The Happiest Place on Earth... Costa Rica

I am sure everyone has one trip that comes to mind when asked about your best vacation ever, or favorite place you have ever been.

Well, in my line of work that question comes up basically daily.

That leads to this post... I meant to write about my trip when I first returned, but things happens and somehow I never got around to it. I think it'll be even better now though. After going on multiple other trips to awesome places, I realize just how magical my Costa Rica trip was. I don't know if I could ever portray how alive I felt on this trip, or the awe that us 5 girls continually had....  but I'm thinking playing it out like a picture book might be my best try at it.


It's funny, because as the trip and itinerary planner, I have been asked how I picked Montezuma, Costa Rica to visit. I don't have an answer...  As with everything flight attendants do, it came together last minute... within like 2 weeks. I didn't even know where to start searching, and just googled where in costs rica had 3 things: waterfalls, zip lining, and beach.  Montezuma came up quite a few times so I started looking into it.  Found a few lodges, B & B's, many hostels, and 1 resort.  I booked a hotel/lodge at Amor de Mar, and they helped book transportation from San Jose which is a few hours away.



We took off on the adventure with 4 girls... which ended up being 5 when Samantha made a surprise appearance in San Jose.  Most of us didn't know at least 1 or 2 of the others in the group, but we quickly established friendships.   I wont bore you with every detail of the trip, but do want to skim the experiences that we had.

We had quite a few adventures...

-walking up interstate off ramps in downtown San Jose... 

-Samantha's 2 am arm numbing spider bite scare, when we realized we literally were in the middle of no where, and no Doctor could make it to see her within like 2 hours.

-Catching the public bus back to San Jose ( a 6 hour trip, ferry transfer included) not knowing any Spanish or where the heck we were until we pulled up to the airport, & by the grace of God were awake and watching. 

-Corals accidental nudist moment on the rope swing in front of the zip line crew,

-our much anticipated run in with the monkeys on a walk home... who ended up throwing mangoes at us. No seriously, monkeys in the wild = rude. 

- picking wild bananas in Costa Rica was an epic fail, as they are sticky as hell and taste really bad (thank you Shenna for taking one for the team and trying it first).

-Zip lining through the rainforest and over the Montezuma waterfalls... and a stop to cool off in the falls...



The TOP of the jungle, overlooking the Gulf of Nicoya coastline

-Of course we did the longest line upside down...  It was unbelievable! Apparently I missed the instructions that you are supposed to raise up before you get to the platform though. Luckily the platform is farther from the line than I was tall.

                         

-The ride through San Jose traffic and then the ferry ride/booze cruise. We may be the only people to have packed mimosas just for the 1.5 hr ferry ride to the peninsula, but we had a great time...

-The hotel itself deserves a few words.  It was unbelievably beautiful and quaint, and authentic, and organic, and has so much personality. We got to know the employees, made friends with other guests, and thoroughly enjoyed the organic breakfast and smoothies every morning.

Picture it with me...  All of these views, from dozens of hammocks thrown up in the back of the hotel.  If that isn't convincing enough,  there is a natural tide pool we swam in everyday that is heated by the sun during the day.  Still not convinced? The waterfalls trickle into the stream beside the hotel, and I swear laying in it and letting the cool water go by and then exfoliating with the tiny rocks was more relaxing that any spa visit I've had.

-Ok, enough with the relaxation talk for now.  I feel like it is time to introduce Chicos bar.  You must understand that this is a one dirt road town...

....and everything can be reached by foot.  Obviously that means there isn't much to the town... a few little restaurant that I wont even mention because that's another blog post entirely.  The food was to die for, prices unbelievably cheap, and both places we went to for dinner were located on the beach... literally, candle lit and toes in the sand.  But, back on track... there are a couple of tour guide places, one convenience store, and Chicos.  The only bar in town. 

How she kept up with those coffee beans all night, I'll never know...

 If the locals were not aware that there were Flight attendants from FL in town... The next day they were.  By then we had an invitation passed along through another hotel guest for surf lessons, and the bar knew exactly what to pour us when we arrived the next night.  Which brings me to...

REGGAE NIGHT. 

Every Thursday night...  reggae night at Chicos start is signaled by the fire dancers.  A few glasses of wine in, and we were in complete awe.  Coral even tried to learn...

 



-We made so many friends that night.  And really discovered that people lived in little Montezuma from literally all over the world.  I give most of this credit to Shenna, for being a dancing social butterfly and pulling anyone and everyone watching us have the time of our life out on the dance floor too.

-At Chicos we realized that we needed to track down this surf instructor who wanted to give us lessons.  Shenna went to the bartender to ask if he knew Mauricio, and he pointed 2 stools down and said sure do, that's him.  Score.  A dance partner, and surf lessons set up for the AM.

-The next morning was not pretty. By the time we woke up, we had maybe 30 min to pack up, eat breakfast, check out, and head out for surf lessons.  30 minutes is not long enough to cure a tequila hangover.  Another thing that sure doesn't help... an unexpected 45 minute walk/hike to the beach we would learn to surf at.

to

 

We walked through light and grainy sand beaches...







To trails through the middle of the jungle...


              to beaches where you sink a foot into the dark sand...

   

 To beaches of multi-colored smooth rocks and a reddish sand... 



















Up mountainsides of jagged rocks... barefoot


Straight to a beach of driftwood, or one of completely unbroken seashells. 

-We walked... and walked... and walked it seemed.  Please keep in mind.  Tequila, early morning, exhausting trip, plus a very hot sun beating down on you...   And yet, it was one of the most unique things I've ever experienced.  Just the miserable walk alone... I've never seen such variety of side by side beaches, different just from weaving in and out of the jungle.

-Finnnnalllly we make it to the beach shack that holds the surf boards...   Surfs up dude.  Almost.  I will admit,  after watching all the other girls pop up on most of their first try... I was pretty convinced that as a D1 athlete, I was going to do the exact same thing.

Surfing is much harder than they made it look.   I think I drank maybe 3x more saltwater, and was by far the least graceful one.... but dang it, I got up and rode a couple of waves before I retired.

Then we hustled back to the hotel, threw on clothes, and ran to the bus stop to catch our red-eye home.  

A phrase widely used there, that as a TN girl I was completely new to: 

Pura Vida (POO-rah VEE-dah), used by Costa Ricans since 1956, literally translated means “Pure Life.” Contextually, it means “Full of Life” “Purified life”, “This is living!”, “Going great!” It is used as a greeting, a farewell, and to express satisfaction. The phrase has become widely known in the USA and Europe. Some foreigners view the phrase as an expression of a leisurely lifestyle, of disregard for time and wanton friendliness. However, Costa Ricans use the phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, good spirits, enjoying life slowly, celebrating good fortune, whether small or large.”



I have to say, I totally get it now... OK, maybe not totally... but I don't think the beautiful woman walking down the street with half her head shaved, (that turned out to be our Argentinian waitress), is crazy in the slightest for visiting Montezuma and just never going home.  Or Lucas, our waiter the second night... or probably 25% of the people we met.  They came for vacation and never left.  It's tempting.   No worries... no hustle at the work place... no honking horns of impatient people.  No stress about owning, well... anything. Material items probably mean that you get judged... not the other way around.  Simple.  Back to the basics.  Enjoying life and what mother nature put in front of you, and surrounding yourself with like-minded people.  I wish we had had more time to just lay in the hammocks and read a book, or get to talk to the staff or locals more,  but as you can tell...  We crammed about as many experiences as we could into 2 days.  I made some best friends that trip as well, girls I have no doubt will be in my life forever.  I would guess, a vacation like this wouldn't be appreciated by everyone.

Still, part of me wanted to keep this secret gem to myself.  I'm sure there are locations like this all over the world... and while I can't wait to find more,  Montezuma will always be special to me.  It was the first place I really felt part of a much bigger world that I truly am clueless about.  Sometimes North Americans are egotistical in thinking we are 'the best country'...  and well, the locals didn't like us too much until they got to know us.  They certainly didn't appreciate us saying we were Americans, as they are too...  just central American.  I didn't get it until that visit.   But, with my eyes a little more open now, and after visiting 'The happiest country in the world', I can't wait to venture to the next remote corner of the globe.... or I would be just fine going back to Montezuma.

If.... you want to go:

http://www.amordemar.com/  -I can promise they will remember the flight attendant girls...

http://www.montezumaexpeditions.com/

http://www.hightidesurfschool.webgarden.com/   -We were later informed Mauricio is widely known as the best instructor on the pacific side...



St Thomas USVI Wedding Crashers...

Adventure certainly finds you when you least expect it... 

It's been a truly exhausting past couple of months full of amazing traveling and vacations.  I can literally count on both hands the # of times I have slept in my own bed.  Buttttt, regardless of fatigue, when you have a opportunity to go to St Thomas for a free stay that just happens to fall on your birthday... You go... 

A girlfriends family has a timeshare, on the beach, at the Ritz.

 So, another flight attendant and I flew down. Getting there in itself started the adventurous day. We didn't make our own airlines flight directly there, we missed it by a connecting couple that ran up with 1 minute to spare.  But, the gate next to us happened to be going to San Juan, Puerto Rico, & we knew it was at least closer to our final destination... So we ran over and hopped on last minute. Very last minute... We didn't know how we were getting to St Thomas from there, but sometimes you just gotta hop on a plane and see what happens ;).   Luck would have it the flight attendants working that flight were from my training class and one was even from San Juan. She was able to pass along info about a small airline that we have an agreement to fly free with I had never heard of. Cape air. They ended up being our saving grace in the form of a 9 seater old as dirt airplane.  I should also thank the family of 5 that didn't show up for the flight. At $450 a ticket (we later looked this up) for a 30 min flight, I almost feel bad for saying that.  The flight over the ocean and islands at probably 5,000' was a first for us, and actually pretty cool. 

So, we arrive and change clothes in the teeee-niny airport bathroom, slap on a bit more mascara and call ourselves ready for a low key dinner and early night in bed.  The dinner part ended up being true to the plan.  We walked up to the restaurant at the Ritz, and along with my girlfriends parents, ended up finding space at the bar for dinner.

That is where we met Corona, the bartender. The name isn't made up for ironic effect btw.. it really was his last name.  He informed us he gets $500 a night to spend on pretty girls however he deemed fit. Well for us it was tuna tartare, and a few drinks... Each.  So, a long while later we decide we should take the restaurant manager and Corona up on the invite to go out with the locals on a Sat night... Convinced that it was the best day for a bday celebration of course. We left the restaurant to walk home and finally change clothes, mainly because a button had popped off a dress in an obvious place, when we met the very pretty woman in the red dress... Janice maybe? I can't remember. Later to be referred to as the lady with marriage 'arrangements' who salsa danced to every song like she was on crack.  Janice was being driven on a golf cart. We inquired how one gets a golf cart ride, as our condo was a long walk. Friendly or cracked out Janice told us to just hop on with her, and when we do, she tells us we should just come with her to a wedding reception.

Our post-wedding golf cart ride with our bff Delroy

Our initial reaction was no way,  we got ready in an airport bathroom, have casual dresses on, and well... We. don't. know. you.  Then she mentioned the magic word.  Boys. Us being 3 single mid-20 something's, reconsidered and after a bit of coaxing from red dress woman about how it's super casual, the wedding has been going all day, and we will fit in perfectly,  decided why the hell not. 

The beautiful cracked out lady lied. On 2 different subjects. 1st off, this was nooooooooot a casual wedding reception. Reminder... It was at the Ritz. The other women were In sequined long gowns, and the bride was nothing short of 35% plastic and had on a lace backless partially see through wedding dress that showed side-boob, under-boob, cleavage, and they were very very perky DD's at least. I should mention she was probably 40-45? It was very difficult to tell.  Regardless, we walk in, the 40 or so done up invited guests that are lounging on the white sofas all turn and look, and there we are... perfect strangers in our sundresses standing with crazy red dress woman.  2nd off, we then realize there are maybe 2 men our age. The grooms nephew and someone else.  They did approach and told us to help ourselves to the top shelf open bar and then after a couple of minutes are gone. 

I don't know what normal people would do, but in the golf cart the red dress woman had mentioned that they needed people to liven the party up some, that the wedding had lasted all day. So, after the initial shock of how out of place we were, Allison immediately headed straight to the DJ booth to make song requests, and Coral and I start making friends and dancing. One in particular walked straight up to me and handed me a shot of Patron, I knew we were going to get along... and we did.  She hung out with us all night.

At some point the groom shows up to his own reception. Again, I'm not a good judge of plastic faces, but he was at least 60+.  Very friendly, and very open with the bridal party. Again, I'm making myself at home dancing with everyone, and I hear him tell a bridesmaid that it's about time she gets her boobs redone. Well, my mouth probably dropped open, but she simply agreed with him and then pulled her strapless dress down for all to see and judge. I had to walk away... If you know me, you know I have 0 control over my facial expressions. 

We stayed for a couple of hours I guess, and by the end of it we put pieces of our convos with the guests together, & realized we had just crashed a multi millionaires wedding... Everyone who attended had been flown down in private jets.  By the time we left, we had made friends, one of us got caught trying to take the bridal bouquet and tiara... Yes I said tiara- it was with innocent intentions for a simple photo op, we danced a lot (some of us with the bartenders/servers... Ahem), and in the end... felt very well liked at a plastic millionaire couples wedding in St Thomas. 

 If only the night had ended there, haha. 

"Is that when people in animal costumes hump each other?"

The Midwest Furfest...

I had the ummm... pleasure? of witnessing the start of this annual convention a couple of days ago. I was so deeply intrigued I had to look it up, ask the participants questions, and well... sit back and observe the verrrry strange behavior.

We were checking into the hotel Wednesday evening when it became apparent it was going to be a busy night.  There were a number of very 'dorky' looking mid 20s-30s guys walking around and checking in as well.  A few were just hanging out in the extremely large lounging areas in the lobby.  The first spotting happened then,  a giant fox was roaming the crowds.  Obviously this sparked a bit of curiousity and I started looking at these 'dorks' a bit closer...  2 of the 4 sitting on the couches right behind my crew and I had tails.  Tails... literally, a long yellow and black stripped cheetah tail and the other a black fluffy one I can only assume was a dog tail.  Like hanging out of their jeans all the way to the ground, tails.  Whhhhhat the heck is going on here?!?!  Then I started asking the guys checking us in, and was informed that the hotel was hosting the Furfest this weekend, and close to 2000 participants would be coming.  Ok... a furfest.  I actually thought he said fearfest first, which is slightly appropriate as well.   And then it hit me.

I am not a big fan of CSI or the Law and Orders, etc.  But, one day I was watching a CSI episode when of course there was a murder, and the only suspect they could find was the 'orange cat' or some animal.  Well,  the episode unfolds to show this party where everyone dresses up as animals and they literally roll around on the ground together.  Extra large orgie style.  They may fancy the feline in the corner, or chase after the pretty pretty pony, but they have no idea who is in the costume.  The hardest part for me to understand is that they do this because they're aroused from all this rolling around and humping.  After my lightbulb moment I just had to confirm with the employee that this was in fact,  THAT kind of convention.  Sure enough,  people came from all over for this kind of activity.  2000 people... I was floored! 

The next night, I happened to be back in Chicago again... and pumped this time.  I knew from more 'furries' as they refer to themselves as, that the convention actually kicked off at 6:30 that night.   This same 'furry' that was on our airport shuttle, excitedly mentioned that he was looking online and he was shocked to find that 40 furries live in his neighborhood! I couldn't help but wonder if this went hand in hand with pedifiles, and how many furries live around me.  Regardless,  6:30 that night I had a date with my coworker at the bar in the lobby to sit back and watch this sure to be entertaining night unfold.

These are the pictures that I managed to take.  At first I felt like I had to sneak and take them, then I realized Duh, these people are prancing through a hotel lobby, they want their picture taken...

This prissy pony was my favorite.  She literally pranced around by herself not once breaking character. 

The First officer, another flight attendant, and I stayed downstairs people/animal watching for nearly 2 hours.  At some point, this proud unibrow rockin software developer came over to chat.  He probably heard the animal noises we were making, or the snickers, or maybe just saw the look of confusion on our faces.  He explained the history of the event first.  It's the 3rd largest convention of it's nature in the world, there are in fact 2000 people here for the event, and one of those custome made bad boys costs around $2000 each.  The guy with the light up claws and tail was probably rockin a $5000 animal suite.  I bet he had the pick of any of the furry woodland creatures he wanted, haha. Obviously not everyone could afforde the full costumes, hence, all of the tails out of the jeans. We then asked, "Do you pick your costume, or does the costume pick you?"  Apparently this was a great question, because the self named 'green reaper' smiled, wheezed, and got super excited.  Turns out, it's a combination and everyones case is different.  It can be because you feel you have common personality traits, or maybe its an animal you admire and want to be like.   Orrrr maybe it doesn't really matter because you're hidden behind a full costume and can be free to be whoever you want and do things you would never do otherwise.  Just my opinion.  The first officer had one main goal, to get to the bottom of the sexual questions.  The guy said well of course we like sex (picture him saying all of this with a lisp... I promise im not making it up), and there was that CSI episode everyone thinks of,  and sure we party and drink and things happen... but that's not what everyone here does.   I think I zoned out of the convo at this point because picturing these guys in any type of sexual act made me want to throw up.   Actually, we had a pole going between the 3 of us as to what percent had ever touched a girl that was not at the convention.  I went with a very optimistic 60% to start with... by the time we talked to the green reaper and watched for a couple of hours, my percentage had lowered to like 17%.  I gave the highest of us 3.

But at the end of the day, as much as the whole thing creeps me out... it's for a good cause.  They raise money (and a lot of it) for a charity of choice every year.   Also,  you have to admire people with passion.  Regardless of what that passion may be (and how sketchy I may find it), they do share an extreme amount of passion towards this event and coming together with like-minded people.  So...  while I will never participate in the Midwest Furfest, and will never call myself and hopefully none of my friends 'furries'... I commend them on doing what makes them happy.  I think.

While looking them up the first night, I came across this video from last year I think...  just to make you feel like you were actually at the Furfest... because I know you all want to go now. HA

South FL: I Am A Giant That Can't Hold Conversation... And I Love It!

I have been an official South FL resident for a month today.  In honor, I thought it was time for a new blog post to update friends, entertain the curious, and most of all.... vent.

First and foremost,  I have never been so thankful for taking a leap of faith.  I had NO idea what to expect coming down here. With nothing but a pitiful, yet adorable1 bedroom apartment lined up and 1 friend that lives 30 min away, I had no reason to believe that things would work out.  But they have... better than anything I prayed for.  Yes, I am broke with a capital B but there is nothing that feels better than leaving the comfort of an easy and familiar life behind, getting through that horrifying unknown, discovering things you never knew about yourself, and making plans for a future.  In my case, a future that I never really considered, but can't help but feel as though it was meant to be (yeaaaa cheesy, I know).  Anyone who knows me knows my passions thus far have been:  Basketball, and traveling.  Adventure in general being a close 3rd.  Meeting new people and being social in there somewhere too. (It goes without saying that my fabulous family and friends are #1).  I have a list of places around the world I have been trying to figure out how to get to ever since basketball ended.  Unfortunately I have always been broke, and still am... but luckily now I get to travel the world for basically FREE.  Oh it just makes me smile thinking about it.

Right now I'm in week 1 of 3 1/2 of flight attendant training... They say only half of us will make it through to get our wings... and I understand why now that I'm almost through this week... I literally had no idea how hard it would be, but if I am so lucky... (jk, I'm making it through) I am starting with my airline at the start of a huge expansion, and will be senior to the hundreds more flight attendants they will be bringing on board in the next few months.  Hello, that means off the reserve list in 3-4 months compared to most airlines that are 1-5+ years.   To keep from boring you, I'll just sum it up to say that I'm just super excited about the opportunity and the growth that could come from it.  I love my little house that I have decorated just how I want, and do whatever I want in, whenever I want. (can you tell I'm enjoying living alone?).  I have a tiny little deck and backyard that I have planted flowers all over and enjoy drinking my morning coffee on. I have met a couple of really cool people... and really love my city and can't wait to really explore it.  Oh, and it was 89 degrees today and I plan on laying on the beach tomorrow...  I miss the pretty TN fall foliage, but um I'm going to be laying on the beach tomorrow.

Ok, the update part is over...

Now,  life in South FL...  I have never been a minority,  but I sure do feel like a fish out of water down here.

1. I dont understand 25% of strangers conversation around me. I'm pretty sure they are calling me a freak (see #9).

2. I am becoming aware that it's not just 'hispanic'... its Cuban, Latin American, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and who knows what ethnicity I'm forgetting.  I'm working on being able to tell the difference, and not making much progress so far. No one understands that, not to sound racist by any means, but there just isn't much difference where I'm from...


3.  I have been thrown into a world of beautiful scantily clad women. I've never been one to be afraid to show a little skin, but whewww im def not in TN anymore... The outfits in the grocery stores, walking downtown, high heels all day everyday, & I have never seen so many thong or half missing bikinis...  But, there are sooo many rocking bodies.  And there should be by the way people obsess over it.  I don't remember what it was called, but there's an area on South Beach where just unbelievably sexy, ripped men were working out on the outdoor equipment by the dozens. DOZENS I say!  I was walking with 4 other girls, tripping over each other, and I think I was literally drooling.  It's either situations like that, straight out of a movie....  Orrrrr quite the opposite and like People of Walmart style... lets just say I hope the European style banana hammock men's suits don't make it to the good ol American guys wardrobe.

4. Butt implants...  Once one pair was pointed out I feel like I saw them all over the beach.  Seriously, it's just weird...  White girls.  Get over it,  if it's not there its not meant to be.   And its obvious when you buy it... It doesn't jiggle.  Literally, it's like 2 perfectly round melons bouncing under the surface of the skin and like I said, just weiiirrrrd.  And hello, you can't have a huuuuuge perky butt without a little cellulite.  Not possible and not foolin anyone. 

5. People dont smile.  They don't go out of their way to be nice.  And for the most part are just pricks.   Buttttt then like every 1 in every 5 will surprise you and actually go above and beyond.  It's been such a strange experience.

6. Mosquitos.  Ahhhhh,  apparently they can't get enough of my sweet southern belle blood...  Depending on the time of day, and if it has rained the past couple of days,  I will have anywhere from 8-10 before I even realize it.  They are ruthless!!!

7.  Texas or Tennessee?  Where are you from?  Oh, wow... that's an accent.   Yea, its a conversation piece for sure... but my serious country accent certainly doesn't help me fit in around here.  Not that I've ever been one to give a shit if I fit in anyhow ;)

8.  How could I almost forget this one...  I am literally like a giant here! People just aren't near as tall as they are back home... and I get comments on it all the time.  I haven't even gone out to wear my 4'' heels either.  Finding a tall man could be quite the challenge...

So, that's all the complaints I have so far...  8 little things, that's it.  And most are just cultural differences that I am anxious to learn more about.  And I do plan on getting in good enough shape to rock one of those skimpy bikini's, haha. I know it has just been a month, but life is good... and I would encourage any and all of my friends who are debating getting out of a funk to take that leap and just do it!  Seriously, time's a tickin'.

This is where I can go run and shoot basketball, & it's all of 3 miles from my house.   It is also my therapy, and where I go when I miss home.  I will try to get some pics up of my house soon too!

Soooo, I think I have updated people who kept complaining about a new blog post (ahhhhhem Emmy, haha), vented, hopefully inspired one or two... and this is what I have to offer for the entertainment I promised.

He lived.  But was our entertainment for a solid 2 hours,  especially when he started doing his 'Step up 4' dance routine.  Aka, kicking around more seaweed.   Ohhhhh the things I see on a daily basis.