Fish don't wake up until 12:30.

Today was a great day! Ain't nothing like a Sunday morning spent trying to fish, chatting with friends, getting some sun and watching the sea life.

I spent the day with Patrick and his poker buddies on a friend's deep-sea fishing boat, Capullo, which means asshole or idiot in Spanish (Spain). We got up around 5:45am to get ready and head out. Got on the boat, headed straight out to sea. A few miles later the boat staff prepared the lure and bait. Patrick was to bring in the first fish and me, the second. We were very ready, I didn't realize this was a sport of patience. Luckily there was a lot going on.

About 1 and a half hours into the trip, Patrick found himself crying, "Ralph". I felt awful for him, but not bad enough to not take a picture.

Perhaps a little chum will help to catch a fish or 2...fat chance!



And yet another one, cause I like it...





We had a humpback whale spotting. Check back later to see the video, can't seem to get it to work right now.

It took me about 30 minutes to get this thing in! Okay okay, its the bait!


Learning about the different hooks. Did you know if you use a round hook verses a flat or straight hook, that it does less damage to fish if you want to catch and release? This is great really, but after not even a bite in 4 hours...catch and release, shmatch and shmelease, I WANT SUSHI!


The boat! Great picture thanks to Patrick.


A picture of the boat from the front. I climbed up there to watch the dolphins play under bow of the boat


Here are the dolphins.


Our return trip back into the bay. We pulled in around 12:15pm empty handed. I guess the fish don't wake up until 12:30.


Had a great time! Thanks Captain Steve, with Capullo Costa Rica Sportfishing, looking forward to the next time!

Little Corn Island, a "country" of its own!

Every 3 months or 90 days, one must leave Costa Rica to renew his/her Visa. This is the only requirement to reside here.

My friends Philine, Jon, Melissa and myself all went to Little Corn Island. Little Corn Island (we'll call it LC for short) is about 3 kilometers off the Caribbean coast of Big Corn Island, which is about 10 kilometers off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. To get to this itsy bitsy island was quite the adventure, had it been in the states, it would take approximately 3 hours, maybe, but in Costa Rica and Nicaragua its so much more of a "treat". Really, it is part of the allure.

We left my apartment at about 0800 (pronounced, Oh 800) hours. Its about a 2.5 hour drive to the boarder, which might I say, is quite the enjoyable place. Picture 5 tour buses pulling up and unloading passengers to go through customs, this is the line you have to wait in. You have 20 dirty cheating men in your face asking if you want to change your money to the Cordoba (Nicaraguan currency). They're cheating, because all the calculators are rigged, so if you don't know, then you could loose some money in the transaction. Then you get up to customs, they don't do anything, just stamp your passport, no questions, nada. I think the guy in front of me had a picture of a 4 year old, Asian girl, he got through. Then you have to walk along a dirt path, where they make you wait again and stamp your passport. Don't know what they're doing, cause the stamp looks exactly like the last one to me. Look, I'm just following the 4 year old, Asian girl (45 year old Tico).

FINALLY, its approximately 1200 hours (is that how you say it?) and we've made it! Across the boarder. We grab a cab. This is fun, cause there are 4 of us, not including the driver, who looked a bit like a Latin Elvis (we'll just call him Elvis), so we are 5 people in a tiny little car. The AC is broken, thank goodness the windows "work" at least 2.5 of them do. Its HOT needless to say! Its okay though, the airport is only 2 hours away. Elvis was really funny. At one point Jon asked Elvis if he would like a SIP of water from the water bottle. Elvis takes the water bottle and squeezes it as hard as he can, fills his mouth with water and has it running down his chin and onto his shirt. The four of us (minus Elvis) were laughing hysterically, because we couldn't believe he did that. Then Elvis started laughing, who knows why, cause we were laughing at him. I'll stop here, because I think you had to be there. Just about 30 minutes before we arrive, Elvis began praying, because Jon told him, if he didn't get us there in time for our flight, he wouldn't get paid. So he started praying. We got there with an hour to spare.

Nothing interesting about the flight, only that the airplane was an old thing (you'll see pictures).

We arrive on Big Corn Island at about 1600 hours. You then need to take a boat over to LC. It was quick and painless. We've made it. At 1700 hours (9 hours after we left little Tamarindo) we arrive at the dock, little did we know this was more or less the main attraction. We unloaded our stuff and went to find a room. There are no roads, only one long concrete path and little dirt paths branching off of it. It was charming. Everyone has a wheelbarrow. This is how you bring your goods from the dock to your house. The shops have 3 bottles of water, 2 bags of Cheetos, 4 packs of gum, 6 rolls of toilet paper, and good luck looking for anything beyond that, oh and Flor de Cana, which is the Nicaraguan rum. Very tasty. Little did we know that some people speak Spanish, some speak English, some speak both, and some, well you don't know what they're saying (Creole). And you cannot bank on having electricity. If you're lucky. The place we stayed was running on a diesel generator. We payed $75/night. Imagine what the general population has?! Its certainly a "country" of its own, I guess the population of 400 has found a way to make it work here and wouldn't know any different. We found our place, unpacked and enjoyed the rest of the long weekend.

Here are some pictures from the trip. Enjoy! I'll explain as we go along.

The airplane that flew us in from Managua to Big Corn Island.


Relaxing on a tiny little private beach.



This is the beach we were on.


Phil, Phil's baby (bump), and me.


Our own little private beach.


Here is our cabina. Notice the shower, with all the water you want as long as you don't go over 6 minutes. Which is a good thing, considering we only had 4 people. That was all sarcasm, had you not noticed!


The view from our cabina!


Makes you feel like you were there huh?! Doesn't it, doesn't it?!


The following are just pretty pictures from our walk around the island.




Just taking advantage of a little wind. Yes, electricity.


Monkeying around! Hahahahahaha!




This grass was pillowy. It looks as though it would be hard underneath, but you sit down and just sink.


This is walking back through the middle of the island. This is what most of the paths look like.


For some reason, we only saw three monkeys the whole trip. They were all on leashes. To give you an idea, we see wild monkeys pretty much outside of our back door in Tamarindo.


Kids playing baseball.


The dock I was telling you about.


A pretty house.


It was quite the sunrise!!!!! Breathtaking!


It was an amazing trip. I recommend it to anyone!

My Walk to the Beach

This is for you, Uncle David.

This is my walk from my back door to the beach. Just for a walk, to check the surf, or to watch the sunset.

There are pictures of Patrick and my new apartment in the blog below. Enjoy!

New Home

Patrick and I moved to a new apartment, Bahia Langosta, in a town called Playa Langosta, which is part of Tamarindo. Playa Langosta means Lobster Beach. However, the "lobsters" here aren't really lobsters, more like HUGE shrimp or crayfish. Anywho, there are a few great breaks about 50 meters walking distance. So we surf a lot more than we used to, even when we lived 5 min. from the beach. I must say, you do get a bit spoiled living here.

This is what you see when you come in.


This is our bathroom. Way bigger. I can actually get ready without hanging over the toilet.


Heres the kitchen. I love it. I hate the stupid wave painted on the bar, but I love the kitchen.


This is our back door and patio from which I can hear the ocean whilst I'm working. I love it!!!!!



This is our pool area.


And some random pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Me making pumpkin ravioli for a dinner party we were having. I'm such the little home maker.


Patrick and I watching the sunset on our beach.


All in all...we love it in our new place. Please feel free to visit any time, just give us 24 hours notice.

As usual, I'm sending all my love to my family, this includes aunts and uncles. I love you very much!!!!!

A long long time ago, there was a visit from my motha'...

Me Motha' came to visit me in November and it has taken me this long to put up the blog. To be honest, I have pictures on my camera, but cannot find the cable for it, I have been waiting and hoping the cable would magically appear, so I could download them. The following pictures are ones mom took.

She came down in November, just a few weeks after rainy season ends. I picked her up at the airport around noon, as I recall, she had to change immediately. That Costa Rican heat will hit you like a brick wall, if a brick wall could hit you. But what a great feeling that is, picking up someone you love from the airport after a length time apart. Always big smiles and lots of hugs. I love that. Anywho, we went for lunch and a little coffee. Drove home to Tamarindo. Then went for a walk. SHE SAW HER FIRST MONKEYS (in nature I think she meant)!!!!! Then the walk continued onto the beach...where...SHE SAW COCONUTS (possibly her first, not sure)!!!!! Then home again. I cannot remember where we went to dinner, but with good company, any place is good.

The following day we went to my favorite beach, Avellanas. It was beautiful. I took a hammock to hang, mom brought her chair and hat. We could have stayed for HOURS! She said it was her favorite beach.

This was our setup. Kind of cozy huh?!


This was the beach.



My spot.


Later that afternoon we went home for a walk. Then dinner again. I believe this is possibly the night we went to Vita Bella, where we were force fed many glasses of wine. We had a great dinner with cocktails. Then we wanted to stay a bit and chat, so the owner gave us each a glass of wine. We REALLY shouldn't, I MEAN didn't want anymore, as we were about to stand up he ran over and poured another glass. We couldn't believe we had to be polite and drink a whole other glass. Ahhh. We had a good time. Always.

I believe it was the next day or the following that we went to Volcano Arenal. I can't believe she trusted in my broken Isuzu to get us there (4 hours away). We made it though, just in time for rain. We stayed at a great little lodge, where, had it been clear, we would have had a great view of the volcano. Next time. We went to Tabacon Hot Springs. If ever in Costa Rica, go to Tabacon. Its quite the gringo resort, but its a treat. Check out the site: http://www.tabacon.com/ . We roamed around the gardens/springs, then spent most of our time in the main pool. Where we did not go down the water slide like a BAZILLION times, thats immature. :) And this is NOT where mom and I got hit on by some yucky fireman. :) We followed up the hot springs with an AMAZING meal. Can't describe it, just go!!!!!

We got home the next day with a wet car, because the night before the windows decided to stop working and SOMEONE made it rain. We spent about 30 minutes around 12 at night trying to repair the window, then deciding it was better to just park it in the car port.

While Mom was visiting, one of our favorite things was taking the Blue Dolphin Catamaran (http://www.sailbluedolphin.com/aboutus.html). You board around 1:15 pm and don't get home until 6ish. Its amazing. While we were on board we had a cocktail or two then sat in the trampolines (although not what you would think of as trampolines), a netting on the front of the boat you can lay on. On the way up north we saw a humpback whale, it was amazing. I had never seen one before. It would breach and throw its tail up, beautiful!!! We stop and lay anchor for snorkeling and kayaking. We are also served lunch. They hand out tshirts. Then we head home, sounds quick, but its not, we're there for about 2 hours. On the way home, we saw a beautiful sunset and someone throwing up, that was cool too. :) We got ready for dinner, I would say a little nicer dinner at Seasons. Good fresh food. Right Mom?!

The rest of the time and in between was spent talking about life and the world, learning more about each other, walking on the beach, eating, and more talking. It was an amazing visit. I can only hope that we can do this again. Even if we do, this will be a vacation I will remember forever.

To my mother: I love you so much Mom! You're my best friend and I'm so happy we had that opportunity. I only hope Dad can come down next time...huh Dad huh?! :) And, Mom, if I missed anything, leave a comment (its at the bottom where it says "_ comments", click that, then leave one). :)

(There would be more pictures, but I'm having technical difficulties right now, so check back, I'll try to get some up. Thanks.)