Last belated Friday five.

Finally, five good stories from Costa Rica, in no particular order...

• Two days into uncivilized jungle territory deep in Costa Rica, we were incredibly startled by three non-uncivilized jungle things: 1) a gray cat wandering around the outdoor cafe where we ate dinner, 2) some sort of house or car alarm near the lodge, and 3) people! sitting in a car! in the parking lot! the horror!

• My friend's watch stopped the morning of our last day. And isn't it ironic.

• During the mangrove boat tour, the boat driver stopped so that we could observe a silky anteater - a rare treat, as this is a nocturnal animal. It looks like this. (This image is important to the story.) My friend saw it right away through her binoculars; I had the guide's binoculars but try as I might, I could not locate the sucker. After at least 10 minutes of various people pointing, as well as the boat driver using a mirror to shine a light on the creature, I finally asked, "Is it near that brown leaf?" The guide kind of laughed and said, "It IS that brown leaf." Turns out, I'd been looking at it the whole time. I noted to the guide that I clearly needed to go to Africa because the animals are much larger and easier to spot there. He agreed.
  

• On the drive from the zipline to Manuel Antonio National Park, we stopped at a lovely beachfront hotel for lunch. The guide recommended I try the soursop fruit drink, so I asked what the Spanish word for "soursop" was. "Guanabana" was his reply. I had to ask him to repeat it twice and then spell it because it was such an odd word. The driver, who was dining with us and hadn't said more than three words to us (in Spanish, no less) the entire time, said, "You know, like the Muppets song - Mahna mahna! Doot doo, do do do. Mahna mahna!" And thus, the bond between me and the driver was sealed for all eternity and Jim Henson knows no boundaries. (PS - soursop is amazing. Neither sour nor soppy.)
  

• The last day, our taxi didn't show up to take us to the local airport which would transport us to San Jose International. The hotel manager was kind enough to drive us, and we stood in a very long line fretting because the taxi was supposed to have all of our flight information. So we got to the front of the line, having missed what we thought was our flight, and the guy couldn't find our reservation. At this point we were totally panicking - I think I said something to the extent of "I was just kidding about not wanting to leave" - when a pilot came over to the desk and mentioned our names. Turns out we had a private plane back to San Jose. We turned our noses up at the lowly commoners taking the public jets (well, we didn't really, but it was funny to think about doing so) and boarded our private plane back to the big airport.

My favorite story is the one where I was hanging out solo in the pool at the last hotel, just watching the ocean waves and admiring the view, and a little lizard walked over and we just sat there, watching the waves and admiring the view, in perfect solitude and contentment.

(the little guy on the left was my ocean-gazing friend; the guy on the right appeared the last day)

Second favorite story involves monkeys. (I'm sure you're shocked.) On the boat tour I was offered the opportunity to give the monkeys some fresh water, which entailed holding a plastic container of water and letting them come to me (video coming soon). Most of them kept their distance, sipping carefully from the plastic container and then running away to pretend the boat awning was a trampoline (video coming soon). But one of the monkeys wanted a little more balance so he put his little hand on my hand... and my heart just about melted. I really hope video of that is coming soon.

And finally finally finally, a PS for the CHM: The best Costa Rican coffee is grown at 3000 feet in volcanic soil. It's organic and wonderful and magical. Due to luggage constraints I couldn't bring any home with me, but I found a great cafe that delivers, and I will be sending you some at some point... No monkey poop involved.