What Day Is It Anyway??

OK, so I know its Friday, somewhere at the end of May. The date is not so important most of the time unless something significant happens and then I am sure to do a quick calendar check in my head.

Much like my laid back, no ID philosophy, I often lose track of time while on vacation, both in what time of day it is as well as what day of the week it is and as my vacations get longer, so does the time void that I find myself in. Aside from days where we actually "do something", most days consist of these vital four elements: sun, sand, water, refreshment (aka: beer and margaritas). When we are lucky enough to be by the ocean there is just such a calming that the waves crashing and the breeze blowing makes that I literally just get lost in the moment.

Right now we are in Jaco, Costa Rica and we have rented a condo that is right on the beach. This beach however is not my dream beach as the surf is way too rough and there are many rip tides. Yesterday we witnessed a young couple skinny dipping up the beach a ways and the next thing we know, the guy was swept out and they had to get some surfers to rescue him. He was conscious and breathing but he definitely got hammered out there and they were trying to keep his head still while they got him to the ambulance. I hope he is OK.
Luckily we had decided earlier in the day that this beach seemed way too rough and we spent a little time in and by the pool and then took a few hours to drive around to the nearby towns and beaches where we went searching for calmer waters which we found in Playa Herradura and Playa Agujas. The later is much calmer but we had to drive quite a ways down a dirt road while Herradura is at the end of a  smaller paved road and still calm enough.

So today, Friday, we headed to Playa Herradura. After breakfast (which Dave is still making every day) we collected our chairs, towels, water, snacks and cervezas and headed out to Herradura. This beach is more our speed. It is a nice stretch of shady, sandy beach with minimal waves. It is a bit of a cove that protects the waters and makes it much calmer than most other places. We find a spit of beach to call our own and so begins the day.

Its during this time that I begin to wonder what day it is. Then, with nothing else to do I start to wonder why when on vacation it is so easy to lose track of time and not be concerned with what time of day it is. I mean let's be real, how many times do I lose track of time when I am at home?
I know it is Monday because the weekend just went by too fast and now I am back at work.
I know it is Tuesday because the true force of the week begins to kick in.
I know it is Wednesday because well, its hump day
I know it is Thursday because only two more days till the weekend and I have to hurry to get work done in the next two days.
I know it is Friday because it is the last work day and then the weekend begins.
I know it is is Saturday because its the first day of the weekend and I have lots of house chores to do.
I know it is Sunday because its the last day of the weekend and tomorrow I have to go back to work...UGH!

Here, on vacation, I don't know what day it is and I don't really give a shit! I'll move when I want, eat when I want and drink when I want...what's the worst that could happen? I'll miss my flight back home? I wonder when that is anyway???

A Monkey, a Raccoon and an Iguana walk onto the beach

And just like that, someone's lunch is gone!!

OK, let me start from the beginning. On Monday Dave and I visited the Manuel Antonio National Park which is considered to be one of the best on the Pacific Coast if not the whole of Costa Rica. It is a combination of about 5 acres of land and 135 acres of marine reserve. You can hike through several different trails and most lead down to a beautiful beach.

The trails are easy walking and we went about 8:00 so that we could try to get a glimpse of some animals before they went into hiding for the day.

So, after paying the gringo price of $16 each we headed into the park. We chose to go without a guide for a few reasons, first because we like to take our time and challenge ourselves to find some animals on our own which we did, second because we are cheap and didn't want to pay for it and third because there were so many people with guides that for a few animals we just watched where they were looking and then looked in the same spot.

We spotted things big and small including a couple of sloths, some capuchin monkeys, a howler monkey, a whitetailed deer just grazing on the side of the path, a strange striped cricket and a couple of different lizards.

But the real show came once we got to the beach. Unsuspecting sun worshippers put their things down, laid out their towels and proceeded to strike their best pose for anyone watching. What they didn't realize was that they were not being watched by the other sunbathers on the beach but rather by the locals, waiting to make their move. You see, in this area the locals are the monkeys, raccoons and iguanas and if you are not careful they will steal your lunch, or your sunglasses or anything else they want.

I heard of these scavengers so when we arrived at the beach we found a nice tree to hang our bags on and then locked them up as well. If they wanted to get any of our things they were going to have to work for it. But alas, others were not so wise and we witnessed raccoons sneaking up behind people and grabbing things right out of their open bags, one was even brazen enough to play a tug of war of sorts with one girl for her bag. Lucky for her she won!

Most people got wise to them and started to either hang their bags or at least arm themselves with big sticks in case they were the next target. Oh, except for the lady who had the first item of the day stolen, she later proceeded to sit on her blanket with a mango in her hand and then was surprised when a big fat iguana came over to get himself a bite!!!

So we spent much of the rest of the day watching people watch their things along with seeing a few very aggressive igunanas defending their territories from each other.

As we headed out of the park Dave caught some mention in the dead leaves on the path and we caught a glimpse of the very cool looking Jesus Christ Blizzard, aptly named because it can walk on water. Cool way to end the day.

OK, We Are So Not Ever Doing That Again

I'll start this post by saying "Dave loves to fish", but most people reading this probably already know that, and every time I start to plan out a trip one of the first things Dave asks me is " Is there any good fishing there?". My initial response is always to remind him that I am planning a vacation and not some damn fishing expedition but eventually I go down that path and begin to look for fishing options as well.
To date I have found some type of fishing that we could do in many of the places that we have vacationed, but it can be really expensive at times so I have to research a bit and often times have found a fishing trip that is within our budget and seems to have good reviews.
Here are a few of the fishing trips we've done and how we fared.
Grand Bahama Island - here we fished the reefs with a man named Les and we caught things like yellow stripers, margarets, squirrel fish and the likes. We had so much luck with Les and his price was so reasonable that we fished with him all three times that we visited GBI but we've not been back there in a while now.

Green Turtle Cay - this is one of the Bahamas out islands and on this trip we actually rented a boat for the week which by itself was cheaper than some of the other one day fishing trips we've done. For this trip we did not venture far into the ocean and our reef fishing was similar to our experiences with Les along with catching a couple of reef sharks. We also tried bone fishing here and while we didn't catch any of those we did see the fish around and it was really fun trying to catch them.

Curacao - we wanted an off shore experience here and ended up on a boat with three other people an the only bites we got were for two little barracudas. The only memory from this trip was being stopped by the marine patrol when we reached the dock. No problem for us but the captain didn't have all his papers in order so he was going to have to go and get them and produce them. Hindsight should have told me from this experience to carry some ID as the marine patrol did ask us for it but they did not care that some of us didn't have any ID so I guess it didn't sink in for me.

Costa Rica 2013 - the last time we visited CR we went fishing on Lake Arenal with Capt Ron to try for peacock bass and  machaca which is much like a pirhana but we did not do well here either. Dave didn't catch anything and I only caught one machaca. Ron had warned us that fishing had been slow recently but since you never know what will happen we went out anyway. The lake itself is beautiful and it was a really nice morning, just no fish. Ron also hooked us up with one of his friends in Samara where we would be staying later in our trip. Frank was a young guy and took us on a half day trip to try to find some tuna. It was a long half day with only one small yellow fin tuna that Dave reeled in but it wasn't the big fight that he was hoping it to be. Frank was trying so hard to get us onto some fish, he even stayed out past the half day mark but the fish were just not biting. When got back in we gave our little tuna to a local family because we didn't rent a house and had no where to cook it.

Costa Rica 2015 - And that brings us to our current trip. I heard many reviews that the area we are in now has great off shore fishing so I scouted a bunch of options and decided on Quepos Fish Adventures which had good reviews and a reasonable price. We were due to head out at 7:00 so we got up at 6:00, downed a little coffee and off to the dock we went. Capt Johnny greeted us and off we went. On our way out to deeper water we saw some flying fish, several turtles floating around and as we got closer to our trolling spot we saw a sailfish jumping around and this got Dave really excited as he has never hooked onto something big with a good fight and he is ready to get started. Johnny rigs up six lines off the back of the boat and we begin to troll around, and around, and around..... Seven hours later we start to head back to the dock, fishless, biteless and feeling a bit jinxed. We got nada, none, nothing....UGH I did catch a little nap though so I guess that's something...

I only feel bad for Dave as he wants so badly to hook up onto some big fighting fish just for the thrill of it all but for now we have agreed that we will not be paying for any fishless boat trips. Maybe once we find a place to live we'll hook up with some of the locals and get lucky

For now we'll seek out ways to fish from the shores or docks for free and save our hard earned money for our retirement funds!!!

A Walkabout

OK, I know that a walkabout is really done in Australia but I'm gonna use that term for the nature hike that Dave and I did on Thursday.
The Hacienda Barú Wildlife Reserve is about half an hour from where we stayed in Dominical and everyone knows that the best time to see much of the wildlife is early in the morning. So, we woke up at 5:00 in the morning, slugged down some coffee and then filled our backpack and headed out by 5:30. I could swear that I heard my brain yelling at me because it was so early and we (my brain and I), are supposed to be on vacation. But I turn off the voices in my head and we proceed to leave for the reserve.
The reserve is quite large and while we walked about 3 miles altogether, we still only covered a little more than half of the entire place.
The park itself is very easy to walk around in since it is all pretty flat and even though we arrived there by six o'clock, it seems like most birds were already hiding on us.
We did see quite a few things though, a pair of hawks with a nest, some vultures, several butterflies and some hummingbirds too. We also saw a couple of agouti in our path, a sloth, and a great male curassow up in a tree.
I didn't realize that the SD card in my camera is not a micro version so I can't upload my pictures because my tablet uses a micro SD.. Ah, technology!!
After all this as we are heading out of the trails Dave spots, in the middle of the path a green snake about two and half feet long...some would say yuk but what really got me was the fact that he was in the middle of eating a frog and you could see the frogs legs hanging out of the snakes mouth...super yuk!!! The only good thing was that his mouth was already full so if he was poisonous and had any intention to bite us he'd have to spit out his lunch.

All in all this was actually a nice walk on a day that was fairly cool and we got to see a few cool things.
Back at our rental by 1:00, just in time to take a power nap!

Ah, The Sounds of Nature

So for our first seven days Dave and I are staying in Dominical on the Pacific Coast, "Where the mountains meet the sea" they say and yes, we are renting a little casita on the mountain. The view is pretty good. We can see the ocean and have quite a lot of forest around us so we can try to find all of the creatures that pass through this area.
The last few days have not been overly exciting for us in terms of activities as we have been chilling, two days at the beach and one at a waterfall. No, not the same waterfall that Brady took his recent leap from, but a smaller one with a nice small relaxing cool water pool. We opted not to jump nor slide down the waterfall and only saw one person attempt the slide and he dislocated his shoulder so good call on not trying that!! BTW - the guy was OK he has old injury apparently and his shoulder pops out easily which seemed evident as he just popped it back in...yuck!

Anyway, back to the story. At our casita we have seen a few animals but you have to be patient and sometimes you have to be able to hear where the noises are coming from.

A typical day begins with the sounds of nature waking up. You can hear several different types of birds, Dave and I only clearly make out the toucans because they are the loudest and most repetitive but we can tell there are many more birds around. Next to join are the howler monkeys. They sound like a bunch of macho guys trying to establish the pecking order in the group. It's actually all very cool until you realize that it is only 4:00-4:30 in the freakin' morning. Do these animals not realize that I am not a morning person. To date we have not gotten out of bed at this time to see if we can find the source of the sounds but we keep telling ourselves that we will.

Usually the noises subside a bit within what seems to be a half hour and we fall back alseep only to be woken by the daylight at about 6:15!! Did I forget to mention that our casita is totally open aired with screening where windows and doors would be and no curtains? Oops! This time we get up, make coffee and for the next couple of hours we sit on the deck listening to what is mostly birds trying to get a glimpse of them. The trees are thick and the birds hide in them well however we have glimpsed some toucans, banaquits, and a few others that were too fast to really see what they were.

This morning as we were listening to the usual sounds we heard something different...what the hell is that? Dave and I have heard this before but what the heck is it....ah yes, it is the sound of progress (I guess) and the sound of a chain saw buzzing and trees being cleared overwhelms the sounds of nature. I know that there is much protected land in Costa Rica and I do hope that Costa Rica cares enough to preserve some of the lands for the wildlife especially where people wish to build.

While we haven't gotten any pictures of the birds yet, we know that patience will prevail. By listening to the rustling in the trees we have gotten pictures of a sloth and a howler monkey near the house and have seen many beautiful butterflies including the blue morph which makes me giddy every time I see one.

As a closing note to this post Dave and I have already agreed that while this area is beautiful and is great for a visit, the mountains would not suit us as our initial p!ace to live upon retiring. We will want to be closer to the beach for sure and if Dave has to drive up and down this bumpy, curvy, rocky and at times a bit nauseating dirt road for longer than a week, I'm afraid he might just leave me up here.

OK I gotta go now cause I hear the damn toucan again and I need to get a picture of him!!

Locked Up Abroad.....well, almost

Most people have one or two of these stories. You know, the kind that you laugh about after but at time might be thinking..."What the hell am I doing?"
Well, here's one a little like that.
In all the times that Dave and I have traveled we don't carry our passports with us and I have read many recommendations on whether we should or not. Some say (in quite a panic), don't carry your passport around because if you get robbed or lose it, it will be gone and so hard to get back. Others have said "Always have your passport with you." And others still say, don't carry your actual passport but rather copies of it. Copy the picture page and the page that has you entry stamp and/or visa. Well I don't carry a flippin copy machine when I travel so that seems like a stupid suggestion to me!
As I've said, I do neither and so far, no problemo!
As of today I have a very different perspective on this subject.
After some much needed sleep we got up, had coffee on our deck and saw a couple of bats and some big ass beetle thingy and a skittish hummingbird. The monkeys, birds and others that had woken us with all their noises at about 4:30 seemed to already be long gone even though it was still only 6:30. No worries, we'll see our share I'm sure.
Today we decide to just cruise around the area and see where everything is. First we head to the feria (farmers market) in Uvita and get some fresh fruit, pineapples, mangos and papayas....yummy then we just start driving around.
I have a horrible sense of direction, the main reason why I don't try out for the Amazing Race, and even with a clear map telling me where everything is and a damn GPS system boinging every time we pass a beach I still can't figure out where the hell I am...oh well, thank goodness for Dave!!
Driving up Rte 34, the main coastal highway with one last group of things to investigate we run into a road block. It is La Policia de Migración, and even those that do know Spanish know that this the Immigration Police. They ask to see our passports which we say are in our hotel so then they just ask for ID and while Dave has his license on him, silly, naive Debbie doesn't even have that......Go on everyone, say it...what an idiot. I agree. I tend not to carry my purse with me when we travel and 90% of the time (OK, 100% of the time) I do not carry any ID....oops!
So, what do you think happens next? They ask us to pull over to the side of the road, they take Dave's license, get on the phone and then try to ask us questions.
When did you get here? How long are you staying? Where are you going? And even though I know all those answers and can give them in Spanish, I am a little nervous and it takes time to think.  They are reading Dave's license which is in English and trying to figure out which of the words are actually his name. We obviously give all the help we can and after about 1\2 hour they tell us we can go and we promise that we get and carry our passports with us from now on.
In the meantime we notice that they have pulled over 2 other cars filled with stupid Americans that just don't follow the rules!!
The officers themselves were very nice, very patient with us and very professional but I realize now that could have gone another way.
After our release we headed on our way, stopped somewhere for lunch and who do you think we saw drive by? Yep, La Policia de Migración. This time we smiled and waved!!
All this excitement and we are only on day 1!!!

So Here We Go Again...

Once again Dave and I find ourselves on our way to Costa Rica as a sort of vacation/retirement scouting trip.
We came here back in October 2013 and had a great trio. We pretty much settled on the fact that we would want to live on or near the beach and the one real beach town that we visited, Samara, seems like a nice quiet beach town that may fit the bill.
Then we came back home and I started to panic. You see, Dave and I want to retire early (I know, who doesn't),  but in order to do so we have to find somewhere to live cheaply. At least cheaper than the US.  I've had my ears open and have checked forums and blogs and websites, oh my!!! So much information, so many choices, what am I going to do.........breathe!
We went to a living overseas conference last October that helped to consolidate a lot of the information I was getting and also gave Dave a chance to hear about all these places from people other than me. When all was said and done we decided that we would concentrate on Costa Rica until it didn't feel right to do so. I have had to train myself to stop jumping on every new bandwagon and every new place I hear of because that was making me nuts, and just concentrate about learning about what Costa Rica has to offer and then making our decision from there.
So here we go again....

In true Debbie fashion I have picked the earliest flight out meaning that our first day will be a bit rough but we will get right to our first place on the coast and not have to stay a night in San Jose.
We will spend just about 3weeks visiting much of the Central Pacific area including Dominical\Uvita, Manuel Antonio, Quepos and finally Jaco.
I am excited to see what happens next......