Hotel Review: Allegro Papagayo
Official hotel website: http://www.occidentalhotels.com/allegro/Papagayo.asp
Our stay lasted one week, it was all-inclusive, and I will say now for those looking for an immediate review: Overall the hotel was more than adequate for our needs. Now I'll go into a bit more detail.
The Room
The room we stayed in was for two, and included a king size bed, however some friends of ours had two doubles separated by a nightstand. The bed was a bit firm compared to ours at home, but was more than comfortable. The air conditioning is given through a medium-sized unit above and to the side of the bathroom door, just below the ceiling. Although my wife and I had no problems with ours, our friends accompanying us did as water was dripping onto their luggage on the ground below. Maintenance had to come fix it, although it apparently began dripping again a day or two later. One thing to note with the A/C control, if you want it to work correctly, make sure the control is set to AUTO and not ON. For some reason, putting it on the "ON" setting will not get the air conditioner to lower the temperature enough. Setting it to "AUTO" corrects that.
The bathroom was your basic everyday bathroom, although everyone that travelled with us (including us) had a problem with small ants crawling around the light-colored countertop, and in the sink. A minor annoyance at worst, and things like this are expected in places like Costa Rica. The shower's water pressure was surprisingly strong, and the spray's radius covered the entire shower area (which was quite large). Make sure you keep the shower curtain closed!
The Beach
The black sand beach was great. The sand that does not get water from high tide is very, very hot, so wear your sandals! Just before getting to the beach, you walk through a small area of trees. These trees during the morning and early afternoon have small monkeys that swing and sometimes grab food from your hands if you offer it. Lots of fun, they are totally harmless (that is, if you don't harm them). The water is beautiful, though a bit murky and muddy.
The private white sand beach is nothing to write home about, though it does have its own small food area with free drinks. It's great for snorkling, there are a few neat fish to check out. Also, beware of fire ants! The beach has a lot of beach chairs setup, and many of them are underneath trees. We sat in a couple that were apparently near a fire ant nest, and had to keep brushing single ants away... though one did end up crawling onto my wife's neck and biting her. They don't hurt very much, just a slight sting. Just don't get near a nest!
The Food and Restaurants
The general food court area was where we had the majority of our meals. During breakfast they offer eggs, sausage (most of the time), make-it-yourself Belgian waffles, and pancakes, among many other things. Sometimes the eggs weren't done long enough, or some other thing, but you can't expect it to be perfect 100% of the time. They've also got Frosted Flakes and Chocolate Frosted Flakes for the kids (and for me!). Lunch was more of the same, your general lunch menu. I don't really remember much of what they had at lunch other than pasta and bread, because those two things were the best they had. The bread, by the way, was fantastic. Dinner was usually a mix of several different styles, and you sort of learned what to stay away from... though what we didn't like might taste good to you, so I won't bash it. 
The restaurants are only available if you book them in advance, and I believe you can only book them a couple of days in advance. The quality is certainly a step up from the main food court area outside, and thankfully is air conditioned. We tried two restaurants, the Italian and the Tex-Mex. The italian restaurant had fantastic pizza and fettuncine alfredo. Everything else was apparently way too salty. We went twice, and the second night everyone just had the fettuncine or some other pasta. Pork in general was much too dry, no matter where you went. Tex-Mex was actually quite good. Portion sizes were decent (don't forget, with an all-inclusive package, you can order two main dishes), and the food was above average. The deserts weren't half bad either.
Zip-Lining and Natural Hot Springs
We chose to go on the Air Canada sponsored day-long excursion which included natural volcanic hot springs, zip lining, and a view of the volcano nearby to the zip-lining. It included lunch and dinner which were at restaurants on the way there and back. The hot springs were amazing - essentially there were a series of about four pools of water, all directly next to each other, with one being just a little hotter than the one before it. There was a corner pool that got up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), but it was difficult to stay longer than 3 or 4 minutes inside.
Zip lining was, overall, a very fun time. If you're reading this as someone considering going, just hope that it doesn't rain. It was pouring rain for us, and although it felt like needles hitting your face while zipping along, you could still catch the amazing view out of the corner of your eye. You are very high up, approximately 200 meters (over 2 football fields) above the tree canopy, and the lines themselves average about 400-450 meters in length. At the very beginning there are two "chicken lines," which are 20 and 25 meters respectively, and these are meant to provide people with a very small taste about what it's like to zip line. If you don't feel comfortable after the second chicken line, you can back out and safely abort the mission. If, however, you take that third (450 meter) zip line, you're in for the long haul. There were 8 lines in total for us (including the first two chicken lines), with the longest being 750 meters long.
One last thing about zip lining: If, deep inside, you feel like due to your weight, or lack of strength, or both that you would have a hard time doing this, PLEASE consider not doing it. Our group had a rather unpleasant experience with someone from a group just ahead of ours injuring themselves in the middle of a line, and it caused a 25-30 minute wait in the pouring rain, as it got dark outside in the middle of the rain forest. Like I said, it wasn't a pleasant experience, so please consider other people when you make that decision on the first real zip line. After all, you're forced to sign a waiver beforehand anyway.
As for the volcano, we saw very little of it due to heavy rains and fog, and heard just a rumble from it that sounded like thunder from the clouds above. The drive home was dark and dreary, and very curvy. Make sure you bring Gravol or some other anti-motion sickness medicine, if not for you then for others that will certainly need it. The food during both lunch and dinner were very good, and filling. Our guide was terrific as well.
Conclusion
All in all, we had a really great time. We have lots of memories, lots of photos and videos, and I got to experience my first all-inclusive stay at a resort. If you have any questions for me regarding this trip, and/or what we did, just leave it in the comments and I'll be happy to respond.
What’s Next?
We've stepped out of the caves, discovered how to control fire, and conquered basic civilization. We have forged weapons, and have fought wars. The many things our human race has done is nothing short of extraordinary, yet there is so much left to understand. The more we discover, invent, and quantify, we would like to think the less there is to understand. It seems, unfortunately (or fortunately, if you happen to be an explorer), there are more questions than ever before confronting us.
Earlier this afternoon, NASA announced it had discovered that a supernova 26,000 light years away is approximately 106 years old. I believe there are some people around that are still alive when this supernova was born. Thinking past how significant of a find this is, and what it means for astronomers, I began feeling inspired.
As I walked outside, I looked up and saw a commercial plane high in the sky, carrying several people through the air as it bounded for its destination. I looked to my left and saw a tall building that manages to fit several hundred people, and to my right were markets and clothing outlets. 'How amazing,' I thought to myself, 'that one day, right in this very spot, there was nothing at all. No buildings, no people. Just land.' We have conquered advanced civilization, and the basic understandings of not only our own planet, but our place in the universe as well. We obssesively stare at the night sky, knowing that because we have explored past the mountain in the distance, because we have took to the air in flight, what lies next is the biggest challenge we have ever faced.
The universe. Galaxies, dark matter, black holes, supernovae, and even other planets similar to our own are what await us all, and I could not be more excited. It is woven into the human tapestry: Explore.
America’s Education System
A friend pointed me in the direction of this article, and I think it's a great read. I really agree with a lot of the views expressed by the retiring teacher referenced in the article, and I only wonder that if I have children, where will they earn their education?
Link to Article - American kids, dumber than dirt