Costa Rica Dia 4

Today the boys started off the day early with some zip-lining. Almost every one of the zips had excellent views of the Pacific Ocean and the forest canopies. Some of the bridges in between the stops were 200-300 feet above the ground....not for the faint of heart!

                                             

                                                           

Our guide helping me ride like Superman!

                                                         

RP embarrassing everyone by making it look so easy!

One of the other cool features of the zip-lining tour was that we FINALLY got to see some real Costa Rican animals! There were tons of Howler Monkeys in the trees. They have that name for a reason. They are so loud you can hear them up to 3 miles away.

     We also saw a sloth just chillin' on the tree top. 

As we were driving back from the zip-lining tour, a family of Coatis crossed the road. First it was mama, then all of her babies. They look like weird red raccoons with longer tails.        

Mama coati with baby coati

We had lunch at resort, which was typical American fare with a few seafood options. The menus for the restaurant were shaped like surfboards. One side is in English, the other is in Spanish.

Iguanas are regular visitors of the restaurant. These are not your average lizards. They are about 2-3 feet long and quite strong. They generally do not bother you, they are just looking for scraps.

Iguana is to the right of the ramp

We spent the rest of afternoon at the pool and beach just relaxing. However, that was rather hard to do since they were broadcasting the Costa Rica soccer game at every pool bar/restaurant around the property. The employees all wore Costa Rica shirts or jerseys to work and were very enthused about the game (many brought vuvuzelas with them). Some of them were even found to have abandoned their post to watch the game (including the lifeguard, the jet ski rental guy, and even the bartender at times stopped making drinks to watch a minute of two of the game---haha).

Dinner tonight was at the Italian restaurant. It was delicious! The only downfall is that the mosquitos are also huge fans of the restaurant. Each one of us ended up with about 5-10 bites from that evening. The restaurant sits very close to the beach so we were able to get some really great sunset pictures!

We also had a visit from a stray cat. He/she just chilled behind us for the entire meal.

Costa Rica Dia 3

Today started with us checking out of our hotel in Liberia. Then, we were off to the Cloud Forest.

After 1.5 hours of driving we realized the Google Maps instructions may have been wrong. Perhaps we should have known better when it read “Make Sharp Left”, but without telling you what street to turn onto. That, or the fact that we ended up at the border of Nicaragua. We contemplated going across the border to get our passports stamped and have lunch. We thought otherwise after seeing the semis backed up, plus we had a 7 month-old with us. It was wise to just turn around.

So we went with our backup option…..Santa Rosa National Park.

First we checked in and paid our entrance fee, then proceeded to lather up with bug spray and use el baño. Interesting bathroom to say the least. The door only locks from the outside. There were hornets nests on the ceiling. No place to wash your hands. BUT….they did have toilet paper.

Next it was on to the original farmhouse. The whole building was made of compacted mud covered in plaster. Behind the farmhouse there was a trail leading up to the top of the hill where there were INCREDIBLE views. We even saw iguanas!

Then, we decided to hike some of the trails in the park. As you enter a sign promises lots of weird creatures along the way including Crested Guans, White-faced monkeys, and Coatis. We saw a few lizards and a Crested Guan…..no coati, no monkey.

This is a termites nest!

Now that we finished with the park, we were off to check in to our next hotel on the Pacific Coast. On our drive we encountered many strange methods of travel, including this young man who rode on the back of a truck, on top of a pile of lumber, with a chainsaw between his legs. I wish I could say this was uncommon, but it was not (maybe the chainsaw part, but that’s it).

For lunch we stopped at this place called the Greenhouse. It was very cool. It’s literally a greenhouse (although it does have air conditioning). They have a varied menu with everything from sushi to veggie burgers to ceviche, all very good.

For dinner we ate at the hotel and had a lovely meal. The resort is all-inclusive so they are constantly bringing you drinks and more food because most people don’t turn them down. For desert they have an option that is quite popular in Costa Rica….ice cream with strawberry popcorn. We all decided it tasted like ice cream with lucky charms. The other deserts were also very good!

Costa Rica Dias 1 & 2

Welcome to Costa Rica!

Day 1 was spent mostly flying and traveling. Once we arrived at the hotel, we had dinner in town and then went back to the hotel to get settled and relax. We stopped by the grocery store in downtown Liberia to pick up some Costa Rican beer, and, of course, some international candies!

Fresas are little individually wrapped strawberry hard candies with a soft center. Frutinis are little hard candies with four flavors: lime, grape, cherry, and orange. Dulci comas are little chewy fruit gummies. We have yet to try the other two just yet.

Day 2 was way more exciting. We traveled to the beach town of Tamarindo. MB and RP took surf lessons, while TG, ZP, and baby watched from the sidelines. 

A few interesting things were discovered on this beach. First, dead fish wash ashore quite frequently as the tide comes in. Second, the water is surprisingly warm. We assumed the Pacific Ocean was much colder, but it actually felt like bath water. Despite all the stray dogs, and the occasional presents they would leave, it was a surprisingly clean beach!

Next it was a walk through town and lunch. We ate at a beach-side spot called El Vaquero. We had great food and local beer. Hello grilled lobster and Witch's Rock Pale Ale!