Shakespeare in the Park

Chris and I naively walked over to the ticket office on Lafayette 20 minutes before they started giving out the FREE tickets to that nights performance of Romeo and Juliet. We were like, yah, we'll just grab some tickets... when we got there the line went so far down the block you couldn't even see the end. We trekked to the end of the line where they told us that the people had told them that tickets would run out 10 people in front of us, but we waited anyways. When we finally got to the front, they were giving out single tickets not together so we grabbed 3 (one for Chris Burns) and headed to the park.
We met Chris at the entrance to the Central Park Zoo and went in and saw lotsa birds, red pandas, penguins, monkeys, seals, and giant polar bears. It was great.

Marmoset

Red Panda and Sea Lion Head

Birdies

When we left the zoo it was 5:00 pm and the Shakespeare didnt start until 8:00 so we decided to walk around, and then it started raining. This would have been fine if we had remembered our umbrella, but Chris and I are still used to California weather where you can pretty much look outside and tell what temp it is and if its sunny or rainy.

We wandered around came across another free thing in the park, this time a concert and a band that I actually like was playing, Apples in Stereo, so we listened to a few of there songs in the rain. After this we wandered over to the Delacorte Theater near Belvedere Castle.
The theater was really cool, its outside and Elizabethan style, which I guess just means that it comes out into the audience. It was a full circle that could rotate and it had this opening that had probably and a couple inches of water, so they were often walking in water. Its hard to explain, but it was really cool. Juliet was played by Lauren Ambrose (Claire from Six Feet Under) and I thought she was good. My favorite were Mercution and the maid, who was the comic relief and played by Camryn Manheim. Romeo was a bit overdramatic for me. All in all, it was a really great production and it was free!

Take me out to the ball game!

Chris got free tix from his coworker to see a Mets Game so we ventured out to Queens and had a great time at the Mets vs Diamondbacks Game.

We had pretty good seats- a great view

Shea Stadium

Chris could only afford one beer because they were $6.75!!!

CF Walk in Voorheesville

On May 4th Binky and I headed to Budget to rent a minivan to make the roadtrip to Voorheesville, NY- upstate about 4 hrs. We headed to Brooklyn to get Sully and Lucy and then headed to Tarrytown to get Chris. By the way, the property Chris works on is absolutely beautiful. So, we headed up towards Albany, with me at the helm and making a lot of stupid mistakes because of my unfamiliarity with turnpikes and tollroads. I think it took us like 6 hours by the time we actually got there and had some delicious mac n cheese at Binkys house. We met Binkys friend and family and were welcomed by her mom, Tami.
The next day, we headed to a park to do the walk. It was a sea of light pink seeing all of our team, Eds Vespas. We started on the strenuous walk (flat and slow paced) and had a great time with Sully and everyone walking around the park.

Starting out strong with Sully in the lead

So exhausting...

All together, we ended up raising $100,000 for Cystic Fibrosis research!!! Wow!! I was really proud of the $320 that Chris and I raised and I really want to thank everyone that helped out. After the walk we all headed back to Binkys for a Cinco de Mayo party. It turned into a fun day of Bocci ball, Whiffle ball, and kick ball.

Look at Lucys Bocci ball form!
Whiffle ball outfield- note the difference in form :)

Binky kicking her heart out



A funny picture of Tami

After a day of games, we rested and then hung out in the backyard around a fire. It was a really fun time and interesting seeing New York outside of the big city. It was really beautiful out there and you could see the stars!!

Fire monsters!!!

Panama

Stuck at the Costa Rica-Panama border... the power went out in Costa Rica (yes, the whole country) a lil before we got to the border, so we couldnt get across- we all waited a few hours trying to track down the guy but to no avail. We ended up sleeping on the bus overnight and in the early morning got back in line and finally made it across- but not before Tracy missed her flight and banged my head really hard.

Getting ready to go out on the town in Panama City with our friend Breno... We went to a club and danced the night away!
The ruins of the cities first capital, Old Panama (or Panama La Vieja). Em and I had the whole place to ourselves and wandered around goofing off (see tea party below).

Downtown Panama City over my shoulder

Panama Canal- wow. One of those things you learn about and seem so exotic so when we finally got there it was awesome.... we splurged and had a bottle of wine during our lunch overlooking the Miraflores Lock.


We got on a overnight bus to Bocas del Toro- if anyones ever taken a bus all night, you know you dont really sleep too much. We got to the "port" at like 5 am and an hour later got on a boat to Bocas. It was a beautiful little area of islands, although deserted when we got there. In looking for a hotel, the first place we saw had a Malaria warning taped to its front door- yay! We ended up staying at this amazing waterfront hotel. The pic below doesnt do it justice but its the sun setting over the water and a hammock in the foreground.

Emily made us walk forever down this road to this gross beach- it was dirty and sand fly filled
Leaving the island paradise of Bocas del Toro, we started our long journey home by first getting on this speed boat for about an hour. As it zipped through this tiny river I hoped we would make it without having to use the life jackets. After the boat we got in a taxi to the border. Below is the scary bridge we had to cross that separated Panama and CR. Once in CR, we took another taxi to Puerto Viejo then a bus to Limon and on to San Jose. The next morning we hopped on our flight back to New York.

Costa Rica! Pura Vida!!

We arrived late at night and taxied to our hotel in Alajuela. We asked the guy working there where we could get some dinner, and he pointed us down the street. We walked a few blocks and headed in to this bar/restaurant where you could hear crickets when we walked in. Actually it was probably those giant flying beetles. This restaurant ended up being one of the most authentic of our trip, little did we know- it was rice, beans, plantains, and for me an egg. Also, Salsa Lizano and a few Rojos (beer). The next morning we had a fabulous breakfast on a patio in our hotel- lotsa fresh fruit and once again rice and beans and eggs- are you seeing a pattern here? That day we wandered around Alujuela and took a bus out to a butterfly garden.

Finca de Mariposas

Arenal

We arrived at night to our awesome resort . I woke up at 5 am to birds chirping and monkeys howling, opened the door and saw paradise. Looking from our balcony we glimpsed the peak of Arenal Volcano- the only time we ended up seeing it - wow.Breakfast at Los Lagos Inn

La Fortuna

While in Arenal we went ziplining, rapelling down waterfalls, rode in a sky bucket over rain forest, had drinks at the swim up bar, went to some really nice hot springs (pic below), relaxed, swam in the pool and wandered around town.
Em and Lu are behind that waterfall

Howler Monkey! Our bus left Arenal at like 4am and it took most of the day to get to Cahuita- on the Carribbean side!! It was awesome to see the beach. Our room in Cahuita was really nice- all wood with big beds and mosquito nets. Right outside our door was the beach and the national park- lotsa monkeys and birds and reptiles congregated in the little river right in front of the place. One night we went and listened to a reggae band and danced and met a nice woman from near San Jose and her boyfriend who said he was the drummer for Kansas, but we dont think that was quite true :)

Leaf Cutter Ants!

Mosquito NetTree in Cahuita National Park

White faced monkey and mango

Before we even got to Rockin Js in Puerto Viejo, we new it was gonna be awesome- and when we got there we were blown away- we loved it! Two huge hammock hotels, a bunch of space for tents and a few cabins, an outdoor area, a shaded place with more hammocks, a cafe, a kitchen, and some picnic tables... everything was covered in artwork from random people that had stayed there and the vibe was really awesome. Thats Jay in the pic, an American expat who owns the hostel. We played cards, read in hammocks, at nights there was a bonfire out on the beach. We could also walk to a really beautiful beach, Playa Cocles. One day we rented bikes and rode down to Punta Uva and then Manzanillo. It was fun except for the fact that the tires were flat, so that made it a bit more difficult.

Rockin Js

It was hard to leave PV, but we had to get back to San Jose so Lucy could catch her flight back to NYC and we could pick up Tracy. We took the bus back, and stayed at Hostel Pangea- one of our favorite places of the entire trip.