What's in Dave's Head

The resort Arenas Del Mar is a beautiful beach resort on the Pacific Ocean and adjacent to the Manuel Antonio National Park. The 11-acre property is steeply sloped, as it lies on the mountains that run right to the shoreline.  Making the climb from the beach to anywhere -- our room or the main open-air communal area, which sits at the top of the property and features a pool, dining room, tiny gift shop, health spa, bar, and the front desk -- is an exertion that reminded me of just how out of shape I am. Temperatures around 90 degrees and humidity befitting a rain forest compounded the fatigue.    Yes, I promised myself, I will start working out again when we get home. Luckily, golf carts are always available to make getting around easier.   The resort has 38 rooms The buildings, pools, and cart-trails were surgically placed among the rain forest. Down by the ocean is another communal area, with a small open-air restaurant, bar, and pool. Our room was on...

The flight from BWI to San Jose, Costa Rica's capital, took about five hours, a little less than going to L.A. We arrived shortly before 1 pm local time, collected our bags, and cleared Customs without much delay.  The second leg of our journey was to be a 25-minute flight on local airline Sansa to Quepos, on the southwestern coast and near Arenas Del Mar, our resort. We were told that to get to Sansa's terminal we should exit the airport and follow the signs. Outside there was a large crowd of people waiting to meet their parties -- and no signage. Fortunately,  an entrepreneurial young man took our bags and guided us a block and a half along a busy thoroughfare to an unmarked, uninviting parking lot protected by razor wire and a guard: the entrance to Sansa's terminal. We tipped the youngster and waited behind another couple in front of a check-in counter. We had booked reservations on a 4:30 flight in case of delays although there was an earlier flight we hoped t...

Donna and I visited Costa Rica to celebrate a milestone birthday for Donna and a milestone anniversary for the two of us.  We had never been to Central America and decided to go beyond our comfort zone.  The resort we stayed in was in the southwestern part of the country, on the Pacific Ocean and in the middle of a rain forest, adjacent to a national park. Our room sat atop a three level building, with two units on each floor.  A large balcony wrapped around the room, giving us amazing  views of the ocean and magnificent sunsets to the west and the lush, dense rain forest, which came right to our railing, to the north.  Around five pm on our second day we spotted a monkey gamboling around the treetops -- a rare sighting, we surmised. Soon he was joined by the rest of his tribe, about seven in number.  They quickly targeted us, and morphed from cute little furry objects of affection to angry, threatening hoodlums. Likewise, we transformed from phot...