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Ginger and I went to Costa Rica for our ten-year anniversary trip. We had wanted to go to Maui, where we went on our honeymoon, but I didn't have enough vacation left for anything but a long weekend. I cashed in some miles, and got us airline tickets for only $92, including the $50 two-week window fee! We have several friends who have gone to Costa Rica before, and Mike and Shane Foley recommended Vista del Valle for us to stay. We got "green season" rates ("green season" is the PR euphimism for "it's going to rain so much that mold will grow between your toes); $150/night, and 3rd night free.

Costa Rica is only a 4-hour flight from Atlanta, and they're on Central time too. It's basically like being in Huntsville, as far as when the sun rises and sets, being on the far eastern edge of the time zone.

Mid-October is the tail end of the rainy season in Costa Rica, and we got lucky. It was raining when we flew in on Friday, and it rained Sunday afternoon and when we flew out on Monday. Other than that, it was a mix of cloudy and mostly cloudy. The clearest skies were usually in the early morning, with clouds increasing during the day. Afternoon thunderstorms seemed to be scattered around during our stay, but we were lucky and avoided them for the most part.

Day 1: travel
Our flight in was uneventful. We did see some beautiful atolls and islands off the coast of Costa Rica, but once we got over land the clouds socked in most of the views. We could tell it had been raining a lot, though, since all the rivers were mud-brown. We could tell even from the air how much water was in them too, with obvious white water in every stream we could see.

Car rental in Costa Rica is pretty straightforward. Most of the rental places are off the airport, and the desk agent politely told us what to expect (that we would be taken by shuttle to the garage location). This was our first experience with a Tico (Costa Rican resident), and without fail, it was duplicated with everyone else we met. The Ticos were uniformly friendly and helpful - even more so than in, say, Maui. Anyway, car rental is pretty cheap, too. At Ginger's insistence, we got a 4WD (a Mitsubishi Montero JR). It turned out that we never needed the 4WD, but the high clearance was a big comfort. A three-day rental of a small SUV, with insurance, was only $128.

We tentatively and slowly made our way to Vista del Valle. Tentatively because this was my first time driving a stick in 18 months, and slowly because we had been warned that the local police liked to target the touristas for speeding. We managed to find our way to the turnoff, and had our first true experience with Tico road work: bumpy, patched, potholed asphalt, then rutted dirt. Speed limits overall are pretty slow, but you can't really go that fast anyway. I say this as a native Atlanta driver, too! I don't think I went over 90 KPH the whole trip, and didn't really want to most of the time.

The gate into the inn is guarded (and I mean guarded, by a guy with a big pistol). I don't know if he was expecting Coopers, or if he figured the gringos were guests. I'd venture it was the latter, but I introduced us anyway; he must have used his walkie-talkie to call the inn because ?? was waiting for us in the parking area. He took our luggage and helped us check in, then showed us to our cottage, pointing out some of the more tropical plants around the grounds. One of the things I found from this trip is that I've seen a lot of these tropical plants as houseplants. The difference seems to be one of scale and virility, which isn't too hard to imagine having that sort of effect.

Our cottage was called the Mona Lisa, for some reason we never figured out (of course, we never asked either, so shame on us, eh?). It's a round, thatched-roof tiki hut with an adjoining bathroom, and a small wraparound stone patio smack up against the dropoff into the Rio Colorado gorge. The view was wonderful, but they only had a single, rather uncomfortable wooden chair on the patio, so we didn't spend much time out there. That's a shame because it would have been picture-perfect for sitting out there in rocking chairs, drinking coffee and watching the sun rise. One for the recommendation book!

The interesting feature was the outdoor shower, around the curve of the hut, facing out over the gorge. No one on the grounds could see, but I assume someone with binoculars on one of the gorge walls could have gotten quite the eyefull of my fat white gut and ass. Too sexy! It was a pretty neat thing to do though, especially since there was plenty of hot water and water pressure.

The inside of the hut was pretty spare. One full-size bed with mosquito netting (needed mainly for the moths, but I assume more important in the summer), one chair, one small table, and a window-seat couch that took up about 1/3 of the circumference of the hut. The windows all overlooked the gorge, but the thatch comes down so far you really can't see out well, even sitting on the window seats.

Once we got settled in, we went to the outdoor dining area and had beer (me), margarita (Ginger), and very good chips, salsa, and black bean dip (both). We stuffed ourselves, then had a nice nap, then a little <censored>, then dinner, then off to bed.

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