Costa Rica and It's beauty

Best. Trip. Ever

Alrighty, I have been avoiding posting about our trip to Costa Rica because I so badly wish I was back there there and start plotting ways I can get back there every time I talk about that lovely country. I have issues, this I know. I am working through them. So, Are you ready? No? Well, suck it up cause here we go!

We started the trip out by flying into San Jose Airport and taking a car to Arenal. We stayed at the Arenal Observatory Lodge and had a great time combing the grounds. We saw coti, toucans, lava, parrots and the scariest spiders I have ever seen in my life. EVER. The lodge used to be a Smithsonian research institute and now it is a hotel. How that works, I have no idea. I just assumed that the scientists were smart enough to get the hell out of the area and leave it to the tourists to stay so close to the volcano. No matter, it was a wonderful hotel. It was about 25-30 minutes via a rocky dirt road from town.

That is how close us dumbass tourists were from the volcano. This picture was taken from the pool.

And from our balcony at night .

We did all the touristy stuff like going horseback ridding to the La Fortuna waterfall, hiking, drinking beer and of course.....
We went ziplining. I fought the urge to run, harnessed up, got into position and.....shut my eyes the whole way across. It was either that or poop my pants. Which would you have chosen?

After having our fun in La Fortuna we took interbus over to Aviarios del Caribe in Cahuita, a sloth sanctuary, and let's just say that within hours we were secluded to our musty smelling room trying to find ways to escape the place. Going into this we knew that the sanctuary was a Bed & Breakfast and we expected to be a little bored seeing as how, oh, I don't know...we are not two 73 year old women! But this place was bad, must smelling rooms, filthy windows, rusty bathtubs not to mention the hosts didn't know what the hell was going on. The good thing though? The hosts might not know how to run a B&B but they do know how to lovingly care for these little guys

Before the trip I might have considered eating a sloth, now I have nothing but mad sloth love for them yo. Sorry, I don't know where that came from.

We eventually stopped stomping our feet and gnashing our teeth and decided to make the best of it and opened our eyes to the beauty around the area and we were able to find all sorts of good things like...




The wildlife around the area was amazing and slightly scary. We lived and got to see some sloths. This may come as a shock, but I do not recommend the B&B.

After Cahuita we went south about 45 min to Puerto Viejo for our most relaxing part of the trip. In PV we stayed at Banana Azul . Everything about this place was amazing, the location (right on the beach) the service (friendly, welcoming and willing to help you with anything) the rooms (big, airy, lots of french doors) and the food (delicious, great price, lots of it). We spent our days swimming in the perfectly clear, bath water temp. Caribbean waters

wandering along the miles of pristine beaches where you hardly ever saw anyone else


and napping in the hammocks strung up between coconut trees on the beach. Don't worry I don't have any pictures of that, you lucked out.

It was an amazing trip, I am very thankful that we were able to go on it and have the experience under our belt. I am glad that I didn't listen to the review sites online that try to scare the life out of you by detailing how dangerous Costa Rica is. This country seems far from dangerous as long as your are respectful, polite, be aware of your situation and don't act like an asshat. We were not raped, swept up in a drug deal, mugged, held at knife point or anything of the like. While I am sure this happens in the country, it happens in every country. Never once did I feel as though I was in any danger. The beauty of the country quickly washes away any worry you might have about the safety reports you read while planning your trip.

One word to sum up our trip?

GO!

Housekeeping

aye aye aye

So much to do and so little time after procrastination to do it in. My fantastically boring life has been filled with me doing so much of nothing that I need to get a handle on it.

Things I need to do to bore you:
-Write about our Costa Rica trip...yes I know it happened over a month ago.
-Try to describe my love for photoshop and the amount of time I can kill on it editing photos
-Ask you how to get caterpillars to stop eating my veggies I have been working so hard on
-What we ended up doing about THE car

The list goes on, but I will spare you the details and let you just imagine what trival dribble will come out of this blog in the future.

One exciting thing to come out of this though, is that I am here to sing the praises of moo cards. I have been uploading so many photos to flickr that I was 205% past my monthly limit and throughly enjoy the website so I coughed up the 24.99 for a pro account (which totally makes me a pro right?) . Flickr eased the pain on my bank account by offering me 10 free moo cards. I have been eying them for quite some time so I just about peed my pants at the offer.

Well, a long week and a half later I finally got them in the mail and they are just as exciting as I thought they would be!



The only two problems that have come up with the moo cards are that a)You have to crop a very thin section of your photo which can be hard and b) I don't know what to do with them now that I have them

Any Suggestions?
Oh, and if you are just going to tell me to shove them where the sun don't shine, like I could picture some Hawaii obsessed dentist saying. SAVE IT. Already thought of it. WIN.

Green Thumb : A Shortie

So, I have been trying my hand at gardening and it seems like it is working! A couple months ago I planted bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, jalapeno, "the worlds hottest peppers" and no, they are not habaneros they are the OTHER worlds hottest pepper. Also, I planted some regular tomatoes and some yellow tomatoes and things are looking good for a summer crop of fresh veggies

Corn and lettuce are going in as soon as the brother in law moves in next door and I can steal his yard for my gardening endeavors.

I see what you did there.

One of the best things about shopping for a new car? Obvious sales tactics!

VW Salesman: So, what is it going to take to get you into a car today

Me: Oh, we are just looking, I don't know if I am going to sell my car yet we are going to wait and see what happens after it is fixed.

VW Salesman: Okay, I understand, but, how can we get you in a car today

Me:Uh..........I just......we don't...

VW Salesman: You know, you could just save the money you were going to use to fix your old car, then donate the car to charity. The money you saved by not fixing your car could then be used for a down payment on a new car.

Me: Ugh, Really? Are we going to do this?

VW Salesman: Every day you keep that old car you are losing money.

Me: You are kidding me right? Please stop. I am embarrassed for you.


I felt awful for the guy. He was very green, very ambitious, very persistent and very nice but his technique made me cringe. How the hell does it make sense that everyday I hold on to my car (that I outright own) I lose money? Yes, cars are depreciating assets and they constantly lose their value from the second you drive it off the lot, but do 2009 VW rabbits vomit money from the depths of their 5 cylinder engines that help cover the cost of a monthly payment? And if they do, why is that not outlined in the brochure?

Word on the street is that going into debt, with an auto loan, that has a fair amount of interest on it, is not cheap nor is it an appreciating asset. I am still scratching my head as to why he thought this was a good line to use.

When I bought my first new car and I had talked them down in price, but still needed to think about the decision overnight the Toyota salesman actually said to me "what, you don't want the car". Oh crap! I totally forgot, I DOOOO want the car. What was I thinking? Where do I sing?

Toyota Salesman was an asshat.

VW Salesman was just new. I wanted to pinch his cheeks and buy him a self help book about how to believe in yourself and make a sale then send him on his way.


Instead we left. He was sneaky, but not that sneaky.

I need your advice!

Warning: The following post is just dribble about my boring unacomplished life.

It is dead! My beloved car is dead. I was the proud owner of a 2003 Toyota Matrix and now I am just a bitter owner of a 5 yr old piece of junk and I find myself needing to resist my urge to call Toyota customer service and tell them what they can do with my car and where they can shove it and how (with a slight twist to the left, thank you).

Because I don't know all the technical babble about car parts it will be sufficent to say that the engine is beyond broken and I need a new one. A fresh brand new engine with Labor is a pretty penny to the tune of$6,700. Thankfully, very thankfully my dirty construction worker of a husband's cousin convinced his dad (did you get all that?), who is a mechanic to take my car on as a side project and do it for a wonderful price. Which is pretty awesome considering the amount of money we will be saving. We owe them.

So, here is the delimma. I own my car free and clear, nothing is under warranty anymore and right now is the right time to sell the car if we are going to do it and buy another car. We are not kidding ourselves and thinking that it is financially the best option. But before our lives get tied up with a mortage, a sweet little baby and everything that comes with the two is now the time to get ourselves into a new car and exercise the impulsiveness that is characteric of our age? Our rational brains and our 23 year old brains are having a hard time hashing out this decision. So, what would you do? Would you sell your old car, put a decent deposit down and suck it up with car payments for the next three years or would you keep the old car, save like a mad couple and get going on your dreams of owning a cute warm home and having that child? How do you integrate the young and implusive with the reason and rationality of being an adult?

More importantly, how do you resist the urge to zip around in one of these? Hey, it gets good gas mileage......

Summer is here! A Shortie

Sorry! I have been bogged down with various sun drenched and charcoal infused family activites, which can only mean one thing

IT'S SUMMER TIME!

Product Interuption

On the plane ride from Los Angeles to San Jose, Costa Rica I picked up one of their inflight magizines and while I could only understand part of the information due to it (rightfully so) being in spanish there was one thing that I did understand.

I NEED THIS!
This cuff, designed by a company called Tivi is crafted out of multiple types of wood such as ebony, zebrawood maple and walnut and then they are silkscreened and coated to keep them tough. Honestly, such a perfect bracelet for the summer! And, if we are being honest it isn't that I want one. That fact is, that quite simply, I NEED ONE.

Oh, and while we are at it. I will take one of their clutches as well. Please.