Taking the plunge!

Sorry I missed writing last week, but it's nice to know so many people noticed! So, to catch you all up, we've been busy, what else is new.

We had a lovely young couple from Philadelphia stay with us last weekend for a few days and then a couple from England. Both were super nice.

Rebecca and Peter travelled by bus from Puerto Viejo to San Jose, then from San Jose they needed to take a taxi and be dropped off at the Musoc bus station where they would take another bus to Santa Maria. We had made plans to pick them up at the bus station. We received a call at about 2:30 pm from Rebecca saying that the cab driver told them that the Musoc buses were on strike. He told them the best option for them was to take a bus to Quepos on the Pacific coast. The strike was news to us and my first reaction was "Noooo, don't go to Quepos, that's 3 hours away from where we are!" I gave Rebecca instructions to see if the Quepos bus might be driving by La Trinidad on the highway (I highly doubted it) but that was the only thing I could think of. If it did, then we'd go pick them up there instead. We hung up and I waited for Rebecca to call back with an update. We felt completely helpless. At about 4:30 pm, Rebecca called back to let us know that the cab driver was playing with them by giving them bad information. He went to great lengths to try and convince them, too. That little trickster! Finally, they decided to ignore him and go into the bus terminal, only to find out there was no strike. They missed the 3 pm bus... so, they took the 5 pm one, instead. I met them at the bus station at 7 pm in Santa Maria. We felt so bad that this happened, but it's these little side-step adventures that create the good stories (it was blog worthy... case and point). They agreed.

Here they are catching their dinner on the second night, after spending the morning at the coffee plantation. We're glad they made it and experienced a typical rural environment because let's face it, it's quite a bit different to the beach.

Monday morning I drove Rebecca and Peter back to the bus station so they could catch their flight back home from San Jose later that day.

I then rushed home and cleaned the guesthouse, did the laundry, and all the usual prepping that takes place before guests arrive. At 2:30 pm, we welcomed Maite and Guy from London, England.

We quickly learned that Guy is an avid cold-water swimmer. He asked if it would be okay for him to snorkel in our pond. Other than the fact the water is REALLY cold (Kevin can attest to it since the "fork incident" two years ago where I accidentally dropped my fork in the pond and Kevin was brave (crazy) enough to go in and retrieve it), we had no issues with Guy going in for a dip... in fact, we thought it would be entertaining... we haven't been this amused in awhile.

So here's Guy doing thing...

So, we can all agree Guy is THE guy... crazy maybe, but pretty inspirational nonetheless.

As we looked on, Maite was telling me how she was going to exercise the following morning, get all warmed up and then plunge right in. She challenged me to join her. Um, okay (my insides were screaming "noooooooo"). I can't turn down a challenge, now can I?

The next morning, bright and early, we followed Jillian Micheals' workout video (I had never done this before... I was told it was only 20 minutes... pfff, 20 minutes, easy peasy, right? hahaha... why am I still sore three days later is all I want to know!!). Thank goodness Maite knew the moves because having my laptop sitting outside, we couldn't see the screen (well, I couldn't) nor could we hear the sound. I cheated and just followed Maite.

Well Maite promised we'd be hot and sweaty and we achieved that goal without a problem. When we were done, I was kind of looking forward to going for a dip.

Man, that water is COLD! My reaction says it all, doesn't it? Kevin put a thermometer in the water and it was 11°C in that moment. Brrr.

But, take the plunge, I did.. I had to prove it to myself that I could do it. And Kevin would have never let me live it down, if I hadn't. To be fair, I was only in the water for about 15 seconds and I felt so numb I couldn't even muster enough strength to get out. Guy had to pull me out (Thank you, Guy). Kevin was too busy snapping pictures (and probably laughing).

Guy is convinced that I will develop an addiction... it was a really interesting experience and I did feel really invigorated, but funnily enough, I haven't yet felt compelled to jump back in. I'm still thawing out :)

Since Maite was unable to catch her fish with her bare hands during her plunge, she had to catch it the old fashioned way.

This past week has been full of excitement and fun and our guests continue to enrich our lives.
If you're interested in reading what our guests have to say about their experience with us, you can do so in our Guestbook.

Oh and on a completely different note... Kevin and I have gotten into the habit of watching the Great British Bake-Off. I'm now thinking I might want to learn to make pastry dough to expand my dessert repertoire? Kevin has offered to be my taster and try all samples... bless him. I'll keep you all posted on my baking attempts, of course.