For Richer or for Poorer – or – Grand Theft Backpack: Puntarenas

We might have written this newest blog entry on our last night in Costa Rica, but our ill-timed decision to donate so much to the Costa Rican Young Thieves Foundation (CRYTF) put us into a tizzy. And by tizzy I mean the skies turned black and the world was thrown into panic and dismay. As mentioned, the donation was a bit larger than we had ever thought to conceive leading us to need to cancel every account we’ve ever opened (and some that we haven’t as well) and do plenty of shopping for new things in our stop in Los Angeles instead of skipping gaily through Disneyland as planned. This also meant a sudden and severe lack of electronic entertainment that will force us to “read” and revive the ancient art of “conversation.” Anyone that knows me will realize Laura’s dire predicament. So, if you’d like to The Costa Rican Young Thieves Foundation Sucks Expletive Foundation (TCRYTFSEF), you can do so by sending a mixed CD (or just a copied CD) of your favorite music. We’ll be picking up a cheap portable CD player to replace our ipods since replacing them would be a fruitless exercise without access to our computers. Please refer to the email sent out for instructions if you’d like to but please don’t feel that it’s necessary. We know you guys are busy with stuff us unemployed people wouldn’t understand.

Onto the trip! We’re determined not to let the festering anger “ruin everything” and Costa Rica was great before everything went nutty. For those not in the know, this particular family vacation was launched thanks to 40 years of marriage! Congrats to my madre and padre for being strong enough to stick together through the years. Laura and I certainly hope to match that number in a paltry 38 more years. My brother Mike, sister-in-law Beth, 3-year-old nephew Evan, and 1-year-old niece Avery accompanied us on the trip.


The happy couple

Our first stop was Arenal, an area in northerish centralish Costa Rica. The attraction is the active volcano in the area. Even without torrents of lava causing locals to flee, it’s an impressive piece of earth that occasionally belched up huge rocks that merrily crashed down the mountain. The area was beautiful and filled with beautiful plants, waterfalls, birds, vistas, as well as a gazillion insects/arachnids making up the Costa Rican Young Insects/Arachnids That Need to Drink Your Blood Foundation (CRYIATNDYBF). Our hotel might have been the strangest bit of the trip. It was located in an awesome location with an amazing view. When we began fearing a large perfectly round boulder would come crashing down the road leading up to the place (which consisted of what’s likely millions of bricks), we weren’t sure what to think. It’s actually pretty charming at first glance.



There are some beautiful trees and a lovely main building complete with a bar and restaurant looking out at the volcano. The broken lights, ice-spitting air conditioning, faulty plumbing, bed spiders, skittering animals making nests in the ceiling, and appearance of the grounds being half-finished suggested the owners haven’t heard the terms “upkeep” or “follow-though.” Even so, we had a wonderful time in a crazily scenic location.



Even the random macaw attack that caused my brother to flee from the scene with poor Avery gave us a laugh when Avery in her sweet little voice said “birds”… pause … “squak” … pause … “tackle.” Laura was also quite pleased when the hammock I was sitting in while enjoying the view snapped and sent me crashing on my bum.



Along with enjoying the volcano sights, we managed to climb down and see a lovely waterfall (and somehow didn't die on the way back out) and stroll through a beautiful park filled with hanging bridges.

There’s a more to say about Costa Rica and the Manuel Antonio portion of our trip, but we’re actually just about ready to make our way to the airport to take off to Fiji as this is the first moment we’ve had to get in front of a computer and type something out. Besides, many of you have undoubtedly fallen asleep without the aid of accompanying pictures. When we get to Fiji, we’ll see about the availability of Internet and add some to both of these postings and any new one we have a moment to pound out.

Hope you’re all well, we are, even with the madness!

Dan & Laura