Eco Ticos!

Well, we took a bus from San Jose to La Fortuna and Volcano Arenal... for $3.90. Now, that may not sound like a big deal, but the bus ride took 5 1/2 hours! Awesome. But not. Especially when you have people standing in the aisles the whole bus ride because it is just that full, and its hot, and its humid, and its raining, and you have to decide whether to be drenched with sweat or drenched with rain. I know what your thinking, because we were too... For $3.90, where was the air conditioning?! Luckily, these travel savvy eco-tourists landed a seat for the 5 1/2 hour ride and our legs were lucky enough to fall asleep.

La Fortuna is a small town at the base of Volcano Arenal, the most active volcano in Costa Rica. All in all, we got the impression that the town is a little bit of a tourist trap... but we had a great time! Our hostess with the mostess from San Jose, while we were on our lengthy bus ride, managed to schedule our next few days in La Fortuna. Activities included, relaxing in volcanic hot springs, white water rafting, and zip lining through the rain forest canopy... and here's the kicker... wait for it... wait for it... it was all FREEEE! We still don't know how she did it. So, Shanthi, if you're reading this, and you should be reading this, THANK YOU!!!

But first, when we stepped off the bus in La Fortuna, it was pouring rain. As ultimate deal shoppers, we decided to wait until we arrived in La Fortuna to scout out the hotel situation. Unfortunately, the rain threw a monkey wrench in the game plan. We only had one umbrella... and it was a little broken. So, we ran to the closest hotel to the bus stop. If you ever encounter the Mayol Lodge, walk away. Our room was actually in the lobby. Not lying. We woke up to the sounds of the hotel staff bumping shitty music at 530am. When the phone rang at the front desk, we would walk out and answer it... ok, thats a slight embellishment. We were out of there at the crack of dawn the following morning.

Luckily, we didn't actually spend much time at the Mayol Lodge, because the hot springs were calling our name... free of charge, including an all you can eat buffet dinner. We went to the Baldi Hot Springs at the base of Volcano Arenal. The Lonely Planet guidebook describes Baldi as, "falling somewhere between Caesar's Palace and Epcot Center." There are 16 thermal pools, the hottest of which was a scalding 152 degrees F... and I mean F... Cuz that pool was F-ing hot! We put our feet in and that was all. They still burn. There were also three water slides and two swim up bars. We sampled them all. Truth be told, we found the Baldi hot springs to be pretty romantic. It was a week night with no crowds. We had the pools all to ourselves. Our favorite pool was the most enormous hot tub we have ever seen. It was lined with palm trees, ferns and waterfalls. It was so big that it actually had two cold pools inside the large hot tub!

After a relaxing evening at the hot springs, and a terrible night sleep at the Mayol Lodge, we awoke bright and early for a day of white water rafting. Our guide was a jovial Tico by the name of Victor, the senior rafting instructor for Wave Expeditions.


A few highlights:
1. On the drive out to Rio Toro, Marisa met her first howler monkey. She said, "I will call you Kevin." His name was Coco...


2. Our guide tried to lasso an Iguana off another guides helmet. Unfortunately, he almost decapitated the other guide. Funny afterward. Not during.
3. Victor had a way of making Marisa almost fall out of the boat on most rapids... very entertaining. Every once in a while I would hear a, "Whoooop!!" and turn to find Marisa sprawled across the boat... or another dudes lap.
4. Marisa "rode the bull." This is when an unsuspecting tourist sits on the front of the raft with no paddle and no chance of not getting tossed. Very entertaining! Fortunately, Marisa fell into the boat, and not out of the boat. Once again, very entertaining.
5. I tweaked my ankle again. It blew up like a balloon and I couldn't walk for a day or two. As I type this Marisa just said, "Looks like I was the one doing all the stupid shit, but you were the one who got hurt." She smiled as she said that... Grrr.

Thankfully, I didn't have to walk the following day because we flew through the rain forest canopy on zip lines and Tarzan swings.


This is supposedly an "eco" tourist activity. Well, we're not convinced that there is anything eco about zip lining through the trees. In fact, we read that the activity is actually detrimental to the rain forest. But who cares, when your flying 30 miles an hour through the trees, you don't care about flora and fauna, you just don't want the line to snap. In a nutshell, we had a blast. The Tarzan swing was awesome. They strap you to a 50 foot line hanging from a tree and push you off a ledge. I got Marisa on video... hilarious!!! And I quote, "Uh oh... uh ohh... oh god... OH GOD!!! AAAAHHHAHHAHH!"

We hung out in La Fortuna, hopping from hotel to hotel, eating fresh fruits and countless casados, and hoping that the Volcano would emerge from the clouds. No such luck. Refer to the picture of the volcano below.

Thankfully, that is what postcards are for.

From La Fortuna, we took a jeep-boat-jeep to the small town of Monteverde nestled in the cloud forests at the apex of the Costa Rica's continental divide. By jeep-boat-jeep, we mean a minivan with beefy suspension drove us to a pontoon boat which in turn shuttled us across the lake behind the volcano to another minivan with even beefier suspension. This method saved us approximately 8 hours of travel on dirt roads. And we got to fish tail all the way up a mountain in a minivan... I wanted to drive. In fact, as we were fish tailing up the mountain, we witnessed the jeep in front of us slide right off the dirt road into a ditch. Thankfully, we were in a minivan with beefy suspension. Our friendly Tico driver stopped our minivan, tied the jeep to the minivan and pulled him out of the ditch. Suffice to say I have renewed faith in minivans.

When we arrived in Monteverde, we already had a hotel lined up... we learned our lesson. Again, it was raining, but this time we pulled up to a beautiful hotel with a garden and fresh coffee and absolute hospitality. The Rustic Lodge, while not altogether rustic, is owned by two brothers who created all the furniture themselves from local woods. Jose, the younger brother, greeted us on the street in front of the hotel and grabbed our bags, escorting us into the garden to show us the countless hummingbirds fluttering outside our room and the coolest plant that Marisa has ever seen... she proceeded to poke it every opportunity she got. While that might sound a little weird at first, the plant was actually pretty cool. In Guyana they called them "sleep and wakes." Here, in Costa Rica, they call them something much cooler in spanish... which I forget. But, when you touch the leaves, they fold up and shrink away from you. Like I said, Marisa poked the plant every time we walked by. Back to our hotel tho. After we dropped our bags in our room (which contained 2 bedrooms, 3 beds, hand carved wooden furniture and a patio overlooking the garden) Jose poured us a cup of Costa Rican coffee and talked to us for 20 minutes about the town of Montverde and what it had to offer. For the longest time, we couldn't figure out why everyone was being so nice to us. Then at breakfast the next morning, some girl from Texas was sitting at the table next to us and talking with her husband when we heard the husband say, "OK!! Just go ahead and ask them..." She turned to us, smiled ear to ear and asked, "Are you two on your honeymoon!?" From here on out, we're milking that one!

We spent three days in Monteverde and fell in love with the little town. While just as touristy as La Fortuna, the experiences felt more rich. The downtown was super small, shaped like a triangle with a half a sidewalk here and there. The restaurants were superb and the local attractions were a lot of fun. We saw snakes, frogs, jumping spiders, ridiculously strong ants, the two largest rodents in Costa Rica, a two toed sloth with its baby... not to mention the coolest tree I've ever seen! While in Monteverde, two experiences stand out in my mind.
1. While taking a night hike through the rainforest, Marisa leaned in toward me, flashlight in hand and said, "Mikey?! This is the first time I have ever walked into the woods at night, actively looking for wild animals and bugs! What are we doing?!" Neither of us have ever been into bugs, rodents and amphibians... but it was actually really cool. Marisa's favorite animal was the second largest rodent in Costa Rica. The Agouti. It looks kinda like a huge rat without a tail boned the largest squirrel ever.

2. We visited a huge eco complex called Selvatura. Specifically, we hiked for two hours in the rain forest across incredibly cool hanging bridges. For a minute, I forgot that I'm actually not Indiana Jones. It was that cool. The largest bridge spanned over 500 feet across a gorge and hung a couple hundred feet in the air. Yet the craziest part is that your walking at eye level with the canopy of the rain forest. Definitely one of the top 3 hikes I have ever done...

Now, we are back in San Jose and our new home... Shanthi and Randall's house.

Yesterday we spent the day with one of Marisa's best friends from high school who came to Costa Rica for her honeymoon (shout out to Brooke and Daniel! Whoop Whoop!).

Then today, we picked my mom up from the airport!
After some serious passport drama, a parking ticket, and the uncanny ability to talk her way into getting a passport within 24 hours... She made it to Costa Rica!!!

Tomorrow we head to Playa Flamingo in the Pacific northwest. After a little bit of wilderness and some very long buses, its time to lay on a pristine beach for a week.
We'll let you know how burnt I get... and how dark Marisa gets.

Hasta Luego!
Mikey&Marisa

The Adventure Begins!

Well our journey to Costa Rica didn't go exactly as planned. Apparently you need proof of transportation out of Costa Rica before you are able to get into Costa Rica. Oops. $2000 later (don't worry, fully refundable) we were allowed back on our plane (yes, meaning we were asked to get off in Denver when they realized we fooled the lady at the counter into stamping our boarding passes without a return ticket) and here we are!

We arrived early in the morning on Thursday, greeted by Shanthi, a wonderful family friend of the Raus. We went back to her house and settled in with a traditional Costa Rican breakfast of Gallo Pinto (yes Mook, we'll ask for the recipe). After a peaceful breakfast the kids woke up, Danni (3) and Sami (6). We accompanied them to tennis lessons to get a taste for what true Ticos do, however we ended up passing out in lawn chairs by the pool instead.


In the afternoon, we checked out the family business, Costa Rica Soccer Tours, and gathered with the family at a local sports bar to watch Costa Rica tie Canada in the Gold Cup match. No better way to start a trip than finding yourself drinking Bavarias and hugging people screaming GOL!


Yesterday we took a tour of San Jose, even passing by the infamous Hotel de Rey (where the ladies hang out, if you know what I mean).


Today we visited Volcan Poas, one of the many volcanoes in Costa Rica, then took a tour of a coffee plantation. Awesome!




Tomorrow we leave for the town of La Fortuna, at the base of Volcan Arenal, the most active volcano in Costa Rica. There we plan on visiting hot springs, go white water rafting and take a zip line through the rainforest... we'll keep you posted!



Hasta Luego!
Pura Vida!

~Mikey&Marisa

San Jose to San Jose

What up friends and family?!

Marisa and I have created this blog to chronicle our travels through Central and South America.
The journey begins July 9th!

In the interim, I will leave you with the words of Constantine P. Cavafy, as I believe he more eloquently captures the essence of why we travel.

As you set out for Ithaka hope your road is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians, Cyclops,angry Poseidon—don't be afraid of them: you'll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body. Laistrygonians, Cyclops, wild Poseidon—you won't encounter them unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one. May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, what joy, you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time: may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, sensual perfume of every kind— as many sensual perfumes as you can; and may you visit many Egyptian cities to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you're destined for. But don't hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you're old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you've gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to make you rich. Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn't have set out. She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Ithaka here we come!

Hasta Luego!
~Mike and Marisa