02 March 2009

Costa Rica, Pt. II - Transistional Traveling


As we learned yesterday, grab a jacket, we are nerds, this whole country is in an identity crisis and I am a dumb bastard when it comes to languages. Let's see what other fallicies I can suffer from as I continue my debrief on Costa Rica.

5) Ziplines are pretty damn cool and very damn easy. Here's how it works. Gravity does 92% of the work. If you're scared, don't be. The strongest and weightiest part of the body is attached to steel cables cross-supported by another series of steel cables. If you are still worried you are going to fall after the heavy-duty straps, the metal pulley and the trained professionals, may I advise not to travel abroad at all. Part of the adventure was to have other adventures. Just lean back and enjoy the ride. . .

6) I teased about this point, so I might as well get over it. CR drivers are crazy. CR vehicles are crazy. CR roads are crazy. The drivers are only crazy because the vehicles are crazy. The vehicles are crazy because the roads are crazy. When only 60% of the roads are paved, you start having this pattern of crazy makes crazy making crazy. Does that make sense? But I got over it very quickly because I don't have another choice (...or do I?). More on that, later. At least they drive on the "right" side of the street. This is the fundamental reason why I always suggest hiring a driver. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

7) If you ever want to pulse out straight cash (homey), it's easy. Of course, when you do anything in a foreign country, there are some stipulations. ATMs are locked panic rooms with a pin number and money spitting out at the end. The big reason is to curtail petty crime or serious violence. With drug crimes increasing, they don't want to take the chance. And don't even get me started with the actual banks. I can get clearance to The Pentagon before I can get my wife, wearing sunglasses and a hat, can get in without funny looks. And they speak American. My brain needed the rest after mangling more Spanish.

8) If you think are are almost dying, you are not. Let me set this up. We did travel by plane, car, zipline, boat and white water raft. Classes of river rafting come from 1 through 5, with 5 being the most intense. When I convinced The Lovely to give this a try, I neglected to mention the Class 4 river we would traverse. Yeah, to say the least we were inexperienced. Five minutes into the wet, I fell in the drink. Three out of the five in the raft fell out. Was I scared? Yes. This definitely was not the Frio. And it was freaky getting submerged when not knowing what powers were forcing you down (other than the obvious--water!). But for some strange reason (even though it was is the far left back of my mind), I was not going down that day. So, when you think you are going to die, that just means there is a part of you brain and body still fighting. I don't think I am going to try this theory again any time soon, but this is my "blink" statement.

As an added bonus, I would like to give my dad a shout-out. When I got married, the only advice he gave me came in handy. "Don't go tubing down the river with your wedding band on. You will lose it." Thanks, Dad. With that, we will ajourn until Part III, when I teach everyone how to make a delicious dinner for four at half the cost. Thanks Rachel Ray! Talk later.

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