Manuel Antonio Rainforest

There is a sloth in there somewhere.................
Rich's back and that's me and Kirk up there talking to our guide Charlie.
There's that Sloth!
Chris and I on the beach just outside the forest. It was really cool to come out to that beach from the rainforest....I did not even know it was there.

I wish the pictures could do this place justice. I really felt like I was in a picture. It was all so beautiful.

This was taken at the most beautiful little hotels I have ever seen. This is there drop-off pool over looking a cliff over the ocean. I wish we had stayed there.
THis is the hotel's amphitheater. That was a pretty step drop behind us.
A toucan!
There is another Toucan in that pictured.
Another view from the hotel. I really wish I knew the name. I think Kirk grabbed a brochure.

These were taken on the was to Manuel Antonio. Our guide "Charlie" asked if we would mind stopping there. He said he wanted to show us heaven and I think he did. These pictures do not even do the hotel justice, I wish we had gotten some of the lobby and breakfast area. There were only about 40 rooms and they were only $160. a night. I would have loved to be there one night at least. I want to swim in that pool and have a lovely glass of wine while watching the sunset. Oh well, maybe another time.

This was the way the maids folded our towels in our room. Isn't it cute!
An open air restaurant and little grocery store.
Me, after peeing on the road to Monte Verde.
This was the view from the road. Not much room to drive. Yes, I was nervous.
Me and Chris.....Goodness he's is cute.

These pictures were taken on the day we drove up the mountain the first time to zipline. By the time we got to the top we were in the clouds and there was a storm. You would never know it by these pictures. I did not realize how much higher we went up the mountain. Needless to say we did not get to go on our canopy tour that day. We tried to look at is as an adventure....and those roads were an adventure, but we were all disappointed we drove all that way and could not zip!

I believe that we spent the rest of the evening at the hotel bar and I got pretty toasted. I was drinking vodka and sodawater with lime. It's actually a good little drink. I could not handle the beer and the wine was from a box so I was having none of that.

That is all from this instalment. Many more pictures to come.

It's nice having more to say then "I was busy today" or "I am tired" or "I can't wait til my weekend.

another instalment of Pam"s Vacation.

This is Jaco Beach
The boys on the beach.

Little third world country street.

These were some of the pictures taken in Jaco. It was an ok little town. The beach was lovely there. We do think we saw a drug deal going down between this white surfer dude and one of the guys hanging out on the beach. We did not stick around to see but we did see the surfer dude go up to the guy and he totally looked guilty of something. They talked for a moment and then the other guy got on his bike and sped away. The surfer dude keep walking around in the area. We did not wait for the guy to come back....we saw this all from our resturant.But we figured he was buying pot. There was also a woman on the beach with the highest cut jean shorts on and a low low tight tank.....I think she was a hooker. Sounds pretty seedy! It was good I was with three guys!
That was the only place I thought to myself...."Ok, this is a sleezy little place" although I am sure I could see all the same things on Mission Beach in San Diego.

Tuesday night

On the Crocodile river bridge. Chris, Me and Kirk. Look at those sexy shoes!
The crocodile river
ohh, Crocodiles.

Rich, Pam and Kirk

I think I forgot to mention these guys. We stopped to see them on the way to Jaco and again with the guide on the way to Manuel Antonio. Our guide, Charlie, threw some chicken to them. It was kind of awesome. I did have visions of falling over accidentally and how screwed I would actually be with broken legs trying to crawl away because the fall probably wouldn't have killed you. Really an awful thought!

Back at work

this is the beach at the hotel

this is me at the hotel beach

Well, I am going back to work today. I am not sure I really mind.....today is a short day and then I only have three days and it's off to Vegas for Joe's wedding. I am starting my new schedule this week. Instead of 10am to 7pm we will be working from 9am to 6pm. That makes me happy. I hate hate hated getting off a 7pm. Of course it would be even better if I was working 10am to 6pm but I do have to make money.

I am putting more pictures in this blog. I have to figure out how to put little captions under them.

The pictures from the last blog were from the first day and I was on our hotel balcony. It was a nice little hotel.

I am home

Chris and I got home on Sunday. We had a wonderful time. I just did laundry today and watched TV. I was tired.

Sunday was kind of rainy all day. So he stayed at the hotel and drank pretty much all day. It was an "all inclusive" hotel so food and drinks were free. It was kindof a nice way to start out the week.

Monday we layed around and enjoyed the beach at the hotel. In the afternoon we drove to a small town called Jaco. I guess it was kind of a cool little town. We ate lunch on the beach in an open air cafe and got some pretty pictures of the sunset.

Tuesday we made an attempt to go to the Ziplines at Mount Verde. We had some pretty treacherous roads so it was a real disappointment when we got to the top of the mountain and there was a storm and they had to close. We went down the back way which was not as scary but was so bumpy I could not believe it.

Costa Rica has Beautiful country side......but it is a third world country so not so nice housing. Wednesday we took a tour with a guide to the rain forest at Manuel Antonio and it was incredible. We did get to see some monkeys and sloths. We also had a guide with us and went on a long hike thru the jungle. Through the trees you could see the ocean. It was really a pretty cool hike.....and tiring. After spending a few hours hiking we went to lunch at a really cute little open air cafe with great food. We were very glad someone else was driving that day cause it was a long drive.

Thursday was spent at Tortoga Island. We took a Catamaran over and snorkeled. We had a beautiful morning with alot of sun. We had lunch on the island. The trip back was great too cause the sun went behind clouds and it was just really pretty.

Friday we went up the mountain to go on the Ziplines. It was another cloudy day but apparently not bad enough for them to close down. I have to say it was a great adventure and I did not mind the drive up the mountain nearly as much as the first time. I wanted to zipline so bad but I have to say right before I was about to go I was losing all nerve. As I climbed the first tower (about 4 stories high) I kept thinking "WHAT THE Fuck Am I DOING" So I made sure I was the first to go cause I wanted to get that first one done. It was great fun and the more I did it the less nervous I was. It was cloudy and a bit windy so we could not see much scenery....which maybe was not a bad thing. After you left the platform you could not see them anymore. The person just disappeared into the clouds. It was kind of eerie. The only way you knew they made it to the other side was when the guide on the platform called on the radio for the next one. We did not take our camera up cause it was too wet out. One of the other tourist had a camera and I sure hope he sends the pictures like he said he would.
After ziplining we went on a hike thru the rain forest again. The guide we had on this one was even more knowledgeable than the one in Manuel Antonio. He was just a young kid but was obviously well educated...he was cute too. He was also one of the guides on the ziplines. We had lunch afterward at a restaurant in the small town at the top of the mountain, Santa Elena. I think that was the nicest little town and it fascinated me that people lived up there........and had to make that trek up and down whenever they needed stuff.....not alot of grocery stores or clothing stores. We went down the mountain on the scary side and it was not as scary as I thought it would be. Really the worst part was when a tour bus was passing us.

Saturday was spent at the hotel beach til about 3:00 and then we headed back to San Jose and spent the night at an Intercontinental hotel. Our plane took off at 8am on Sunday and it was just too long of a drive from Puntaranus. It was not far as far as miles go but the roads as so shitty and we had to drive thru the mountains and the roads were switchbacks and traffic could be very slow.

All in all I had a good time but was so glad to get home!!!!! I will post pictures later or maybe I will send you an email.