Okay, in response to what happened. As some of may know, that when you stay at a hostel, some of them serve you breakfast in the morning. Which is nice, unless you are in Argentina where it consists of a plate of bread. Besides that, most of the hotels and hostels have offered this, but none of them were a typical American breakfast.
So we get to this Hostel in Buenos Aires. We just got back from a very long ride from Mar Del Plata. Southern House was the name. The first thing that was cool about it was that the desk man was from fucking LA... He speaks English!!!!
So the place is cool. Very loud with music. A hip, happening place I would have enjoyed more ten years ago... Oh God, I am old!
Anyway, besides the fact that the dude spoke English, but we had a t.v. and I was able to watch the San Diego Chargers blow a 8 point lead to my 3 time Super Bowl Champions, The New England Patriots...
But more excitedly was the fact we might have a normal breakfast the next morning.
We run done stairs the next morning like it's Christmas when we were younger. We're laughing and skipping along the way.... Eggs! Bacon! Pancakes! La La La Laaaaa
We get to the kitchen, no one is around. Catdoggg goes into it and starts to make her claim. As she steps into the kitchen, two women who were in the next room smoking, one of them immediately came in to cook our breakfast. It was quite obvious to me, at least from my stand point. Catdoggg, oblivious...
Catdoggg is totally in her way. I try to say something to warn her that the girl is right behind her to cook our breakfast, but it's too late. She leans up and over the girl to reach two plates that she had to stand on her tippy toes to reach. The woman looks at her, looks out the window to her helper, who looks at her then looks at Catdoggg, while the other looks back at her and then again to Catdoggg. The expressions on their faces were priceless.
If I could only show you what I saw. The looks on these women. My God! Like, "What the fuck is she doing in here?" "Now she's reaching for plates." "Who the fuck is she and where did she come from?"
I am witnessing this from my point of view and nothing could be funnier.
Catdoggg turns around and they meet eye to eye. There is a long pause. In acting we call it a Pinter Pause. Named after Harold Pinter (One of my favorite writers) A pause so long that a truck can drive through it.
I am trying somehow to signal to Catdoggg about the situation. I am about to explode from laughter...
So, Catdoggg finally realizes what to skinny is and walks over to the counter and says to the woman, "I'll just put these plates here."
The woman looked at where she put the plates, looked at Catdoggg and said, "No."
I almost lost it. It was so obvious that I was trying not to laugh that Catdoggg was starting to laugh.
We go sit down and the other woman comes in and they were totally talking about us in Spanish. Another reason to learn the language.
Too funny. If I could only express what I witnessed from where I was standing. Pure comedy. It's gold.
Oh and what did we get for breakfast... One egg and plates of bread...
Silly American
It's nice to know that not matter where we are, Catdoggg or myself, that the United States is not the only place we can make fools out of ourselves...
Catdoggg, 4 Continents.
Anthony, (The Papadog) 2 Continents.
The best thing about doing it in another country is that hopefully they will never, ever, ever see us again.
We can only hope...
Little A4 has big shoes to fit!
During this whole trip the one phrase that Catdoggg and I have done is No Hablo Espanol. You think of the person and we've said it to them. Taxi drivers, guides, hotel clerks, convenient store employees, retail store employees, pedestrians, birds, the homeless, waiters, priests, EVERYBODY! So you'd think we'd have it down by now, well at least me... WRONG!
Yesterday morning we were walking around and I can't exactly remember what the situation was, but once again someone came up to me and asked me a question. It probably doesn't help that I am wearing a local soccer club jersey...
Anyway, instead of saying No Hablo Espanol, I say No Hablo Ingles. No Hablo Ingles!!!
I just told this woman that I don't speak English after she asks me something in Spanish. What the fuck!!!
I give up...
Back in Buenos Aires now. We were down in Mar Del Plata. It was cold. We were cold. They had good helado, bad everything else. We got calenders, and cheap clothes, sandals, and we gave a homeless woman our leftovers. Hope she didn't get beat up for them.
We left. We sat on bus forever. Nicest bus in the whole wide world. We got in cab. Got in hotel. Got to watch the PATS BEAT THE CHARGERS!!!! Indy, you're next with your retarded looking quaterback Peyton Manning. What was that show? He looks like Corky. That's him.
Anyway, don't feel like writing anymore. Update ya later.
p.s. The trip of trips has continued...
So Catdoggg has been telling me that I don´t get it. I don´t get the fact that when you travel you meet new people. Kiki is one prime example. But we all know he is special. :) As for the rest, I am from Boston and am more open then most but still a little stand offish when it comes to new peeps. Well let me tell you about tonight...
After searching through one of our Argentina travel books. We found a restaurant that we wanted to go to. Everyone has been telling me that when I am in Argentina that I have to go to a restaurant that specializes it Parilla (Steak) Evidently Argentina has some of the best. They were not kidding.
We sat down at the restaurant, (La Vieja Rotiseria) Very cool, Very friendly establishment. We ordered red peppers with garlic, and two orders of Bife de Chorizo (Sirloin steak, thick and juicy) Let me tell you. Catdoggg does not normally eat Carne, but myself... I love it. But being a Taurasi (My last name), growing with my mother, she always liked her meat burnt. Hockey puck style. So inevitably before we got old enough to make our own steak, my sister and I were subjected to this diservice. So I now as an adult, I appreciate a good steak. Man Town USA Baby... That was for you Craig...
The steak here was brilliant. We ordered them Punto (Medium) and they were lushish. Catdoggg even enjoyed it. Then our waiter brought over some Chimichurri (Basically a marinade with olive oil, garlic, parsley, pesto and other goodies.) It totally enhanced our meat.
This whole time a Spanish looking dude sat beside us. Go figure. :) I was making fun of him because he had put ice in his red wine. To me that´s a sin, but I am not about to correct someone about their wine etiquette.
Well, before we went to have Parilla. I was writing down some translations so we got what we wanted and it was cooked they way we wanted it to be. It made our night a bit easier.
When I was researching I found a dish that is called Parrillada. It consisted of these meats. Now remember when I read this it said that any or all of these meats could be in this dish.
Chorizo (spicy sausage)
Pollo (chicken)
Costillas (ribs)
Carne (beef)
Chinchulines (small intestines)
Tripa Gorda (large intestines)
Mollesa (thymus gland or sweet bread) Don´t ask me why...
Ubre (udder)
Riñones (kidneys)
Morcilla (blood sausage)
So here we are, sitting next to this guy who has ice in his red wine. Who am I to judge? Peoplelike what they like and... What plops down in front of him? Parrillada...
It was on it´s own mini grill with charcoal underneath to keep it hot. It looked just like I thought.
Anyway, we notice it. He notices us noticing it. He leans over and says something indiscribable and we just nod. After a while we figure out he was inviting us to join him with his dish of Parrillada. We were staring at the Blood Sausage. Evidently Catdoggg was familiar with it because of her Irish backround. I on the other hand thought it was "Different" He hands over his knife and fork and offers us a piece of the "Blooood Sausage." Catdoggg refuses, but for some reason I feel the need to try it. Hey, I´m probably only going to be in Buenos Aires once in my life. Why not? So I have Catdoggg cut a piece off for me.
Really squishy, just different. There was no blood oozing out. Thank God.
We then start talking to him. He was actually from Brasil and of course spoke Portuguese. Oh, and he really didn´t speak any English. Through emotions and gestures and some Spanish, we were able to understand eachother. It was really cool. In fact I was better able to understand Portuguese than Spainsh. Go figure...
Now, he calls over our waiter and requests two more plates. I picked up on this real quick. Catdoggg wasn´t very happy. Well she wasn´t upset, she just wasn´t happy that she might have to eat some of this stuff.
Also, he had mentioned that he usually eats Morcilla (blood sausage) with a shot of tequila in Brasil. So that should tell you something.
He then puts a piece of Riñones (kidney) on Cat´s plate and I get a piece of Chinchulines (small intestine) and Tripa Gorda (large intestine) on mine. Catdoggg tries hers and from the look of it I didn´t think she liked it too much. The intestines to me tasted like a burnt steak, ala Mom Style.
Knowing that the blood sausage was tough to eat or he was just being even more nice, he ordered a beer for the table. Let me tell you it truely helped with the swallowing of our food. At least mine.
This gentleman was so nice and gracious to us that we ended up passing names along with addresses and e-mail addresses. If everybody was as open as him, the world would be a better place.
I know I might butcher it by accident, but his name was Euggnio or Guggnio. I apologize if I got it wrong.
Guggino/Euggino, Thank you for opening my eyes to another culture and appreciating meeting new people. It was a pleasure and I hope that we can keep in touch in the future. Have safe travels my friend...
This is what traveling is about...
As most of you know Catdoggg is rather clumsy at times. I wouldn´t actually say clumsy so much. More like she walks into things and trips a hell of a lot. Costa Rica has been no different.
Lets take a look at the things she has tripped on so far....
1) The steps of our hotel in La Fortuna. Not once, not twice, not even three times, but four... In fact I think she tripped up them every single time. There was one time she almost made it to the top, only to trip on the second to last step... aaaaaah.
2) The cave tour. Now to be fair I tripped too. It was rather tough, but we are not talking about me.
3) On a rock at the waterfall.
4) On the canopy tour when we were zip lining. YES, it was the steps going up to our Tarzan swing. I guess the steps were slippery.
5) On the way from our room in Dominical, she fell off the walkway. Like a foot difference between the walkway and the grass.
6) On the way to the pool in Dominical she slammed her big toe into a step.
7) At the airport in San Jose when we were leaving Burger King. There were three steps that seemed invisible. I´ve been with her so much that she is rubbing off on me because I had to jump them cause I didn´t see them either.
8) She tripped getting onto the airplane in San Jose. She stepped where there was no step. At this point I was making fun of her for tripping and I was trying to get her to trip one last time in San Jose. She almost made it out until she saw that invisible step to walk onto the plane. I think we laughed all the way to our seats...
I am sure I will think of more as time goes, but these were the highlights of Costa Rica.
Now she has a whole new country to trip over.
Watch out Argentina here she comes!!!
P.S. She was sober the whole time....
I am officially in the city the Bugs destroyed in Starship Troopers. Buenos Aires...
So far I can tell that Buenos Aires is HUGE! Second, it is quite dirty in some places, but very beautiful in others. Reminds me of New York, were as you can walk down a block or two that looks suspect and then find a few blocks of street cafes and stores with lots of hip people who speak Spanish. Where´s our private guide now??? This is forcing us to learn the language. So far not too bad because Catdoggg and I are fluent in the art of ordering pizza... ¨:) Costa Rica has a leg up so far as far as I am concerned.
Well, we are off to conquer the land, BOSTON STYLE!!!!
Kiki, skip this post and scroll down for an abbreviated version.
Okay, seriously now. Day 4 consisted mostly of driving all day to Dominical. We passed through Jaco,(Known for a beginners surfing town along with a variety of prostitutes for your pleasure and some of the best stuff you can lick....Ice Cream) Quepos (Noting, we just drove through it), Manuel Antonio (If you believe it, they had a hostel named CatDog. I ain't kidding), and finally Dominical.
Domincal is the ultimate surfers paradise. The whole time it reminded us of being in the movie Point Break. "Utah, Give me two." Catdoggg wants to retire there. Kind of funny, but toward the end her hair started to look like that kid's with the boomerang from Mad Max 2.
Our hotel was pretty cool except for the fact that it was open and every fucking creature in the world could crawl in and say hello. Which they did. We seemed to be attacked only at night by these weird worms. Kind of like rollie pollies. Annoying. Liz, you would not have liked it. Although, sleeping and waking up early morning by all the jungle sounds was Pura Vida...
Catdoggg went scuba diving Day 5 and I enjoyed the day by myself. Playing in the ocean, man those waves were cool, to drinking some suds with the non-deodorant wearing, reefer, smelling locals. Then I took a nice nap. I think my first real nap of the whole trip. Cat came back with tales of seeing White-Tipped Sharks, multiple eels, mermaids, rays, but not the deadly kind, and tons of fish... Go figure! Our PRIVATE guide ended up scrapping his finger along the coral, making himself a tasty treat for sharks. He lived though. Otherwise, if he had gotten eaten we were fucked getting home....
Day 6 we woke up early and made our way down to the beach for a little boogie board action. The waves were ripping and we had a blast. Of course I ended up breaking my boogie board. Catdoggg, meanwhile was out in between the surfers, catching monster breaks, and getting in their way...
Then we embarked on our last looooong drive of the Costa Rican trip. The only way we could get back to San Jose was to drive up the mountain called the Death Mountain. Halfway through the trip we ended up being over 14,000 feet above sea level. Above the clouds people. We were looking done at the clouds. Really weird, but extremely cool. They were even blowing across the road as we drove. Mauricio took us off roading for a bit to get to the tippy top to be able to look down. PURA VIDA!
We ate at a truck stop, drove down the mountain, hit traffic in San Jose and are here at the hostel. Oh! I noticed that Guantánamo Bay has an automatic fence door opener. I think Mauricio should invest in one of those.
Here are a few quick notes about our trip..
* Our clothes stink. In fact they have stunk since Day 1. Bat poo drenched clothes stink forever.
* What the Fuck? Everybody in Costa Rica is nice....
* Nothing dries. In fact everything get s damp. And you thought we had tough humidity.
* Orange Fanta, Orange Costa Rican Fanta in a bottle makes Catdoggg puke. YUMMY!!!
* Dulce Agua is gross. It maybe the typical drink for Costa Ricans, but it is nasty...
* They do have guardrails on the 14,000 foot mountain.
* We still haven't seen Volcano Arenal.
* We miss our son and families...
Photos are coming soon for your viewing pleasure...
First of all let me start off by saying that my keybard is now in English. Just when I was getting used to the Spanish one too. Damn!
It's hard to write about something you did two days ago as most of the stuff seems to role into the next day and before you know it, you have two days to write, but it's really one day, but then you have to write day 4 but not until day 6 because you have to write day 5. Phew!!!
So day 3 started off as we traveled from La Fortuna through Arenal to Monteverde. Monteverde I believe was about 3/4 hrs away. I could be wrong. We have done a ton of traveling.
Of course before we left, for one last time we tried to see Volcano Arenal. Guess what???? Nothing yet again. Oh well, we bought a postcard.
To get to Monteverde we had to travel yet again on a long, winding, twisty road with no guardrails. Wait, actually there was something. If you count barbwire between wooden posts a guradrail. Somehow I don't think that would stop a 1000 ton vehicle from going over the edge. For some reason Costa Ricans have a saying for everything. When I asked about cars going over the edge on our way down from Monteverde, he said that when a vehicle goes over and falls thousands of feet down. It is easier to just through a cross from the point they fell. Nice!
Anyway, we finally reach the top and check into our very cool hotel. Like a ranch with flowers instead of horses.
We have a little lunch and make our way to Selvatura Park. Which is even further up the mountain. Monteverde is known as the cloud forest. Which means exactly what you think. Our reason for being here was to do the Canopy Tour. Ha Ha Liz, you are not going to like this....
We started out by doing the treetop walkways. Which consists of a 2 mile trail that leads to 8 bridges of varying heights and lengths through the cloud forest. I will admit, it took me a few bridges to feel completely comfortable up there. How often can you walk through the clouds above a forest and look down upon it? Lots of heights, scary heights, but really cool. Some of the bridges were really long and of course Catdoggg liked to sway the bridge while we were on it.
In fact there was this Asian guy in front of us and it got to the point toward the end he hated us. Everytime Catdoggg did it, (it was for our own amusement) Mauricio noticed that the Asian dude would grab onto the sides for dear life everytime it happened. He had the ultimate kung fu grip. :) For the first two I think he didn't notice why or how it was happening. Probably thought it was the wind until he turned around and saw three huge smiles and a 5"3" Blonde Haired American walking like Bigfoot.
Anyway, one of the best parts of this trip was our PRIVATE guide. Not only does he speak spanish. I remind him everyday that its great that he learned how to speak Spanish for us. He knows everything there is to know about Costa Rica and the animals, birds, insects, terrain, rivers, lakes, mountains, history, towns, you name it. So along the way through our cloud city tour., (All I could think about was Cloud City from The Empire Strikes Back) I was just waiting for Lando Calrissian to introduce me to Darth Vader or better yet Billy Dee Williams offering me some COLT 45!!!! We are very lucky we have him. Otherwise this trip would not have been as cool or easy as it is with him. Plus he's little and I could squash him if I wanted to. Hee Hee Plus he speaks Spanish....
So now on to probably the best part of our trip. Giggity! No, it's not the Atlantis Club Kiki. Although I would like to go. But it is the Zip line tour through the cloud forest. Traversing across cables at blistering speeds, dangling over thousands of feet over, through, in, the cloud forest. With nothing stopping you but our own hands, the forest floor, or hopefully one of the 7 guides before you slam into a tree. I swear Catdoggg was trying to do this.
At first I wasn't too excited to do this, but at the end I think Catdoggg and I would love to work there.
You start off by getting suited up with the harness and gear, clips, safety line and because of our trusty PRIVATE guide a suit. Otherwise we would look like all the other foreigners covered in mud on their normal clothes. It pays to get the inside scoop.
We take another ride a little further up the mountain and get the quick reference guide on how to zip line across 15 lines and one very special surprise. This whole time I am waiting for a fucking T-Rex to jump out and start chasing me. That's what this forest/Costa Rica reminded me of. What was that stupid one? I think the third when the dinasour ate the phone and throughout the movie you suddenley heard the phone ring and then this Big Ass Maneating Dinosaur would jump out. It was quite suspensful until he pooped it out.
Anyway, this one of the sickest, coolest things I have ever done. Zip lining across a forest going through clouds at some very high speeds. Once I got past the fear of falling (which you couldn't) and figuring out how to stop, it was fantastic.
I think when we got to platform 10 was when we had the surprise. They unclipped us, walked us up to a ledge, hooked us to the back, leaned us forward and made us grab the rope. Then you heard,"oh just step out." TARZAN style baby. Swinging through the forest like a Howler Monkey throwing poo... It was fucking cool. Catdoggg was first and I was second and she was like, "Step out, what do you mean step ou aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit ha ha ha Woooooo!" That was her. I saw her face it was funny. Mauricio has our jumps on video. We still haven't seen those yet.
So after that we get back to zipping the final 5 lines. I think the second one in, I reached the platform, one of the guides grabs me, pulls me up to Catdoggg, clips me on, tells me to wrap my legs around her and then pushes us. All before I realize what was going on. We were together foing down the zip line. That was cool. I think it was the second longest line and one of the highest. Man, you have to experience this. We highly recommend it.
This is the website for the place. Once again, it does it no justice.
Not For The Weak Of Heart
I think that somewhere in Catdoggg's bloodline, she has some Japanese in here. Cause we know she has some Italian. Ha Ha. Bad joke... The whole time she basically refused to stop and crashed into the end of every line. She was a total Kamikaze the whole time. God Bless Her... In fact on the last line, remember her and I were 1 and 2, the first guide went down and the other guide on the platform tells her to not stop until the instructer tells her. Well, somehow she figured out how to go really really fast and caught up to the professional zip liner and almost crashed into him before he could unclip himself from the line. Would you expect anything else from her?
So that was pretty much our day. Another long day. Let me tell you that Monteverde is absolutely freezing at nighttime. Reminded me of home, but too cold for our warm weather trip. That's what is amazing about this place. In one place it can be raining, you go a little bit down the road and it's sunny, a little further and you can't see two feet in front of you, and then it gets really cold and now it's extremely hot.
Oh and on the trip to Monteverde I learned that when the guide tells you to follow his instructions, you follow his instructions. Mauricio gave us the history of the coffee bean. We learned that the coffee bean has two shells before you use what we are used to seeing. He pulled over to the side of the road and we got out to pick some beans off a farm. Which I said, "Isn't this illegal?" In his typical way he just looked and said, "Yea." and continued on with his history lesson. They went down one way, I thought I saw another way down and I was completely stopped in my tracks by... BARBWIRE. Oh so fun. Just caught myself in time before I could have really hurt myself. That's when he said, "Usually you follow the guide, That's why I'm the guide." OOPS! Helen Keller would have seen that better than me. I guess I wouldn't have lasted too long in Vietnam.... BRADDOCK come get me.....
Ok thats it for now. I'll try to write about Day 4 later or tomorrow before I follow too far behind.
p.s. Monteverde had some of the best pizza I have had in a while. Go figure....
Okay, Okay.. Day 2 started off right away traveling in the truck outside of La Fortuna to a waterfall. Let me tell you, it isn´t the biggest waterfall. It´s not even the coolest, but it´s the only one I have ever seen. So by default it´s the best. Maybe I need to get out more???
We had to walk down the steps/trail to get there. Along the way of course you could get some pretty nice views, but like our PRIVATE guide said, "Just wait till the bottom." He´s not a guide for nothing...
We finally got down there and for me it was breathtaking. Of course right away I am imagining me jumping off the top running away from guerillas, but like my guide said, they don´t have either. I actually went as close as I could get to it and the spray/wind was pretty hard. Twas very cool. I likey.
From there we went to eat and I am going to say this. The food here in Costa Rica really isn´t that bad. I actually like most of it. Best of all, I haven´t had the shits yet. :) And if anyone knows me, it doesn´t take much. Air....
Oh can I tell you? One of the biggest reasons we came here was the fact that La Fortuna rests on one of the most active volcanos in the world. Volcano Arenal, the most active Costa Rica volcano. With lava flows and gas explosions you´d think we could see something. WRONG! For the two days we were there the clouds would not lift. We couldn´t see anything. In fact I guess the volcano was so close to us that if it ever did explode we would be a part of history. But we never saw it. Our PRIVATE guide always gave us good news and bad news. The good news was the volcano was still there and the bad news was, we can´t see it. I think at this point Catdoggg and I weren´t even sure it existed...
I guess the first day when we had 2 hours to ourselves and were resting, Mauricio went to go see if he could see it and wouldn´t you know it, mountain cleared. He saw lava, other people a little while later saw a big explosion. You know what we saw? NOTHING! In fact we saw less than nothing. Even if we knew we saw something, we don´t.
Anyway we then went to this awesome Rancho Margot on the base of the volcano. It was a self-sufficent community. Basically a hippie ranch in Cali without the hippies and one large volcano.
This place was absolutely beautiful. Pictures and even the website really don´t do it justice. I will post the website when I get a chance. This place was great.
Volunteers come there and live for free but work four hours a day and study spanish and learn new skills the rest of the day. The have everything a community would need to survive. Except a casino, strippers, and fried dough... But who really needs any of that? Ahem... Kiki....
Catdoggg wants us to move there permentally with A4. This place would probably be the only place in the world that I would consider, but I´m too fucking paranoid the volcano would expldoe on me my first day.... Oh well. Maybe she´ll stay a month. :)
Next on our agenda was the Baldi Springs. Yet again on the base of the volcano. Natural Hot Springs. Basically a maze of jacuzzis without the jacuzzi with walk up bars and waterfalls and the best yet, lounge chairs in the hot spring. So nice. Kiki, you´d love this place too. ;)
Anyway that´s it for Day 2. I know not enough humor. You have to wait until I write about Day 3. Holy Shit!!! Our mothers would shit Themselves if they knew what we were doing.
Till tomorrow.
p.s. my keyboard is still in spanish...
So we are on day 2, but let me tell you that day 1 was full of many surprises and adventures. When I say many I mean that it felt like we did a week in one day. No shit!
We left San Jose with our private guide Mauricio around 10am to get to La Fortuna. It was funny because the traffic was busy but the roads seemed really confusing. Limited signs and random acts of Capitalism. Lets just say you can get plantains, sunglasses and those blow up things you punch all before you hit the tolls. And of course I happened to find the best strip club in all of San Jose. "The Atlantis" In the words of Quagmire, "Giggity"
Anyway, after a long ride we ended up in La Fortuna. The Mecca of Touristas and Pirate cab drivers. We ate at this 24hr restaurant and surprisingly the food was not too shabby. Even really good. I ordered the only thing I understood, Pollo Frita... Fried Chicken baby...
From there we departed the city and headed for the hills. Oh, Before that, let me tell you about the road to La Fortuna.
The road was so narrow, twisty AND without guardrails that not only was I worried about falling off and plummeting to our deaths that I tried to fall asleep. To be awoken to an 18 wheeler flipped over on its back over the side of the non guard railed twisty narrow road. I gotz the pictures to prove it. From there on out I just decided to put my trust in our PRIVATE guide Mauricio who only seems to sleep 3 hours a day. Gee, I feel at ease now. :)
Okay, we left La Fortuna before our truck got stolen and went to Ventura Caves. After dawning our proctective helmets and our rubber boots and non working flashlight half way through the pitch black, Yes I´m blind cave.. We were off.
Luckily our guide, not our PRIVATE guide but the cave guide and his cousin took us into the depths of the cave maze. Let me tell you this. No gordo people can make it further than 250 feet in. BECAUSE right away you have to squeeze through this tiny hole that honestly I never thought I would get through. It was like I was the triangle going into the circle hole. Tight!!!
It got worse.
Climbing, crawling, schimmying, falling, standing on shouldering, none finding footing to climb downing, jumping from plateauing, peeing in watering, and then it got worse.
Oh, have I mentioned the spiders and the tarantulas and the spiders in particular that were abundant. Yes, there is even a picture of Catdoggg pretending to eat a scorpion spider Fear Factor style... Me I just stood to the side and wondered why my flashlight died. Help!
To be honest, it was actually pretty fucking cool. It was everything you wanted to do as a kid but in a grown up barely squeezthroughable body. ?Oh, did I mention the spiders?
We got the pics from our PRIVATE guide Mauricio. So pretty soon you can see what we were experiencing, just a little bit. He had a waterproof case for his camera because we were WAIST DEEP IN WATER HALF THE TIME. In our GUANO (Bat Poo) tainted water. YUMMY!!!! SMELLY!!! STILL ON OUR CLOTHESY!!!
Then we left and found, Oh wait earlier we saw a monkey with the biggest ball sack I have ever seen. It was cool cause we saw one and got back in the truck and I noticed this huge bush moving around ala Jurrasic Park style. NO NO NO our PRIVATE guide said. It´s just the wind. BULLSHIT! I have seen enough movies to know that something is coming our way. And behold, a whole family of Big Balled, Tight Rope walking across the power lines, Howler Monkeys. Very cool.
We also saw Mr. Fruit Loops himself, Tucan Sam and his flava of the week making some pretty loud tucan noises. And yes, I never got my fruit loops. I was disappointed.
Anyway, after that we went back La Fortuna and searched about 6 Hotels before finding a non smelling, non dead smelling, non dead old people smelling room. Moth Balls anyone?
We ate, and promptly passed out. We can talk about Day 2 tomorrow....
Oh, and my keyboard is in Spanish...
The 12 foot high rod iron gate with 4 locks and double spikes worked! I also didn't notice till this morning the barbwire on the other side of the hostel. Trust me I took a couple of pictures. Oh but wait until you see the compound across the street. Looks like a pimped up Guantánamo Bay. I got a picture of that as well.
As I type Catdoggg is negotiating a price for our tour trip. She's good. I can't do it cause eventually I'll get frustrated and pick the little Costa Rican up and toss him on the double spiked gate... but hey, that's just me.
Till later...
Mucho Gusto
I'm in Costa Rica and I don't know how to say anything in Spanish except "My bike is blue", "My ass stinks" and "Mucho Gusto".... I learned that in my Costa Rican travel book. :)
Catdoggg has me roughing it at a hostel. I'm SCARED!!! Well, I really shouldn't be... 12 foot high rod iron gates with not one but Double Spikes on top. Sweet!
That should keep the local women from bothering me...
Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't been able to update for 5 months. Computer issues and time... A 10 month old can do that to ya.
Guess I'll go now. If you don't see another post from me then you'll know those 12 foot high rod iron gates with the double spikes on top didn't keep their boyfriends out... :)
