Flashback to Costa Rica…..

So I read a post on another blog about a scary moment while biking across the country HERE.  It was a crazy story about her encounter with an unstable Missourian at an Arkansas Ozark campground.  The story got me thinking about my own scary story (though not near as scary as hers).

Flashback to December 2008.  Jeff and I got married………..

………and headed to Costa Rica for our honeymoon.  We spent the first few days in the middle of the rainforest at the most magnificent self-sustainable luxury jungle retreat, Pacuare Lodge. The only way to get to this lodge is by whitewater rafting (it was in a very remote location, no electricity).  We stayed in a river view private bungalow (best sleeping is by a river, love that sound) and all meals were included (amazing gourmet food).  We relaxed in our hammock, hiked, zip lined, and met some cool people from around the world.  We WILL go back to this place, it was absolutely amazing.

After 3 amazingly relaxing days at Pacuare, we got dropped off at the rental car place (Avis) in San Jose.  We got our rental car and a VERY necessary GPS (because we don’t read or speak Spanish and the maps are terrible and the roads are not marked well in Costa Rica) and headed to the west coast of Costa Rica for the rest of our trip.  We immediately got stuck in traffic and then our GPS died.  We pulled over at a well lit Holiday Inn and Denny’s restaurant (we figured this would be safe) to re-group and figure out how to get back to Avis to switch out the GPS. 

When we went back to our car, there were several men milling around the parking lot suspiciously.  We quickly got into our car and headed straight for Avis.  We noticed our tire seemed to be going flat and then we noticed a car following us.  We did not stop and made it to Avis right as our back tire goes completely flat….it had been slashed!  The car following us speeds off as we pull into Avis. 

The Avis man comes out and immediately freaks out and explains how lucky we were.  There had been a string of attacks against tourists in San Jose. The tourist stops and while they are away from their car their tires are slashed.  They get back into their car and are followed until they have to pull over for the “flat” tire.  They are then attacked and have all of their things stolen and left on the side of the road.  Soooo, we were EXTREMELY lucky we made it back to Avis and thank goodness the GPS died!!!!!!!

The rest of our trip was uneventful, but we were definitely on edge the remainder of our vacation.  We were always aware of our surroundings and suspicious of everything.  I guess that is a good thing, but it made it hard to relax.  Regardless, it was an amazing honeymoon!

And we lived happily ever after.  The End.