Ruby and Tony - Around the World

Today would be our last day on vacation and we were dreading the return back to reality. We ate breakfast in the garden, packed our bags and took some time to explore the Gallery Inn in the daylight. Wow! There are some gorgeous views from the deck upstairs. . and yes it is very eclectic. We were enjoying looking at all the tropical birds when Tony thought it would be a good idea to hold one of them. Like most episodes of “when animals attack” it all started with a little peck. Next thing you know Tony’s getting attacked by the bird named Campeche. This bird is known as “The Social Director” of the Gallery Inn, but now it’s known as the White Devil!

It’s hard to feel like you’re not in some part of a history lesson walking around this 465 year old neighborhood complete with stone walls 40 feet high and 45 feet thick at the base! We walked all around and couldn’t help but notice that the streets were paved with pretty blue cobblestones, these are actually made of adoquine, and brought over on Spanish ships years ago.

Old San Juan was a Spanish military stronghold, and we really enjoyed exploring the Castillo San Felipe del Morro and San Cristobal. Ruby was obsessed with the iconic sentry boxes (you’ll see there are many pictures of them). We walked all around town, stopped for some cinnamon-spiced sangria and exploring the narrow streets with colorful buildings.

Squeezing every little bit out of our vacation we had just enough time for some delicious Italian food at Cucina Del Ivo again. We waited until sunset before heading to the airport. We thought we had timed this drive just perfect but signs in Puerto Rico are not the easiest to follow! One will say airport to the left then as you drive past you see the airport on the right! We must have driven all over San Juan looking for the exit to the airport. I think this is how they trap tourists for another day! Well, needless to say we caught our flight back to New York and even thought the flight is only a few hours we feel the onset of some serious international style jetlag coming on!

Pedro Padilla, our dive master, boat captain, photographer and tour guide had a camera setup that was no joke and he has some amazing photos to prove it! Nyda and Pedro took us out that morning for a couple of dives along “The Wall” which is actually part of the intercontinental shelf that goes down thousands of feet. It was a little bit intimidating since our last dive was about a year ago in the Red Sea but we were up for the challenge. I don’t know if Pedro was just trying to freak us out but after we stopped he yelled “Look, Look a Shark”, followed by ok “Get In”. I don’t know if Ruby knew about this until after the dive but Tony let her jump in first just in case!

Our first dive was at “Efra’s Wall” and involved us diving to a depth of 100ft. We were just amazed at the coral formations. Pedro had a spear and was busy whittling down the Lion Fish population in Puerto Rico (they are pests and out of place in the Caribbean). About 85 feet down, he gutted one of the Lion Fish and tried to feed it to a Giant Moray and when we say giant, we mean GIANT. This had to be the largest eel we’d ever seen, with a head the size of a basketball! We guess the Moray wasn’t hungry because we just caught glimpses of him coming out of his hidey hole out of curiosity

After a short break with snacks and drinks we started our second dive at “Hatches”. This dive was also part of “The Wall” and just as beautiful. Just like the first dive there were huge multicolored coral reef formations including gorgonians, fans and tube corals. We also had the opportunity to swim with a sea turtle which is always a highlight. Afterwards we enjoyed the view of Guainica from the water as we rode back in.

We arrived back to the guesthouse, and hung out with the owner's funny umbrella cockatoo, took showers and started our long drive up to Old San Juan. Looking at the map you would notice a direct route over the mountains but of course Ruby loves detours so we decided to go visit a lighthouse in Cabo Rojo (taking the long way around the island)! By the way, the views from the lighthouse overlooking white cliffs and beautiful blue water is totally worth the detour! If you do decide to do the Ruby’s EVERYTHING Puerto Rico Tour and end up at the far Southwest corner with only a few hours to get back to San Juan take the inland road through Ponce! There’s not a lot to see on the highway drive going around the coast because it stays pretty far inland. Our long drive did give us time to book a room at The Gallery Inn located in Old San Juan.

This hotel and its owners are what we would call “eclectic” (or maybe just a little crazy). Everyone was really nice and the location is amazing, at the highest point of this 465 year old neighborhood! Before going out we decided on a quick shower in what looked like something out of The Starship Enterprise. Just for the record, it looked a lot cooler than it was!

One of the best things about Old San Juan is walking around and exploring. We stumbled onto a church celebration for “Semana de Santas”. A ceremony that was so lavish we thought the Pope was here for a visit! After looking at just about every menu in Old San Juan we decided on Italian food at Cucina del Ivo. YUM!!! The caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella, pesto gnocchi and fried ravioli appetizer were delicious. We highly recommend this place and may be going back tomorrow! When we arrived back at the hotel we did some exploring and ended the night with a glass of wine on the roof. This is a pretty long blog post but it was a crazy day!

We grabbed some coffee and walked around Ponce checking out all the art and culture. There was an exhibition of lions painted by local artists and tons of little shopping streets going in all directions. Ruby picked out a new top and we had a great lunch at our hotel restaurant called Lola. We enjoyed the absolutely delicious coconut prawns and stuffed mushrooms before heading to Island Scuba in Guainica to get fitted for our dives the next day. We found a nice little guest house called Villa Bonita just a block away. They are owned by divers and let you check out late so you can take a shower or nap after your dive (and it was only $60)!

Tony was itching to check out the skateparks on the island but unfortunately they are all on the North side of the island! A 2 hour drive led us to Aguadilla and Tony skated for a few hours while Ruby chatted with Alex and his wife Maria artist/teachers from Asheville, NC. We all had dinner at One Ten Thai. The locals kept telling us how great this place was but don’t set your hopes to high because it’s mediocre at best. After an exhausting 1 ½ hr long drive back down we called it in an early night in preparation for scuba diving the next day. .

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This was a total beach day. We stopped for some nature shots including wild horses and a bird that looked like a King Fisher on our way to the south side of the island.

We never want to miss a thing so we started by going to Navio Beach and made our way to Blue Beach, and finally settled on snorkeling at Secret Beach. This was our favorite because of the wildlife in the water, we saw a pretty big barracuda swimming by us. Later on the far east side of the beach we spent almost a half hour swimming in the shallow water by the rocks watching a family of three reef squid change colors from purple to brown to white all while gliding effortlessly through the clear water. Tony also found a large conch shell which we decided not to take off the island and put it on the steps of the hotel for Maria and Joe, so if you go and see it let us know!

We were sad to go but really wanted to go scuba diving and weren’t able to arrange it on Vieques so we were headed back to the mainland. At the ferry station Tony once again got charged the tourist price for a smoothie $5! Sucker!
We arrived back to our rental car parked on the street and were relieved to see that it was still in one piece luckily! Time for another road trip. . to the southern side of Puerto Rico. We got lost a few times on the 53, no the 3, no just go in a generally Southern direction! It all paid off because we found ourselves at Sabor Criollo a local bar along the side of a winding mountain road off the 53 (we think) where we stopped for sunset, dinner and a drink. The owner Berto made us some amazing fried chicken and plantains while Ruby finished off his bottle of homemade hot sauce. He also introduced us to the key ingredient in his specialty cocktail. . DonQ Limon Puerto Rican Rum. .. YUM! We ended up buying a bottle at the airport on our way home

About another hour or so we ended up in Ponce, hopelessly lost, driving around the ghetto like a couple of tourists trying to get robbed! Well that’s what Tony thought, Ruby on the other hand was as cool as a cucumber, well she was . . . until her cell phone died and we had no map. By the way don’t trust Google Maps in Puerto Rico it may or may not work depending on the area. A quick stop for directions in the rain led us to the Ramada in Ponce. Ruby got us the best deal in town, staying in a super nice hotel—actually the Ramada in Ponce for $60/night on Priceline.com (Name Your Own Price) and they even upgraded us to a suite for free! This was by far the nicest Ramada we’d ever stayed in, perfect location in the center of the nicest part of Ponce. After that kind of a day we were pretty tired and enjoyed the skyline view from our huge hotel patio before passing out.

With limited public transportation on the island we decided to rent a car, it was $65/day which I think is the least expensive you can find on the island. We ate lunch at a local spot and shared some meats and rice and beans (habichuela) (which are staples in Puerto Rican cuisine). Ruby’s favorite was the home made hot sauce made of the restaurant owner’s special concoction of spices and oils-- YUM!

We drove around the island of Vieques following the local recommendations from Maria and Joe regarding the best beaches. Our favorite was the deserted black sand beach we had all to ourselves for the afternoon. . except for the wild horses that run wild on the island and may just come walking onto the beach! This beach required a bit of a trek along a creek bed but was well worth it. It’s also hidden and not on most maps or signs. . . so you’ll have to ask a local how to get there. Blue Beach further to the east was also pretty amazing with clear, warm water and soft white sand. Be sure to bring your sunscreen because the sun is REALLY powerful down in the Caribbean.

Ruby absolutely had to go the W in Vieques after her obsession with the TV show the Bachelor. So that night we sat around a fire pit and watched the sunset at the W Hotel while sipping complimentary sangria sun-downers. Who says nothing in life is free? We had a lovely romantic dinner at Next Course which our friend Claudia had recommended. We splurged and had not only the lamb but also the lobster! Another day in paradise on Vieques. . .

That morning we woke and chilled at our beach resort watching the iguanas run around scaring tourists. We left just in time to head to catch a ferry from Fajardo. The ferry to Vieques takes about 45 min-1.5 hrs and only costs $2 and you want to get there about 2 hours early to ensure that you can buy your same day ticket. You also have to go through a little bit of an “interview” process in order to buy your ticket which we thought was odd—but we passed through and got our tickets so I guess it was okay. We learned that tourists are not allowed to take their rental cars to the other islands so you may want to take that into consideration when booking a rental car in Puerto Rico. We left our rental car parked on the street a few blocks from the dock instead of paying the $5 a day to park in a lot. . . and crossed our fingers. BTW, there’s a separate ferry that takes you to Culebra. . which is what we’ll want to check out next time! Short flights are also available but, you know us . . . if it’s $2 vs. $50 there’s no contest =)

The ferry drops off in a part of the island called Isabel II (Yes the 2nd) and we took a long walk (15min) with our roller bags to the Tropical Guest House. Maria, one of the owners said it was a short walk and it looked pretty close on the map, but Puerto Rico must be on the Argentina not to scale map system! We checked in, and at $70/night, it’s one of the more affordable places to stay on Vieques. The room was clean and nice but the highlight for us were the two owners, Maria and Joe, who are originally from New York. They were too sweet and welcomed us to their guesthouse with their specialty cocktail and offered all kind of useful information for our time on the island.

Claudia, one of the other guests at the hotel also happened to be from Brooklyn was super sweet and gave us all kinds of tips on where to go in Vieques. We all shared an evening rooftop cocktail with Maria and Joe, complete with Claudia and Tara tending bar! We were on a time crunch and Maria and Joe shared their delicious homemade seafood paella with us. Before we knew it, we had hitched a ride to the town of Esperanza on the south side with Claudia and the gang. They had suggested we go to the Bioluminescent Bay ASAP while the moon was still small. Be sure to check out a moon chart. A bright full moon takes away from the bioluminescence. At 8pm for $25/pp Tony and I hopped into a van with a couple of hippies and went off-roading into the woods to a clearing leading to the Bioluminescent Bay.

It’s really hard to describe other than to say that it was magical. We kayaked in the dark around Mosquito bay which is protected from the Caribbean Sea where dinoflagellate organisms have a chance to multiply. These organisms glow when you touch them so every move we made allowed the water to glow either a bright green and even blue at times! You could see schools of fish flash by in the dark water as they swam by underwater and when we pulled our hands and feet out of the water you could see water dripping off with tiny glow in the dark dots. Insane!! Tony couldn’t resist and “accidently” fell off the kayak and swam around for a few making Bio-Angels in the water. It’s sort of like floating through a glow in the dark picture. Definitely one of the highlights of this trip and a do-not miss destination. Apparently, the bioluminescent bay in Vieques is one of the best in the world. . there are 2 others in Puerto Rico but this one is supposed to have the densest concentration of glowing algae. By the way, the organisms are too tiny to see with the naked eye and unfortunately, we didn’t have the proper camera to catch the bioluminescence on film for you guys but I found a few pictures from other people who have done it. There was no way we were going to top that so we headed back to the hotel and fell right to sleep.

As most of you know we are not much for wasting all our vacation money staying at fancy hotels, but we couldn’t resist staying at the Gran Melia just one more night. The bed was really comfortable and the location was great for our day trip up into the El Yunque National Forest. We had only booked the hotel for one night and the front desk said the going rate was $275/night . . . so we walked over to the other side of the lobby, took out our laptop and booked the same room for 60% off using Priceline’s Name Your Own Price! You know how we operate ;-) That afternoon we drove down to the Luquillo Kiosks again for some lunch. We sat on the beach as we tried some of the local fried treats but actually didn’t find them to be that yummy so we had some chicken wings, fries and of course an authentic Pina Colada (which actually was invented in Puerto Rico) before heading to El Yunque.

It was a short drive to the visitor’s center and after paying our $4 pp admission fee we were ready to admire some gorgeous orchids hanging off the walls. The rest of the day was spent sloshing through flashflood conditions throughout the forest. We saw La Coca Falls and walked along paths full of so many types of vegetation that we lost count. We got a short respite from the rain at the top of the Yokahu Tower where you can see the tops of the trees and see the beach and city of Luquillo in the distance. We were a little disappointed in the wildlife---they were all hiding because of the rain. . so the only wildlife shots we have are of a damselfly and a snail!

While we still had a little sunshine we decided to brave a trail at the very end of the road leading to the Mt. Britton Tower. This was our favorite trail because there was hardly anyone up there and the birds had started to sing in the trees. We could hear them but they were too difficult to spot. The Mt. Britton Tower looked like an old fashioned castle out of the Middle Ages and we had a lot of fun hanging out in the clouds waiting for them to move so that we could see the view from the tower.

We left El Yunque around six just as the gates were being closed and headed back to the Luquillo Kiosks for dinner. We tried “La Parilla” for some local food but weren’t impressed with the appetizer we ordered. Of course, we ended up back at Tapas 13 watching the rain pour down outside as we enjoyed our sangria with “gambas al ajillo” and bacon wrapped dates topped with blue cheese and a balsamic sauce YUM. It was a perfect day.

Leaving JFK at midnight of Friday might not have been the smartest idea. . especially when we arrived into San Juan at the ungodly hour of 4am! We arranged a rental car with National and had a reservation for a nice resort on the northeast side of the island but check in would not be for 10 hours or so. We decided to start our way across the north side of the island and maybe find a good spot to nap in the car for a few hours? After a few trips around a roundabout we realize driving in Puerto Rico may be just a little more challenging then we planned but quickly realized it was just the sleep deprivation at work, (Puerto Rico is actually really easy to navigate).

We ended up driving straight to our resort, the Gran Melia. We were counting our lucky stars that they were amazing and let us check in at 5am instead of the usual 3 pm check in time. We went right to bed and woke up to a sunny beautiful day of hanging out at the resort drinking and relaxing at the beach. On our walk back to our room we saw one of the many blackbirds flying around stop and do a mating dance to attract a female blackbird. . very cool, he was flapping his wings and hopping around. Glad we were there to see it!

That night we opted to head to the Luquillo Kiosks for dinner when it started to rain, rain and rain some more. Which as most of you know by now is not uncommon for u s. . . “we bring the rain”! It was only a 10 minute drive away and we sampled some local food and had a tower of chicken stuffed with shrimp and bacon and then went to another kiosk called Tapas 13. There we had some sangria and the spiciest shrimp ever called “camarones del Diablo”. We have never seen so much red chilli in our lives . . . needless to say Tony ate a whole lot of bread to cool his tongue down! Afterwards we were pretty exhausted so we headed to bed.

This was the first morning that we could actually see the Arenal volcano clearly since we had arrived. We took this opportunity to take some shots quickly before it got covered in clouds again. We had a delicious lunch and got into our shuttle 3 hour ride to San Jose. It was raining a lot but the drive was still beautiful with winding roads all the way. The driver stopped so we could get some other shots of the volcano from a distance. We enjoyed chatting it up with the fellow passengers. David Mekles, was really interesting, he’s a guy from LA who now lives in the Dominican Republic and runs a banana farm called Banamek with his brother. I’m looking forward to visiting that farm someday with Tony. Another couple in the van gave us some local recommendations for our next trip to Costa Rica: The Parador Hotel in Manuel Antonio, and Tikisia restaurant just outside of San Jose which is supposed to have a gorgeous view and local dancers on weekends.

Christel was super excited to see some gorgeous green and red parakeets (I think) when we stopped to drop off some of the passengers. They were so cute and we even caught a picture of two of the birds laughing together and then “kissing” When we finally arrived in San Jose, we were happy to be staying at the Hotel Presidente—it was perfectly central to everything, super safe and nice. I indulged in an hour long massage in preparation for our “return to reality” tomorrow. That night we had a nice meal at a place nearby and checked out a casino nearby. We were pretty beat so we called it an early night. . .

Sunday morning we got up early and headed to the airport after breakfast. . . so sad to go. Really loved Costa Rica. This place is amazing, the people, the food, the wildlife and nature. Next time I plan on bringing Tony and going more off the beaten path. . perhaps Corcovado National Park and some of the East side of the island. . . and hope to take my Tico friends up an offer to learn to surf next time!

In the morning we booked a daytrip to the Cano Negro Reserve in the north; this area is under 20km from the Nicaraguan border. Along the 2 hour drive north we passed tons of pineapple farms and greenery. We love the little fences they make using local twigs. We made a quick stop on the way for drinks and an “iguana tree”. Cano Negro was terrific; it’s sort of the Amazon meets the Everglades. We got loaded on a river boat and went up and down the river for 3 or 4 hours. We saw tons of wildlife, including lots of camouflaging Caimans (my fave was the one that had a butterfly land on its nose), shore birds including Egrets, the Amazon Kingfisher, spoon-billed Heron, iguanas, turtles, long nose bats (sleeping on a log in the daytime), fresh water turtles , Jesus Christ Lizards (called that because they can walk on water) and tons more.

Christel was most excited about the two separate troupes of Howler Monkeys that we saw. It was insane to hear them long before we could see them in the trees (they are VERY loud). They are quite agile hanging up in the trees using just their tails at times to eat leaves. The second troupe was a sleepy bunch just lounging around on the branches. Some of the plants growing out there are pretty neat too; one looked just like a banana but inside were tons of anthers for pollination. Afterwards we stopped for a delicious lunch plate known as a “Casado” complete with protein (in my case pork chops), plantains, rice, beans, cabbage and corn. . YUM!

We were pretty tired on the drive back so we napped a little and admired the greenery. Back at our hotel we admired all the pretty flowers and inadvertently noticed some hummingbirds in the shots we took While sitting on our patio Christel was saying that she really wished we had seen a toucan on this trip since we would be heading out the next day. . and just then out of the blue she thought she spotted a bird with a long yellow bill in a tree just on the periphery of the property about a few hundred yards away. We followed it as it flew to the other side of the property and then joined with a second toucan . . . awesome; all our wishes had come true in Costa Rica!

That night we got all dolled up and were ready to hit the town. During dinner at our hotel we asked our waiter Andres what was going on for the evening and he said if we could wait about 30 min we could head out with him in the employee transport van into downtown to some local spots. We had a blast that night and definitely hit up some local spots like El Establo. We practiced our salsa and merengue moves with Andres and also met a boy band that was happy to take hang out and take some pictures with us (Christel especially enjoyed that).

We left Monteverde early that morning and after eating a hearty Costa Rican breakfast we started our way to the city of Arenal. The drive was really scenic with views of fields, animals grazing, and streams. After about 2 hours in the car we came to Lake Arenal and boarded a ferry to take us across to the other side. The ferry was pretty short and the highlight was seeing the Arenal volcano looming ahead of us in the distance. We were sad to hear that it is no longer active so we wouldn’t be seeing any smoke billowing or lava flowing on this trip. As we chatted with some of the fellow passengers we realized everyone would be going to Tabacon hot springs tonight—which is precisely the sort of thing we try to avoid.

We were starved when we arrived at the Arenal Volcano Inn and quickly got to eating a huge plate of pesto pasta and having some afternoon cocktails. The hotel grounds were gorgeous and we had a clear view of the volcano from our patio but we quickly realized that this is a place for “old folks” with tons of senior citizen groups vacationing and realized we would definitely be leaving the resort for other activities.

That afternoon we went to the EcoCentro Danaus which is a small privately owned eco-reserved located just on the outskirts of Arenal. . .and that is when I finally got to see my sloths! Ariel a representative from the local Maleku tribe helped point out the sloths for us; I don’t think I could spot them on my own just yet. Not only did I see the two-toed but also got to see the three-toed species out in the wild! They sort of look like balls of brown of gray fur curled up in the trees until they start moving around. Christel and I spent quite a while just standing there checking them out. I think the two-toed species is cuter (they have a more well defined face). They also had gorgeous orchids, other flowers, and d birds galore. On our way back we asked our taxi driver about hot springs and he said that there’s a place that is naturally formed called “Chojin” that is free but not safe to go at night because of the rocks and potential for theft of our belongings.

Instead, we were ready to relax and headed to The Springs Resort and Spa---wow for $40 we had full access to all of the volcanic hot springs (they had at least 12 different pools with varying temperature. The most amazing part of it was that there was NO ONE else there in the section called “Los Perdidos” so Christel and I were able to enjoy the different water temperatures and waterfalls without anyone to disturb us!?!

The bar at The Springs was great and they had a musician named Darin Talbot from Lake Tahoe originally. He was a great and took requests to do great covers of our favorite songs. We had an absolute blast listening before and after our dip in the pools. This resort is a few miles off the main road (not the easiest to get to) so Christel being the brave one asked him for a ride back into town and he happily obliged. He said “she’s gutsy, no problem”. That night we contentedly passed out that night after the hot springs and excellent music.

Christel is such a good sport---I wanted to get up at 6am be one of the first at Monteverde Cloud forest for bird watching. She got up without complaint, we had a delicious breakfast downstairs and with binoculars and cameras in hand we were off. It was a 20 minute ride to the park and it was terrific. Bright and early is the best time because there are fewer people and the birds are most active. The Quetzal (rhymes with pretzel) is one of the most famous tropical birds and definitely on my to-see list for this trip. We had a great 4 hour hike with our private guide George—he happened to have a Swarovski telescope with him so we could see amazing things like a 2 hummingbirds in a nest super far away, a blue eyed anole lizard, grasshoppers with pink spots on them, a thorn bug which camouflages underneath leaves, the holes in trees where Quetzals live and the tiniest species of micro-orchids I’ve ever seen (much smaller than my fingertip)! George pointed out some black seeds in pods that are used by locals to make dopamine for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. I would need to see some studies on that It was amazing to be in nature surrounded by gorgeous plants and flowers; it wasn't nearly as scary as it looks to walk on the suspension bridge. We were getting a sneak peek into things we might normally miss while walking through the forest.

George’s vest had an embroidered Quetzal on the back. There are never any guarantees when you’re out in nature and near the end of our 4 hr hike I was starting to get worried that we wouldn’t see any Quetzals. During our hike we could hear them but couldn’t find them! Then we turned a corner and we could catch glimpses of Quetzals moving around in the trees but they didn’t sit still long enough to get a good picture of one Perhaps next time. . .

Afterward we went to the hummingbird gardens and I watched them for at least an hour. Be careful to stay out of the way of their nectar because those beaks are pretty sharp and scary! There were at least 8 species of hummingbirds and an imposter called a Bananaquit bird. This yellow, white and black bird has a long enough beak so he comes to the feeders to sip on the hummingbird nectar. There are just too many to name but my favorites were the violet-breasted one and the one with a brown face. Afterwards, we split a cab with some fellow travelers on our way back into town and grabbed lunch at Amigos again. . yummy tortilla soup before doing a little shopping. We picked up some earrings for ourselves and lots of yummy chocolate and coffee to take home.

At this point I was feeling a little disappointed because I hadn’t seen any sloths yet. As we walked back to our hotel I tried to decide what to do for the evening. We thought about zip lining but it really cold and crazy windy--we both felt a little nervous about hanging from a wire. . save it for next time. At this point it was close to 5pm and on the walk back we passed right by the Frog Pond. We went right back in to see some of our favorite species again--especially the blue jeans frog (little red ones with blue legs) and the colorful poison dart frogs. A piece of advice: be sure to go at night because the frogs weren’t nearly as active during the day, they were all sleeping and you could hardly find them!

Christel was exhausted. . and rightfully so after all that hiking today. She decided to sit it out while I went for a night walk at the Hidden Valley Trail in Santa Elena. . I was secretly hoping to finally see a sloth since they’re nocturnal and I hadn’t seen one yet. Well, no such luck but I did get to watch a gorgeous sunset with views of the Pacific Ocean while learning about some other cool creatures. It was a small group, just four of us and we walked for 2 hour walk through the forest in the dark with flashlights. We saw coatis (relative of the raccoon) hanging out in gnarly old fig trees and agoutis which look like really big hedgehogs. Have you ever seen a sleeping bird? I hadn’t . . . they look headless because they tuck their heads into their wings. It’s so cold up there that it’s hard to wake these birds up; their metabolism slows to a crawl at night.

Of course, no night walk would be complete without using a stick to coax a tarantula out of her hidey-hole—this one was red and black. My favorite of the night was ironically an army ant. Our guide rubbed the end of twig to transfer some of her scent on it before angering an army ant. She showed us its mandibles (jaws) up close-- it was so angry that it bit the end of the stick that she had touched and was able to hang on to it without letting go—holding onto that stick was the equivalent of lifting 3000 times it's body weight. . crazy huh? Nature is amazing in so many ways. Back at the hotel I was ready to warm up and was greeted by a beautiful cheese plate and wine that Christel had prepared for me. WOW! I am so spoiled That night we took advantage of the jacuzzi to rest our weary muscles and called it an early night.

My good friend Christel from California and I had a great trip ahead of us. Next to Tony, she is my favorite travel buddy and I have known her for years. We headed off to Costa Rica but not without a quick stop at Miami International airport for conch fritters! On the flight down we watched the sun set over the ocean and looked forward to the bliss of being away and just enjoying the moment.

We landed closer to the Pacific side of Costa Rica. At the Liberia airport we quickly met our driver who about an hour later dropped us off at our hotel Hotel Zullymar in downtown Tamarindo. As he drove, he mentioned that the "fiestas" were going this weekend on in a town nearby and that we may want to come back and celebrate with the locals. After checking in and dropping off our bags we were ready to hit the beach. It was already night so we had a very romantic lobster dinner (where's Tony when you need him?) on the beach. As we leisurely ate and drank out cocktails we noticed that over the course of a couple of hours we had inadvertently watched our first moonset!?! The moon was half-full and high up in the sky when we first started eating and we watched it set on the horizon around 11pm---it looked like an orange boat out there on the water and we watched in disbelief as it slowly disappeared beneath the horizon. Pretty amazing. . we didn't even know Moonsets existed! Did you? Afterwards we went to a bar and relaxed for a little bit before heading to bed.

We were awoken by the sound of tropical bird calls just outside our window that first morning in Costa Rica---aaaahh so nice to be away. We ate brunch while watching a pair of parakeets playing in the trees on the beach. Afterwards we went for a walk along the water’s edge, carefully stepping over tide pools until we arrived at Playa Langosta. This is the place to go if you want to have a romantic getaway without the craziness of Tamarindo which is a party and surf town. On our walk back we spotted so many pretty birds, it was difficult to count them all. That night we caught the local bus to a town called Jaucas for the Fiestas de Santa Cruz. We enjoyed some of the local cuisine. It was everything we hoped for and then some—bullfights, rodeo, folk dancing and marimba music. The night ended with one of the nicest fireworks shows ever—they seemed to go on forever! That night we went out to a locals spot (Pacifico) and made some new friends including Christian, and many Ticos (local Costa Ricans) who wanted to teach us to surf. . it was a late night of dancing and chatting it up. . I think we got home at about 4am!? That night we learned a saying in Costa Rica: Pura Vida which translates to "Pure Life" but really means something along the lines of "full of life, or this is living"!

When we woke up the next morning it was almost noon! We knew we wanted to go check out some of the snorkeling and other beaches today. We opted to take a tour on a catamaran out to the other beaches. We went with a company called The Lazy Lizard—boy are we glad that we did. It wasn’t cheap, about $75 but it would be about 5-6 hours and included unlimited alcohol, lunch and snorkeling and kayaking gear. Totally worth it! The crew was amazing—super nice, and helpful; we loved everyone, especially Ryan with his silly mustache. We both went snorkeling first; it was Christel’s first time in about 20 years so she was nervous but got the hang of it pretty quick. I got to go sea kayaking and our guide had found a baby octopus. He brought it back to the boat and Christel and I both were feeling adventurous. . probably from all the delicious rum punch and decided to try and hold this live octopus. Just look at our faces. . yes it is just as creepy as it sounds. In terms of what it felt like. . . the inspiration for suction cups must have been octopus tentacles! On the ride back we got the gorgeous view at sunset with the sky changing too many colors to count. That night we had to celebrate because it would be our last night in Tamarindo. We met up with Christian and went to Aqua for another late night of dancing.

The next morning we were very sad to be leaving Tamarindo because it had been an absolute blast. We wish we had a couple more days of beach time but we were moving on to a different kind of fun. The lunch we had that day was amazing—the nachos were seriously the best I’ve ever had, everything was made from scratch. We relaxed and enjoyed our last day at the beach while watching paddle surfers on the water. Our ride picked us up at 1pm and we were off to Monteverde.

We didn’t know what we were in store for . . . the ride was long, bumpy and dusty. . almost 5 hours even with air conditioning it wasn’t exactly comfortable. It was worth it for the views as we went over mountain passes and appreciated panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. At around 6pm that night we arrived at Poco a Poco hotel in the Monteverde region. What a great hotel! Had all the amenities one could want including free WiFi and super close to everything.

We were pretty exhausted but I really wanted to check out the tree frogs so Christel and I walked out in the WINDY, cold weather, just a block or so to the frog exhibit and saw some of the most beautiful frogs ever. Night time is the best time to go because most of the frogs are nocturnal and sleeping during the day. I finally saw a glass frog which was elusive in the Ecuadorian Amazon, their bellies are translucent so you can see their internal organs!

We ate dinner at Amigos (a local recommendation), delicious garlic tilapia and tortilla soup was perfect. We were exhausted and headed back to the hotel. We were on the top floor and that night was a little difficult to sleep because the wind was blowing so hard it felt like the roof was about to fly off. Apparently, it is always cold with really strong winds in the Monteverde area—be sure to bring a warm, waterproof coat =)

We got up painfully early at 3:30AM, the time we should be GOING to bed when on vacation! This is the part that most people think of when they say they hate traveling. We grabbed a cab while contemplating over this magical trip and said our goodbyes to Quito.
We arrived at the airport with all the usual craziness we’ve come to expect from a South American airport (people cutting in line, no personal space, and an overall lack of communication between airline employees and customers). We can’t really complain because the plane was nice and we arrived at our layover safely. In Miami we had just enough time to run to our gate . . . well that, along with a quick stop a few gates over to grab some conch fritters (Ruby’s fave at the Miami airport). Mmmmm! I don’t know what it is about good food that will make us almost miss a flight but man was it worth it!

Back in New York we decided to keep with our budgeting ways and take the Air Train to the Subway to a bus with a little walking (for good measure)instead of opting for a taxi. It was a little confusing and after getting lost a few times we arrived safely at our car (that luckily still had all its windows and tires). We quickly met up with Christine, our friend Terri’s daughter, to grab our keys and drop off a few gifts. We hope she didn’t think that we didn’t want to hangout but it had been a long day and all we could think about was good food and our soft bed.

There is a great Indian restaurant in Queens called Delhi Palace on 75th and Broadway. We decided to eat there on our way home because we didn’t have any food at the house. It was sooo good that Ruby almost made herself sick from eating too much (update: the restaurant is now under new management so who knows how good it is now. . .). We arrived home around 9pm and quickly put our stuff away and crawled into bed. That was a lot of fun and tomorrow . . . reality!

We can’t tell you how good it feels to wake up in a big soft bed and have a nice hot shower after a trip to the Amazon! After breakfast we decided to head over to the Mitad del Mundo monument of the official equatorial line. As most of you know we are “thrifty” travelers and if there’s a local bus going in the direction “we aint takin no taxi!”. It is fairly easy to get to, just look for the bus marked “Mitad del Mundo and if you’re white then people pretty much know where you’re going. The total cost is around $1 for two people so try not to complain if you have to stand or sit on the floor!

We arrived at the monument, got our passes and started shooting photos like all the other tourists. Take one of me standing over the line, kissing over the line, and pointing at the 0’0’0’ sign, you know the usual stuff. It didn’t take long before Ruby was drawn into a restaurant by the smell of amazing food. We sat at a table and noticed a young girl and her grandmother looking for a seat. Being the kind people we are (and good looking I might add) we decided to offer the two extra seats at our table of 4 to them. We had a very yummy lunch complete with a pitcher of sangria. We made some new friends Juliana and her grandmother Olga who live in Cordoba, Argentina. Ruby loved their Argentinean Spanish accents and had fun trying to practice her own. After lunch they invited us to visit and stay with them in Argentina . . . we warned them not to offer because you never know we might take them up on the offer!

A lot of people don’t know this but the official GPS certified equatorial line is actually a short walk (about 200 meters) up the road at a small museum called the Museo Inti-Nan. It cost around $6 p.p. and included a tour explaining a bit about the location, the different tribes in Ecuador/Peru, how to make a shrunken head, and of course the physical effects of being at the equator. They did lots of experiments but our favorite had to be “the egg on a nail” that we originally saw on Andrew Zimmern’s TV show Bizarre Food. The theory is that there is more of a downward force of gravity at this location that allows you to balance something round on a very small surface, like say an egg on a nail. This is definitely NOT easy . . . we thought that it would be from the TV show. We both gave it a try without any luck and we had to leave before anyone in our group could do it.

Of course, Tony is extremely competitive and he couldn’t even focus for the rest of the tour—all he could talk about was going back and trying one more time! He was determined to be the egg master of the equator. After the tour ended he went back with the determined look of a boxer going back into the ring! He even had an old man cheering him on saying “you can do it” and “be the egg”! After a few tries Tony did balance an egg on a nail, and we have the photos and the Egg Master paperwork to prove it!! Just look at the looks of awe on the faces of the people in the background

We had a beautiful ride home along a ridgeline, admiring the volcano Cotopaxi looming over the entire city of Quito. It was so beautiful . . . next time we come to Ecuador, we’re definitely going there. We were so distracted by the view that we missed our stop and ended up in Old Town. No big deal, it was during sunset so we enjoy the beautiful walk though the colonial buildings while doing some people watching. Once it got dark we headed back to our hotel, and after a quick shower we headed out to a Cuban restaurant recommended by our Brazilian friends last week. It was ok, originally we had wanted to check out another place—a tapas restaurant from our gastronomy magazine but it was closed. It has been an amazing trip but unfortunately we have to get up painfully early tomorrow to catch a flight back home. . .