Six Days of Solid Smiles and Too Much Fun

I just returned from six ever-so-wonderful days of fun due to a much welcomed and appreciated visit from home. Sunday a little playing in the water with the surf boards, then off to the Rum Bar for live music, drinks, and pizza pool side along with a very pleasant Austrailian visitor that shared a cab to Dominical with Shane. Monday a motorcycle ride to Playa Ventanas, where we saw a family of Howler monkeys in the trees just up from the beach, and two natural caves that are about 250-feet long. You can see the waves come through the far end and resonate all the way through to the other end when the tide is just right. After observing the Howler Monkeys, we enjoyed the non-crowded beach and swam around in the bay for a while. Monday night, great Thai food at a restaurant owned by a couple with nine dogs - my heroes! Tuesday, a typical Tico platter for breakfast enjoyed riverside with the crocodile, and then off to stay in the beautiful town of Manuel Antonio, where I was horribly defeated by the waves at Playitas. No harm done though, and we enjoyed a nice sunset over the ocean and walk along the long beach of Manuel Antonio. Wednesday, woke up with a cold, and so hung around the cute hotel most of the day, until we decided to go run a couple of errands and have dinner and drinks at Barba Roja where we enjoyed one of the best sunset views around. Thursday, breakfast at Cafe Milagro followed by a sailboat tour with a group full of other happy tourists, including another couple from Utah (Kaysville and Ogden I believe), and two Canadian actors, one being the talented Peter Keleghan, who played Lloyd Braun on Seinfeld. Peter was in the episode where Lloyd Braun had a nervous breakdown when the David Dinkins election campaign for Mayor of New York City proved to be unsuccessful. Anyway, all very nice people on the tour with us. We saw flying fish, dolphins, and a killer sunset from the sail boat, and some tropical fish during the snorkeling portion of the tour, and of course, a big beautiful Costa Rican sunset to end the cruise off right. Hats off to our most charming and accommodating host, Minor, for serving up lots and lots of drinks, feeding the fish to attract them while snorkeling, and cracking us up with his hilarious femininity! Minor was a wonderful cruise director. This morning, we headed into the national park for the wildlife and more beautiful beaches, but were denied due to an obscure incident which no one cared to explain. However, one of the nice Tico national park workers who had to refuse our entry, led us over to a tree where a mother and baby three-toed sloth happened to be just hanging around just outside of the entrance. They couldn't have been more than 25-feet above our heads! They are such amazing creatures with horrid awful little hair-do's. We had so much fun watching every little deliberate movement while the baby hugged the mother sloth ever so tightly. It was a truly a moment to remember. After my sweet little visitor was swept away by the shuttle this afternoon, Cos and I checked out of the hotel, and Cos decided to chase a cat up the stairs to the second level, slide off the awning, and fall a good ten to twelve feet to the ground! The cat of course made the jump from the awning to the retaining wall without any problem, but Cos just stared up at the cat from the hard ground stunned and somewhat in shock. He'll never learn his cat lessons!

River Life

Today we saw a crocodile hanging out in the river that flows along the yard. I’ll be keeping Cosmo out from now on because he’d be quite a nice little snack for a croc of that size. Last week we saw two River Otters fishing and eating their catch in front of the house, and I could hear them chewing each and every bone in the fish they were eating. Amazing! There are always cool birds flying and floating around, and last week we heard a pair of Toucan’s just upstream from us although I never did get to actually see them. In fact, I find that sipping a fresh cup of Costa Rican brew on the little porch next to the river is a very fine way to welcome in the day if not on the beach! Cos agrees whole heartedly.

Valentine's Day Aftermath

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. My housemate (who'd arrived from California this past week) and I decided to go exploring a different waterfall, name unknown. It was actually very close to town, and easy to get to other than the trail finding required. We all enjoyed a fun surf session later in the afternoon, and then went dancing at the local Saturday night hot spot down the road. I was pleasantly surprised to find an abundance of others who were not on El Dia de San Valentin dates, but instead, like us, were dancing their booties and their cares away. The walk home along the beach proved to be a reminder of just how many lovers were enjoying the evening together however; Fugatos (camp fires), blankets, tents, beverages - the alcoholic kind or course, and lots of romance going on the entire way back. I hope that you all had a great Valentine’s Day and spent it doing something that you love, if not with the person that you love!

Doggie Trouble in Paradise

It’s a good thing that dog’s live in the moment, because after Cosmo’s scary and long journey from Utah to Dominical, he’s been roughed up just about every day by the two female dogs living here at the house. They seem to be pretty adamantly refusing to allow him into their pack, and therefore consistently team up on him whenever they see fit. Istra is the alarmist and oft times the instigator, then allowing Coco to go in for the real fight. Last night Coco had Cosmo’s entire body engulfed beneath hers, while she bit at his head and neck. Cosmo, however, being just the right height to nip her legs, got a pretty good puncture in the right front leg. Coco refused to give up until her owner was able to come outside and get her to release him. Business as usual for the dogs the next day, except that Coco's leg was swollen up pretty big and her owner very concerned. Since then, we’ve been trying to establish the picking order with the humans being at the top, and trying to figure out how to help Cosmo become a part of the pre-existing ‘pack’ that Istra and Coco were long before Cosmo got here. I’d love any suggestions you all may have in forcing two alpha dogs to accept the new guy in town who also happens to be alpha, and learn to coexist. February 20th Follow Up Dog's are doing better as long as the vitals are not involved. You know, hunger, food, specially claimed spots in the yard or house, etc. Coaching by the humans is still a must have, but they have a great time playing on the beach together and chasing birds. In fact, other beach doggies insist upon joining in on our long doggie walks whenever permitted!

woof.

Red Eye Flights and Really Bad Roads

After a super sleepy long flight, Cosmo and I arrived in San Jose. Cos was more than a bit shaken up from the 12-hour long ride inside the kennel, flight noise, and transfers, however I could not let the ever so frightened and shaking little guy out as per Costa Rican Customs requirements. He was to remain inside of his cage until we were outside of the airport which meant until we stepped out of the van which took us to the rental car office. Of course I snuck him out right after we got through customs, and he refused to re-enter his kennel, just as I would. So I decided to take him outside to relieve himself, but we were stopped by the airport staff who informed us that I could not take the cart with all of my crap on it, outside of the doors. So in order to check into the rental car desk at the airport so that we could get our ride to the off-site office where our car was supposedly waiting for us, I had to recruit a little help from the airport staff. Man, I'm so lucky that I'm a girl! After showing much concern about getting my dog back into his kennel, so that I could tote him, my 7-foot long surfboard, my large backpack, and my laptop computer back into the airport, a genuinely nice and well meaning Tico offered to watch my belongings as well as my dog. Of course I was hesitant at first, but I threw my laptop and my valuables over my shoulder and thanked him. Once the group of six in front of me finally made up their mind about a car, I quickly checked in and returned to my puppy and belongings, all safe and sound. I tipped the sweet man who had helped me through this hectic process, and off we went in the rental car shuttle. Upon leaving the rental car office with the best directions the counter guy could offer, Cosmo and I were headed down the highway. Not more that eight miles into our journey out of San Jose, our tire was apparently slashed.................while moving! Luckily a nice policeman on a motorcycle helped us change it, and sent us back to the National office for a new one. when I returned to office to inform them that my tire had been slashed, I was scolded for not following the directions handed to me before leaving the office which stated "Beware of anyone telling you that you have a flat tire in order to get you to stop. These people may take off with all of your belongings if you do stop." I informed him that I did not pull off the road until an official police man motioned me off to help me. He then told me that I was not supposed to make any stops, as people are looking for tourists in rental cars so that they can slash your tires, pretend to help, and then take all of your luggage. when I let him know that I had not made any stops, he sent me back to the shop for a new tire. what a biz, eh? Slashing people's tires while moving so that you can steal luggage. Finally, we made it out of San Jose and down the windey, bumpy six hour beach road to our destination. Turned out that the guy at the rental car office didn't know the shortest way to our destination, and so he added two and a half hours onto our drive by telling us the longest way possible. Alas, we were happy to finally arrive at our paradise pad at the beach after traveling for 22-hours straight.

The Air Stinks, it's Cold, Some Jerk Keyed the Entire Side of my Car, and I'm SOOOO Outta Here!

I found myself leaving home with my surfboard, laptop, backpack, and this time my dog, and was once again headed for the tropics!!! Luckily we arrived an hour and a half early and there was no line to speak of, because the Frontier counter staff checking us in DID NOT want to let Cosmo come along. First, they insisted that Cosmo was in a large kennel and that the charge for him would be double (which was incorrect). I was then passed on to the supervisor after insisting that I had consulted with both their website and a reservation agent prior to booking our flight, and that the charge should not be double, as he was in a medium size kennel. Second, the supervisor insisted that we need an additional 'mystery' certificate required by the Costa Rican Consulate, but he was happy to inform us that he'd already booked us on the same flight out tomorrow at no additional charge! I told him that I needed to know exactly what the 'mystery' certificate was, showed him a copy of both the airlines' requirements and the Costa Rican Consulate requirements for pets indicating that indeed no 'mystery' certificate was required. He made a few phone calls and then gave us the OK to board just as boarding for the flight had begun. when I arrived at the gate all flustered, he acted embarrassed and told me how strict Costa Rica is on allowing certain things including Hippies into the country. Upon hearing this atrocity, I asked "And how would you define a Hippie, Sir?". He said that it is a very difficult task, and that it is incredibly embarrassing to inform one that they are not allowed based on their judgement. "Hmm. Interesting." I thought to myself. "I'll just bet that lawsuit is currently underway". If anyone has any information regarding this suspicious Hippie rule, please do educate us all!