The Lesson

Nobody could have told us what this experience would mean in our lives. It would not have been possible for anyone to say how living in Jaco would change our lives.

Now, only a few hours before leaving this place, we can understand only a small bit of how we ourselves, have changes by living here. Jaco has taught us so much about who both of us are, how we see the world and what we choose to do as we move forward.

I believe that both us of will embrace life with more vigor and passion than we have ever before. Maybe after being home we will drastically change our direction in life.

Where else will we be able to feel so much like ourselves? Where else will we sweat so much that we feel alive? Where else will we see nature in it's most virgin state? Will there be another time in our lives where we will experience such new and scary things that we will be challenged to look for the best in each other?

Travel, culture and language differences have opened our eyes to another world. And that's what we came here to accomplish. We came here with no preconceived notions, no expectations, other than to live and enjoy life in another part of the world. And after 37 days in Jaco, we can both say with pure conviction that we 100% accomplished our goal. We accomplished more than we could have imagined.

I think that we won't truly know what we accomplished until we have been home for a few days, or a few weeks, and we can honestly look back on our experience and draw the meaning from it.

It's something that only Stacy and I can know. An experience that even after talking about it on multiple occasions, and telling our stories, only the two of us will truly understand it.

Arenal Volcano

Last week in between the surf competition craziness we took a trip through the countryside to Arenal Volcano with Melissa and Bryan, of course. Arenal is one of seven active volcanoes in Costa Rica and last erupted in 1968. The drive took a little over 4 hours, stopping along the way to eat some comida tipica. Along the way we saw how beautiful Costa Rica is outside of Jaco and also passed through a few cool little towns. Driving through the cloud forrest on a winding road was quite and adventure, luckily we were not driving. One of the bridges we drove over literally looked like it was about to fall into the water below with huge potholes on either side but when we looked over and saw a long flowing waterfall surrounded by lush green trees, you seem to forget about the bridge that may collapse under you. Unfortunately once we got closer to Arenal the rain picked up and it became gray and overcast. We arrived at Los Lagos, a hotel, spa and resort that sits at the base of the volcano, for lunch and some relaxation in the hot springs. Unfortunately we only caught a glimpse of the volcano in between rain storms/clouds. The grounds of Los Lagos was amazing, hot springs, water slides, swim-up bars, a butterfly farm, turtles, crocs, waterfalls, water slides and amazing views!
We spent several hours relaxing in the natural hot springs, with a swim-up bar of course and flying down the water slides. The combination of the cold rain and the hot water was fantastic. Also on our trip was a wonderful Iranian family (the father and 3 grown children) and an Argentian couple and their two children that we spent part of the day with. After leaving the resort, disappointed in not seeing the volcano, we stopped at Lake Arenal for some photos, before going to dinner and heading back to Jaco. The drive home seemed to take forever, through the hills, rain and cloud forrest. It was a long day filled with lots of driving and we didn't even see the volcano, but it was all worth it!

Surf Competition

Last Friday was the start of the 2009 Billabong World Surf Tour hosted in playa Hermosa. We started our morning with Bryan watching the parade here in Jaco. We followed the end of the parade on our bikes to the park where all of the teams were introduced, the crowd went nuts for the Costa Rican team! After checking out the scene there we decided to ride to south Jaco to the farmers market that is held here every Friday. Any kind of amazing fruit or produce you can imagine, all Delicious! We also tasted and bought fresh cheese and fruit juice. It had been raining and overcast most days since we've arrived and on this day the sun was shining bright and not a cloud was in the sky. It was beautiful, but HOT and we decided to come home to cool off for a bit.

Kathia came home and yelled for us to go for a ride with her and her son Gabriel to the food stand at the surf competition. The man who owns our house, Ray, is here for two weeks to work at the surf competition selling in the food court. Ray is also Kathia's american lover man and they have a child together, but we won't get into that :-). It was pretty cool to see the set up of everything involved for the competition and how absolutely nothing was ready for opening day on Saturday...TICO TIME! After hanging around there for awhile we all piled in the car and came home to make signs for Ray's food stand. We now have 3 signs that are being displayed at the Billabong World Surf Tour folks!

Friday night Bryan and Melissa stopped by and talked us into going out for a few hours. It was the first weekend everyone is in town for the competition so we decided to check it out. We also invited our new neighbors Julio and Douglas who are working with Ray this week. We started off the night at Los Amigos with a few friends Melissa made at her new job here, Sergio and Rachel. Monkey bar came next then Le Loft and Vibe. Vibe does not close until at least 5 or 6 in the morning, making it very easy to party all night here. Aaaannd, thats just what we did! After being up all night we then decided to take a cab to hermosa beach to see the start of the first day of the surf competition! The beach was empty, it was cloudy and cool and we got a great spot in front of the competitors booths. A few surfers were out getting ready for the competition, but it was not very crowded. We all took a nap on the beach and while sleeping someone turned on the sun and it got hot! The sand in hermosa beach is black so that does not help at all with the heat situation. Luckily Ray fed us some food and gave us a ride back to Jaco.

The next day we met Bryan and Melissa at Jaco 360, where Bryan works selling tours. Melissa was handing out coupons and koozies for Jaco 360 at the competition, so that meant a free ride over to hermosa. We were supposed to meet her there and leave around 9....hopefully you're getting the idea of tico time because that didn't happen. Finally make it over to hermosa and it looks completely different! Things are for the most part set up and ready to go. There are actually people directing traffic (they had to close the road the day before due to so much traffic) and telling people where to park. One tico man in charge of overseeing everything is NOT a good idea! On the beach, they actually had announcers with speakers set up everyone so we knew what was going on (something we didn't see the day before). The beach was packed with people watching the surfers. We burned our feet through the black sand and found a spot while Melissa and Bryan went to work handing out their koozies.
The sun was still shining bright, no clouds in the sky, people everywhere and black sand....not a good combination. There comes a point when it is so extremely hot that you stop caring what you look like and your only concern is staying somewhat cool. Regardless of the heat, we had a great time and met some awesome locals. When leaving, there were no cabs in site and tons of traffic so we decided to hitchhike our way back to Jaco. It didn't take long for a few locals to pick us up and bring us back to Bryan and Melissa's apartment. There we showered and hung in the pool trying to cool off. We were all a little delirious from day drinking in the sun!


After relaxing at their apartment for a bit we made our way to Jaco 360 to pick up our bikes and bring them back to our apartment. It was then that someone fell off their bike, we won't mention any names. No one was injured and it made for a great laugh, for everyone around! Now off to El Bohio, a bar on the beach in Jaco. We all hung there for a bit and ran into a few people we knew but we had enough and made our way back home with Melissa. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing in the a.c. and watching our sunburn slowly appear.

We haven't made it back to the surf competition so far this week, heard its pretty slow now. We will go back again before it ends but we've been involved in lots of other adventures that we will be sure to blog about soon!

Vida Asana

This morning Stacy and I got up early and made a fantastic breakfast of mushroom and cheese omelette and toast with JELLY! YAY! That was a pretty exciting breakfast for us because we put off going to the grocery store so that we could do other really important things; like go to the beach or party with Melissa and Bryan. Hey, we're on vacation!

After breakfast we grabbed a cab and headed to Playa Hermosa and the Vida Asana yoga center. Two years ago, when Jimmy and I were in Jaco we did an hour and a half of yoga there every day. Vida Asana is like an oasis set in the middle of the lush, green forrest north of the beach. It's very bohemian and the energy of the people there is welcoming and affectionate.

For our 10:00 a.m. yoga class we had an Argentinean female teacher who could do the most amazing poses with her gumby-like body. Stacy and I kept up for sure the entire time, but were probably the sweatiest chicks in the class. Sweat kept dripping into my eyes and during one pose I actually saw sweat beads on my shins. Who sweats on their shins? Well, if you were doing yoga in an open-air wooden floored hut, in the middle of Costa Rica during an extremely humid day, your shins would sweat, too!



After an hour and a half of yoga, we chatted with the people who came to class and actually got a ride back to Jaco with an American girl who lives here. We often depend on the kindness of strangers ;) We are home now, and just had some pineapple that was so sweet you'd swear it was soaked in syrup. But it was probably just ripened by the sun.



Today is Chino's birthday (he's the one standing up in the photo) and we are going to take him out for a drink and then we're headed to the Backyard for Ladies Night where the girls.drink.for.free.all.night.long. Now that's a Ladies Night!

On Friday the World Surf Games festivities begin with a parade. Who knows when that will really start because in the surf program it literally says: "the idea is that the parade will start approximately at 10". Welcome to "Tico Time", nobody here is in any kind of a hurry whatsoever. It's nice once you get used to it. On Saturday, bright and early at 6:00 a.m. the surf competition begins in Hermosa Beach. Stay tuned for the adventures and awesome surf pictures we hope to post here.

2 Weeks In...

It has been 2 weeks since we've been living in Jaco and we are finally getting used to the sights and sounds of Costa Rica. Last week Joey and I decided to check out the beach here in central Jaco...yuck! Apparently the beach here is no good for sitting and relaxing by the water. If you surf, then this is the place to be, great waves! We did go during high tide, but there is no beach and the parts that are not covered in water or trash are too rocky to even walk on. So that lasted about 10 minutes and we found ourselves a great seat overlooking the beach/ocean at El Bohio. The bar sits at one of the busiest entrances to the beach so there was lots to see. We made a new friend from the states and ran into a few we already knew. Its amazing how easy it is to run into people here no matter where you go. Guess thats what happens when the town is only about 2 miles long.

This weekend we ventured over to playa hermosa with Melissa and her neighbor Rick to a bar called the Backyard. It was pretty crowded when we arrived, but found ourselves a great table at the back of the bar overlooking the ocean. Earlier in the evening the Costa Rican surf team held a competition right in front of the bar to determine who moves on to the world surf tour next week. We met the new 17 year-old surfing champion of Costa Rica and we'll be looking for him during the competition. After several brews and good times at the Backyard we headed back to Melissa and Bryan's in Jaco. We left Rick with his overbearing Tican woman and headed to town with Melissa and Bryan for a night of fun! We really did it up this weekend, going to 5 different bars, some of them more then once. We had a blast and as usual met some really great people and ran into those we already know. The night ended with the sun coming up at 5!

Yesterday we rod our bikes to the beach in south Jaco....amazing!!!!! It's nothing like the beach in central Jaco. The beach is not crowded, the water is clean and the views are amazing! When the tide came in we ventured our way onto some rocks and found a really great spot to chill and watch the waves crashing over the rocks, it was beautiful. We ended the night hanging at Melissa and Bryan's pool with some cervezas and casado.

This week we are going to try to do some Yoga and maybe get a massage! Stayed tuned for more adventures!

Tortuga Island

The other day Joey, Stacy and Melissa ventured to Tortuga Island on our first excursion. We were picked up at our apartment at 8 a.m. after having a nice breakfast together. We drove around Jaco for a bit picking up other passengers, three of which were girls our age from L.A. We arrive at a beach and see a small boat waiting and then a line of other boats waiting farther out in the ocean. We are told that 8 people can fit in the boat so we all pile in and get taxied out to our other boat.

Once we are all in the bigger boat we are ready to go. And by bigger, I don't mean BIG by any means. The boat was probably about 18 feet long, if that, and seemed to be made out of fiberglass, crammed with 17 people. So here we go on our 45 minute adventure across the waves of the ocean in a small ass boat! The small cushions on the plastic seat offered no protection for your bum when you were flung through the air while riding over a big wave and crashing back down again. After awhile we pull up to two different large rocks in the water. The boat stops and we are given masks, snorkels and flippers and sent on our way. Joey and I have never snorkeled before so we were expecting some sort of an explination. Nada...here's your stuff, jump in and don't touch the rocks. Once we are all in and feeling comfortable, still holding hands, we are able to see about 5 or 6 different kinds of fish around us and swimming around the rocks below. It was amazing and intimidating all at the same time when you look around and realize you are surrounded by fish of all different colors. Some of the blue and yellow colored fish looked fluorescent swimming through the dark murky water. The two guys driving the boat also swam down to the bottom of the rocks and grabbed a few bright blue starfish that looked fake.

After spending some time snorkeling we then drove the rest of the way to Tortuga Island where we were dropped off for a day of fun. When we got there it was nice and sunny and HOT! We found a small shaded area under a few trees with our new girls from L.A. We spent most of the time chatting, drinking beers and listening to live Calypso music. Our lunch was cooked by the locals right there on the beach. We had AMAZING fresh fish, rice with peppers, tomatoes and carrots, potatoes and bread. Everything tasted delicious!!!! We were then offered some fresh fruit that was so juicy it was dripping down our arms. After lunch we enjoyed a few more cervezas, swimming in the ocean and nap time.
It was a great day of relaxation on the beach with live music, the sound of the waves and great friends. When it was time to go we were all rounded up and sent back to the boat. When we all squish back into this boat, the man starts passing out large plastic trash bags for all of our belongings. Apparently the wind has picked up and we MAY get wet! This time we definitely needed more then a small cushion on the seat to protect us. We are not sure if the waves were really that large in the middle of the ocean or if they seemed big to us because we were in such a small boat flying across the ocean and crashing over waves over and over again. Every landing seemed to get stronger and louder as the boat thudded its was across the ocean, splashing us with salt water with every wave we passed. We even got to stop for a minute so another passenger could get sick overboard, without vomiting on melissa! It was a rough ride home but we made it back to land in no time.

Baby Powder Scented Toilet Paper

Today's blog is a mish-mash of funny and crazy things we've discovered in Jaco. The kind of things you probably only discover when you're here long term, not just on vacation.

The first, is that toilet paper is scented here. Stacy and I were shocked that our own toilet paper in the apartment was scented with Baby Powder - ew!!! One reason for that might be that flushing toilet paper is not encouraged because of the weak plumbing/sewage systems. We will let you sit and think on that one.

Hay un crackhead! Long story short, one night while enjoying the evening with Melissa and Brian on the balcony, our neighbor from the apartment building next to us started screaming and this is the short-version of what happened (in Spanish):

Neighbor (dressed in tighty-whities): Somebody call the police!!

Us: What happened?

Neighbord: There's a crackhead

Us: What? Are you for real?

Neighbor goes back into his apartment and comes out in tighty-whities, but now he's wearing a headlamp (the kind that straps to your head with an elastic band). He walks behind the house and then all these crazy dogs start barking and we think he's getting eaten! Of course we are laughing hysterically at the whole scene.

Mysteriously Self-Locking Door. The door to our apartment locks randomly, when it wants. Maybe it's the humidity, maybe there are ghosts here...we aren't sure. It's funny because all we have to do is slide open the window next to the door and break into our own apartment and viola!

The electricity goes out on occasion here, for a few minutes or even hours. Also, we have straight-up electrical wires in our shower. Some of you may have heard my story of getting electrocuted in Guatemala so I was actually a HUGE baby when it came time to shower the first day. We are over that fear now but still might get shocked here and there.

The water that comes out of the faucet here is fizzy. We drink it anyway and pretend it's Perier. Ha!

Today we did finally go get bikes. They are just what we need to cruise around town and do more things, plus it helps to have a breeze on you in this humidity! We rode back from Maxi Bodega (their version of Wal-Mart) with a few bags hanging off of the handle bars and we did great.

Now we are about to sit down to eat a nice dinner; chicken and pasta with peppers and mushrooms in a butter garlic sauce. It's our goodbye dinner to Brian and Melissa (who are only moving down the street) but it's still sad to not have them as neighbors any more. The cool thing is that they are moving into an apartment building with a POOL!

Keep reading, cuz surely there is more interesting stuff to come.