We are swapping the Pacific side of Costa Rica for the Atlantic side and heading to the Caribbean coast – and into the jungle! We are staying at a jungle lodge that is about 12 miles from the Nicaraguan border and only accessible by boat or plane.  There are no roads.  We are a little nervous, as there is also no air-conditioning, and we are sleeping in the equivalent of screened-in porches.  The lodge has excellent reviews (albeit, from National Geographic, which admittedly may have a more rustic taste than we do!).  But we are up for adventure!

We are only allowed 30 pounds total of luggage plus carry-on because the charter plane is so small. We have frantically shed anything superfluous and left with the trusty bellhop at the Marriott in San Jose, our overnight stop to prepare for our jungle trek.

And off we go – rewarded by beautiful views as we descend into Tortuguero.

Our first look at the Tortuguero airport proves that we are indeed in for an adventure.

Our boat captain meets us and takes us across the canal to the Tortuga Lodge.  It is absolutely beautiful.

Within our first 5 minutes, we are greeted by two ignuanas and a couple of exotic birds. Wow!

We will spend the next several days here off the grid – no TV, no air-conditioning, and no phone service. We will read, go on wildlife tours, and just relax.  Based on our first lunch – coconut papaya salad, fresh snapper with beet coulis, and coconut ice cream – we are in for a treat.

And we have brought along LOTS of sunblock and mosquito spray.

We are ready for the jungle!

Stay tuned for pics of our room . . . .

Hola!

We were off the grid for a few days, so back to the blog – still updating the earlier part of our trip.

For our grand finale in Tamarindo, we decided to go sailing.

Larry and Frank met while sailing – Larry had a boat and they had many adventures, including sailing all the way to Maine!.

Larry met Candy in Singles on Sailboats (SOS), and I met Frank in SOS also. So sailing was a perfect activity for this crew.

We chose the schooner Antares, an 80-foot Sparkman Stephens design moored off of Tamarindo.

The first adventure was to get TO our schooner. We had to wade into the surf to board “pangas” – little motorboats – that whisked us to the Antares, where we had to climb the ladder up to the boat (and were rewarded with rum punches for our efforts!).

Once aboard, all deck furniture had been removed and replaced with cushions, so everyone found a spot and we were underway. Our captain was from Argentina by way of the Caribbean, where he bought the Antares.  A guitar player entertained us with jokes and songs, and the captain’s three sons came around for drink orders.  The captain’s wife, from South Africa, cooked a delicious 5-course gourmet dinner (really – better than many restaurants – and in the ship’s galley!).

After a rum punch (or two), everyone was happily singing along to the guitar player as we enjoyed the afternoon scenery. Eventually, we anchored near a secluded beach, where we swam and snorkeled to nearby coral.

Then back on board for the final course of our gourmet meal and even dancing – after a few rum punches, it was the “Macarena” all around!

We sailed back to our home beach as the sun was setting.

A perfect farewell to Tamarindo.

We had an outing today to a very unique beach – Playa Avellanas, known world-wide for its surfing. We took the bus ($12) from Tamarindo, which had space for surfboards on top.

Our destination was Lola’s, named for the owner’s pet pig (really!). Sadly, Lola passed away a few years ago, so the matriarch of the place is her daughter, Lolita.  She has her own pen with a palm tree and beachfront view.

Lola’s has beautiful Nicaraguan wooden tables set amid the palm trees, with a few hammocks thrown in. Get there early to snag a spot, and they let you stay the day, while waiters bring whatever you like.  I had the ahi tuna poke – fresh from local waters – delicious.

We all settled in for a relaxing day of reading, walking the beach, and swimming. Frank decided to fish and found a little surf shack down the beach, where they sold him octopus for bait.  And I even got a massage – $20 for half hour.  (The picture below was my view after the massage – I was so relaxed, I could just look straight up through the trees to the blue sky!)

We can tell why Lolita the Pig has a smile on her face!

One of the reasons we came on this trip was to celebrate Frank’s birthday!

We had a family party last week in Annapolis – with Lobster Night at Eastport Yacht Club. John, Valerie, Cece, Sam, and Olive spent the night, so we had lots of fun visiting, doing treasure hunts, and playing Cranium (the Volpe Family’s favorite game!).

We continued the celebrations this week with a special dinner at Panga’s, a beautiful waterfront restaurant directly on the beach in Tamarindo. It is situated along the estuary (the same one with the crocodile signs!), and was a stunning sight as the sun went down.

They specialize in a very unique filet mignon – they serve it rare, along with a 500-degree volcanic rock.  You can cook your meat to your preferred temperature yourself, along with onion rings.  Just stick them on the rock and hear them sizzle.

A very special evening under the trees and stars – Buon Compleanno Francesco!

As I said, Tamarindo definitely has a laid-back surfer vibe – and we are settling in quite nicely!

We started the week gung-ho with a major (for me) 4-mile walk to the neighboring playa (beach) and back, catching beautiful views and scrambling over volcanic rock formations.

At this point, I should tell you a little about our hosts. I mentioned before that Larry and Frank are friends from way back.  Larry recently retired, so he and his wife, Candy, are spending the winter down here.  And they are in super shape. Their normal vacations (without us) are to hike across Spain or to travel by dugout canoe with only a back-pack to their tent hotel in Nepal.  So a little 4-mile walk across volcanic boulders is just the day’s warm-up.

But as the week has gone on, we all have mellowed a bit – I’m sure they realized I couldn’t keep up with them and are too nice to say!! But now, everyone seems pretty happy to just enjoying “pura vida” (the good life) here in Tamarindo.  We go to the beach, maybe a little shopping, read by the pool, and then – my favorite – end the evening with sunset dinner on the beach.

There are a number of beach restaurants, from casual to elegant, with their tables and chairs right on the sand. They specialize in freshly caught tuna and mahi mahi, plantains in all forms, anything coconut, and pitchers of sangria.

A roving mariachi band usually wanders by and says “Hola!” (partly because I am a sucker for this and always buy a song) – and at sunset, tourists on horseback canter down the beach.  Pura Vida indeed!

We are having a super fun time in Costa Rica. Our home base for the week is Tamarindo, a surfer town on the Pacific.  It reminds me of Breckenridge, Colorado, but with surfers instead of skiers.  There is a little downtown lined with shops, lots of beach-side restaurants, and a laid-back vibe.  And lots and lots of surfers!

But today, we decided to be more adventurous and visit a place called Bula Bula (we think means “Happy Happy”). The trick with Bula Bula is that it is located on Playa Grande, which sits across the estuary from Tamarindo – an estuary that is filled with crocodiles!  It actually is possible to walk across at low tide, but they don’t recommend it, and little putt-putt boats line up to ferry people across.

We walked down the beach, past the signs that warned of crocodiles, to the edge of the estuary. We selected a captain, Davide, to take us up the estuary and waded out to our boat.

We wound around and around, heading deeper into the mangroves, where we spotted herons, local birds, and jumping fish.

Finally, we landed at the dock for Bula Bula and arranged with Davide to return in 3 hours.

Bula Bula is a cute and very remote hotel – this whole area is protected because it is a turtle nesting ground so very out of the way. We had a terrific lunch at “The Great Waltini” restaurant and then explored the beach on THIS side of the estuary and lounged around by the pool.

A very relaxing afternoon – and happily (or not) – no cocodrilos in sight.

The Two Fools are back on the road!

This time, we are venturing South – way South – to Central America!  Our friends, Larry and Candy, have decamped for the winter to Costa Rica and have invited us to visit them.  We were ready for a new avventura so happily said “si”!

Larry is one of Frank’s best friends – such good friends, in fact, that the two of them visited Costa Rica themselves back in the day when they were bachelors. Little did they know that they would be back however many years later with amazing and beautiful wives in tow!

Our destination is Tamarindo, a beach town on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. We flew into San Jose – the biggest city – and booked a local flight on Nature Air.  At the ticket counter, the agent made each of us step on a scale (thankfully no one else could see the results – whew!).

Our plane was bigger than I thought – at least a dozen people, and off we went.  We flew over mountain ranges, a volcano, and jungles before descending into an expanse of brown fields.  No beach in sight.  Hmm . . .

At last we landed in the middle of one of these fields, with a longhorn cow looking at us thoughtfully. Everyone hopped out onto the grass, and two teen-agers ran out and started pulling luggage out of the nose of the plane.  Where were we?

It turns out the Tamarindo Airport is really an airstrip a few miles from the ocean – in the middle of a field. We were relieved to see Candy and Larry waving at us from the chain linked fence.  (We had assured them we could get a taxi from the airport ourselves – after all, we were world travelers.  Thankfully, they knew better.)  They herded us into the “terminal,” which is an open-air pavilion with a few benches and introduced us to their friend, a local who has a car and agreed to pick us up.

Our adventure has begun!

Editor’s Note: Frank and I are back home safe and sound. But we have a few more stories to tell, so we hope you will tune back in.  We will wrap up with some tips for traveling to Venice, as well as our favorite restaurants and “perfect day” in Venice.  Plus more about our next adventures . . . . .

But first – one of our best nights of the trip. We had dinner aboard the Jolly Roger pirate ship in the Venetian Lagoon.  When I booked this, I thought it sounded kind of kitschy but thought we’d still like it since we’d get a boat ride around the Lagoon, along with dinner.

Well – the big pirate ship pulled up and turned out to be one of our best meals. The main deck was set with candles (on a boat!) and buckets of Prosecco on each table.  A very nice start.

It looked like rain so they covered our deck with a tarp. And it was a little rocky – so much that one couple got off before we set sail.  But that made it all the more exciting to two sailors.  And away we went.

The kitchen did an amazing job – here’s how they kept the plates ready to be served. I may see if Frank will build one of these for our boat!

We had a 5 course meal that was as gourmet as they come, accompanied by as many bottles of wine as you wanted. When you got low, they just replaced your wine bucket with a fresh bottle.  (We had to be a little careful!)

We sailed all over the Lagoon – out to Burano and then by the Lido and finally back to Venice. At the end, the Jolly Roger paused with a nighttime view of St. Mark’s Square, served the final course, and played “Time to Say Goodbye” as lightning streaked the sky – wow!  What a night!

One of our favorite evening activities in Venice is sitting out under the stars on St. Mark’s Square listening to the dueling orchestras. The coffee bars around the square each have their own multi-piece orchestras that play opera, show tunes, classical pieces, and traditional Italian favorites.  We love walking around and listening – and even dancing right in the middle of the piazza.

Our favorite is Caffe Florian. The Florian has been elegantly serving espresso and aperitivo to Venetians since 1720 and was a regular favorite of luminaries such as Casanova, Lord Byron, and Charles Dickens.  It is simply magical.

My parents introduced me to the Florian – they have shared a dance or two in St. Mark’s Square as the orchestra played.

When I came back with Frank, I took him. We loved it so much that, when Frank and I eloped to Venice last year, we had our first wedding toast there.  My family arranged it all.  My mother and sister even sent the napkins from their wedding so we could feel like they were with us in spirit.

So – Frank and I had “date night” and returned to our special place. As soon as we sat down, the orchestra started playing “When the Saints Go Marching In.”  A perfect song for a Southern girl.  I couldn’t believe it – it took everything I had not to jump up and wave my napkin!  (My mother thinks they recognized me, but I’m not sure that’s true.)

We cheered, and they played “New York, New York” – Frank’s hometown. They also played “That’s Amore,” the song we danced to on our wedding day.

We are leaving Venice soon and went back one last time. The orchestra struck up “Time to Say Goodbye” from Phantom of the Opera.  We had tears in our eyes as we sipped our limoncello.  What a wonderful Venetian tradition.

Yesterday, I posted about our cruise on Il Burchiello from Venice up the Brenta Canal to Padua. All along the way are stunning villas that were built by wealthy Venetians back in the day to escape the summer heat.  We were lucky enough to be able to dock at three of the most splendid.

Villa Foscari

This villa was built by Palladio (of architecture fame) in 1560. It was built for the daughter of a wealthy family who was having an amorous liaison disapproved of by her parents.  So they banished her to the villa, which is also referred to as Malcontenta.  We could not take pictures inside, but there are wonderful window seats for reading overlooking the garden.  Not a bad life.  (The villa is still privately owned – the owners live on the top floor!)

Villa Wildman

This villa, dating to 1719, also is still privately held. When we pulled up, the gates were padlocked.  Our guide called and someone came out and opened it just for us.  They had marvelous Murano chandeliers and a little ballroom that was just perfect, with a balcony all around.

They also had a gameroom with a dominoes table set up. I took this picture for my Texas family – they are passionate about dominoes.

Villa Pisani

This 18^th century villa was the largest and most extravagant one we saw.  The Pisani family was one of Venice’s most prominent.  When one of their relatives was elected Doge (like the President of Venice), they commissioned this over-the-top villa, which took 25 years to complete.

Here is Frank at the front door, flanked by very large statues.

The billiard room and ballroom were really amazing – the ceiling is by Tiepolo.

The villa was so nice that even Napoleon decided to buy it in 1807. Here’s a picture of his bedroom – complete with monogrammed bed.

The gardens were also fabulous.  And another piece of history – Villa Pisani was the site of the first meeting between Hitler and Mussolini.

***

Dazzled by all that we had seen, we slowly made our way up the rest of the canal. Our boat let us off at the Padua city gates, where we caught the city bus back to Venice (about 45 minutes).

We would highly recommend this outing, especially if you have already seen other highlights of Venice. We spent a day on a boat with beautiful scenery, were treated to a delicious lunch, and learned a little history – a delightful day.