Beach Bumming and Mel Gibson

What a night! And another morning we can sleep in and enjoy a late breakfast, but the sad part was we had to say good bye.  Most of the wedding guests were leaving today.  One the bright side, there were 8 of us who were all heading to Manual Antonio tomorrow.

After breakfast, we packed our bags and say goodbye to Villas Hermosa and moved into a hotel in town for just tonight.  This was going to be an uneventful party recovery day.  We hung out at the beach at Tropico Latino hotel for the rest of the day.  We didn't want to move and even inquired if we could have our dinner on the beach.  When the restaurant said no, we reluctantly moved our bodies 20 feet inland to their dining table.

Tropico Latino's inhouse restaurant was called Shambala. There were not too many guests tonight. Drinks and appetizers were order, then I gasped and blurred out loudly "I think that is Mel Gibson.  OMG, that is definitely Mel Gibson". I was certain he heard me saying his name, probably really annoyed.  I have always wondered if I was a paparazzi in my previous life.  I have an eagle eye for celebrities and have spotted many in Vancouver including in a dark movie theatre.  My table mates didn't believe me at first.  But I was sure, bushy white and grey beard or not!  Mr. Gibson was with a little girl who could've been his daughter, a couple of ladies and an older gentleman.  It all looked like a family dinner.  Our group carried on with our dinner and didn't disturb Mr. Gibson.  In fact, the entire restaurant didn't bother them.  The excited wait staff was a little too giggly though.

The one thing that would fail me as a paparazzi was I don't like going up to a celebrity to ask for autograph or picture, especially if he or she was with their family. That is why I have no picture to prove Mel Gibson was there and ate 10 feet away from me.

So much for an uneventful day!

Beach Wedding

Today is wedding day eve. Although we didn't have a crazy late night out, I slept in.  One of the benefit of traveling without Drake.  I rolled into breakfast just before ten.  Watermelon, Gallo Pinto (rice and beans), and eggs with hot sauce - breakfast of champions.  The bride and I hung out on the beach for a little while before heading into town for her manicure, hair, and makeup trial.

The salon was located in the new strip mall according to directions.  We nearly miss it.  It was a very tiny strip with about 5 store front.  Two were occupied.  The salon shared the space with a very cute clothing boutique.  Its owner was French who has fabulous taste. As I waited for the Bride to do her thing with the hairdresser, the other bridesmaid and I browsed the racks.  I was very lucky everything sold there only came in XS and S.  The other bridesmaid was not so lucky.  She did some damage to her wallet.

During our first hour in the salon the electricity went out.  By hour two we were getting a little delirious from the heat.  Thank God, by hour three the AC came back on.  By the time we returned to Villas Hermosa, Greg had arrived from Vancouver.  The groom and his boys were on their bachelor party in Jaco came back too.  It seemed like they had a great time.  Hmm... I felt even more guilty.

We did a quick rehearsal on the beach around 4PM.  Then we were off to rehearsal dinner at Brisas del Mar.  This restaurant was located high above everything in area with an unobstructed view of the ocean.  The road leading up to it was steep when the taxi backed up I thought we were rolling backwards and let out a high pitch squeal.  Not my finest moment.  We sat down on the patio just before the spectacular sunset.  The menu of cerviche and seared tuna were delicious and the company was even more delicious.  This was going to be an awesome wedding.

We all went to bed early tonight.

The wedding day! The ladies got up early to get ready, but nothing was frantic.  We took our time.  It was all relaxing until it was show time.  The bride and groom took their wedding photos before the ceremony.  As the maid of honour, I followed the bride around holding her dress.  Actually, most of the time I was hiding behind trees to make sure I didn't photobomb their romantic wedding photos.

The bride looked truly ravishing, like a movie star.  The groom looked very handsome in his custom made linen suit.  A pair to be envied for sure.

I have been to many weddings before but this was my first beach wedding.  I walked out to 20 some wedding guests in bare feet decked out in foot jewelry.

 
Held on the beach under a small bamboo arch and performed by bride and groom's friends, the ceremony was short, sweet, and witty.  The stunning ocean backdrop was exactly how one would imagine a beach wedding would look like. 

  

Cocktail hour was followed by the ceremony which coincided with sunset.  As night fall hit, the lights and candles illuminated the beach. Yes, the reception was on the beach too. 

I survived the speech portion of the night and ate my way through the midnight table full of coconut mango cake and empanadas.  Maybe this was really cliche to say but I felt I was in a movie. Next to a massive bonfire, we danced the night away.  My only complain was I was really hot.  All the dancing didn't help.  I had occasionally go into the villas to get some AC and the first chance I got I changed into my shorts and tank top.

A Girl's Day Out

The wedding booked out all of the 4 villas Villas Hermosa had to offer. We had the whole property (including the POOL) to ourselves. The villas were owned by Tara and Brad from Calgary who also lived on the property. So ok, besides them, their two kids and three dogs, we had the whole property to ourselves.

The first day of my arrival, after dinner and Skyping with Drake I was in bed by 9PM (Vancouver time 7PM). 7:30AM the next day was the bachelorette party I had organized for the bride as one of my Maid of Honour duties. We got shuttled off to Montezuma and then a boat ride to Tortuga Island for a day of snorkelling and beach time. The all day tour cost $55 USD per person plus $15 USD for transportation with the Zuma Tours (zumatours.com). We were total of 6 girls and negotiated a 10% off deal.

We started with two back-to-back snorkeling swims around the smaller islands surrounds Tortuga Island. I saw a lot of fish, but the water was not the clearest I have seen. The most exciting thing I saw was a small spotted sting ray. After the Great Barrier Reef, nothing can really compare to be honest. Between snorkeling, we were fed pineapple and watermelon. Oh yeah, beers were included.

We headed to Tortuga Island for lunch after snorkeling. Lunch was the usual local fair of rice and beans with fish. The fish was overcooked, but still tasty since we were all exerted from all that swimming around looking at fishes. The crew cut up a really old coconut as "dessert". I absolutely love coconut, so I didn't mind.

After lunch the girls frolicked in the bath water like ocean and sunbathed on the white sandy beach. It was surprising how tiring a day in the sun can be though. By the time we headed back to our villas at 4PM we were ready for another nap in the comfortable air conditioned rooms. No nap for me, I was scrambling trying to figure out our night out on the town. I also had not thought about Drake too much expect for when I stared at a little boy running around Tortuga beach. I can almost hear Greg saying to me: stop being creepy.

Flora Blanca was a beautifully hidden restaurant. In fact, I find most restaurants and hotels in this area had very unassuming facade with a "I wonder what's down there" brushed stone path. Then viola! There was a wooden rustic ranch style outdoor eating oasis next to a mosaic pool. The menu was tapa style. We shared about 8 dishes amongst about 9 girls. I was surprisingly full considering I had about 1 or 2 bites of maybe 6 or 7 dishes.

We wrapped up dinner. Now it was time to really time to party! It was a bachelorette party after all. I had been really really nervous about this part of the night. Me and the other bridesmaids emailed and asked around where was a good place to party on this fine Friday night and we got many different answers. The internet said Day and Night Beach Club, but Tara told us it was shut downtown long time ago. Some said Kika a restaurant bar, but it was only popular on Thursdays. We were also told party locations sometimes move around. Brad said we could try the La Lora. We even asked about "male entertainment". Brad laughed and said the guy named Gustavo who owns La Lora was it. Gustavo was apparently a very muscular stalky man. The whole thing was really weird. We were starting to realize, Santa Teresa was more known for it's yoga retreats and laid back attitude. People don't come here looking for wild night life.

But this was a Friday night after all! I refused to believe there was nothing going on. We decided to hit up La Lora first. Who knows maybe we will run into Gustavo. It was a only a short ten minute walk. We could hear the music blasting as we approached. The dark and seedy entrance of the club was looking very lonely and only trolled by a couple of taxi drivers. They hollered at us "taxi, you need a taxi?" This was not a scene of a happening club. We circled and contemplated what to do. Then three American guys walked out. We asked them how it was in there, they laughed and there was no one in there but they were very interested in hanging with a gaggle of 9 women. "But it is all what you make it of it. We can set the tone!" they hopefully suggested. We were not interested in setting any tones. I actually didn't think they were slimy guys, I think they were equally disappointed as us at the none existing night life.

We decided to move on and continue to walk down the main road (the only road). It was midnight. The road was dead, no one was walking on it just the occasional taxi zipping by, kicking up dust in our faces. This was definitely a scene from a comedy movie. There was no point eating any more dust, we got a friend to come and pick us up. At this point we had also lost half of our crew citing tiredness. As our final effort we drove down further down the road and through the other end of town. There was nothing, only a guy sitting in the dark by the beach with his pack of beers. I felt like a failure as the maid of honour.  We had to call it a night.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Mal Pais, Santa Teresa

Road to Santa Teresa

My flight to San Jose, Costa Rica ended up landed early and customs was very quick as well as luggage pick up.  I needed to wait around for my two friends who were arriving from Guatemala and then we immediately caught a taxi to the Airport Denny's where we would be catching our shuttle. I know, who'd have thought?  The taxi driver told us there were actually two Denny's in San Jose, the other one was downtown.

The taxi was $3USD.  The US dollar is widely accepted here, especially on the tourist path. I didn't exchange any Costa Rica currency which were called Colones and had no idea what was the exchange rate was.  We waited for our shuttle bus at Denny's to go to Mal Pais, Santa Teresa on the west coast of Costa Rica where the wedding is taking place.  A domestic flight from Sansa Air or Nature Air to Tambor Airport would've taken only about half hour with another 45 minute taxi ride to Santa Teresa which would have cost about another $50 USD.  My shuttle cost me $59 USD (booked on anywherecostarica.com) and was about 5 to 6 hours. I won't be getting a lot of time in Santa Teresa so the ride will have to count as one of my sight seeing activities, especially since the ride also included an one hour ferry ride.  Works for me.

The shuttle van picked us up at around 8:45AM.  It was a comfortable 10 person van with air conditioning. My friends and I got shuffled around and separated into various different vans enroute before reaching the ferry. Our driver hopped out to get us ferry tickets. When he hopped back in, I was handed a ferry ticket valued at 800 Colones ($1.5USD). They must make a killing on these shuttle runs, I thought to myself.

I was reunited with my friends at the Puntarenas ferry entrance. We collected our luggage and boarded the ferry just before 11AM. On the ferry we immediately spotted quite a few familiar faces.  We had met up more than half of the wedding including the bride and groom.  The boat had a similar setup (but less than half of the size) to the Vancouver to Nanaimo ferry boats of which vehicles were stored on the bottom levels and passengers traveled on upper decks.  It was packed with tourists and locals alike. We sat at the back by the bar that was blasting loud mix of top 40 and reggaeton.  The sun was hot and the party has officially started. 

I was a bit mopey though.  There were quite a few kids running around including a few that was similar in age to Drake. I could've brought Drake, I threw my hands up and complained to whoever was sitting next to me.  I really needed to snap out of it and stop being a party pooper. I was in paradise and I need to enjoy my surrounding. The scenery was actually very similar to the Strait of Georgia. 

When we reached the Paquera on the other side I was suppose to board another van to continue my journey to Santa Teresa, but the bride and groom had a private van and offered me a ride.

Unlike the previous side, the road was pretty bumpy and dusty. It was a minor reminder of the Old Coach road in Australia. We arrived at Villas Hermosa our final destination just before 2PM. After almost 24 hours of travel I was exhausted and hot, but the hammock was strung up directly outside my room and I haven't even met the ocean located 200 meters away so I was excited about my next 10 days.