one of those days

There are days that, as they are happening, you think to yourself, this one is good. This is the kind of day that will forever be imprinted on the memory banks as a Good Day. This is one of those days.

I fretted over this vacation for some unknown reason. I made the planning so much harder than it had to be. Leading up to the trip I allowed stress to overwhelm me and I just felt like surrendering. So many things were wreaking havoc on my mind and my emotions and I really was ready to just hide in bed at home while hubby went off for a solo vacation. It is so very easy for me to allow myself to be held hostage by my sneaky little brain. However, for my brain, Costa Rica acts as an anesthetic of sorts. It is why I love the country. It has given me some of my most favorite days.

This day was one of them.

We had planned a day with our guide Wilson, who drove us from the airport the day before. There was a question of whether his friend, and nature guide, Geovani would be with him. As it turned out, he was going to spend the day with us. And what a day it was.

We perplexed our new friends in the beginning. They kept throwing out options of things to do for the day. Zip lining? No. Hot springs? No. Welllllllll…..what do you want to do? We want you to show us your country. We want to see snakes. And bugs. And ummmm, if you could please find me a sloth, I will love you forever. And then Wilson and Geovani showed us the greatness that is their country. There are so. many. things. I want to write about this day. But I am afraid I would bore you. I am afraid you would stop reading because there would just be so. very. much. Just know that I adore this day. It goes down as One of Those Days.

One thing that we desperately wanted to see was a red-eyed tree frog. You will see these beautiful frogs adorn many advertisements for the country, however they are actually fairly uncommon and difficult to find. Unless you have Geovani by your side 😉

There are times as a photographer where you capture an image. And then quietly do summersaults in your head. And maybe say with a little attitude, yeah. I took that. This is one of those images. I could have thrown my camera away after capturing this*. This. This was the shot I came to this country for. Wash my hands and call it a day.

*Thankfully, I did not throw my camera away. phew! Because I had another summersault moment later in the day 🙂

and the eggs…

and what about THIS moment???????????

Ummmmm. Yeah. That happened.

Remember “if you find me a sloth I will love you forever“? How about if you find me a sloth on the side of the highway going a gazillion miles an hour and it is so close I can touch it I will totally marry you? And then you find me a baby only minutes down the road? You’re a dreamboat.

Wanna know what baby sloth fur looks like? It looks like this…

It is a sad day that I have no photos of me getting these photos. Because I was sort of impressed that I have more physical prowess than I thought. There is a very delicate balancing act occurring here, on barbed wire, while precariously wrapping my arm around a tree branch and crossing my fingers that it will hold me as I lean back to get these shots. I might have been bleeding just a little bit after this little photo shoot…but so totally worth it!

This pretty sums up what my face looked like as I climbed back into the van…

I could have gone home right at that moment and been so insanely happy. But the day must go on! And it did. And continued in greatness, both big and small. My mind was blown by just how much we saw, and how much we experienced, in such a short period of time. I can say that I did not want the day to end, and as we hugged the guys goodbye, I truly felt like I was saying goodbye to friends.

 

 

 

that long-lost vacation…

Forever and a day ago (or maybe it was about 6 months ago) I went on vacation. And I didn’t tell you about it! WHAT?! I hinted. I posted a couple pictures. And then I got in a fight with my blog. We stopped talking for awhile after we called each other some unfortunate names. But then my brain started wandering back to those lovely vacation days, and I thought it was quite rude of me to not share those lovely memories here. *ok. can we just be honest? I really want to go back on vacation, so this allows me to re-live these wonderful memories. There. I said it.

For some reason, this vacation induced So. Much. Stress. beforehand. Our last trip was planned incredibly last minute. As in, tickets were bought before I even received my renewed passport. We had little time to plan, which in normal circumstances really should cause my OCD to break out in hives. But no. And then this trip? With plenty of time to plan? I wanted to throw up at times. I stomped my feet a lot. The packing?! Only I can make vacation planning so very….grrrrrrr.

I won’t even try to tell the tale of my arguments with a traffic cop at the airport. Or my attempting, yelling really, to just pay the airport guy for my oversized luggage already. I have never had someone NOT want to take my money! Our start to this trip was not a pretty one. And then there was the little stop at customs upon our arrival. Trying to explain our luggage situation. I am pretty sure if it wasn’t for the man carrying our luggage for us, we would have been short some items. A $20 bill can get you far in a developing country 😉

Really, the only luggage I truly care about on these trips is what is on my back every day…the cameras.

Well. that and my motion-sickness medicine 🙂 For a girl that gets carsick *very* easily, these are a must on these trips!

One of our biggest concerns while planning this trip was nailing down transportation from the airport to our lodge. After not much luck, we discovered our friend’s coworker’s cousin just so happened to have a tour company. I love Costa Rica! Someone always knows someone who can help you! So we contacted Wilson, and made a new friend. He picked us up at the airport. Happily brought us on some quick errands we needed to do before hitting the road. And made the looooong drive much better by being in his company. He brought us to a local soda for lunch and it was delicious, and we made some furry friends while there as well. He took us on some detours and made the drive fun, instead of a tedious drive from point a to point b.

While we were eating lunch Wilson had the owner make us these plantains…these were the most delicious plantains I have ever tasted! Best I could decipher, they are simply boiled. That seems too easy for the amazing flavor. If anyone knows the secret to these plantains, I will be your new best friend!!!

 

We finally arrived at our lodge, Arenal Lodge, and made tentative plans to meet up with Wilson, and possibly his friend, the following day, depending on the weather. The weather was cooperative for us, and our first full day in Costa Rica was more than I ever could have asked for…

Just for a taste of the greatness…this was the view from my bed. I mean!