koa

Freezininmich: Actually I brought my surfboard. I have been surfing since I was a young kid and surf a lot. There are a lot of places to learn how to surf in CR. Tamarindo and manuel antonio both have some surf schools. Both of those beaches are great places to learn. Warning: once you try surfing, you may be hooked for life!

koa

Day 11_ Today went with my older son to do the waterfalls canopy tour just outside of Jaco. My wife told me "Hell no!,I had enough terror on this trip!" So we drove up there and met our guides. The guides were a bunch of cool rasta guys from Limon side. The canopy tour was fun and there was a cool tree house on of of the trees. FInished the tour and stopped at max menos grocery store in Jaco to stock up on some snacks and of course Imperial cervecia. The it was off to los suenos to relax and get ready for the last part of this great trip. The end of the adventure is coming to a close.

koa

Day 12: Last day at Los SUenos. Plan is to renturn the car the catch a ride to orquideas inn. Had a big breakfast then started the drive. Decided to take the scenic route through Orotina. Wife thought she was done being terrified on our trip. Well suprise, I failed to tell her about this route. Narrow road, huge drop offs and no guard rails. Add slow semi trucks and crazy Tico drivers and well wife was white knuckling it all the way up. So after the hard part, we start our descent. I tell her the worst is over. Famous last words! We come around a corner to find a huge traffic jam. We finally round the turn and observe a semi truck didnt make a turn and was now blocking the whole road. As we inch forward, grand pa in front of me cant drive manual transmission too good and rolls back 10 feet for every 2 feet he moves. So I give him some room. Then, an impatient Tico cuts in front of me, good luck buddy! He soon discovers why I was so far back. In his rush to avoid a collision with grandpa, he nearly hits my car. Great, I go the whole trip without a scratch and now this! Well, he justs misses me and all is good. We finally get our chance to go, when 2 impatient cars cut all of us off and pass the semi. Well the second car gets stuck on the shoulder, now blocking the whole road. I just cant believe this whole scene. We video tape the whole circus for everyone back home. We finally all get by and continue toward the airport. Then we get behind a guy in a pickup truck with two huge home speakers and a generator tied in his bed. His music was so loud, it could probably rupture eardrums. Again we video this. The funny part was that everyone on the street didnt even give him a second glance. COsta Rica is certainly an interesting country! We some how find the Dollar baseyard and catch a ride to Orquideas Inn. Next Installment, Orquideas Inn, going home.

koa

Return vehicle to dollar. Very painless,shuttle takes us to Orquideas. We have a premium room which is decent and clean, but after los suenos we were a little spoiled. What really makes Orquideas is the service and friendly staff here. We hang at the pool and check out the trails and toucans. We then have some "Tico Punch" which is a mixed drink with guaro. Very good! The waiter who served us is super cool. Later for dinner we walk into the restaurant and see a reserved table overlooking the pool. Wow, thats a nice setting we tell ourselves. Well come to find out, our friendly waiter meets us and tells us that he reserved the table for us! We have a great dinner, then call it a night. Last day in CR tommorrow.

shillmac

Was your friendly waiter Edwin? When we returned, I e-mailed Las Orquideas to tell them how wonderful their staff is. They e-mailed back that they had shared my letter and it had made the staff people very happy. They are, truly, some of the nicest and most fun people I've ever met. But Edwin in the bar and restaurant (and older guy) and Alphonso were really special to us.

shillmac

Sorry, that's "an older guy", not "and older guy". At any rate, a ton of fun!

koa

I was going to ask you CR regulars if anyone knew the waiters name at orquideas. He was a middle aged man, and i forgot to get his name.

shillmac

Very witty? That would have to be Edwin. His son works there as well--not Alphonso, but I can't remember the son's name.

koa

Last day: Oops, I forgot about my massage last night. Best deal in CR. Like the waiter, who I now know his name was edwin, I forgot her name. Anyway, $35 bucks for an hour, cant beat it! Had breakfast at the inn and went shopping at their little gift shop. There we see the rocking chairs! I seen them and used them at hotel costa verde but had no idea that they could be bought. So we bought two. Having them shipped back,of course we paying more because of the shipping to Hawaii, but were used to that. Probably should have sent them as luggage, but the good folks at orquideas said to email them if we dont get the chairs. Caught the shuttle to SJO. Vacation is over its back to reality. Good thing I have some time before heading back to work! I would like to thanks all the CR experts, namely shillmac and trevorjoyce for all your help. Probably wont be back to CR for some time, but will cherish my memories there.

tully

koa - Costa Verde quoted me a total of $80 to buy & ship one of those lovely rocking chairs to the US. Is this in line with what you spent, or more? Are the ones you bought similiar to the ones at CV? Thanks

koa

Tully: Did you buy the short back chair? We were quoted around $80(with out shipping)We bought the high back chairs which run a little over $100 dollars. I believe these are the same chairs that are used at Costa verde. I also seen the chairs being sold at Cafe Britt store at SJO airport, but I got a better deal at Orquideas.