week one

it has taken me some time to sort through our photos; considering that we took over 400 we should not be surprised. costa rica was amazing and we had grand adventures, but it was wonderful to come home to our house and our families and our dog. oh yeah, and english. we really like english.

since i came home to an abundance of work, starting a new full-time job while working two more weeks at my old part-time job, i don't have heaps of time for photos and blogging.  therefore, i am going to put up photos in chunks of time from our trip, with a few details here and there. ultimately i will get them up into our picassa album, but that may take a few weeks.

we had lots of cherished hammock time. so much that we had to bring one home with us.

brats were abundant in costa rica--literally everywhere we went we saw them, mostly in pristine shape!  brandon was happy to have his beloved car--wait, is it a truck?  is it a car?  we never can tell--get some much-deserved credibility.

a cool castle in san jose.

the scariest tractor ride of our lives, although we look quite happy here.  however, if you look closely you can see everyone in the background gripping the railing and brandon's smile is only half-way there. 

the beginning of our raft trip, complete with a doogie howser look-a-like.

all harnessed up and ready for the tour-de-canopy.  i was shaking as i got on the platform but i went before brandon so i was proud of myself for putting my fear of hights and speed behind me as i sailed through the forest.  thankfully no monkeys decided to leap across my path while i was zipping.  sadly, the get-up for canopy tours is not flattering on anyone.

our guide took the two of us to a hidden waterfall where we swam and enjoyed the secret spot.

strange things

we've been hanging out in montezuma since monday and have had an interesting time. the first night we were offered some marijuana. apparently at this point in our journey we looked hippie enough to fall into that category. the town of montezuma is pretty hippie-ish itself, all condensed into a small block that makes brandon and i both feel clausterphobic. we rented some mountain bikes, which have been a lifesaver as our bungalows are about 3K out of town.

since we arrived we have walked (across the ocean no less!) to an island. the only thing on the island is a cemetary and the place was crawling with vultures so we didn't hang out long.

we have also hiked to the local waterfalls and swam in the ocean a bit. one day we walked for about an hour north of town in search of a waterfall that falls directly into the ocean. we kept hoping to find it but finally gave up and hung out on a secluded beach. we saw some young guys swiming a couple hundred meters down from us and then they walked past us when we were reading, not really a big deal. brandon and i read for about an hour more and kept hearing things in the jungle behind us, like the sounds of sticks breaking. we chalked it up to iguanas and ignored the sounds. i decided it was time for another quick swim before we headed back to town so we left our pack on the secluded beach and went to the ocean. brandon had some weird instinct and turned around to check on our bag only to see a guy tuck down behind a down log, a few feet from our stuff. i was blissfully unaware and enjoying the waves while brandon took off at a full-speed run, leaving me dumbfounded. then i too saw one of the guys we saw earlier make a break for the jungle and take off, thankfully afraid of brandon and without our stuff. it was pretty freaky to nearly loose our things, and made us both jittery for the walk back to town. luckily it was only a close call and the guy got freaked out. we thought we were being careful before but now we are a lot more alert.

other than the drug offer and the near theft, things have been great. we took a boat out to isla tortuga and went snorkeling. on the way there we saw dolphins, turtles, and the waterfall going into the ocean we had searched for earlier. while we were snorkeling we saw two manta rays, an octopus, two pufferfish, and brandon saw some white tip sharks. all that swimming with our backs to the sun also landed both of us some pretty stylish backside sunburns.

we leave montezuma on monday and will take a boat across the gulf, where we will rent a car and head down the coast. we are excited to be home with all the comforts of the familiar, our little dog, and some dry weather.

as for the monkey count: prior to arriving in montezuma i had seen two monkeys and brandon none. after our first morning here we saw more than we could ever keep track of... they are everwhere at our bungalows and like to howl as they pass by our house in the morning. i am slightly more brave than i thought i would be about checking them out, but still not so keen.

missing items

we have many pictures to post and i sat down excited to do so only to realize that i brought the wrong USB cable and therefore i cannot download any of the photos off of our camera! a bummer for the blog updates but it will make for a great slideshow when we get back home.

instead, a list of what we have done so far in costa rica:
-mastered the streets of san jose--sort of. we did not get lost once so i will credit myself with mastery.
-rafted the rio picuare. we were the only ones doing a three day trip so we got the royal treatment in terms of small boat with only ourselves and our guide, private use of the facilities once the other 25 people who were doing the two day trip left, personal guide to the caribbean rainforest flora and fauna, a hike to a secret waterfall, etc. our guide rey was wonderful and made the trip! we both said we felt like we could have left costa rica after our raft trip and felt relaxed enough. glad we are not doing that though.
-we did a zip-line canopy tour. i even went first! it was fun and the only scary moment was the initial jump off the platform.
-we rode many buses and i have had many near sick moments as the busses are packed with people--literally like sweaty, hot, sardines. this bus riding thing has been challenging as the directions we get as to where to meet the bus are always in spanish and the routes and times change at random. we are getting better and it is really cheap so maybe it is worth it.
-swam in the pacific ocean. we arrived at playa samara last night and went for a swim in the ocean. it was super hot here and the water felt wonderful.
-stood at the base of an active volcano watching lava pour down. what a show that thing puts on at night!

anyhow, now we are in samara for a few days exploring the surrounding area. we are going to go to another beach for the day where there is rumored to be a lady that will custom make a swimsuit which is my mission for the day.

despite the trips initial hiccups--missed planes, delayed flights, and sketchy shuttle drivers--life in costa rica has been wonderful!

arrived

we have arrived safe and sound. we spent the morning sleeping at our hostel (as that was so not happening on the plane). now we are going to get some food and walk around in the sun. not much is open today because it is sunday so the museums and theatres are honoring that. none-the-less, we are happy to let the real adventures begin!

we leave tomorrow for our rafting trip, so we should have fun pictures for the next post!

still waiting to get to costa rica...

due to flight issues (and some memory issues on my behalf) we were stranded in portland for 8 hours yesterday. stranded is the wrong word however because alyssa and rowan rescued us from spending a day at PDX and allowed us a wonderful afternoon. replacing a day stuck at the airport with a day with our godson was a wonderful trade.

we then waited for our flight from PDX to DEN where we would connect to go on to costa rica. we waited and waited and that plane was 47 minutes late. therefore, we missed our flight to costa rica by 5 minutes. apparently they tried to hold the plane for us, but despite our best efforts and the incredible help of the folks at frontier airlines it just wasn't meant to be. we even ran down the tarmac! talk about stress on a vacation.

from there we caught a shuttle to comfort inn. on the drive there we got in touch with andrew who jumped in his car immediately and drove to our rescue. the shuttle driver dropped us off at the motel and we began walking across the street to hang out a restaurant until andrew arrived. this apparently was not kosher with the driver who followed us down the sidewalk, flashed his lights at us, and pulled up. he then proceeded to yell at us, calling us liars and the like for taking advantage of his shuttle then not staying at the motel. it was really heated, and frankly, a little scary. we managed to get him to bug off and headed across the street to the sanctuary of a "Flying J", where the clerks were super nice and let us hang out for 40 minutes. while waiting in the back tables our shuttle driver came in to get cigarettes, during which time we maintained a low profile to avoid further confrontation.

andrew rescued us from the tacky tee shirts, sugar-filled shelves, and deranged shuttle driver and brought us to yuppie-ville (aka: boulder, colorado). he let us crash on his couches and took us to the best breakfast i have ever had in my entire life--seriously, THE BEST! and now we are rearranging our plans with the folks in costa rica having much success with everyone and preparing for a new set of travel plans. for those of you who know itinerary, adjust the first four days by moving everything back one day.

oh how our adventure begins: wonderful time with rowan and alyssa, unexpectedly running into high school classmates in downtown portland, delayed flights and severe anxiety, a too late arrival in denver, a sketchy run-in with the driver, and then a final midnight rescue by andrew. who knew it would begin this way? the trip is bound to be interesting. fun, but interesting.

so yeah, we should be international travelers starting tomorrow. :)

zero days remain!

our much anticipated trip to costa rica will begin tomorrow with a trip over the pass to the portland airport, then with a flight to denver and a ten (10!) hour layover.  during the ridiculous layover time a friend of ours from high school, andrew, is going to pick us up and spend the time showing us around boulder, aiming all the while to convince us to move there. 

we arrive in costa rica early in the morning on saturday and will have a day of recuperating before we take off into the jungle on a rafting trip (our big splurge of the trip!).  we plan to post pictures of our adventure along the way when possible, so keep checking back to check the progress of my tan!  :)

last month's pics

at the end of march, i got in the car with my brother ross, his friend christian, and harvey.  we made the rounds through parts of oregon we rarely frequent: ana lake in the klamath basin, diamond lake gas station (which is open through the winter thankfully), the umpqua river, newport, and lincoln city.  i had a lot of time to kill as ross and christian fished their hearts out.  the only photos i managed to get were at ana lake though as it rained everywhere else.  

ana lake has its own kind of beauty: the eastern oregon, unpopulated beauty of a place i might like to explore but could not realistically see myself living.  a place i could however take lots of pictures.  here are a few...

prior to this trip, harvey would not could not step foot in water.  when ross and christian were out in the lake though he HAD to be with them, so he put his anti-water policy aside in favor of being near these two.

a random spiraling plant that made me long for the silver ferns of new zealand.  

there were quite a few old, dilapidated structures in the area around the lake that made for interesting angles and shots.  i could have spent the entire day taking pictures, but harvey was interrupting the boys and their fish so i had other obligations.

darn those salmon

so it's not really the salmon i guess--i love salmon!  but the verdict from the vet was that harvey had/has salmon poisoning disease, which if left untreated can quickly become fatal.  ross and his friend and i took a trip over the mountains to go fishing along the umpqua and in lincoln city.  while we were along the umpqua harvey found two salmon skeletons and went nuts--the thought he had woke up in heaven with all that fishy goodness.  likely, it was these remains that caused him to be so sick.

i felt like brandon disapproved of me taking him to the vet, but he wasn't home with harvey looking at him with eyes that pleaded for relief.  the vet asked the right questions and got down to the bottom of the situation quickly.  apparently the incubation period is about 7 days, which has been exact for harvey.  the vet was also surprised that we identified that something was majorly wrong so quickly; therefore, this time my overreacting paid off because we spared harvey from undue misery and potential much worse.  he is starting to feel better and back to his ball-chasing, tail-waging ways.  thank goodness for antibiotics!

one sick puppy

something is up with harvey--in a bad way.  he mopes around the house, collapses on his bed, ignores his toys and our pleadings to "come here", and refuses to eat.  he won't even eat peanut butter!  he only wags his tail if we take him on a walk, but he hasn't ingested anything of substance in 30+ hours so i can't take him on too many walks or he is going to waste away.  

he just looks at me with these sad, lifeless eyes that make me feel panicky and scared.  where is my energetic little aussie?   

... and the envelope please

brandon's trip was eventful, particularly on the tail-end as getting out of laramie can be harder than anticipated. however, it was also eventful in the most positive way and while the ballots for us were cast last week, the envelope containing our decision has only recently been opened. we have accepted the offer at the university of wyoming and we will begin making our life in southeast wyoming late this summer.

were are excited about this in many ways, including some of the following: being close(er) to rowan as he goes through the toddler years, having the chance to climb with doug and liz, thickening our blood with the cold laramie winters, going to school for free (make that get paid to go to school!), letting harvey chase antelope, and for me to avoid taking on a minnesotan accent with my overly mailable language. indeed, life in this true wild west town will be good for us.

brandon also verified that there is a store selling gluten-free food and a thai restaurant. these two bits are essential criteria for our success in any town. therefore, in laramie, it's bound to be good. visitors welcome...