Perfect flight on a Saturday. Landed and headed to rental car (much different entry to the country experience than Mexico. They didn’t have us fill out forms or check our papers. Didn’t look through our luggage. We did see Hugh Jackman at the airport which was exciting 😊
Had a little hiccup with the rental car company…car was a bit smaller than expected so the kids are nice and cozy in the back of the car. Whoops! But they have been good sports about it.
It’s a whole different experience being in Costa Rica, as we typically head straight to the very Americanized resorts in Mexico and all is taken care of. In this case, we headed out on a several hour drive from the airport to the rainforest and had no real clue where we were going or what we were doing for meals, etc. Luckily I downloaded Waze since it is the only navigation that works.
We ended up arriving in the dark after a long day of travel and all hit the sack pretty quickly.
Our little cabin is nestled in the middle of the rainforest and pretty isolated (only one other cabin around). We woke the first morning to a “flock” of howler monkeys swinging from the trees right outside our cabin. It was AMAZING!!! Our first day was packed with a hike near the Volcano (Arenal 1968 trail). It was beautiful….very green around us, lots of lava rock and a pretty quick and easy hike, From there, we went into the town of La Fortuna to shop around and have lunch. Lots of rice, beans, meats, plantains on the menus, which we all love (other than plantains for Lylah). After lunch, we went in a safari float which was a ton of fun. We floated for miles down a river and saw soooo many creatures. Crocodiles, lizards, owls (two kinds), birds of all kids, turtles, and the highlight, a sloth hanging out on a fairly low branch right over the water. Front row seat to watch that little guy move around. Beautiful raft ride with just the four of us and a guide.
(and the weather was perfect…sunny with a breeze on the water).
At the end of the raft, we had a snack of local food (tortillas, plantains, cheese) and then learned about the cacao plant and how chocolate is made. Overall fantastic experience and so glad we did it!
We ended late enough that we just had dinner on the way back…didn’t even stop to shower!
Next day, we woke up to a herd of javelina (with a baby) in our backyard area, and also saw wild turkeys, lizards and Coati right on our property. We took off for the La Fortuna waterfall While crazy busy with tourists, it was well worth seeing Most spectacular waterfall I can ever remember seeing! Brady and Jon were brave enough to get in…..i was NOT! 😊 Super cold!!! But so amazing and 500 steps to get to it.
Then we had some lunch in town and headed to the sloth tour in the afternoon. Now….Jon and Brady would say it was too long and not their favorite, but Lylah and I really loved seeing so many sloths in the trees even baby ones), along with poisonous frogs! We of course proceeded to the gift shop to get Lylah her very own Noodle (sloth stufftie) while brady opted for a Costa Rica keychain (15 year old humor…it was penis shaped!) 😊 haha!
More creatures when we returned to our property to shower for dinner…such a cool experience and different for us to not be at a resort and try something different. And I am so glad we did.
Today we check out and head to the beach side of Costa Rica. I will forever remember the rain forest experience, especially as I woke up this morning to gentle rain on the roof of our place!
Part 2- the beach!
We traveled 3.5hours to get to the upper northwest region of Costa Rica and the Westin Beach Resort. Beautiful resort, complete with howler monkeys upon arrival! Much different experience the back half of the week but I am so glad we experienced both. Drier climate, sunny all the time. Great resort with huge pool, lots of food choices, friendly locals on the beach….
Couldn’t swim in the ocean due to jelly fish everywhere but have a relaxing few days. The kids were hard to get off of their phones, because it was so relaxing but we squeezed in some fun times every day!
First day we played some pool basketball, walked the beach, shopped on the beach, and Jon and I did a couples massage, where I proceeded to fall off the massage table 😊
Next two days we did lots of pool time, reading, soaking up the sun, walking more on the beach, riding bikes, having meals together and working out. It was a great way to end a busy start to the week.
It was a good amount of time as I think we are all ready to get home to our beds and Charlie but some much needed family time and down time.
Pura Vida! Will always cherish vacation memories with my kiddies!!
No comments:
Post a Comment