Behind the Scenes of My Costa Rica Holiday

We work to pay bills and live our lives. When we’re lucky, there’s extra money left to buy new clothes, furniture, homes, cars, or whatever you like spending money on.

I live a simple, no frills life, so I spend my money on traveling when I can.

After vaccinations became available and a majority of Americans protected themselves against the Covid-19 pandemic (before the Omicron strain stressed us out), I jetted off to Greece for my birthday in October 2021. It was amazing, even without seeing the gorgeous beaches (I’ll have to watch “Mamma Mia” again for that!)

Once I got back, a great deal on a trip to Costa Rica presented itself, so I booked it.

I didn’t get to mark another continent off my list since Costa Rica is in Central America. As for continents, four down (North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa) and three to go (Australia, Antarctica, and South America). For the record, Antarctica won’t happen and the other two are unlikely!

A couple of weeks ago, I added that new stamp to my passport!

While you may have seen some of the pictures, here are some stories behind those photos — one is scary (and hilarious) from my last night in the country!!!! 🙂

The Wikipedia page on Costa Rica perfectly sums up the country in a soundbite: “Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Though its capital, San Jose, is home to cultural institutions like the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, teeming with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds.”

Surprisingly, because some people are loud when they should be quiet in nature, I did snap a few pictures of spider monkeys in the wild in the Arenal Volcano National Park…

and a cute little White-Nosed Coatimundi.

I posted that description of Costa Rica because it plays a big role in the beauty, yet the frustration of traveling there.

My Gate 1 Travel trip was the “9 Day Kaleidoscope of Costa Rica with Guanacaste”, which was a step up from the “7 Day Classic Costa Rica”. And, I’m so glad I did that because the two days in Guanacaste (Tamarindo) was definitely worth it for the gorgeous hotel, my room and balcony, and the Pacific Ocean sunsets.

However, of that “9 Day” trip, two were travel days, which were exhausting. Heading there, I drove an hour from Decatur to the airport in Bloomington, Illinois, for the first of three flights! It was a short flight to Chicago, three hours of sit time, then a three-hour flight to Miami, sitting three more hours, and then the final three hour flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.

The return trip was just as long: driving to the airport in San Jose, sitting three hours, a three-hour flight to Miami, trying to get through U.S. Customs in less than two hours to catch a three-plus-hour flight to Dallas. Once there, five hours of sitting before the flight to Bloomington, Illinois, and then the one hour drive home!

But, it was worth it to see Costa Rica. Here’s some of that biodiversity!

I absolutely love taking photos and the one below is one of my favorites. While the church in Zarcero was gorgeous, this is what captured my eye and my imagination!

In my travels, I’ve often talked about how much I love, love, love Mediterranean food and, especially, Mediterranean breakfasts.

This one is from Tel Aviv, Israel…

and, this one is from Greece.

Well, Costa Rican breakfasts are much simpler. One interesting staple of the diet there, even at breakfast, is beans and rice!

While I love beans and I love rice, I don’t eat them too often at home. But, since it’s part of the diet in Costa Rica, I had beans and rice each morning with my eggs. Also, the papaya was incredible!

My favorite meal there was a sea bass, which was preceded by a delicious shrimp and lobster bisque, and followed by pineapple cheesecake.

My favorite dessert was raspberry panna cotta, which came after a tasty Greek salad, and salmon with pesto linguine, my second favorite meal.

Costa Rica was my sixth trip with Gate 1 Travel. The other five were a Danube River cruise (2013), Scandinavia (2017), Morocco (2018), Bangkok, Thailand (2019), and Greece (2021). (My 2016 China trip was through another company and my 50th birthday excursion to Paris, France, and Tel Aviv, Israel was a trip I planned on my own.)

On many of these trips, I meet people that I’ve kept in touch with over the years! Hi Barbara, Maureen, Izzy, Katrina, Marcellus, Matt, Cortney, Shirley, and Robert.

In Costa Rica, I met four amazing people that I’ll be keeping in touch with from southern California. I spent most of my time socializing with Bill and Sandi…

and Kathy and Tim.

An interesting side note is that the four of them live within thirty miles of each other and Costa Rica brought them together!

The most scenic experience was the Arenal Volcano National Park, where I took this selfie.

One of coolest adventures was walking across eight hanging bridges, some of which were hundreds of feet long and hundreds of feet over the vast forest of trees.

Sadly, I was most disappointed with the Rio Frio River Boat Tour because of not seeing too many reptiles and creatures. We did see some small crocodiles, “Jesus Christ” lizards, birds, a sleeping sloth, and a few howler monkeys.

But, a stop for a bathroom break gave me the opportunity to see this beautiful macaw!

And, the flowers and plants were stunning. This was my favorite!

And, this one was the most intruiging!

One of the negatives to the trip was the horrible infrastructure. It took many hours to travel just a distance of 60-100 miles, and even longer in a large tour bus!

If you added up all the hours on the bus from one stop to another, we probably lost two to three days. But, we did see gorgeous landscapes along the way and sadly, forest fires that were burning up parts of Coast Rica.

One shocking (and interesting) thing I learned visiting the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum in San Jose on my last night in town was back in 1944, due to the fear of contagion from tuberculosis and leprosy, special currency was minted or pierced for internal use inside sanatoriums and leper asylums!

That’s just crazy!

But, there’s some justification to this paranoia. Almost a century before, in 1856, Costa Rica was under attack by a group of mercenaries led by American William Walker. Walker ended up dumping bodies into the wells which polluted the water supply. This caused a cholera outbreak that killed almost 10% of Costa Rica’s population (nearly 10,000 people)!

And, now that scary and funny story!

My trip started and ended in San Jose, the capital and most populous city (2.1 million of the country’s 5.1 million residents).

Since I had to get up at 2:30 a.m. for my return trip home, I went to bed around 9 p.m. While this may be TMI, it’s important to the story and adds the humor to it.

I sleep naked and usually I have my lounge wear on the bed with me. But, since it was a very early wake-up call, I had the clothes I was wearing home sitting out — across the room.

At 10:30 p.m., I woke up and I thought I heard a noise. I listened for a bit longer and I realized that someone had opened my door! In hotels, I always put the safety lock across the door and I’m so glad I did.

With the new visitors arriving at the hotel that evening, the reception desk must have programmed my room number onto the magnetic key for someone else.

Since I couldn’t reach my clothes, I yelled out, “Hello”, and I heard someone say, “There’s someone in there!”.

I’m totally convinced that it was a mistake downstairs and it scared them as much as it did me. If it had been burglars, I don’t think they would have responded and just left.

So, I almost had someone in my room, but not in the way I wanted! 🙂

Thank you for coming along to Costa Rica with me through this travelogue!

If you ever get a chance to visit the country, the people are very nice and it’ll make you appreciate all that you have even more.

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — March 4, 2022

Happy Friday, it’s March and spring is inching closer.

While I’ve shared four blogs with you over the past three months (my Christmas letter, my thoughts for the new year, my favorite movies I saw in 2021, and two secrets about life changes, so far, in 2022), I haven’t shared any “Random Friday Thoughts” since November 2021!

Well, let’s change that. Feel free to comment on any of my thoughts and if you disagree, that’s fine, just do it diplomatically.

MASK MANDATE CHANGES

As the Covid-19 pandemic rages on with hospitalizations and deaths, the infection positivity rates are falling across the U.S. and mask mandates are being dropped or changed.

While I know we need to move forward WITH CAUTION, I’m still going to wear my mask in stores and in places where I’ll be in close proximity with others.

I know this may sound crass, but if I wouldn’t have sex with you without protection, I don’t want you up in my stuff (my face) breathing or coughing on me without me wearing a mask!

Before 2020, I wouldn’t even have that about this, but life as we know it has changed.

LIFE CHANGES ALREADY IN 2022

Earlier, I talked about two life changes I’ve already made in 2022.

If you didn’t see the blog where I made the announcements, here’s the link (it should open in a new window):

https://anthonypeoples.wordpress.com/2022/02/26/two-secrets-to-share/

READY TO GET AWAY AND RELAX

In a few weeks, I’ll be jetting off for solitude in a part of the world I’ve never visited.

But, it’s still not one of three continents I’ve yet to visit — Antarctica, Australia, and South America.

I’m also ready to re-book the Cancun trip for me and my sister from last December that we had to cancel with her hospitalization.

And, finally, I booked one more trip for later in the year that just might be the last one before my passport expires in the spring of 2023!!!

“OZARK”

Don’t expect to make any plans with me the last weekend of April!

The incredible series “Ozark” concludes its four season run with what will surely be seven deadly, bloody episodes on April 29th!

While this is not really a “SPOILER ALERT” since none of us really know the answer, but who do you think is going to die? Who’s going to survive?

My guess is Wendy, played by one of my favorite actresses, Laura Linney, will bite the bullet!

I’d venture to say Ruth, too.

Okay, for those that are not caught up on “Ozark”, please don’t mention the name(s) of anyone that died in the first seven episodes of season 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“ALL OF US ARE DEAD”

Zombies are not for everyone.

I absolutely loved the first few seasons of “The Walking Dead”. I was totally over it by season nine. Once Andrew Lincoln “left” the series, I was done!

I really enjoyed the South Korean-coming of age zombie series, “All of Us Are Dead”, on Netflix.

Did it really need to be twelve episodes? Probably not, but I did enjoy the character development that the 12 hours allowed it.

I didn’t choose the option, but it played in English-dubbed dialogue and they did a great job with it.

GRADE: A

A THOUGHT ON MOVIES…

Why does it seem that most movies that used to run 90 minute to two hours are now closer to 2.5 hours long? The last three I watched were all that long!

Although I haven’t been to a theater to see a movie in two years, I definitely don’t want to sit for over two hours knowing that I’d have to nurse my Coke Zero because there’s no way I’m getting up to go to the bathroom and miss something!

And, what’s worse, I watch these long movies and think more about the “filler” that could have ended up on the cutting-room floor!

“HOUSE OF GUCCI”

I really enjoyed this Ridley Scott-directed crime thriller.

While snubbed for an Oscar nomination, Lady Gaga made the movie! (She was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice Award for best actress, even though I didn’t think she would/should won!)

She played Patricia Martinelli, a woman that married into the Gucci family. Gaga was an excellent villain, who became a jilted wife and then convicted criminal. You may already know what she did, but, if not, I won’t spoil it.

Adam Driver and Jeremy Irons were great in the movie, but Jared Leto’s character felt very comical and that has nothing to do with the crazy physical transformation he went through for the part.

GRADE: B+

LAS VEGAS

In 1905, Downtown and Fremont became the first mecca of Las Vegas. Highway 91 from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, officially outside the city limits, became known as the “Las Vegas Strip” (Las Vegas Boulevard).

Before the pandemic, Las Vegas buffets — by the numbers….

GEORGE WASHINGTON

• From their book on George Washington in “The American Presidents” series (2004), authors James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn: as a young man in his teens and 20s, the future first president was obsessed with fashion and designed his cavalry’s jackets. He often frowned upon the poor!

• He was elected to the House of Burgesses, the lower house of the colonial Virginia legislature, in 1759, at the age of 27. His party on Election Day for his 390 voters consisted of 160 gallons of rum, wine, beer, and punch.

• By the mid-1770s, after he married Martha, a wealthy young widow, and acquired Mount Vernon, his half brother, Lawrence’s estate in Virginia, they owned almost 200 slaves.

Next time, some even more startling revelations about Washington!

“LAST NIGHT IN SOHO”

I really enjoyed this Edgar Rice (“Baby Driver”) psychological thriller set in 1960s London.

The soundtrack, the fashion, and the bizarre storyline was great.

Anya Taylor-Joy was captivating and now I want to watch “The Queen’s Gambit” just to see more of her.

GRADE: B+

“NIGHTMARE ALLEY”

This is another one of those long movies I recently watched and after the first hour, I was thinking, “when will this become thrilling?”

That happened when Cate Blanchett arrived in the movie. (Now, the early scene with Bradley Cooper and Toni Collette definitely captured my attention, but it was for a reason unrelated to the movie. Let’s just say that it was a dime well spent!) 🙂

The last half of the movie redeemed the first half.

GRADE: C+

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — March 2, 2018

I know February is a short month, but it’s hard to believe that the first two months of 2018 are already behind us.

I hope you have a great weekend and thank you for taking the time to check out my random thoughts!

VACATIONS

It’s no secret that I love taking vacations.  I’ve often joked that I work for two reasons — to pay the bills and to travel.  Actually, it’s no joke!

Last year, my big trip was to Scandinavia — Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

However, some Americans are afraid to take their earned time off.

One poll shows that 22% skip vacations because they don’t want to be seen as replaceable and 28% want to show dedication to work by not taking vacations.

F(orget) that!!!!!!!!!!  If I don’t prove myself when I’m on the clock, I’m not going to worry about it when it comes to taking time off!

Finally, here are a couple of interesting facts:  In 2013, the average number of unused vacation days was 4.9.

Also, in the early-1980s, the average number of paid vacation days was around 21.  By, 2014, that number had dropped to 16 days!

RONALD REAGAN & THE QUAD CITIES  

In his book, “An American Life”, President Ronald Reagan talked about landing his first radio job at WOC in Davenport, Iowa.

After an interview in Chicago, with no radio experience, he was told to try a smaller market.

Reagan wrote, “the suggestion from the woman at NBC that I try for a job in the sticks”.

He went on to write, “Radio was so new that many Midwestern towns still didn’t have a commercial station, but I only knew of two or three in the tri-cities area of Davenport, Moline, and Rock Island along the Illinois-Iowa border.”

Sorry, Bettendorf!  You’ll have to let it slide this time since it was the early-1930s.

But, it still cracks me up to think of the Quad Cities as “the sticks” back in the day!

QUICK OSCAR NOTES

The Oscars are Sunday night on ABC.

Here are the nominees for Best Actor and I’ve seen four of the performances.

Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

I think that Gary Oldman will win the Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour”.  He was great and so was the make-up.

However, I think that Timothee Chalamet acted more and with more heart and truly deserves to win “Best Actor”.

I even enjoyed Denzel Washington’s performance more than Oldman’s!

I haven’t seen Daniel Day-Lewis in “Phantom Thread”.

Final Oscar tidbits:  I’ve seen four of the nine “Best Picture” nominees and it’s the first four in alphabetical order. 🙂

Best Picture:

“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

And, strangely enough, I haven’t seen any of the five Best Actress performances, yet I’m picking Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) to win.

I’m also picking that movie to win “Best Picture”.

“A REPORTER’S LIFE”

The fourth book I read in 2018 was Walter Cronkite’s “A Reporter’s Life.

Although the book did drag a bit after he talked about his childhood and before he talked more about being on the cutting edge of television news, it was a decent book.

He was definitely a liberal and that’s a good thing. 🙂

“NIGHTLINE”

I also just finished my fifth book — “Nightline” by Ted Koppel and Kyle Anderson.

Excellent read!

It’s about the ABC late night news show that’s still on the air.  Koppel anchored it from 1980 until he retired in 2005.

The book provided incredible insight on some of the biggest stories of the past three decades without a lot of rambling.

Koppel and Anderson touch on AIDS, Russia, South African Apartheid, and the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, China, along with the television news business.

Interesting tidbit:  The show started as a continuation of “America Held Hostage” — about the American hostages held in Iran for 444 days from late 1979 until January 1981.

MORE ON TIANANMEN SQUARE

Tiananmen Square was one of the stops on my visit to China in the spring of 2016.

What was very interesting is that our tour guide referred to the Tiananmen Square massacre that killed hundreds to thousands (China disputes that number) as an “incident”.

He was also very uncomfortable even talking about it (and I don’t blame him — China eavesdrops!).

While there, I noticed fire extinguishers located around the square.  We were told that people occasionally bring gasoline to the Square and set themselves on fire in protest!

GUESS WHO???  

“This woman is a political force of enormous ambitions.  I believe she is a menace, unscrupulous as to the truth, vain, and cynical — all with a pretense of exaggerated kindness and human feeling which deceives millions of gullible persons.” 

Answer at the bottom!

“WONDER”

It’s always great to see Julia Roberts in a movie.

And, in “Wonder”, Jacob Tremblay (“Room”) is great as Auggie, a fifth grader with a rare medical facial deformity.

Tremblay definitely has a great future in Hollywood.  He was fantastic in 2015’s “Room”, that earned Brie Larson a Best Actress Oscar.

GRADE:  A-

“ROMAN J. ISREAL, ESQ.”

This crime thriller is a very slow burn for the first hour, but the second hour redeems the slow start.

Washington earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

GRADE: B

“HAPPY DEATH DAY”

“The Snowman” is no longer my least favorite movie I’ve seen in 2018.

This horror movie is atrocious!  It’s definitely geared to a younger demographic.

Sadly, for me, this horror movie made a lot of money and there’s talk of a sequel!

GRADE: D

STRONG WOMEN SCARE PEOPLE

“This woman is a political force of enormous ambitions.  I believe she is a menace, unscrupulous as to the truth, vain, and cynical — all with a pretense of exaggerated kindness and human feeling which deceives millions of gullible persons.” 

This was written by columnist Westbrook Pegler in the 1950s about Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt!

Sounds like something some have been said over recent years about another incredibly strong former First Lady!

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Movies To Rent & Two To Skip

It’s the middle of December and I still haven’t been to the movie theater yet!  However, I’m planning on it this weekend and it’s not “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.  Yeah, I finally get to have movie popcorn!

If you’re done with your holiday shopping and you’re going to rent movies, I have five suggestions and two to skip.

“TRAINWRECK”

I’ll admit upfront that I was not a fan of Amy Schumer and all of the press she gets.  The sad thing is that I had not watched any of her stuff and that’s where I was wrong.

In this comedy, which she wrote, the stand-up comedian, television star, and Madonna’s opening act, can now add movie star and Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice award nominee to her resume.

She had me laughing my butt off as a hard drinking, pot smoking, and lover of one-night stands.  Oh, she was a magazine writer that ends up falling for a subject of one of her stories, too.

Oscar winner Tilda Swinton is unrecognizable in this movie.  I’ve blogged about her appearance before and will share the amazing result again.

It’s also pretty cool that Swinton co-stars, again, in this movie, with her on-screen son in the incredibly insane, “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, Ezra Miller, which was my third favorite movie in 2012.

Another standout in “Trainwreck” is NBA basketball icon LeBron James, who is hilarious and definitely has comedic chops.

The movie also stars Bill Hader and Brie Larson, who’s garnering a lot of Oscar buzz now for her role in “Room”.

After seeing Schumer in this great comedy, I’m going to have to check out her Emmy-winning series, “Inside Amy Schumer”!

GRADE:  A-

“BEASTS OF NO NATION”

This war drama is already racking up nominations and is getting Oscar buzz.

Star Idris Elba recently got both Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild nominations as the leader of a rebel group fighting a civil war in Africa with child soldiers.

Teenage actor Abraham Attah, who plays Agu, has already won the Marcello Mastroianni’s Best Young Actor Award at the 72nd Annual Venice International Film Festival and could become one of the youngest actors nominated for an Academy Award.

Very powerful movie of a sad situation.

GRADE:  B+

“INSIDE OUT”

This 2015 summer blockbuster which earned $851.6 million dollars is one of the best recent Pixar/Disney movies.

It focuses on the emotions (Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger) in the mind that manages the life of Midwestern-born 11-year-old Riley as her family moves across to the country to San Francisco.

Amy Poehler voices Joy, but it’s Phyllis Smith’s Sadness that steals the spotlight in the movie.

While a kid’s movie, grown-ups can definitely relate and enjoy.

GRADE:  B

“JURASSIC WORLD”

Full disclosure here — although the Jurassic Park series started back in 1993, I’ve never seen any of the movies.

The only reason I wanted to check out this fourth movie in the series is Chris Pratt in all of his hotness.  Okay, Bryce Dallas Howard is pretty cute, too.

I’ll keep this short because the movie has already brought in $1.67 billion worldwide and $652.3 million of that was here in the U.S. making it biggest movie of 2015!  So, everyone and their mother has likely already seen it.

A new theme park is opening on the Pacific coast of Central America and the park has been genetically modifying dinosaurs to make the park a bigger draw.  Of course, nothing could possibly go wrong! 🙂

“World” was rather entertaining until a scene toward the end with Howard’s assistant that made the movie feel very cheap like “Sharknado”! Because of that stunt, I dropped the final grade!

GRADE:  B-

“VACATION”

In my last movie review blog, I took a chance on Melissa McCarthy’s “Spy” and really enjoyed it.  I had low expectations and was surprised.

I went into the new “Vacation” movie with Ed Helms and Christina Applegate not expecting too much more than the funny scenes in the trailer.

It was enjoyable and risque, especially watching it with your 14-year-old daughter. 🙂

The real star of the movie was Kevin, Rusty Griswold’s annoying and mean youngest son, played by Steele Stebbins.

Also, for reasons I won’t write here, Chris Hemsworth’s NRA card-carrying Texas television weatherman was hilarious.  No, it’s not the fact that he is “People” magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive”.  Watching the trailer, the joke is rather evident — like, in your face!

WARNING:  THIS IS RED BAND TRAILER (DEFINITELY RATED “R”)

GRADE:  B

“SOUTHPAW”

If given a choice of movies, my first choice would not be a sports-themed motion pictures.  However, I love “Bull Durham” (baseball), “Wimbledon” (tennis), “The Cutting Edge” (ice skating), and a few more.

The main draw for me on this boxing movie was director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day” and “Brooklyn’s Finest”) and star Jake Gyllenhaal.

It’s a story of loss and redemption even though I won’t say what.

The movie also stars the amazing Forest Whitaker and the always entertaining Rachel McAdams.

GRADE:  B

“THE HUNGER GAMES:  MOCKINGJAY — PART 1”

This part will be short.  I enjoyed “The Hunger Games” and “The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire”.

Then, something happened.

Divergent came along and I switched teams!

I lost all interest in “The Hunger Games” series even though I love Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth.

I suffered through “Mockingjay – Part 1” and it definitely felt like filler. When “Part 2” comes out on DVD in 2016, I’ll watch it and I’m sure it will surpass this dud!

GRADE:  C

“RICKI AND THE FLASH”

I love Meryl Streep and can watch her all day.  As a matter of fact, I could watch “Mamma Mia”, “Julie & Julia”, “The Iron Lady”, and “August: Osage County” on repeat.

But, once was enough with this one.

Mamie Gummer, Streep’s real-life daughter, is the highlight of this movie.

Streep plays an aging rock singer that left her family with hopes and dreams of being a music superstar which never happened.

GRADE:  C 

Anthony