We went to Playa Langosta, Costa Rica with a high school buddy and his wife, Cary and Lorin Schwartz.  They have a condo on the beach located just south of Tamarindo, Costa Rica.  Cary and Lorin had been down there for two weeks and we flew down to spend the last week of their vacation with them.  We were supposed to fly from LAX to Liberia, Costa Rica, but the flight was changed and we flew to Atlanta, GA and then to Liberia, Costa Rica.

When we arrived around noon, Cary and Lorin picked us up from the airport and we went to the condo.  The weather was warm but pleasant and the first evening we had this great sunset.  We spent the next few days just relaxing and enjoying the weather.  Cary and Lorin had some local friends up for drinks and we met, Sam and Mary Ann, the owners of Pura Aventura.  They have 11 zip lines, water falls and horseback riding at their ranch a few miles from Playa Langosta.

On Thursday, the 23rd, we went to Pura Aventura and rode all 11 zip lines and rode horseback up to the first line and back from the last one.  I was a little concerned about the ability of the cables to hold my weight but after seeing they were extremely beefy and double lines I decided to give it a try.  Betz has been talking about riding a zip line ever since we made plans to go to Costa Rica.  I was a little apprehensive on the first line but the next 10 were a little more fun.  One of the lines, I think it was the 4th, is over 1/4 of a mile long.  Since it is important to hang on to your strap to keep you from spinning in the wind, you couldn’t take pictures.  It was pretty cool going over the tops of the trees.  After the last zip line you have to rappel down from the tree stand, which I did very slowly.  Although we didn’t get to go to the waterfalls on the property we heard they were very pretty.  The whole experience with the zip lines lasted about 4 hours so that took up most of the day.  The ride over from Playa Langosta was not too bad considering part of the roads were dirt. 

We only went out to dinner two nights and to the same restaurant in Tamarindo both times.  They have a very nice new grocery store in Tamarindo as well as a very good meat market, so we ate at the condo most of the time.  They have a nice pool there and you can walk a short distance to the beach. 

Betz and I walked into Tamarindo to do some sightseeing on Friday.  They have a mixture of newer buildings along with some older ones.  The roads through town are dirt and not maintained very well.  The people in the town were very friendly and most spoke English. 

The only down side to the trip was getting home.  We got up at 4 in morning on Sunday, drove to Liberia, Costa Rica, flew to Atlanta, GA and then to LAX before driving home.  We didn’t get home until around 11 P.M. which made our entire travel day about 19 hours, a very long day. 

All in all, we had a great trip and met some very nice people.