above the rainforest floor. I tried to look around and enjoy my beautiful surroundings as much as possible but I had a mission...to get to the end! Get to the end! Get to the end! I was a little shaken but nothing could have stopped me from that experience. I made it through the whole course (at my own speed not the speed the instructors were trying to convince me was ok) but it was a lot of fun! Paul did famously of course. His sense of adventure and fearlessness always impresses and pushes mine. At the highest  fastest zipline that I was freaking out on, he was trying to go as fast as possible before stopping. Sounds about right ;)

Part 2 of the day was to team back up with good ol' Betsy and make our way across to the coastline of Costa Rica! What a treck! At times we were sooo grateful to have the GPS we rented and at other times we were cursing at it in our car beacuse of the route it tried to take us on. We made it to our fabulously beatiful hotel just in time to schedule our surfing trip for the morning and to watch the AMAZING sunset from the ampitheater at the hotel. What a way to end the day!

Day 4

Mission: learn to surf

Activities: Surf lessons with  Costa Rican Surfing Champion surfer Gustavo 8AM-noon(ish)

Paul & I have both always wanted to learn to surf! Who knew it would be on our honeymoon in Costa Rica! We both learned really quickly with Gustavo, a championship surfer in his younger days, and a great instructor for us. Who would've known we would both get up on our first try! What a sense of accomplishment...quickly followed by a sense of agony. Sunscreen & salt water in your eyes do NOT mix! I struggled to get it out for the next several hours of the day. Paul on the other hand had his own battle, he dislocated his shoulder, twice, surfing! It popped back in luckily but it's still tender. Poor thing!

The other couple that went surfing with us had a few guys from the hotel follow them to get some pics so we're hoping that they follow through and send us some of the ones of us...fingers crossed. We did try to get some 'awkward' pics of each other practicing...all for everyone else's enjoyment though ;)



We spent the rest of the day looking for the best coffee 'deal' for everyone back in the states and eating MORE bueno ceviche! I think this makes 3 different versions from different restaurants we've tried! I think Paul and I could eat this for every meal if it wasn't so $$$! We've both been surprised by how expensive food is here! You can't eat a meal for less than $10-$13/per person here. It gets a little pricey when you add a couple of beers and a ceviche to your 'cena' (aka dinner). :) We've had some good food, although we've stuck to the typico food, but I've been extremely impressed with the drinks here. I think I've probably told Paul 'that's the best one 'X' I've ever had several times: everything from the tropical mixed drinks, iced tea, starbucks-like coffee, etc. Crazy-good! It's one of the best ways to experience other's culture to us...by just eating their food! Time for some more! Dinner-out!

Holy Moly Guacamole! Ceviche! & One heck of a good honeymoon beginning! :)

Day 0

Mission: Get There!

I had no idea what to expect going to a foreign country. It was my first time out of the U.S. of A. aside from Canada or Mexico. After going through customs and being picked up by our car rental guy we set out on the windy roads out of San Jose & were immediately enveloped in the deep lush rainforests of Costa Rica. The Costa Rican landscapes were absolutely beautiful as well as extremely scary! Windy, narrow roads with trucks & motorcycles coming around every bend at 50 kph. About 20 kilometers outside of San Jose where we landed we lovingly named our car 'Betsy'...our little '92 (ish) Nissan Sentra who seemed to need coaxing on the steepest of hills as Paul down-shifted to make it to the next obstacle! We were immediately immersed into a culture, a language and a way of life which is very different to our own little (BIG world of Houston, TX). This is definitely a land where everyone seems to be concerned about the wild life and preserving nature in its truest and purest of forms. Everything from our room sign saying to please 'conserve water if not using' to all of the tour guides and their true appreciation for the rainforest, waterfalls, etc. surrounding the Arenal Volcano. After helping Paul navigate the steep, twisty roads of the Costa Rican rainforest and making it to our quaint little room at the base of the Arenal volcano we both needed a drink.  We had finally made it to the hotel...it had been a long day of travel from Houston but we had made it...tired, together & in one piece. :)

Day 1

Mission: Take it all in/Immerse yourself in the Costa Rican culture

Activities: Observatory Lodge Morning Hike - 8:20AM - 11AM, Wild cat & monkey exhibit, hot springs & dinner @ The Springs Spa & Resort

What a perfect day to immerse yourself in the wild, beautiful landscape of Costa Rica. Learning about the wildlife, natural surroundings & how Costa Rica operates. We started by going on a morning hike at the observatory lodge, home to the seismograph which monitors the volcanic activity at the Arenal volcano. Despite it's inactivity for a few years now the volcano still emits gases which you can see for miles and miles on a constant basis. The hike took us deep into the lush rainforest that we had only driven through earlier and learned about the changes that have happened over the last 30 or so yrs which have shaped Costa Rica into what it is today. We had a very interactive hike including a trip down to a beautiful waterfall (Cataran), seeing a tiny little eyelash viper, 3-toed sloth & took away a much greater apprecation of the beatiful nature which surrounds us everywhere we go including the mini facial I got from the tour-guide with the mud from the rainforest floor (...of which he reminded us some of the spas in the area charge hundreds to use ;) )!

Part 2 of the day was equally as fun as we made our way over to a different resort a few hundred kilometers away for a jungle cat & monkey tour from animals who have been rescued by the resort and are awaiting a final home at a nearby santuary. We saw some osolots, puma's and a few monkeys that Paul had a hard time dragging me away from, although he was completely enthralled with taking pictures of these wild animals up close. They were mostly friendly about it (hence the picture of the osolot taking a swipe at Paul's face) >>>

...then to top it off we got to sit in the most awesome hot springs with an AMAZING view of the volcano and sip on heavenly tropical drinks & Costa Rican beer! This will be a visual and memory that will be stuck FOREVER in me! What a perfect way to spend our 6 month anniversary! =)

Day 2

Mission: Catch a few

Activities: Fishing with Captain Ron - 6AM - noon

We got up early and met captain Ron at the fishing dock, which is less like a dock and like a low lying rock area which boats can pull up to...old Betsy wasn't getting down that steep embankment so we parked at the top and walked down. We did some top water fishing, which I wasn't used to but Paul seemed to be pretty familiar with, knowing all the lures, how to skim them across the water and lots of fishing stories to boot. Captain Ron is an American who fell in love with Costa Rica when he first visited here and decided immediately to sell everything and move, speaks to the great power of the 'island life' that everyone seems to be so connected with here. All of the restaurants, hotels, and activities are all outside.Today was no different. Getting over the fishing area proved to be a more water-based activity than we had hoped and wound up completely soaked from the perpetual rain showers that Costa Rica is known for. We top-water fished for around an hour and a half, hopping from fishing hole to fishing hole but wound up with only a few screeches from me not knowing how to fish top-water and being more scared than anything when a few fish tried to bite. We switched over to troll fishing, which seemed much more promising fishing. We caught guapote (the coveted fish in this lake), talapia & machaca. However, teh final score of the Paul vs Kali fish-off 2012 was: Final score Kali: 10, Paul 8...hey what can I say, my maiden name is Fischer ;)

...our honeymoon thus far has been packed full of adventure and fun! We've gotten to taste some great food (called 'comida typico' or typical food which I find to be a hilarious description), re-learn spanish or what we thought we knew and try to fit in in such a different world than our own. It's been an awesome adventure so far although it would mean nothing to me if it wasn't spent with the most amazing man I have ever met and continue to fall in love with each day! Life is wonderful when you have someone who you adore so much and who you can hold hands with & travel through life together with. It also helps that I am feeling better than ever after my surgery and have been extremely lucky that everything has gone amazingly well in recovery!

We have so much left to do on our trip and are very much looking forward to it all! Just thought a quick update was in order since a bunch of you were so pivotal in making this dream-come-true a real story for us. :)

Pura Vida!!