May 26
Yesterday was largely a travel day. We got up at 4:30 in the morning to be at the airport by 5:30. Our flight out of Augusta was delayed (after we got on the plane) for roughly 40 minutes, which means we needed to rush in Atlanta, but we still made it with time to grab a muffin and board the plane.
Once we got to Costa Rica, we waited for maybe 30 minutes to get through customs where they made sure we had a return ticket and then met our driver. The drive from the airport to here was roughly 3 hours and we stopped a couple hours in for lunch. It was a restaurant that obviously had a relationship with the transport company, but the food was really good. We both had the typical Costa Rican lunch - Casado, which is basically rice, black beans, protein, plantains and a vegetable - in this case a salad. I had the smoked porkchop and Jack had the steak - his steak was good, my porkchop was amazing.
We then asked the driver to stop by a grocery on the way here to the hotel and we picked up some snacks and bottled water. I know low rent of us, but I had no desire to pay per water and Jack needs filtered for his CPAP. Once we got here, I was pleasantly surprised that they do have some complimentary drinks and snacks in the room but still grateful we stopped.
The resort here is 3 Michelan Keys Rated and it shows. The staff is amazing, the room everything we hoped for and the grounds are phenomenal. I mean we are literally nestled in a rainforest- you can barely see the buildings as you meander around.
We were super tired after arriving - 12 hours of travel time so we ordered a small dinner in the room, ate, relaxed in the mineral spring pool and went to bed early. Overall, a great day.
May 27th
I woke up at 2:30 am to plates shattering.... Note to self, don't leave leftovers on an outdoor patio in a rainforest, critters will come. In this case a racoon who was not at all worried about me. I got up and brought the dishes in cleaning up what I could and then laid outside for a bit to watch him come back and try to find additional leftovers. They specifically asked us not to feed the animals so I'm trying to abide by that ... he was obviously used to French fries though and had no shortage of tonnage around his middle. I failed to get a picture but as rude as it was to get woken up by shattering glass; it was a fun experience - Jack slept right through it...
It's 2 hours earlier here than at home so waking up early was easy; we were both up before the 8 am alarm. We had room service on the patio - where we had another wildlife experience. A Pavon and her two babies came on the hunt for goodies. She ate what was left from the racoon adventure on the ground, but we didn't feed her so she eventually wondered on - she was so pretty though. Her head moved like a chicken, but she was large like a turkey. Her babies hid under her tail; it was precious.
After breakfast we got dressed. I want to note here Jack tried the outdoor shower... now it's 1000% private but I didn't think he would do it. Proud of him for stepping out... literally lol.
We then went for a walk around the property. The flora here is so unique; almost like walking through a science fiction movie. The property here is very hilly, steep hilly, so we got our workout in for sure! The grounds are amazing though and the hot spring area is just... so nice; little individual pools you can just escape to. I loved it. We walked a couple of hours and then meandered in a building and asked for them to arrange a golf cart to take us back to our room as were both hot and tired.
During our walk in addition to the flora, we saw an iguana (they hop on 2 legs) and another bird in same family as the one this morning - the Crested Guan. They have a vegetable garden that was also enjoyable.
We tried to come back to the room, but the cleaners were here so we wandered down and sat at the pool and had some virgin daiquiris. After 30 minutes or so we came back but they were still cleaning - they don't take shortcuts I guess... so we wondered back down and sat at the Italian restaurant. We sat overlooking the volcano while eating woodfired pizza - nice way to spend some time. They also brought us some amazing bread and a brownie bite for dessert. Service, food, all of it is amazing...
We finally got back into our room and had about an hour and half before our excursion, so we grabbed showers and rested a bit.
After a brief rest we got a golf cart down to the reception where our tour guide picked us up. We drove about 10 minutes to learn all about coffee and chocolate. The tour was fun and tasty - well most of it; chocolate paste not so yummy lol. I thought I'd be a fan of the medium roast coffee but honestly the dark roast was my favorite of the day - I bought a bag to take home. It was a fun experience and something unique to do. I'm super grateful we did it.
We then came back and as we got into our room it started storming - God is looking out for us so big in that the entire day was beautiful and only when we plan to stay inside anyway did it rain. This evening we plan to relax, read and go to bed early - tomorrow is a day filled with adventure :)
Love you all.
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