Back HOME with much difficulty.... and relief!! And how in the hell you actually get to and from MALPAIS/SANTA TERESA, COSTA RICA

Oh man, we are finally home and it feels like we have been gone for months....  Costa Rica was amazing, but the travel to and from was riddled with snafus, panic and mishaps making for one of the most difficult travel scenarios we have ever experienced!  Think there is something to the fact that astrologer Jade Luna said this past Mercury retrograde was the worst the planet had experienced in 30 years!  It ended on Dec. 30th but the effects linger for a few days...  We felt them!!

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica is not easy to get to with things going smoothly-- you take a flight to San Jose, Costa Rica and then must take a commercial flight (small planes) or a charter flight -- we loved Paradise Air which is owned by Steven Spielberg's former pilot.  The planes seem new and the pilots are professional and the 25 minute flight feels safe and smooth.  One thing to note, the airport that the charter flights take off from is 20 minutes from the San Jose airport-- Paradise arranges for cabs to meet the flights arriving from Tambor (where you fly to reach Malpais and Santa Teresa).

Once you arrive in Tambor, arrange for a rental car to meet you at the "airport"-- a gravel strip in a grassy field.  You will need one while visiting the area.  And a 4x4 vehicle is preferrable as the roads are craazy and filled with bumps and ruts (and are mostly dirt).  It's an hour drive from Tambor to Malpais/Santa Teresa...  and then you're there!!

We loved our time there -- it was worth the insane difficulty (which normally wouldn't have been quite so insane-- the blizzard and the Costa Rican airline LACSA, which even the Costa Ricans avoid, made it far more challenging!).  Do avoid LACSA if possible, not only were they horrible to us -- bumping us from flights and impossible to get a hold of, but we heard when we were in Costa Rica that their safety measures and training are not as thorough as they should be.  American or Delta are good alternatives.

Tomorrow, we will fill you in on the rest of the trip and why it's worth the treacherous travel to go there!!