Honeymoon Summary- Staying Healthy While on Vacation

As my last vacation post, I wanted to touch on what we did to stay healthy on vacation. As a new wife/former bride, I had spent the last year (and realistically, the last 10 years) trying to take care of my body and maintain a weightloss. I looked forward to the trip, but I did not look forward to undoing all the hard work I had done over the last year. My hubby is also healthy and shares a similar philosophy on health while traveling.



Here are some of the tips that worked for us while on vacation:

Tip #1- Walk, walk, and walk some more- the best way to get to know a new place is to explore it by foot. You get some exercise and you get to see the locals. Here are some of our favorite walks of the trip:

In the town of Jaco~

Some cool sidewalks we saw near the oxcart factory~

Walking the hanging bridges~

A rewarding view after a walk~

Tip #2- Take advantage of the physical activities while on vacation-
We were able to enjoy some active time by swimming at the beach, surfing, and ziplining! You get to try new things, and you also burn the energy from some of the new foods you get to try!

















Tip #3- Eat like you eat when you are at home- It's ok to indulge when you are on vacation- and I fully encourage it- as long as the food is worth it. We found that most of the desserts offered on our trip were crappy, so we didn't eat them. Also, after a consecutive week of rice and beans, I was bored, so I stuck to something else. It was also fun to try new drinks and juices we have never had before.


When I wanted to try something, I shared with my husband (which I'm sure he hated) and it allowed me to have a little of everything. If I wanted chocolate, it was all mine.


Eating Spanish food~




Having some drinks~




Trying a whole lychee~




Eating Rice and Beans, and Beans and Rice~







Tip #4- Take it easy! We spend so much of our lives stressing out, so don't do the same. Leave your watch at home, and take naps. Stress makes you fat!





I have really enjoyed looking back at our trip. I'm so sad it's over, but looking forward to many more trips together!

Pura Vida- Part 3

The best part of our vacation started when we go to the pier and bought fresh coconuts and ice cream. We were about to get on this boat with our 36 new best friends to travel to the town of Tortuguero and do some 'luxury' camping.

Once on the boat, we put on these fashionable vests and were off on the canals. Our trip took about 90 minutes by boat, all the while looking out for birds, alligators, and monkeys. The Carribbean coast of Costa Rica was much more humid and had a lot of new creatures for us to meet.

Once we got to our destination, we checked into our little cabin and hubby relaxed on the rocking chair outside. We had no air conditioning in the room and no TV, so there was nothing to do but go to sleep and enjoy the cricket sounds- once we got this unwelcome roomie out of our room.

The next morning, our alarm clock came in the form of these little guys. Do you see the howler monkeys on the top of the branch? They scream like crazy and it was really fun to see them hop from tree to tree right outside of our room.

We were also really excited to see the giant iguana on our walk around the property. We asked the hotel staff to take our picture with him, but he's hiding:

There he is:

Later that day we took another boat ride and saw this cute turtle along with more animals. It was really great to explore Costa Rica along the canals and swim up right along the animals. It seemed like we were the visitors in their habitat and they did not seem to care that we were around. It was also great to be in a country that values the environment and conservation so much- something that we can all learn from.

Later that evening, we had the special treat of watching a Costa Rican Independence Day parade in the small town of Tortuguero. The town is right along the water and there is not a single car there. All of the school children made lanterns for Independence Day and put on a parade for the entire community. The kids were so adorable and wore their uniforms and were so proud of their lanterns!

We also walked to find the beautiful Atlantic Ocean when we were in Tortuguero and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the ocean at night....typical honeymoon picture!

Pura Vida- Part 2!

Pura Vida

When we were in Costa Rica, we learned the phrase 'Pura Vida'! According to Wikipedia, the phrase is quite popular and is defined below:


"... literally translated means "Pure Life" but means contextually something approximate to "Full of Life", "Purified life", "This is living!", "Going great", or "Cool!" It can be used as a greeting, as a word of farewell, to express satisfaction, and in some instances to politely express indifference when describing something. The phrase has become widely known; this highly flexible statement is used by many Costa Ricans (and expatriates) since 1956. Some foreigners view the phrase as an expression of a leisurely lifestyle, of disregard for time and wanton friendliness. However, Costa Ricans use the phrase to express something akin to a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, resilience in overcoming difficulties with good spirits, and enjoying life slowly and celebrating good fortune of magnitudes small and large alike."


When we were in Costa Rica, everyone said this- adults, kids, tourists, street signs. It was really nice to travel to a laid-back culture after the rush, rush, rush of our daily lives.


We continued on our journey to lunch later that day and got to see a traditional folklore performance before we sat down to eat some lunch. I don't remember what we ate, but it included rice and beans!





After lunch we stepped outside to take some pictures with the beautiful landscape and of course captured our new rings. My ring is 35 years old this year- and my mom's original wedding band.





As we drove through the country to our next destination, we were amazed at all the
B-A-N-A-N-A-S growing along the road. We have been looking at the labels of bananas in grocery stores ever since, but most are from Guatemala and Ecuador around here in Cali. Costa Rica is a huge exporter of bananas and this is how they grow- right in these blue plastic bags. The bags are recycled over and over again:







The following day, we continued our trip out towards the Atlantic Coast and stopped to take an aerial tram. We traveled above tall trees and looked at birds, plants, and the amazing views. Our tour guide pointed out wildlife all over. It all kinda blurred together, but we had never seen anything like this!





After the tram, we went on a 45-minute wildlife tour. We saw some snakes, lizards, and endless plants. We also carried this awesome plastic bag with bug spray and stuff that we didn't want to get wet and muggy. By 'we' I mean the husband lugged this around all afternoon.





See ya for the next part!

Pura Vida- Part 1!

Hola Bellas and Fella (I know husband is secretly reading, but won't say hi!)

We took a short 3-hour flight into San Jose, Costa Rica and walked out into a cloudy day in this bustling city. I'm not quite sure what we were expecting, but San Jose wasn't it! We walked around on our own and stopped to admire their parks. The parks here reminded us of the parks we saw in Eastern Europe last summer.

The next morning, we woke up to a big breakfast spread in our hotel. Hubby modeled with his omelet, rice and beans, yogurt, and misc. items. I enjoyed some fresh papaya, granola, and yogurt. Of course, we had copious amounts of Costa Rican coffee!

Our next stop was the Poas Volcano. We got on our tour bus and rode straight up to see this beauty:

The views were breathtaking- along with the elevation. We walked up to see the rest of the trail and had to fight for oxygen at 8,900 feet, but it was worth the hike through the cloud forest.

Once we finished our hike, it was back to the tour bus to get to lunch. Here was our home for a great part of the 10 days we were there. It was really comfortable, but we were glad to be out of the bus and explore!

Another honeymoon note- we took a tour through Costa Rica so that we could see as much as possible. While most honeymooners like to stay at a hotel and stare at each other, we wanted to do that (the staring part) along with having as many new experiences together as possible. As a result, we shared our honeymoon with 35 senior citizens (seriously) and a lovely Costa Rican tour guide.

Ciao!

Honeymoon Recap - Miami Part 2!

After we left our new friends, we went to South Beach to stay in our swanky hotel on Collins Avenue. I loved all the white buildings and uplighting- so swanky!

We were right in the middle of everything and once we got properly dressed, a picture was in order- along with our first drink of the trip! Mike enjoyed a Long Island and I had a Vodka Soda with extra lime!

Next we walked to dinner. Miami has a lot to offer in terms of food options and we decided to try out some Cuban food. I went with a shrimp cocktail with veggies on the side (ok, not very cuban, but the shrimp had lime in it) and the hubby went with some beef, rice and plantains. There wasn't a good picture of this, but we both enjoyed it!

The next day, we started off bright and early with a tour of the city. We stopped by the Historic Biltmore Hotel and snapped a picture.

We rode along to Miami's Little Havana district and checked out some cute older Cuban gentlemen playing chess and even got a Cuban Coffee. Mike and I were blown away from it- it was amazing! We were coffee buzzed for the next 6 hours! Here is the definition from Wikipedia:

"Cuban coffee (café cubano, Cuban espresso, cafecito, Cuban pull, Cuban shot) is a type of espresso which originated in Cuba after espresso machines were first imported there from Italy. Specifically, it refers to an espresso shot which is sweetened with sugar as it is being brewed, but the name covers other drinks that use Cuban espresso as their base. Drinking café cubano remains a prominent social and cultural activity within Cuba as well as the expatriate community."

Next we took a boat ride along downtown and got a nice view of the skyline. We also got to see some celebrity mansions along the way. I felt kinda like a stalker, but now I know where Shakira lives!

After our long day, we walked over to get some dinner. I forgot the name of the outdoor cafe, but it reminded both of us of a Spring Break vibe. It was outdoors with a stage, pool, and lots of drink specials. We shared some mojitos and had the most amazing meal:

Servers are so not good at taking blog-friendly pictures! We had ahi tuna sliders with Asian Chicken salad- amazing! This was our best meal of the entire trip as we learned the Costa Rica is not known for its cuisine!

Stay tuned for our first couple of days in Costa Rica!

Honeymoon Recap- Miami- Part 1!

I'm making an attempt at getting things back to normal and finding new hobbies unrelated to the wedding that took over my life for the last 12 months! As I get my thoughts in order, I decided to start with a recap of our honeymoon. We went to Miami and Costa Rica for a total of two blissful weeks and I'll start with Miami first!

My first impression when we got there was hot, humid, and muggy! I seriously don't know how people function much beyond getting to the beach and home in this city. We started our trip with a day trip to the Everglades to explore some wildlife and the inevitable summer rain. We took an airboat and a swamp buggy and saw some cool animals (not too many alligators in the San Francisco Bay Area) and enjoyed our time together.

After the buggy ride, we got stuck in a rainstorm. We walking into the cafe and had our pick of the typical theme park foods. I picked a nice salad bar, but my hubby (love saying that!) suggested something a little more adventurous. What you see below are alligator nuggets. Now, I don't eat red meat (more on that later) but I don't think alligator qualifies.

These things were fried like McDonald's chicken nuggets and tasted like...well, chicken. I would say it tasted like a mix between chicken and fish and quite enjoyed them dipped in BBQ sauce! I love trying new things on vacation and there were many other new experiences on our trip!

What is the strangest food you have eaten?

Mine is definitely alligator.

See ya'll later!