pura vida

Easter weekend Travis and I traveled to Costa Rica.

Welcome to the world's longest post known to man kind.

The goal: catch as many sport fish as possible in two days.

Our trip was planned for the tail end of the season but we still managed to raise/hook nearly 20 fish and land 11. Not too bad for a (two)days work! 

We traveled first class for the first time in our lives. The simple fact that I was taking pictures of "first class" things tells you it is not something we do often (ie. ever). 

Can't drink all day unless you start in the morning! And that we did. 

And no lie, this was one of the best steaks I've ever eaten.

The food, the drinks, the hot towels (sheesh!), the movies, the convenience, the extra space...the extra space alone is enough to make Trav fork over the big bucks in the future. Although I told him maybe we should reserve such treatment for "special occasions" only.

Let's get real here, you could fly me to a gorgeous location in a wooden crate thrown under the plane, and I'd be okay with it. 

However, we nearly drank enough to cover the costs, I'm sure of it! So maybe it's worth it after all?

From the airport to the resort community of Los Suenos where we were staying was about a 2 hour drive with traffic. No worries, our cabbie hooked us up with the most delicious Coca-Cola Classic I've ever sipped on (and I hate Coke) and Costa Rica is known for their cashews, which were simply ah-mazing. 

We were all craving a little local brew, so when traffic backed us up perfectly to a little market it was like a sign from heaven to get our drink back on. 

We checked into the hotel, jumped in the golf carts and headed to dinner at the marina.

Then headed to the casino (each night) where I proceeded to be Turbo's little sugar mama by turning his hundo into nearly enough to cover the costs of the trip.

I've got I had some mad 3 Card Tute skills. (3 card poker)

We won't discuss how I managed to lose nearly all of my winnings the last night.

But can we discuss how cute the preppy little roulette chips are??

The sun rises early on the equator and we had to be up with it to catch our boat each morning, so it was always an early night for us. 

After a quick breakfast we jumped aboard the Super Fly

And headed out about 60 miles (almost 2 hours) before we dropped the lines and waited anxiously for the first big bite!

Turbo was really (like little kid, ridiculously cute) excited. 

If you've never been offshore fishing with a crew, basically the way it works is you sit back and drink, chat, nap, what have you, and wait until someone yells something along the lines of "sail on!" (probably in Spanish depending on location) 

Someone then straps a fighting belt on you and you reel that bad boy in.  It really requires no fishing skill what so ever. However, the ability to reel anywhere from 5-30+ minutes and hold a heavy pole is required. 

Travis asked me if I wanted to reel in the first one. I was excited to but after having just woken from a nap I told him he could do the honors.  Big mistake, because the first catch wound up being quite the trophy fish!

A 64 inch Dorado. Mahi Mahi/Dolphin fish/whatever you choose to call it.

Try to contain your jealousy when I tell you this fish will be hanging on our wall in 2-3 months.

Thank goodness for the basement! 

Almost immediately Jose filleted him and got him ready for our lunch.

Straight off the hook into our bellies. Fresh is an understatement. SO good. 

I reeled in the next one! I was pretty pumped.

And not more than 3 seconds after hooking him, 2 others were on the line!

sidenote: a fighting belt is not flattering. 

"Catch a bill fish" was happily crossed off my to-do list!

And talk about a rush. This is why people love bill fishing! 

Check out the sail dancing out of the water in this shot. Only in Costa Rica craziness like this happens, we were told.

Turbo was one proud husband.

Pounding it!

The rest of the day was more of the same. Fishing, napping, picture taking, and soaking up some sun!

At a few different points over the weekend the boat was surrounded by thousands of dolphins. It was quite an incredible sight!

We headed in around sunset and enjoyed more Mahi Mahi for dinner.

The next day was the same story with a little louder music and a lot more beer drinking added in.

Imperial is no Belikin but it did the job.

Speaking of, our honeymoon recap is a little overdue, I'd say.

We caught more fish...

Some of us even jumped in the middle of the pacific ocean with our catch...

I was sad that was our last fish of the trip. Next time I will be swimming with the sails also!

We drank...

We had several dance parties which may have also led to a Harlem Shake...

nothing Turbo loves more than a good Harlem Shake.

Jose's got some moves only a central american could have! Envious. 

We I took the best naps ever experienced...

Oh, and our crew? They were -awesome-.

The fishing was fantastic and the company was even better!

What more could you ask for?

Over the course of the trip I was excited to play with my camera on the trip.
The crew also had a great time snapping pics!

We plan to get some sort of lens to better capture action shots before our next trip. Turbo was pretty excited about the difference in quality a good camera captures. I think he's addicted too!

Catching fish all weekend wears a girl out!

Travis also found his "dream" boat.

My thought about that? If we're going to go big, let's go BIG!

A girl can dream, right?

Moral of this long story:

If you get a chance to visit Costa Rica, go! It was such an incredible trip. 

The fishing was fantastic.

The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. 

However, if you're staying on the pacific side don't expect beautiful beaches.

 

And also, please, I repeat, PLEASE spell check before taking pictures of sand written messages.  So much for adding this one to our collection... 

Vacation fail.    

Oh, and on the way back to the airport we crossed "The Crocodile Bridge". 

It was just that, a semi-rickety bridge brewing with giant crocs below.

It was pretty wild.  Literally. 

Costa Rica is more known for their rain forest and the gorgeous plants and unique animals. Our next trip will surely include a trek in the jungle. 

The countries motto is "Pura Vida" which translates to 'pure life' or 'the good life' but the people of Costa Rica don't just say it, they live it. 

Maybe we should all move there?