Costa Rica 2015: Days 1-3

We did it. We survived a week vacation without our daughter. I knew we could do it all along, but it was still really tough, mainly the week before we left- packing, getting all of our stuff and her stuff organized for a full week away, cleaning the house- plus dealing with my anxiety about the situation. 

Along with regular packing, I designed a detailed schedule for Abigail's week with everything: phone numbers, addresses, and notes on all of her weekly activities (school, music class, library, and our friends we usually visit), plus a medical release. Just filling that one out gave me stomach cramps! What if they had to use it? What if she broke her arm? 

Then, I got an email saying she was exposed to the flu at school. So I had to add a couple of pages into my laminated folder about illness, the difference between cold and flu, and write out all of her medication and dosages, just in case. 

Abigail and I can pack up and head out of town for a few days to a week- no problem! But leaving her at someone else's house and not being in the country or able to get back easily was scary. I knew she would be ok, I just had to get past the stomach cramps it took to get there. Literally, I was posted up in bed with a heating pad while Bean swept the entire house two nights before we left. It was worse than labor (and I don't say that lightly)!

The morning of our flight out- Day 1- we were all waiting for her to wake up! We were ready to leave a little after 7am and she was still snoozing. Which hardly ever happens! She was laughing and giggling all the way to the airport. We gave hugs, Gigi and Pop got hugs, and then she started waving bye bye to them. We handed her over, and started to walk away as she screamed bloody murder. Piercing. It was so hard to make my feet walk in the other direction. 

The only reason I did was because I had pumped myself up in advance with how much we needed the break, and how it would be good for all of us. 

We were there so early that we had time to walk around, eat some breakfast, do some great people watching, and just talk to each other, knowing nothing would interrupt it. 

The plane was new and we settled in, while I cracked open one of the five books I brought on the trip. We arrived in Liberia mid-afternoon, got onto the shuttle with the other people from our group and checked into our hotel room at the RIU Palace. 

Check out the decor! Very '80's, and I can't believe I missed a picture of the bathtub sticking out into the middle of the room! The shower was nice and spacious, with a rain head and a regular one, and the toilet had it's own room which is always nice. Our balcony overlooked the pools and ocean.

We were tired for some reason and decided to keep relaxing until dinnertime.

I continued reading The Silver Star by Jeanette Walls, who wrote one of my top 5 favorite books ever: The Glass Castle. This was fictional, about two sisters in the '70's whose mother flakes out and they travel alone to meet their Uncle, end up staying the summer and into the school year and learning all about the youngest's family and challenging a big wig in town who tries to rape the oldest. An interesting and easy read.

We got there too late to make reservations for one of the nicer restaurants on the property, so we went to the Italian place which didn't require reservations. The appetizers were buffet style, and you ordered entrees off a menu. I ordered mushroom lasagna, which had noodles made of crepes (yuck) and lots of cheese. Bean decided on a calamari dish, which ended up being white rice topped with grilled calamari. No seasoning.

 It was really not good.

The next morning- Day 2- we woke up, ready to relax. We had a delicious breakfast that included banana juice (Bean's favorite) and watermelon juice (my favorite). We napped and read all morning, and decided we should head to the pool. I wore my new suit, the one I was so excited about, and they were having a BBQ with some really delicious smelling beef. I had to try it, even though I wasn't hungry since we not moved much at all since breakfast. Bean had a couple of beers, and I tried a margarita- it was terrible. That's ok, it was free! I still didn't drink it.

By this point, I was on book #2: Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan.

It's the true story of her 'Month of Madness' where inflammation in her brain made her forget everything she did and said, and all of it was crazy. Her family stood behind her and pushed doctors to test for different things, and finally found an obscure study and the doctor who did it and got her treated. It was good, but a little involved for poolside reading. Lots of details (she's a journalist), which I liked, but it was hard to follow over the pool games and loud drunk people.

Later, we walked around the property and I took a few pictures. There was a cocktail hour that night where we could socialize with the others on the trip.

The view from our balcony.

Outside our door, there was a terrace with mountains in the background. The white against the mountains was so striking. I left the 'Caution- Wet Floor' sign there for humor. 

We went to the lobby bar for a refreshment and snack before the cocktail hour, and snagged a table overlooking the pools and ocean. I decided to stick with champagne and wine, it's hard to mess those up, the way mixed drinks do when you are at an all-inclusive resort.

Here's another view of the terrace outside our door. I can see why people would get married in a place like this, it's just stunning.

We thought the cocktail hour was going to be on this patio, but it was in a completely different building, and for some reason I wore cute shoes (see picture above), and we walked all over the place trying to find it! We ran into a very tan couple from Maryland that we'd met earlier, and sat with them, learning all about their grown kids, their dogs, and the outdoor kitchen they had put in their house. They also liked to complain that the drinks weren't strong enough, their room was too loud, there was gross and not enough food at the party.

There wasn't enough food, but we were still tired and adjusting to being on our own time, that we went to bed early again.

Day 3- we woke up, and Bean had to go to a required business meeting that morning. I took myself down to breakfast, thoroughly enjoyed a donut and watermelon juice, and probably some smoked salmon on bread with onions and cream cheese, and took myself right back upstairs to continue reading. I finished Brain on Fire, and started in on book #3. I was thoroughly enjoying this vacation. I hadn't been that 'bored' in such a long time. The hours stretched on and on, and I just allowed them to keep stretching.

I needed something a little lighter to read, so I cracked open Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky. It was funny and insightful, about his years working in various hotels. It made me encourage us to be overzealous tippers, which is just fine!

I don't remember if we ate lunch, we must have, and we were settled in the bed again, reading, when Bean said he was ready to do something. He asked if I wanted to go do one of the ATV tours. I would have enjoyed it, but I was feeling so relaxed, I stayed there reading and napping.

He came back covered in sand with a sprained wrist and an interesting story about some old people who made the whole group slow down, and then they couldn't go on the beach, they overbooked and had too many people and not enough vehicles, and he got bored and started playing around, and flipped the ATV, throwing himself off and popping back up like a champ, and the whole thing cost him $70!

After he got cleaned up and we bought him an ace bandage for his wrist, we went down to the lobby bar again and struck up a conversation with a couple from San Antonio who happened to be on that ATV trip with him and saw it all. Next thing we knew, the bartender showed his appreciation for the tip we gave and never let our glasses of champagne and beer get empty and we realized we really needed to eat dinner!

We went down to the buffet, I have no idea what we ate, and took a walk on the beach after that. The best thing about it is we were able to talk about some hard things without letting it overwhelm us and we moved through it. We heard music from Grease playing and stopped in on that night's show which was really cheesy and terrible, but the music was direct from the movie. It gave us something to laugh about at least!