Keith and I just got back from what I’d like to call THE BEST VACATION OF MY LIFE. We spent ten glorious days in one of our fave places on Earth… Costa Rica. We went to the Manuel Antonio area, which is about mid way down the Pacific Coast of the county. It’s jungle fun! I also made a little photo set too. Check it out! Okay, let’s recap our adventure…

When we arrived, our flight was a little bit late so we missed our puddle jumping plane from the capital of San Jose to our little town of Quepos, so we hitched a ride with some beer guzzling Canadians and had a 3 hours beer fest drive to our hotel… I had no problem with that. Once we got to Manuel Antonio, we checked into our hotel, La Mariposa, which we picked for its “old skool” glamour. But when we got up in the morning they were doing all this major construction, so we where outta there and headed to Si Como No. We’ve stayed there before with Anne and it’s pretty much amazing. There are 2 pools, a spa, 2 restaurants and a mini movie theater all in a natural jungle setting! I really love Si Como No especially because the hotel is very “green” and really promotes conserving the environment! I’m really into that right now! We checked into room #14 which was remote, hidden, quiet and wonderful. Just what we needed for the insanity of New York to quickly disappear!

So we pretty much spent the next 10 days either doing fun activities, taking days off at the pool or the beach and eating… TONZ! The food is amazing in Costa Rica. They have this dish called “casado” and it’s their typical fare. It’s the most deelish rice, beans and chicken with plantains combo you’ll ever taste. We also decided that nachos are huge now. My fave nachos were at Barba Roja, which is also pretty amazing for sunsets. El Avion has great nachos too and amazing calamari! El Avion is actually pretty cool, there’s a cold war plane there that they’ve turned into a bar, it’s really fun! Mar Luna has incredible tuna steaks and Cafe Milagro has the dreamiest espresso shakes! But our newest discovery was Cafe Agua Azul. It was a totes SCORE! I had Mahi Mahi fingers, a Mahi Mahi sandwich and blackened Mahi Mahi. I was a Mahi Mahi fiend! More Mahi Mahi!!! OMG, I could just go on and on about the food, I pretty much chubetted out in the CR!

Okay, now for our activities. Our first one we kept it pretty simple, a hiking tour at this amazing place called Rainmaker. It’s run by a conservation group and has these really cool bridges and lots of creatures that the guide points out to you… You’d never see them on your own. But my fave part is this crazy swimming hole with rocks and waterfalls. It’s very Jurassic Park. I had the best time playing in the rapids but as I slid down the rocks I totally felt my wedding ring fall off my finger right into the river. I tried to look for it but the water was crazy, there was no way that Tiffany’s ring was ever gonna show up again. I didn’t get too upset, I guess. I’m just married to Costa Rica now! Yippee, sarz Keith!

Next up was a bit more high energy, we went white water rafting… Which I LOVE! I don’t think Keith likes this one, but I sure do. This tour is hosted by Iguana Tours and takes you down the Rio Naranjo. We’ve been on this tour before and I really love these particular rapids that they call the “washing machine” ’cause when your raft goes over them it spins the boat around and around. But once Hurricane Katrina blew by in 2005, it changed the course of the river and now the washing machine is pretty much just on the rinse cycle. But there were plenty other crazy rapids, our boat even flipped over. This has never happened to me before and I think that our guide, Manuel, tipped the boat on purpose… Oh, those saucy Latinos! LOVE ‘EM!

Our final tour was a sunset/dolphin watching/snorkeling fest with Planet Dolphin. I really like this tour because it’s so laid back on a glam catamaran AND they serve cocktails, a major plus. The first time we went on this tour it was Keith’s first time ever snorkeling and the way he screamed in delight with at the sight of all the fishy friends, was truly a magical moment. I really think it’s beautiful too, but every time we go snorkeling, some dumb tourist is touching and breaking the coral which totes kills it, so I get really Scorpio mad. This time was no different! I caught this girl laying down on the coral and yelled right into her snorkel puss! I even swam up to her tour boat and yelled at the captain. Just call me “mean green fred”! So, I got pretty riled up there, but nothing the cervesa and sunset didn’t cure!

Then, everyday in between we would either hike down to the beach or hang out at one of Si Como No’s swim up bars! Oh, it was the berries. I even got my hair braided down at the beach one night by this beach vendor named Patty. I was really excited and her gay brother, Uncle Luis, said they’d last for 2 months, but by dinner that night the rubber bands were popping and by the next day I was back to my plain jane hairdo! Boo! Then in the evenings after dinner we’d head back to #14 and start our own film fest. We did bring our computers, but only to watch DVD’s. We never once looked at the internets or checked emails, swear. This was a first for us. We watched Project Runway Season #1, Prime Suspect Season #3, The Prisoner, Alias and Madonna: I’m Going to Tell You a Secret… with cerveras, of course! OMG, it was a dream come true!

Now we’re back in NYC, it’s good to be home! We have tons of fun and exciting things coming in 2007 AND we have to move our office… That’ll be fun! But we’ll always have Costa Rica. We had so much fun that we’re going back in January ‘08! You should come!!! We’ll see ya at the swim-up bar! Con mucho gusto… Pura Vida!!!