January 4, 2010 We woke right before dawn. The howler monkeys were especially vocal this morning (or perhaps we just slept through the loud parts the previous mornings). We got ready then had a super quick breakfast of granola and fruit. The staff packed us some sandwiches for later. I selected avocado; Nick selected the pb&j deluxe. Eric drove us to the small, regional airport in Puerto Jiménez. It was a quiet ride; we were sad to go. We were fortunate to be able to stay 6 days; but even in this amount of time, we didn't do everything we wished to, like hike down to the beaches, hike to the waterfalls and the take the zipline tour. As we continued down the road, we passed the signpost to Lapa Rios, the lodge we had stayed at the previous year. Which was better? I hate to make such comparisons, as each of these places holds a special place in our hearts. Lapa Rios was the climactic end to our very first trip to Costa Rica. It was during the rainy seaso...
January 3, 2010 lizard in our outdoor shower inside of the restaurant at night dinner by candlelight gigantic gecko on the restaurant roof beam katydid on our umbrella pole a sampling of the buffet selections We skipped dessert on our last night so that we could take care of paying our bill, figuring out tips, packing and getting to bed early-ish. We would have loved to say goodbye to everyone individually, but we just didn't have the time. We gave the front desk a tip envelope of cash with a note on how to distribute it. Around bedtime, the power went out and stayed out until some time in the morning. (You are warned that this inevitably happens from time to time. All electricity here is produced via a generator.) Unfortunately that meant we couldn't use the fan. Unfortunately also, the crickets were out in abundance this night, and the 3-sided bed-netting was not helping one bit. My husband had trouble sleeping because the crickets were freaking him out. I had...