Good Weekend...Bummer of a Day

So this weekend was filled with movies, family and new people. Being that the Oscars were on Sunday I decided I wanted to see a couple more nominees before the show...so that I would be in the know about all the hype. :)

Other than that, not alot has been going on besides work.

There Will Be Blood ...Awesome...but harsh!

Atonement...very good as well...but not what I expected.

U23D...FREAKIN' AWESOME!!! ...ya just gotta see it to know what I'm talking about :)

Saturday...Got to have dinner with my sisters and bros, niece and mi abuelita de Mexico...always glad to see them.

Sunday...lunch with Momma, Kellie & Alizabeth at The Purple Cow...good stuff :)

Monday...Jason KIDD made a pretty darn good home debut for the Mavs...hopefully we can keep on rolling in the right direction...

But today I found out (by 4 friends/coworkers) that my favorite Dallas Star, Jussi Jokkinen, was traded to Tampa Bay...Helsinki South is disappearing, 2 of my 4 Fins are now gone... :(

Pura Vida! Part 7 (The Final Part!)

Sunday 1.3.08
My last day at Vista Guapa :(
This means the last time I see the amazing sunrise from my room... ...and the last amazing breakfast I'll have this time around at Vista Guapa. Off to Jaco Beach for one last go of it.
Just as I was actually getting good again...my surfing was over. :(
Back to camp for one last pool session. I'm sooo not ready too leave and I wanna fit as much as I can in today. I sit in the hammock and wait for THE VAN to come pick me up once again. But this time it's not for hang gliding. This time I headed back to Hermosa and went for a ride in an Air Cam.
This is a twin engine, open air, ultralight plane that was specifically designed for National Geographic for filming and photography.
Once again you'll notice, nothing really scares me these days...
Basically it's a very cool ride that gets you low and close to nature! :)
Look Ma, No hands!
Land, Sea, Air...I wanna do it all!

Back to Camp for one last fabulous massage and shower. Did I mention that today is Super Bowl Sunday. (whoop ti doo) So I got back down the hill and along with the best Barbecue EVER...we watched the Giants beat the Patriots...en espanol. :) Although I despise several fans of the Giants and so wanted them to loose...The Patriots loosing after a "perfect" season made me feel slightly better about the Mavs in the playoffs last year, and the Finals the year before. :)

The halftime show introduced Jorge to Tom Petty...not really a fan...likes his music a little bit harder...and younger. ;) After an amazing dessert, courtesy of Marisol, I said my goodbyes and hugs to all and headed back up to pack and try to sleep. So now it's 4am and I'm here writing this and waiting for my ride back to San Jose to get on a plane that will return me home to Dallas...Overall, this was just an amazing trip...no wait... experience.

Pura Vida!

Pura Vida! Part 6 (I promise I'm almost done)

Saturday 2.2.08
This morning at breakfast we said goodbye to Joe, Tom & Laurie...they are super great people! Ricky, Jacki, Terry and I hung around camp until it was Surfin' Time at 10.
Here's one of the camp's many sweet dogs...what? ;)
And Ricky gettin' some love from another one...
And Alberto's Bronco...okay, so I got a little picture happy :)
So I've mentioned buying a ton of water this week...but did you know it's Cristal? That's right...That's How We Roll here at VistaGuapa!
Another good day of wave catchin'...
...you would think if you saw someone coming toward you on a surfboard...you would move right? Apparently that is not how the family reacted when I nearly took 'em out on my last ride. I bailed but the 10 ft board attached to the 10ft leash kept goin'. Doh!
After a couple hours Mark met up with us on the beach and the 5 of us headed to...
where we...Once again good strawberry margaritas, huge quesadillas, and good beer (so i assume)...we're still waiting on Jacki's chip and salsa though ;)
We then headed into town and it was ridiculously HOT! Not complaining, just sayin'. We stopped in to Chuck's surf shop and met/listened to "the self-proclaimed mayor of Jaco," Chuck, and how he is singlehandedly saving Jaco, for about 20 mins as Ricky was being growled at by his dogs. lol Finally we caught a cab and amazing fit all 5 of us in there back to camp. Ricky and I hit the pool for some refreshment and then laughed all the way up the hill about "Mayor" Chuck. (we're terrible lol)

...Shower and 2 hour nap...love it! Up at 6 just in time for the Reggaeton to begin!!
Back to Jaco Taco for dinner for shrimp and Pineapple Juice (yum! have I mentioned how great Jaco Taco is? lol) We had 4 new campers that night 3 chicks and a guy from Italy. Good times.

Back to camp...but this time "our" road in front of VistaGuapa was so packed with, what seemed like millons, of cars! We got up the hill just in time for Daddy Yankee (the headliner/an artist i dig) to come on and he played for the next 2 hours...lights flashing and all...it was like I was there or had my own private concert in my hammock without the thousands of sweaty people! :) This was definitely an "added bonus" night for me!

Oh! And when i got back to my door there were 2 CDs left for me by Edwin...he thought I needed to add some Marenge and Salsa to my ipod...too sweet!

Pur Vida! Part 5

Friday 2.1.08
We didn't hit the waves until 8:30 but I still woke up around 6...no worries though it was a gorgeous mornin' and I got to watch the crew at the field below our hill begin to set up for the Reggaeton Music Festival tomorrow...I guess those guys at the airport knew what they were talking about ;) Breakfast before surfing today.
The ollas (waves...thanks Edwin) were great today. I caught quite a few...just getting the hang of it again ...
Back to the pool for about 3 hours...who knew that Smirnoff Ice came in a can? :)
Shower and siesta in the hammock as the sun was setting. Perfecto! I was even motivated to straighten my hair this night. Laurie & Jacki showed off their new skirts...
and Tom rocked his new shirt...
On to the Jungle Surf Cafe for dinner. This was a good night. I even tried the Mahi Mahi...it wasn't that bad actually lol And the brownie sundae that Tom, Joe and I shared ROCKED! lol
We had a champagne toast to Joe , Tom & Laurie's last night in Costa Rica...and to Wendy. lol We also had a guest join us..the Mantis...I think Tom was still hungry? ;)
We then headed to the beach for a bonfire! Jacki showed us her "mad" survivor skillz...
...we learned how many men it actually does take to start a fire...
...and Joe supervised. :)
Durby got the fire going...
Terry David decided to play with the fire...
that may fall...watch out Ricky (laying on the beach behind it)


Wonderful night!

Pura Vida! Part 4

Thursday 1.31.08
It's the last day of January and I can't believe that I'm in the ocean and toasty brown!! :)
Today I caught several waves, but perhaps the most fun was the one I rode in sitting down. (wish I had a picture of this lol)...it was so not what I was going for, but I still "rode" it. We stopped at the Maxibodega to stock up on the essentials of water and gatorade. While in line Joe and I noticed some interesting products for sell that aren't in the states as well. Funny thing today though, (I must be getting darker) I got to the register and the dude asked me in Spanish if I had a Maxibodega Card (think Albertson's Card) I said no as I pulled out my American Dollars. :)
Then breakfast (switched it up a bit with toastada franceas...so good), the pool, shower and nap...such a hard routine to get used to ;)
So 3 of the guests went to do the zip line through the canopy. As I did this last year, I opted for HangGliding! So this van pulls up to the camp... ...and this 6ft + no shirt, no shoes, dreads and beard down to there, Hippee stepped out and said his name was Pete. He was very cool and from Virgina by way of Colorado.
We got strapped in a ready to go and the plane that's towing us takes off and all of a sudden the rope breaks. Am I crazy that this didn't bother me in the least? Thing is we weren't even off the ground or moving yet so there was no worries. Take Two! And we were up, up and away!
After a few minutes Pete let disconnected the rope attaching us to the plane (on purpose this time) and we were on our own soaring. So COOL!!! We took off from a Wetermelon patch (of all things)
and went over a place called Puntamala...home of about a hundred sharks! Crazy!"Wild" Pete then let me drive and spin us for a bit. Then came the landing...totally looks like you're gonna crash into the ground...but obviously, this did not happen...well rolled to a nice smooth stop. Thanks Pete! :0) Check out the view from up there... Glorious!Back to camp to shower *i do this about 3 times a day...nothing like feeling clean after being all dirty and sandy. :) Tonight was a good ipod night. I know this sounds silly but as I was laying my my hammock watching geckos control the insect population, the ipod was on shuffle and all the songs that came through seemed to fit the mood perfectly! (we already know i'm a dork)
Off to dinner at Juanitas...the drink of choice for most of are crew was Imperial, Costa Rican beer.I myself went with the blackberry soda...so good! This time I tried the steak...not a fan but the place was awesomely located. We could here the waves crashing right next to us. Edwin got the fish...a whole fish! With eyes and ALL!! When he noticed I was kinda freaking out about that, he covered the eyes for me...Thanks Memo!The crew at dinner...Mark & Ricky joined the Camp tonight...more good people...Gotta Love That!!!Back to Camp and we did our "Bucket Lists" on the porch with tunes by me in the background. Buenas Noches.