Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 01, 2007
soooo, i had been back from africa about a week or two when lillis coyly asked me what i’d like for us to do for labor day. i said it would be nice to go to a beach and asked what she was thinking. it was at that point that about a millions words came out of her mouth – the end result of which was we had agreed to go to costa rica for labor day. she has a family friend in jaco who has a place right near the water. it was a wonderful trip and was (despite all the activity) a relaxing and invigorating experience. my biggest shock was the price of things there “gringo prices anyone?” and that there was virtually no need to speak spanish. i felt like costa rica was one of the exhibits at epcot. however, what jaco lacked in “traditional” costa rican culture, it more than made up for in “wow!” the place is just lush and gorgeous with mountains tumbling down to beaches with perfect surfing breaks. we went surfing, zip lining, and scuba diving in the 3+ days we were there. btw, the reason it was a plus is b/c while we were at the airport and just as we were boarding our plane, another plane skidded off the end of the runway (at which points the pilots jumped out and fled leaving the passengers inside) shutting down the airport. so, we ended up extended an extra day and had to leave by 6am the next morning to beat the incoming hurricane out of costa rica (good to add a little stress right at the end of the trip, but everything went fine). an airport highlight was running into the entire western carolina mens basketball team in the san jose airport, just hours after alabama had beaten them in football. i through one of the coaches a “roll tide” as i was passing him coming out of the rest room. needless to say, it was not something he expected to hear in central america. anway, pics below,
with a full set at my picasa site here.
lillis LOVED surfing even though (as i’m told by surfing expert bill and surfing groupie stephen) the waves at the beach we surfed were terrible. to be fair, though, lillis was excited about pretty much everything we did in costa rica (except the airport – and she didn’t even really mind that).
i look undaunted here, but i was actually quite daunted. btw, i’m wearing stephen’s surf shirt. i was glad the pectoral region wasn’t stretched out to far to fit me without bagging up.
here is part of lillis’ face. it is the bottom two thirds.
here lillis flees a wave at hermosa beach (where the last scene in endless summer was filmed, i’m told).
and this is a look down that same beach
this was at an even quieter beach called estrella – um, i think. it was gorgeous right before sunset as the fading sunlight dusted the tree line
group portrait (no one to take it for us so shadow outline will suffice)
this is lillis before the hair is done. she uses a magic headband.
diving was awesome except that we couldn’t see anything b/c of all the runoff from the rivers in the runny season. we also learned that a good way to drown is to have a beard when you go scuba diving. there are numerous pictures of me holding my mask onto my face. it was fun to learn how to do it, though (lillis is a pro). in this picture however, a bubble has severed her head from her body. bad stuff, actually, those bubbles.
here’s a shot of us wondering if i’m going to survive without rupturing and eardrum. note that lillis has hair horns.
here lillis kisses me since she can’t kiss costa rica, but she’s really excited to be there.
we had our driver take one more pic for us along the road back to san jose. just a beautiful place, and an awesome trip. it was so much fun just to go and do and not think. to just be in a beautiful place and enjoy it. many many thanks to lillis for making it such a wonderful trip with her energy and sweetness and amazing attitude.
