That itchy spot in your brain

Last night in Costa Rica. It's gone by quite quickly!
10 days here- we've endured thunder/lightning storms and rainstorms that seemed never ending, delicious Costa Rican beer, plenty of wildlife (a couple of sloths, monkeys, a coati, plenty of iguanas and birds, crocodiles and even a venomous water snake), humidity of course, beautiful greenery and jungle atmosphere and lots of soreness from various activities (ATVing, cable tour, horseback riding, hiking).
It really is a beautiful place and the people here, much like the weather, are very warm. I have taken a few pictures but have not uploaded them yet- but we did receive a CD from our cable tour. The tour involved those awesomely flattering lower-body harnesses (is there a word for that?) in which to keep you strapped to the cables and prevent you from plummeting down to the forest floor 100 feet below like a dead monkey, hardhats, and speeding like a mother through the jungle canopy to a series of platforms hidden just out of sight. The latter aspect made it particularly interesting as you were sent off speeding through the thick tree cover not really sure how long til you landed again at the next tiny platform way high up in the trees. It was pretty intense and lots of fun. With that said heres a couple pictures:



fun uniform. especially the gloves with the leather band- the 'break' to jam down on the cable as you went sailing along and to prevent you from slamming into trees. Funny- we were told to not use much break lest we get stuck and have to monkey across the cable (a supposed exhausting affair) and on one cable run I took that to heart and use no break whatsoever- arriving at the platform at full speed and literally knocking the employee stationed there halfway across the platform- it was pretty classic.




This is a cute/cheesy video. I personally would not have chose Aerosmith as a soundtrack to this, but its still undeniably rad.


Alright, I'll have to post more pictures/stories later- its an early start tomorrow to begin trekking our way back home.

peace!

I am in Costa Rica. It almost feels ridiculous that I have internet right now. Nonetheless- I wanted to write about the trip while I am here.

We are spending the first day in the Condo today where we will spend the rest of the trip. It is part of a community of other condos and theres a giant Marriott and a marina with some nice looking restaurants. The beach is black sanded and the water is not unlike San Diego beaches (i.e. its not crystal clear Caribbean style water). It is warm and humid and last night it rained- as it is the rainy season here- and it is rain forest territory. We walked down around the Marina last night in the rain and through the soggy lawns kicking up water on our own backsides with our flipflops- but it was fun. We ended up stopping at the Marriott on the way back for drinks and some foods- my brother and I had Shirley Temple's in nostalgic childhood-vacation fashion, and later I tried Imperial- the Costa Rican beer, which was quite tasty (a bit like a Corona but more flavorful).

Last night we discovered a giant spider on the side of our condo wall- reminding us again we are in the rain forest and such things are commonplace. We also found a blacklight in one of the cabinets in the condo tenderly deemed 'Scorpion light,' upon which we quickly went to check under (and in!) our beds.

The flight over here was painless- short and smooth. Two three-hour legs and only one time zone crossed made for a pretty nice transition- yet we still slept like a group of cats yesterday- and as of 2pm right now- my brother is still sleeping from the night before (in his defense he wasn't feeling well- but even I woke up around 12pm and clearly all gladly accepted the leisurely time to 'catch up' on sleep). My brother and I witnessed an extreme lightning show on the flight in- lighting up the pitch black night sky brilliantly and frequently. We also witnessed something else that we have no explanation for. I may talk about it later, but its one of those things that you see and no one's going to believe you that you saw it. At least he saw it with me- and we both seemed to agree.


As for now, we are taking it easy- waiting for my brother to stir from his slumber so we may go about the day- but until then we are taking it easy enjoying the slow passing of time and the quick formation of clouds mutating and fluffing about predicting whether it will rain again or not (it likely will- but even its warm out and tropical).

Peace out for now.

Lisa

Books I have read this year:












I'll update as I read more. I'll hopefully do lots over the summer.
Lots of good books to read.