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On Our Way To Costa Rica!! IAH to LIR

April 23, 2016 Andi Leave a comment

Today Don and I woke up at 4:45 am so we could catch the 5:30 shuttle back to the Houston Airport. We only got a few hours of sleep but it was way better than trying to sleep at the airport.

Kelsey’s flight got in a little bit before 6 am and we met her at our gate. We had breakfast at Ruby’s Diner in the Houston Airport.

We heard all about Kelsey’s flight. Kelsey gets really anxious while flying so she usually has a few drinks. Luckily she was able to get some sleep on her previous flight. To prepare for our flight to Costa Rica she had a beer after breakfast. I kept thinking to myself “I wonder how this is going to go…” haha. We boarded our flight a little bit before 9 am. The flight was good. Kelsey had more beer, Don ordered Buffalo Trace, and I had Coke. I was planning on driving once we landed. The Buffalo Trace bottle was so cute and small! Don was happy to see it on the flight. United Airlines also provided these delicious cookies called Stroopwafel. I thought at some point we would fall asleep on the flight but we talked the whole way. It was good.

We landed in Liberia, Costa Rica around 11:30 am. It was Kelsey’s first time exiting the plane down the stairs so that was exciting.

We then found our shuttle to the Alamo Car Rental place. We were surprised to see that Alamo, Enterprise, and National all operated out of the same building. We rented a Toyota Corolla and we asked the guy who helped us where a good place for lunch is. He told us the place down the road was good so we went. The restaurant was called La Choza de Laurel. I ordered the Costa Rican Lunch which consisted of beef, rice, beans, salad, and a plantain. It was delicious; we all liked the food a lot. If you’re picking up a car from Alamo/Enterprise/National at the Liberia airport go to La Choza de Laurel!

After lunch we stared on our journey to the Arenal area of Costa Rica. This area is named after the Arenal Volcano. We were going to stay at the Volcano Lodge and Springs. The drive was interesting. This happened about 15 minutes into it.

The first part of the drive was pretty uneventful. It was just a typical 4 lane highway, but then it went down to 2 lanes so there was oncoming traffic. There wasn’t really much indication this was going to happen and every so often there would just be barricades in the highway that you would have to avoid. It was pretty crazy. At one point I had to swerve onto the shoulder to avoid an oncoming ambulance.

Once we got off the highway we were on a curvy, hilly, and crazy road all the way to the Volcano Lodge. Luckily, it was paved and it was a good road.

On the way to the hotel we caught our first glimpse of the volcano…later Don and Kelsey got some really awesome shots of the volcano. It was so cool because we could see the top and I read that it is often hard to see the top because of cloud coverage. It was seriously one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

We also saw some monkeys on the power lines, but we unfortunately did not get a picture of them. Then we got stuck behind this truck for pretty much the majority of the drive.

We wanted to get to the Volcano Lodge before nightfall so we were hurrying. On the drive though we did get some awesome shots of Arenal.

We finally got to Volcano Lodge and Springs around 5 pm. The place was impressive! We were so happy to be done driving. Our room was awesome. We had a little back patio with a view of the volcano.

Once we checked out the place we ate at the restaurant at the lodge. It was pretty good. We even were able to watch the Cubs game but they lost. We had our first of many Imperials here, Costa Rican Beer. After dinner we decided to check out the jacuzzi that I believe we read was provided by the natural hot springs from the volcano. The night was clear so we could see the outline of Arenal. It was a good first day!

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Costa Rica!! Overnight Layover in Houston.

April 22, 2016 Andi Leave a comment

All of us started our travel to Costa Rica tonight. Don and I got to O’Hare around 6:30 pm for our 9 pm flight to Houston. All of us were a little worried about all the flooding that happened earlier in the week in Houston but so far our flight and Kelsey’s flight was on time.

Our flight ended up being delayed by a mechanical problem. It was a little worrisome because I thought I heard someone from the plane tell the United worker at the desk that there was “smoke coming from the cockpit”. We were just told that they were looking for a part that needed to be replaced and it would probably take an hour. I was kind of worried about this. A mechanic finally came and he had a small box and said it would be less than 15 minutes. So we started boarding a little bit before 10 pm. The flight was crowded and we ended up having to check our bags. We were a bit worried though because we wanted our bags in Houston since we had an overnight layover. We told the guy this and he wrote a note on our bags with a napkin. This did not seem like a good way to check bags…but what could we do?

Luckily, the flight to Houston went well. The only weird thing that happened was they gave us these snacks that were labeled as “Asian Snack Mix” and they had pieces of wasabi in them. They were pretty spicy! You could hear people be in shock when they ate those pieces. Pretty funny. We arrived around 12:40 am to Houston and our bags showed up. Then we went to the Hampton Inn near the airport. We had enough points for a free stay here so it seemed like a good idea to get a few hours sleep rather than stay at the airport all night. We would only get about 4 hours of sleep because we were going to take the 5:30 am shuttle back to the airport but it was definitely worth it. While we were sleeping Kelsey was on a flight from Las Vegas to Houston and she will be meeting us in the morning for our flight to Costa Rica.

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Golf Carting

August 28, 2015 Andi Leave a comment

So today we got up and rented a golf cart again. The cart this time was a little fancier. It was pouring outside. Luckily when we picked up Aoife and Sean it had stopped raining. We drove to the GreenVerde Restaurant again. This time I had the chilaquiles and I didn’t think it was that great. After lunch we drove down to Punta Sur again. It was so hot! When we finally got down to the beach the water felt amazing. And of course it was completely beautiful.

We walked around after swimming and took some nice selfies.

After checking out Punta Sur we decided to stop by Tortugranja again. Here Don and I checked out the old man’s sea life he was showing off. We held a small stingray, a sea urchin, and a horseshoe crab. After that we headed over to the Caribbean side to look for a place to have a drink before heading back. We decided to stop at a place that had a sign that said “Beer So Cold It’ll Make Your Teeth Hurt”. This was the bar at the Villa La Bella Bed & Breakfast. The bar was very cool looking; it had swings around it. My first drink there wasn’t actually a beer because I really wanted a pina colada. I’m glad I got it because it was super good. Later I did have a Tecate and it was cold, so no letdown here. The place had a great view. We sat out watching some storm clouds pass and we even saw some dolphins swimming.

This place also had a lot of rules to abide by…

On our drive back it started raining again. We felt bad because it started pouring after we dropped off Aoife and Sean and they were heading to the port. It was fun spending the day with them! Hopefully we will meet again sometime!

When we got back it was still raining so we went inside our hotel and hoped it would stop after we got showered. Luckily the rain tapered off a bit and so we went out for our last night on Isla. We ate at an Argentinian Steakhouse called L’Argentina Grill. The food was pretty good here, but the service was not so great. It was a pretty good steak though. After dinner we were tired and we needed to do some packing since we leave in the morning so we went back to the hotel. At the hotel we watched the movie Sinister on Netflix while packing. This vacation has been amazing! I don’t want to leave but I’m definitely ready to start planning our next adventure.

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Whale Shark Excursion #2

August 27, 2015 Andi Leave a comment

So today was Don’s birthday and we decided to do whale sharks again! Because how many times are you in Isla Mujeres during Whale Shark Season?? I was definitely hesitant to do this excursion again because it was costly and I thought it couldn’t get much better, but I am so happy we did! First off, it was a deal where we only had to pay for one person (so it was $120). Secondly, it was a really great experience in comparison to the first time.

So we got to the shop where Ocean Adventures Mexico operates out of around 7:20. We waited here for awhile, finally another person showed up his name was Ron and and he was from Israel. Then a couple from New Jersey came, Aoife and Sean. A family of three and another couple were also with us on this excursion. Right from the beginning this group of people was much more fun than the first group we went with. Our guide was awesome, her name was Gretchen. The captain was also very nice but I can’t remember his name.

Even though Gretchen and the captain both spoke limited English they explained how the excursion would go better than the guides we went with on Monday. The ride to the whale sharks was great; the water looked so calm; it was like glass.

When we got to the shark area we could immediately see sharks swimming in the water. It was so cool.

We were the first couple that got to go with Gretchen. It was so much easier to jump off the side of this boat than the one on Monday. The captain also knew exactly when to tell us to jump. It was awesome. Immediately when we jumped in a I saw a whale shark and I swam with it for a good bit. This time was much more relaxing than on Monday also because it didn’t seem there were as many people in the water. Last time we were getting kicked in the face as everyone swam towards the shark, but this time it was really just me, Don, and Gretchen with the shark. We both took great video and here is a still shot of me and the shark from Don’s video.

On our second jump with the shark I got turned around and started swimming the wrong way then by the time I realized the shark was going on the other way I was so tired. I got a small glimpse of the shark but I was too tired to keep going. My adrenaline was up so high, at first I felt like I could do anything to get to a shark but the minute I realized I lost it I was done and really glad I had a life jacket on. Don swam with this shark for a good few minutes though and he got some really great video, here a few screenshots from the video.

The third dive was by far the best for me and Don had a good view too. When I jumped in I was heading straight for the shark. Gretchen was even giving me a little pull to get there faster. I must have got too much force going though because all of the sudden I was almost on top of the shark! Gretchen pulled me back a bit and I got the best video! Hopefully I can get it a link to it here. It was absolutely an incredible experience.

Here are a couple of videos from the day…

On the way back we had sandwiches and some coke. The water and the sky looked amazing.

Once we got back within view of Isla we stopped at Mia Reef for a snorkel. This is along the same beach as ours and we had been wanting to snorkel here so we were happy. While we snorkeled the captain and Gretchen were busy making ceviche. The snorkeling was pretty good here. We saw a good variety of fish and a couple of sting rays. Once we were done we had some beer and ceviche. Now the ceviche is the only part of this excursion I can say was not as good as Monday’s experience, but it was still pretty good. We were all having fun and when we got back to the port Ron had invited Sean, Aoife and us to a party later at the hostel. The party was not until 11 pm. So we decided to meet up with Sean and Aoife at Bobo’s around 5.

From Bobo’s things got kind of crazy. We started with margaritas. Then I think I went to beer. The guys from the other night at Bobo’s showed up also, along with a girl from California, a girl from Australia, and a few others. We all decided to play Cards Against Humanity. The bartender, Julia, made up a bottle of a shot we would have to take if our card was chosen as the best one in each round. I think I had two of these shots and was thinking “why if I am winning at this game am I having to do shots?!” Needless to say we had a lot of fun and before we knew it, it was about time for the party at the hostel. So we all walked over there. The hostel was so weird from what I remember. It was huge! There were people playing different games like ping pong and I don’t even know. There was this weird bar where we got our beers. There was also a band and a dance floor where no one was dancing. So we went to the dance floor to listen to the band…I think one of the band members was Julia’s boyfriend (bartender from Bobo’s). So a group of maybe 4 of us are on the dance floor not really dancing but talking when all of the sudden I see a cat laying on the dance floor. I thought this was hilarious and of course I wanted to pet the cat and I was so intrigued as to why a cat would be on a dance floor. So I started to bend down to get closer to the cat when all of the sudden I dropped by beer and the bottle broke all over. The cat ran away.

Don and the girl from Cali tried to get help to clean up the bottle but no one seemed concern and I think they ended up doing it themselves. After this we had to go outside to a beach bar because the bar inside closed. We sat outside and there was sand but I don’t really remember water. Out here Aoife and I made plans for the four of us to hang out tomorrow. We wanted to rent a golf cart to go to the Southern Point again to check out the secluded beaches there. The guys agreed and so we have plans for tomorrow!

Bloggings, Reviews, Reviews - Travel, Snorkeling, Travel

Golf Carting on Isla.

August 26, 2015 Andi Leave a comment

So today we woke up and we really didn’t have a plan, but we ultimately decided to rent a golf cart to tour the island. If you are visiting Isla Mujeres getting a golf cart is the thing to do. It was easy for us to rent because we just went through the front desk at our hotel. It was $45 for the day. The only downside was no one from the hotel showed us how to use the golf cart and neither of us have ever drove a golf cart. Luckily we could figure it out. We found this cool whale shark replica on the drive.

On our way to the southern point of the island we stopped at a restaurant called GreenVerde. I found it on tripadvisor and it was highly recommended. The place is very cute and interesting because it is made entirely of recycled materials. I had a good steak burrito and Don had a breakfast dish. It was probably one of the better meals we have had here.

Next we stopped at Tortugranja which is a turtle sanctuary. Basically it is a place where turtle’s eggs are protected to hatch. There were a lot of turtles. It was a little weird because there wasn’t a lot of information about the place so it just looked like a bunch of tanks with turtles in them. There was also a pen in the water that contained a few nurse sharks, turtles, and rays. It was a pretty big pen but it was kind of weird to have this with no explanation. I did hear from someone that this place helps rehabilitate sea animals. It was a little disappointing that there was no information about anything.

Next we went to Punta Sur which is the Southern-most point of Isla Mujeres. It was so hot! We made our way down the path with a bunch of sculptures and it was beautiful.

I think Punta Sur in Isla Mujeres was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I loved this…

The water was so blue and clear. It was amazing. At the very southern point there were stairs to go down to the water. Here you could read about the Cliff of the Dawn which is the Eastern-most point of Mexico. It was absolutely beautiful. There were lots of crazy rock formations also. We saw some people snorkeling and we were really disappointed that we didn’t bring our snorkeling stuff. We found out later these guys were hunting lobster. We saw a few more people snorkeling so we think we might come back on Friday to try it out.

We saw two dolphins swimming out in the water. It was one of the coolest things to see dolphins swimming out in the wild. We really liked walking around here.

Once we were done at Punta Sur we drove up the Caribbean side of Isla. Once we got back we went to our beach at Playa Norte and did some snorkeling. The snorkeling was pretty good here considering it was a sandy beach. There were things put in the water to break waves and this allowed plant life to grow and attract fish. We swam out pretty far. We saw a little spotted sting ray. I felt like I was getting stung by something but I never saw anything in the water.

Once we were done snorkeling it was of course time to go eat dinner. We tried a place called Qubano which was Cuban food. It was recommended on trip advisor I think…but neither of us were very impressed. I got a Cuban sandwich, one of my favorite things, and it was not even close to the best one I’ve had. I don’t remember what Don had but it also wasn’t that great. Also, they only had drink specials on mojitos, which I don’t like, but I drank anyway.

During dinner we discussed if we wanted to do the whale shark excursion again because we noticed Juan had a sign up at Ocean Adventures for a 2 for 1 whale shark special. This meant we would only have to pay $120 for 2 of us to go rather than each of us. I was a little hesitant because I don’t think anything can top the first time. We saw sharks already…do we really want to go out again? What if we don’t see any? But then after talking about it more I was kind of feeling like I could go either way, so I told Don I wanted him to decide because tomorrow is his birthday. Don chose to book whale sharks again for his birthday. So now I am getting pumped for whale shark excursion #2!

GarbledSyntax