Hey guys! Elsa and I are currently flying back to the Garden state so I thought I’d wrap up the trip with a list of the lessons learned on this vacation. Enjoy!
1) Everything in Costa Rica is UP:
Ok, so this is not a vacation for the faint hearted or out of shape. If there is flat land in C.R., we certainly did not see it. In fact, wherever we went, whether it was on a walk, into town, out of town, to the main lodge of a resort, or in the forest we were always climbing (huffing and puffing the whole time). For me this certainly took a toll. In the first week, I think my body was adjusting to the change in altitude. In the second week, my body was reacting to all the pampering and good food. This country literally defies the laws of reason and physics. I know that you are thinking Surely Zach if you are going up the return way must be down. You are wrong my friends! I don’t know how, but we were always walking UP and the short times we went down were only so we could go up further! While, I’d like to tell you that this helped to burn calories during the vacation, I am afraid the delicious food more then counteracted it and my flabby belly is still very much intact. Don’t worry though… the diet and p90X resume tomorrow.
2) In Costa Rica its all about you:
So here’s the deal. Costa Rica’s two main industries used to be tourism and coffee. However, thanks to Juan Valdez, cheaper coffee out of Nicaragua, and coffee from Colombia, the Costa Rican commercial coffee market has all but dried up. Sure Starbucks buys a lot of their coffee, but how much profit do you think the small, poor farmer makes from them? There is hope for futures in Palm oil becoming a biofuel, but for the time being Costa Rica’s financial standings lie in tourism and computers. Computers mean nothing to us in this article, but tourism does. I have never experienced a more tourist friendly area in my life. It is like the whole country is unified in making us happy (with a small majority admittedly trying to rip us off). Some examples:
a) After a hot morning of hiking in Manuel Antonio, Elsa and I sought refuge in a small, shaded cantina by the beach. Upon sitting at our table, we noted a sign that said cash only. On this particular day we only had enough cash to take a taxi back to the hotel and we were planning on using a credit card for lunch. So we naturally got up to leave. Upon noting us heading for the door, the owner asked why. When I explained about our inability to pay, he waved me back. He said to me (a clear foreigner who he did not know from Adam), “Sit, eat, rest you come back and pay tomorrow.” Can you imagine something like that happening in Boston or New York? Not likely! By the by, the food was delicious.
b) One day, we were walking through a city center (ironically enough Manuel Antonio again) and we decided that a) we were too hot and tired to walk 2-3 miles back to the hotel and b) we did not want to wait 2 hours for the hotel shuttle. The unfortunate bind was that again we were running low on cash (I was so impressed that I intended to tip everyone even though a compulsory tip is added to every fee in CR) and could not afford a taxi. Well, lucky for us a local offered to give us a ride for less then the fee of a taxi out of the goodness of his heart. He wanted people to enjoy his country and help the tourism trade. Well, I hope by passing this story on it will.
c) Now I realize that with all of these stories you will think we were financially unprepared. This was not, for the most part, true. However, like I said, I liked to tip so our available cash on hand was not always a lot. One day we went to see the waterfalls in La Fortuna outside Arenal. I planned to use my credit card for the entrance fees, which it was advertised as taking. Unfortunately, their machines were down so they accepted cash only. We only had enough cash to either a) enter the park or b) get home via taxi. Again, a friendly local came to our aid and offered to help. Actually, he offered to LEND us the money for the entry fee, and then drive us to an ATM in town to pay him back. He only asked for no more then the typical taxi fee for his troubles (which included waiting for us to finish our tour of the park).
d) No one ever said ‘no’ to us here. For any request the answer was always “Yes and” not “No because” or “No but.” We were able to get reservations for day trips, restaurants, or hotel amenities as soon as we asked. There was literally nothing that was not okay. Several times, we wondered if we would get in trouble or have a request declined for doing one thing or another but that is not the C.R. way. We were treated like royalty everywhere we went. Elsa and I were allowed to touch, handle and hold any animal we wanted. The Costa Ricans all as one seemed to take pride in their reputation of good service.
e) I can not count how many times individuals would go above and beyond their specific job to help us. We had taxi drivers stop spontaneously (at no extra charge no less) to let us explore sites. One driver stopped just to let us take a dip and explore a naturally hot river, another stopped to point out a sloth on the telephone lines, another to point out a crocodile hotspot, and many more. The hotel security staff at La Paz packed us box breakfasts because they knew we were leaving too early to enjoy the sit down kind (mind you… at no extra cost and of their own initiative). The hotel maids would daily make little towel swans, sloths, or other creations to amuse us after cleaning our rooms. In fact, they would often pick flowers from outside to decorate the beds. I was just blown away by their dedication and pride.
So yeah for two weeks it was all about us!
3) Try to bring someone fluent in Spanish, it really helps:
Lets face it; you do not need to know Spanish to get around Costa Rica successfully. Since tourism is so important, many service individuals have at least a working knowledge of the English language. However, if you can speak Spanish it opens up so many doors. First, you can ask advice from anyone without problem. Second, you can get answers faster because you are communicating in their primary language. Most of all though, is that by speaking in (well) in Spanish, you make a bond with guides, taxi drivers, waiters, hotel staff etc. In our case, this meant that they wanted to do even more for us and quickly knew who we were (Zachh—ary and Elsa). I think a lot of the times we were able to do more simply because Elsa was able to communicate our desires more effectively (like wanting to hold the tree frogs etc). When asking for volunteers the guides gravitated to us because they could communicate quickly and effectively. We were never put in a tough communication spot. At this point, I can answer for Elsa when asked how she knows Spanish so well. Why??!! Lets just say that everyone was so incredulous at how well spoken she was in their native tongue, that they always asked 1) where she was from and 2) how she spoke so well. Most couldn’t believe it J. So for those of you single folks, find a fluent partner. For those of you already attached, might I suggest taking us with you on your tropical jaunts….
4) Costa Rican time is a very real entity:
My favorite quote from Costa Rica came from a hotel concierge in Manuel Antonio. He was referring to a shuttle that was supposed to pick us up at 1:05pm for an afternoon activity from a tour group called Planet Dolphin. He stated, “Ahh yes, yes Planet Dolphin, they always come at exactly 1:05… but this is Costa Rican time so that is usually, always 5 to 10 minutes late.” This may not seem to make sense to you, but it is how they flow. I quickly learned (and Elsa learned with time), that we could not have strict schedule expectations on this trip. As long as we were on vacation we could enjoy the Pura Vida. Simply put, we did everything we wanted and scheduled in C.R. It just did not always go perfectly. If they were flexible with us, we had to be with them. Transport pick up time was merely a suggestion with some transports coming 10-15 minutes late or up to one and a half hours early. As long as we had relaxed schedules it all worked out in the end. How will we readjust to the northeast after that?
5) Never book with Orbitz:
So flexibility is good when you are on vacation and the worst thing is a missed hike or an earlier then expected transport. It is not good when one is trying to get safely from one country to another with all of his/her belongings intact. Orbitz gave us trouble from the beginning. After I had paid for two tickets, they kept switching our itinerary without asking me (which meant I had to update our transport in Costa Rica almost weekly of our arrival time for nearly 2 months). At one point, something went awry and they double reserved for us… sending us at the same time to Cleveland from Dallas and to Newark from Dallas on the way home (guess which one was right). Luckily, since I am rather anal-retentive, I noted this early and called to resolve it. After spending nearly an hour on the phone with a representative, he assured me that it was fixed (though there would be a delay in the internet showing this to me) and we were all set. Well you know me; I couldn’t quite let it go, so I called 2 weeks later when the Internet itinerary still looked wrong. Again, I spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone with a representative and again I was assured everything was correct and all set. I was even emailed an itinerary (that I carried with me everywhere), which appeared correct….
So our troubles of course started in Newark on the flight out. Nowadays, the terminals are self-help and automated. Typically, check in is as easy as pie. You swipe your passport or enter your confirmation code and away you go. However, this time the machine simply would not let us check in. So in a very calm manner (not wide eyed at all), we sought out a representative that typed on a computer for literally 40 minutes. Apparently, as I said we had two itineraries and so he manually had to check us into one and remove the other. Of course, the nagging beetle of doubt was chewing away at my mind and I asked if we would have a problem on the return trip. He replied he did not think so…. Ha ha ha. Luckily for us, the remainder of the trip to C.R. was fine and our luggage got their intact…. so there was a temporary break from my anxiety. However, yesterday I decided to check the itinerary online. I noted there was an online check in, which I thought would be very helpful since our ground transport was arriving pretty close to the departure time from C.R. Alas, it would not let me do it online… ought ohhh! Not wanting to freak out the wife, I did not mention it and hoped for the best. Fast forward to the airline check in desk in San Jose. After giving all of the proper forms and ID, he started putting transit stickers on our luggage. Maybe I was lucky, maybe I was extra vigilant because of the problems above, but I noted that the destination was NOT Newark but CLEVELAND on the bags. When I pointed this out, the staff member looked confused and noted that yes … our itinerary STILL SAID CLEVELAND AND NEWARK! Not only that but because they were a contracted airline of United/Continental (TACA which by the way was a very accommodating and awesome airline) there was nothing they could do to change the destination stickers. They were able to stop our bags in Dallas as opposed to sending them through to Cleveland. However, we would have to take them from there. So gentle readers with a 1 hour layover in Dallas, we had to sprint through customs/immigration, pick up our baggage, take a shuttle to different terminal, convince the united/continental agents that YES they should change our itineraries to get us home and get through security. It all seems funny, as I sit sipping my Mr. Pibb now on our airplane, but really it was anything but that. I am pretty sure that our bags are with us now, and we are safely going towards New Jersey. Never again my friends, never again! P.s. In the mass hysteria, EJ was angry that I honestly declared all items coming back with us so that we had to stop at the Agricultural checkpoint (coffee, shells, and interaction with cows). Sorry kiddo, you married and honest man :-P
6) Traffic rules are very, VERY different!
Ok, moving on to another disturbing thing but for a different reason. I am SO, SO glad we did not rent a car during our stay south of the border. First of all, the roads are, in a word, interesting and unpredictable. Only half of them are paved and apparently the damage insurance to rental cars only covers problems on paved roads … awesome! In addition, they are small, winding, have several blind curves, and apparently the double yellow line is a mere suggestion. There are rarely sidewalks in the streets, which are really only wide enough for one car at a time, although people drive on them like two lane roads. It appears that taxi drivers take the use of a seatbelt as a personal offense. Seriously, almost every taxi (not the transport vans by our travel agency) had the seatbelts missing, broken, or stuffed into the seats. Amazingly, the locals seem to navigate these challenges well, and we were able to ride a long way with no problems. However, can you imagine my (or Elsa’s) nerves had we had to drive under these conditions?
7) Appreciate the help staff:
Elsa specifically asked that I stress this point, and I agree it is worth note. Refer to point #2. The hotel, tourism, and restaurant staff in this country take great pride in what they do and it truly shows in their work. This truly seems to be a respected, important position in their culture. Just keep that in mind when you are at a domestic hotel in the future. The staff that have immigrated to the USA are doing something that it truly valuable, and they are doing it with pride, whether is be cleaning, serving in a restaurant, or helping with luggage. In the future, I will be sure to be more appreciative of them, both verbally and financially.
8) Leave your phone chargers at home, but not your laptops:
In the rush to leave for vacation, I inadvertently packed the wrong charger for my cell phone. Since I have one of those new fangled smart phones, it was dead before I left New Jersey. Not a big loss and I knew it… after all I was sure that the phone charges would be astronomical so I was not planning on using it. Here is the thing though: When I COULDN’T use it, I was unable to obsess about work and try to sneak little calls in to check in. I also was not tempted to waste my time with the different bells and whistles of my phone. It let me relax and let go. I still have been unable to fully check or respond to voice messages, and I’m sure the world has kept turning. I did however, have my laptop. I also had email and regular correspondences through this blog. That way I was reachable in an emergency. The computer also was invaluable for storing photos and assuring that we would have memories of this great trip. There is Internet access all over the country, but cell reception or pay phone access is a non-entity. As such, the best way to keep in touch, but not be excessively firmly entrenched in home life, is via the laptop.
9) Post your pics and advertise your videos:
We have over 1200 pictures of our adventures in Costa Rica. Over the next few days to weeks, I will go through them and try to post as many as facebook will allow me to. I will split them up by area being 1) Pre-trip, 2) Monte Verde, 3) Arenal, 4) Manuel Antonio, 5) La Paz. As for the videos… posting will not be an option. I will edit them as best as possible and likely make DVDs for the parentals (or others request one if you want). Elsa was even thinking of having “watch Costa Rica videos/ dinner and wine night” with anyone who is interested. Of course, since I know that for some of you this would likely be as fun as watching vacation slides, there are no expectations just stop by if you want to see one or a few. This way, those who want to see them can, and the rest are not tortured.
10) Remember to be thankful:
This truly was a wonderful honeymoon/vacation. Truth is, it wouldn’t have been possible without a lot of help. So here is everyone I can remember. If I’ve forgotten anyone, I’m truly sorry but know it wasn’t intentional and we are still very thankful
a) Our parents --- not only did they financially help us with the trip, but they quelled their natural anxiety enough to allow us to go relatively guilt free. They were also supportive and constant fans of the blog thanks guys.
b) Our family – both by blood and by bonds as good as blood. We know you were with us during the low times, tough times, and good times over the past few years. Thanks for the support and for caring about what we wrote about and experienced on our trip. Some of you helped us financially as well, thank you for that. We love you all.
c) Dawn and Jules --- these two deserve special commendations since they took care of our crew and our house for a minimal compensation during our vacation. It was so much easier to enjoy our trip knowing that our most prized loved ones were in good hands…. Thanks guys!
d) Chris and Katie --- these two selflessly gave up days off or drove into Newark after a full day at work to pick us up. Chris wouldn’t even let us pay for gas and was more then happy to save us both time and money by being our ferry service. Katie as I said, made the hard trek after a full day of hard labor. Talk about dedicated friends huh?
e) Billy and Bridget – it is never easy to accommodate 2.5 full weeks off for doctors who sometimes work up to six days a week. Especially in this economy, when our offices are running such tight ships, this can be very difficult and stressful to accommodate. However, these two fine individuals found a way, and such we were able to enjoy a long honeymoon.
f) Costa Rican Vacations and all the guides, drivers, and hotel staff who helped us have the best vacation ever!
g) All of you readers, especially those who commented (that’s you Colleen, Aunt Dotty, Dawn, Dad W, Dad S, and everyone else). This blog was so much fun and I’m glad so many people seemed to enjoy it as well.
I’ll be signing out now as the battery strength is getting low! Look for the pics and see you soon.
Z + E
