Those Bowers Boys + Sadie: Costa Rica-Better Late than Never?

Back in March we celebrated our 10th anniversary with a trip to Costa Rica. (This is the longest post-by far-I've ever written, but it is, after all, in celebration of 10 years together.) B planned the whole thing-which is typical, as he always does an excellent job vacation planning. :)

We stayed at Los Altos de Eros which is a small luxury inn known for its superb service. We were not disappointed!

There are only 5 rooms at the inn and we were all to dine together. My introverted self stressed about this in the weeks before our vacation. B, on the other hand, could hardly wait to meet all of our new 'friends'.

Well, here they are! What a great group of people. Each of them so nice, interesting, fun, and pleasant dinner company. The conversation was easy and it was fascinating to learn about each person and their (extensive) globe trotting experiences.

Two couples were Indian; one lives in NYC and the other in Canada. Both wives grew up in India and the husbands did not. One wife, Sush, is Indian royalty and she had some stories to tell; growing up in a castle, calling off her engagement to a wealthy Indian man, also of royalty, at the last minute to marry Ash, an Indian Canadian (hope I'm putting those in the appropriate order) who was not royalty, but to whom she had an instant attraction. Just like a movie! Sush is also a jewelry designer whose products are much too flashy and far too pricey for me. Interesting nonetheless.
There was Bruce, who is a Japanese Canadian. A bit about him: He's a businessman who, because of his hard work in his early years, is semi-retired at a young age. He enjoys world travel, specifically being submersed in local culture, and was so interesting to visit with. He has even ridden with Lance Armstrong (which was super cool until just this morning). Bruce hiked with us each morning, too, which was fun.
Then there were Vinny and Ashley, an couple from NY; she's a police officer and he's a fireman. They were a blast and were as amused by our accents as we were theirs. Fuhgetaboutit! B and Vinny had fun being 12 years old together............but that's another story. Cool peeps!

Each morning, to counterbalance the 5-star cuisine we were eating 3 times daily, we did a 3-mile hike up and down serious hills, along a dirt path.
Here I am posing in front of a little building of some sort. Love the tiled roof!

We found an old cattle chute...So, naturally, we posed for pics in it as a nod to our ranching heritage.

At breakfast after our first morning hike, Bruce told us that the day before he'd been walking and was chased by a bull. It was hard for me to imagine anything (from vehicles to people to animals) moving quickly in CR based on what I'd observed during our first day there. I'd certainly seen evidence of cattle on the hike and there were no fences, but still.

The next day we saw this brand new fence (complete with concrete posts). How impressive that they'd put it up since we'd been there the day before. Check out the sizable herd of very large Brahman cattle behind it. We walked along, enjoying looking at them when, suddenly, the fence ended. Not at a corner or cross fence. Just ended. Guess they planned to pick up where they'd left off...sometime in the future.

Most mornings we saw monkeys. They were loud and very entertaining. This one 'talked' to us and did tricks for about 10 minutes for us. No telling what he was saying! This one was obviously on a power line, but most often we saw them in mango trees.

Cocoa After our Walk-He joined us each day, too. :)

One day Sush and Ash mentioned it would be fun to drink coconut water straight out of the coconut. A couple of the staff flew into action collecting fresh coconuts right off the tree, cutting the tops off, and adding a straw and, voila! Fresh coconut water!

Guy Time

Zip-Lining!
Somehow B talked me in to going zip-lining, which for years I've said I'd never do. I've long been terrified, straight up phobic, actually, of heights. I knew he really wanted to do it-we were in Costa Rica, after all-and, after taking a logical approach to the situation, I determined wussing out was not an option.
By the time we got to Costa Rica, I'd been mentally preparing myself for several weeks (read: a pleasant state of complete denial) and was feeling pretty good about it.
We arrived at the zip lining place where we met a group of women our mothers' age who were on a girls' trip. They were a hoot!
After a thorough safety demonstration by our guides (they were great, too), we loaded up in the back of a large truck to drive up the mountain to our starting platform.
Here we are in the truck. (Still maintaining my pleasant state of complete denial.)

Suited up and ready to go! During the harnessing, one of the ladies looked at B and said, "Whoooo! We single ladies can't help but look!" B and I both blushed.

On the way back we saw this cowboy (vaquero?) bringing in some cattle. (He's the tiny speck of white on the back of his speck of a sorrel horse.)

With our group (and a few of the guides) after our adventure. One of the ladies (the one in black behind me) was the first female high school varsity football coach in the U.S. Very humble and very fascinating lady.

The cowboy and his herd entering the pens. The cattle were very gentle.

I asked if I could take his picture (in English, of course; he obviously had no idea what I was saying, despite my hand motions and all of the extra words I was using to try to get him to understand). He obliged when I finally held up my camera. I was polite, but other than that, I'm not sure I did much for American tourists in CR.
You can see the long thin stick he carries here. (I so wanted to know what it's called and how they use it. Those 3 years of French sure are paying off.) There was no horn on his saddle (or on the other cowboys' saddles we saw while we were in CR) leading me to believe they tie hard and fast-Yikes! And, like I mentioned earlier, those cattle are HUGE. Also notice the toe fenders.

We did go to the beach one day. It was a little cool and the water was murky, but we did get to see several sea creatures. Apparently this beach is perfect for surfing. And doing 'magazine poses' (that's what I was going for).

Sunset on the beach

Cooking Class
B signed us up for a cooking class, which was a blast. Chefs in the kitchen!

Here I am cutting up Costa Rican squash for a squash soup. There aren't many things I hate, but squash is on the top of that list. This one tasted nothing like yellow squash and I did actually like it. Hello, large forehead! My least fave thing about beach vacays: my hair issues!

Trying his hand

Ashley & B

Awwww! Mango for the salsa in the shape of a heart. :)

Mahi-mahi (we prepared) ready to be wrapped in banana leaf and grilled-Yummo

We ate our squash soup while we waited for the fish to be ready.

And, it's ready!

First time to eat Mahi-mahi since Food Bacteriology at A&M. I'll spare you some of the details, but when I found out Mahi-mahi can contain a bacteria that makes you ill instantly (you will NOT make it to the restroom), I took the next 13 years to decide whether or not I'd ever eat it again. Totally and completely worth it, by the way.

Ahh, The Spa :)

Can you believe the spa was running a 1/2 price on ALL treatments while we were there? What else could we do but book twice as many treatments as we'd originally planned. LOVED them all!
Here's a view looking down onto the spa.

Stairway to the spa

B chose the chocolate massage (think cocoa bean exfoliation...and scary large primate) one day on some of our new friends' recommendation. Bruce nearly fell out when he rounded the corner and met B on his way to the shower. Bruce, I'm sorry.

One evening we had spa treatments, dinner, then had the spa to ourselves. Here's our little table for two.

B enjoying the hot tub and the view

Beautiful sunset

Dinner time!

B had some kind of fish (tuna?) and I had a HUGE fillet (of beef), but I dove into mine before we could take a pic.

This pic does not do it justice, but the toads there were massive. This guy was about the size of a softball.

A Few More Pics

Here is the outdoor oven they used to 'grill' the meats we had while we were there. The owner said these get so hot that a pizza cannot be cooked in them. They just burn right up. Also, they are made on site with a wooden frame and a mixture of horse manure and wood. Yum? Why yes it was.