Pictures from our trip

Megan & Daniel's pictures on snapfish

Karyn & Matt's pictures on snapfish

Si Como No: "Yes, Why Not"

We are on the final leg of our journey through Costa Rica - staying near Manuel Antonio National Park (town of Quepos) on the Central Pacific Coast. The hotel we are staying at is called "Si Como No" which translated to English means "Yes, why not!" The place is a beautiful "green hotel" or eco resort. They use solar energy, recycle water to create a type of "sustainable" hotel, or something like that. Yesterday, we went on a Catamaran sail around the Manuel Antonio area, which was a lot of fun. We saw dolphins, did some snorkeling, and swimming in the ocean. At the hotel, the adult pool has been the highlight. Megan, Daniel, Karyn and I just lounge around the pool, never straying far from the swim-up bar. We are all battling sunburn.

The beaches at the National Park have been a little disappointing. They are crowded and the water is not so clear. However, we saw lots of cool wildlife - including monkeys and a family of sloths right on the beach.

Monteverde

On Tuesday morning we left the wonderful paradise near the Arenal Volcano for a new adventure - the cloudforest of Monteverde. Only problem was that it was a four hour drive through treacherous and unpaved roads. It seems the original settlers of Monteverde (Quakers) did not want to share their land, so the friends made sure that no one paved the roads. The drive was arduous, but we made it thanks to Megan's pothole avoidance skills. On Tuesday afternoon, we stopped at Pizza de Johnny's for a bite and then checked in to the Montana Monteverde hotel. That night it rained and rained (I guess that's why they call it the rainforest). We dined at "Moon Shiva" - a cool Mediterranean place with live music. When we got back to our room, we found a small scorpion so Karyn and I slept under a mosquito net. It rained and thunderstorms lit the room with lightening every 10 seconds or so. On Wednesday, we visited Selvatura park. The rain subsided in the morning and we went on a canopy tour (pics and videos above!). We went swinging through the jungle on zip lines including a real life Tarzan swing (see my video). The canopy tour was much better than the one we did in Arenal - one of the cables was 500m long and I was going so fast that I felt the wind ripple the skin on my face. After the zip lines, we visited a butterfly garden, a hummingbird area, the insect museum and a reptile exhibit. Dan, Megan and Karyn went on a wet hike on the hanging bridges, while I chilled out and slept in the gift shop. We also met Charlie - a peccary, which is a boar-like creature (Click on the link to see what Charlie looked like). Coincidentally, Karyn sells peccary gloves!

Where gross people go to bathe themselves

So far, we have done lots of cool stuff in Costa Rica. In Tenorio Volcano park (near Arenal), we hiked to Rio Celeste, which is a beautiful River colored a light blue shade from the natural mineral deposits that wash away pumous stones at the river source.












Rio Celeste River: the source of the color is pumous stone (only about 6 feet wide) and colors the river several miles downstream. The native people believe that the waters have healing powers.





Rio Celeste Waterfall: There is an 8-10m high waterfall in the jungles around Rio Celeste. We did the difficult hike around a cliff to see the waterfall.









We also hiked to La Fortuna waterfalls, an 80 meter waterfall closer to Arenal Volcano. We swam at the base with the fish! We stayed at the beautiful and rustic Silencio del Campo "hotel" (really a bunch of cabins) that is set among the farms at the base of majestic Arenal Volcano. We have seen many beautiful and wonderful natural places in Costa Rica. But the place we had been looking forward to most, Tabacon Hot Springs was like no other.





We discovered that Tabacon is where gross people go to bathe themselves. The natural hot springs are set among tropical plants, but there is something that they don't tell you before you visit. There are lots of gross people in the hot springs that give the water a slimy feeling and the smell of urine. We stayed for a couple of hours (despite the fact that there are hardly any chairs). The chairs we found were made of wood (hard as rocks) and they did not recline. But, the worst part about Tabacon was the people. One woman sat in a pool and we all watched as she cleaned herself just like a monkey would. She picked her feet. She picked her scalp. She picked her nose and then flung it in the pool. That is when we decided to leave Tabacon.

On the wings of a Leprachaun: The Miracle of St. Patrick's Day

Our flight to Denver on Saturday was cancelled due to a snow storm. It was especially dissapointing because our first trip had been scheduled for Christmas week and was also canceled due to weather. However, on Saturday morning we received a call from Roz Feinberg saying that some flights had been added back and we should check. At 6:05am I ran into the bedroom to wake Karyn up: "Hurry! Hurry! We have to pack! Our flight may not be cancelled!" We quickly throw some things in a bag and hurry down to the car. We drive to Laguardia and park, expecting to spend a couple of fruitless hours in the airport and then head home. We make it to the counter by about 7:45. The agent tells us that he can put us on a 1:55pm flight, but we may be able to get on standby for a flight that leaves at 8:00. We quickly go through security and sprint for the gate. We get on the flight and are off to Denver. Its the Miracle of St. Patrick's Day...

Bona Sera

Here are some pictures from our trip to Milan. Karyn had to work on Monday, but we did lots of stuff on Saturday and Sunday together. Unfortunately, we were really lazy and didn't take enough pictures, but I think the long text capture's the "essenza del nostro viaggio in Italia"... Also, you can think of it as a really boring vacation picture slide show set in words.

On Saturday, Matt was really tired from the flight, but was able to arrive at 9:30 to wake Karyn up. We ordered a delicious breakfast in the room for the bargain price of 50 euro ($68). Afterwards, we visited the Duomo. Construction began in 1386 and there is a sarcofogus from 1050 inside. It smells as such. Matt tripped over a prayer bench.

There was a common theme to our visit - food. After the Duomo, we stopped at a Mozzerala Bar for lunch called "Obika." It was deliciosa!

With full stomachs, we headed back to the hotel for a siesta. The Principe Di Savoia is an amazing hotel. The lobby and most of the hotel is covered in gold leaf. Here is what Karyn's room looks like:

When we got back to the room on Saturday afternoon, there was a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, a bouquet of flowers and some snacks waiting for us! Turns out that Matt's boss, Neil, sent this to us. Who knew he was such a hopeless romantic?

After a quick nap (Karyn worked), we went to a museum and then went back to the room to drink our champagne and get ready for dinner at Bice. Not that eating was the focus of our trip, but Matt had a salad, Veal Scallopine, and Tiramasu. Karyn had a tropical salad (hearts of palm, artichokes, and shaved parmesan cheese), papardelle covered in cheese and a piece of apple pie. Oh yeah, and a bottle of wine.

On Sunday, we decided to forego the $70 room service and venture out for breakfast. We walked around the Montenapoleone area where there is a lot of high end shopping. It was Sunday so all of the stores were closed, but we window-shopped and it was nice because the streets weren't packed with people. We had breakfast and then walked through an old flea market in the Brera on the way to the Pinacoteca di Brera. Besides the Mantegna and other renaissance art, the best part of the Brera picture gallery is the building. It is in an old Milanese palace, complete with Roman-era statues and a huge door to an open courtyard. The worst part was that we got a bad audio tour, and we got the audio tour for two rather than two audio tours. We later discovered that this meant we needed to stay tethered to each other to listen, which was pretty funny to see. After the Pinacoteca, we went to a Leonardo Da Vinci museum. When we first got there, we went to the lower floor, which had contained the history of metallargy in the genre of an Italian child's 6th grade science project. It was really lame so we tried to get our money back, but no one spoke english (editor's note: how convenient). So, we went back in and looked at the second floor. We discovered our folly as the second floor was really where the museum started (editor's note: I guess they really didn't speak english).

On Sunday night we went out dinner with Karyn's coworkers at a place called Digiacomo. The owner, Giacamo, is a little old man who comes by your table and cooks these delicious pieces of pizza that they give you as a free appetizer. We discovered that his daughter, who runs the restaurant, is a real bitch. She yelled at our waiter for serving us dessert and blocking her way with the dessert cart.

On Monday, while Karyn went to an appointment with Gucci, Matt hung out at the really nice pool (indoor infinity), worked out, sat in the jacuzzi and got a massage (the Italians do massage a bit differently - think hot oil and uncomfortable exposed flesh). After Karyn was done, we went back to the Duomo square for lunch at Biffe (yellow risotto, bruschetta). We had dinner at Il Ilio, a great little place that we were glad to have discovered. They bring you a plate of fried potatoes and potato chips to your table as if the 4 courses are not enough to eat. Matt had Penne Arrabiata and Veal Milanese (delicious!). Karyn had a tropical salad and eggplant rigatoni.

On Tuesday, we had to get up early to catch our flight home. There was a chill in the air and a bit of rain and fog. We were not in any rush to get to the airport (turns out the counters weren't even open when we arrived...got to love those unionized Italians!), but our former formula 1 driver hit speeds above 180km/h (112 mph) despite the fog and rain. When we tried to tell him to slow down, he turned his head, swerved into nearby traffic, and while waving his hands said, "I'm sorry, I don't speak English." Editor's note: I think he was lying.