Costa Rica - Day 5 (Part 1)

As soon as we woke up Theresa, Carrie, and I went to rent some bicycles for the day. We got these sweet cruisers with little bells on the handlebars...

Then we had the most amazing breakfast I've had in a LONG time. I had some fluffy local organic scrambled eggs, fresh crispy bacon, and a homemade bagel with homemade spicy chipotle cream cheese. My mouth's watering now just thinking about it! We ate at a restaurant called Bread and Chocolate. Everything the owner made was local, fresh, and homemade.

This is not the best picture of me...I think I was in a food coma...

My chocolate covered truffle and spicy chipotle cream cheese -- not eaten together!

When we couldn't possibly eat another bite we grabbed our bikes and rode to the Jaguar Sanctuary.

Riding through town after breakfast

On the way Theresa wanted to sing Now and Then songs. So we rode down the street singing "knock three times on the ceiling if you want me...twice on the pipe ::briiing, briiing::" Then we moved on to some Mungo Jerry...haha - I loved it :)!

Going to the rescue center was a highlight for all of us. Look at this cute little guy...

The best part...

We got to hold them!!!!

Theres with her new friend

Carrie's little man fell asleep on her head...

Maki's fell asleep with his tongue sticking out -- how cute is that?!?!'

Incredible!

Then we got to see a few sloths. Some people think they're adorable and some people think they're creepy. I'm middle of the road on this one. I don't think their creepy necessarily, but I definitely wouldn't describe it as one of the cutest animals I've seen...

It looks like it's smiling, doesn't it?

A little baby...

Big guy sleeping under a bush...

We tried really hard to find some tree frogs while we were there but only saw their eggs...

The sanctuary only had one jaguar and it was in a cage that we couldn't go in so I didn't take any pictures. The sanctuary's whole purpose is to rehabilitate these animals so they can release them back into the wild. Definitely a place worth checking out if you ever find yourself in Puerto Viejo.

Day 5 (Part 2) - Surf's Up

"A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life" -James Allen

Costa Rica - Day 4

We finally made it to the beautiful beach...

and checked into the "Casa de Zorro"...

We noticed right away that Lacey, Maki, and Kristen (Maki's friend) had rented bikes. Plans were made quickly to go get some of our own the next day.

We spent a few hours hanging out on the beach and then we all went out for dinner and swapped stories about our trips.

After dinner we wanted to go out dancing but discovered that there wasn't much of a night life. I was really looking forward to Theresa experiencing some Latin dance moves, but I'm sure they'll be a next time :)...

My beautiful little sister and Me!

Day 5 (Part 1) - Bikes, Monkeys, and Sloths...oh my!

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion"  ~Dalai Lama

Costa Rica - Day 3

Day 3 started with a beautiful view of Arenal...

We were told that we might not see the top because it's covered by clouds most of the time. Sometimes it takes days for a cloud covering to clear away, but by the time we started our hike in the national park we could clearly see the peak -- what luck!

I love this photo!

We took a public bus to get there and it dropped us off almost two miles outside of the park -- so we had a nice little stroll in. Along the way we passed some farm land that had a bunch of cows grazing. I know how much you love cows Mom, so I took this picture just for you :)...

Once we paid the ten dollars to get inside we walked to the lookout point...

Then we headed to trailhead #3 - which lead us to the lava fields...

We made it!

Me and Theres in the lava fields

And decided to do a few yoga moves ;)

T doing "mountain"

From the top of the lava fields we had a clear view of the lake...

There was a warning sign saying we shouldn't be walking on the fields, but Arenal hasn't had any activity in over 6 months. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to see some lava!

Unfortunately we had a 2:45 bus to catch back to San Jose, so we had to make our Arenal visit very brief. The bus that had dropped us off at the park in the morning wouldn't be back until 2:30 that afternoon so we walked back out to the main road to grab a taxi. After twenty minutes of not even seeing a single taxi we decided to hitchhike back into town. I look at Theresa and said "will you be scared if we hitchhike back?" She said "no" and then I reminded her of the time she and Emily tried to hitchhike in front of our Grandma's house. When they were probably 7 and 8 years old. Thankfully a neighbor caught them and turned them in, haha!

It's fairly easy to catch a ride in Honduras because of all the pick-up trucks and I was hoping that would be the case in Costa Rica. Carrie and I stood on the rode with our thumbs out for awhile but everyone passing was by were either other gringos traveling or Costa Ricans in a rush to get somewhere. Most people who drive past would just honk and wave. Then Carrie saw a sign that said "3 kilometers to the information center". So we started walking, but I continued to hold my thumb up for good measure. Within five minutes a nice looking tour van pulled over. The man inside was on his way back from dropping a group off and told us he would take us back to our hostel free of charge. Then he told us he was on his way back to San Jose (where he lived). So Carrie asked how much he would charge us just to go back with him, so we didn't have to take the bus back. He replied "nada (nothing)" - jackpot! This man was so incredibly nice. We asked him a few times to accept some money but when he refused we told him we would take him to lunch and he thankfully accepted our offer. Not only did he drive us to San Jose free of charge, he also helped us get bus tickets for Puerto Viejo. It makes me happy that there are some truly great people in this world :)!

Here are Theresa and Carrie enjoying our spacious 12 passenger van complete with air conditioning...

After we got dropped off at the bus station we realized the last bus going to Puerto Viejo had already left, so we went with plan B and checked into Tranquillo Backpackers. The coolest hostel I have ever stayed in. I loved this place! Bright and fun decor, interesting people, and some rockin' tunes!

I was so excited I called my mom at 11p.m. her time to gush about it and the rest of our trip. Sorry Mom!

After we put our stuff in our room we walked around to check out the rest of the hostel and stumbled across these great hammocks...

When we were finished hanging out downstairs we headed up to bed and fell asleep to the tunes of Fleetwood Mac drifting into our room...

Day 4: Beach here we come!

"Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love" - Mother Teresa

Costa Rica - Day 2

Looking back on all of the pictures now, I can't believe what a packed schedule we had...

We started the day with a lovely pancake breakfast at the Rustic Lodge and then hopped into a van to head to Selvatura for some ziplining. We had people from Holland, Israel, Costa Rica, France, and Sweeden in our van. There were a lot of different languages being spoken and I realize the more I travel why people from other countries describe Americans as "loud". I'm definitely a loud person in general so I easily fit into that stereotype, but listening to people from other countries talk I can see how many Americans fit the bill. I could barely hear what anyone was saying. It's like that in Honduras too. Hondurans can be pretty loud, but sometimes when they're just calmly talking to one another they're barely audible. I guess I've just got some American ears that are used to American voices. Almost everyone we met spoke some English though, so it was pretty easy to communicate with most people.

Once we got off the bus we checked in and grabbed our gear...

Me and Tiki ready to go

First line

I was so nervous the entire time we were climbing up that first tower, but Theresa was all excitement...













Carrie had been ziplining in Costa Rica before -- actually in the same city, with the same company. It was nice to travel with someone who knew the ins and outs. Selvatura was a great company to go through.

Ready to take off

Theres was really enjoying herself...

Here we all are after one of the long lines we did...

Coming in...

The views up there were indescribable. This picture doesn't do it justice...

I did manage to get one video of the longest line we did. I'll try to get that posted within the next few days.

After we completed our last zipline we walked to the "Tarzan Swing". I don't know what I was thinking this swing would be about, but I definitely was not prepared to jump off a 30ft. platform. Once I saw it I knew I had to muster up the courage to do it. A woman two spots ahead of me backed out pretty quickly once she got up there and it looked very tempting, but I took a big gulp and got up there. Once I was to the top my nerves kicked in and my legs were physically shaking. The guys strapping me in thought it was hysterical and kept making fun of me. Before I knew it I was strapped in -- knees bent -- and it was go time. They opened the little gate, gave me a slight push, and I was on my way. As I was starting to fall and freaking out I hear "no, no, no". OMG! For a few seconds I thought that was it for me. I just remembering thinking "this rope isn't going to catch and I'm going to fall". They just did it on purpose to scare me... how mean! But I made it down safe and sound and actually enjoyed it once I was just swinging back and forth. I don't know that I could ever do it again though. One time may be enough.

The platform we jumped off of

After jumping off the Tarzan Swing we walked across all of the suspension bridges. This one was particularly cool and had the most amazing view of the rainforest...

Carrie, me, and Theresa on the bridge

It looks like it just keeps going straight into the trees

As we walked through the rainforest to get to each new bridge we saw a lot of amazing trees. I don't know if this bird happened naturally or someone put it there, but it caught my eye either way...

After three hours of rainforest fun we were off to our next adventure in La Fortuna to see Arenal (volcano). To get there we went on a jeep/boat/bus tour that ended up being a van instead of a jeep with three funny French women inside. They didn't speak any English and although Carrie can speak French she was rusty from all the months of Spanish she's been speaking. I told Carrie and Theresa I felt like we were in a funny movie, then Carrie said she thought the French women were saying the same thing. They were great women and laughed a lot during the ride. At one point they insisted on getting out to take a picture of our first view of Arenal. I'm so glad they did because the Costa Rican country side with the volcano in the background was gorgeous...

Costa Rican countryside

In front of Arenal -- it's hard to see with all the clouds

After a three hour drive we hitched a ride on this boat...

And got even closer to the volcano...

When we got into our next mode of transportation we heard people talking about "Gringo Pete's", which was one of the hostels I had checked out. Some girls had stayed there a few nights prior and said it was a good place, so we decided to go check in.

After briefly getting settled in we decided to pack a picnic dinner and head to some free hot springs nearby. When we were ziplining we met a man and his fiance from Israel who had been to La Fortuna the night before and told us about these hot springs. A few hotels advertised "hot springs" for a fee of $30-$50, but since that kind of money wasn't in our budget we hadn't planned on doing it. Free springs on the other hand was right up our alley. The couple told us to bring candles since there was no other light source. We were so glad they did, because they were great to have.

Here's a picture of our picnic dinner...

French bread, apples, pineapple, mango, cheese, kalamata olives (splurge purchase), and some malbec wine (not pictured)

When we got out of the taxi and walked up to the river we were a little weary. All we saw was a big dirty underpass with spray paint all over it, so we didn't think that could possibly be what the couple had told us about. But just in time some girls walked past and assured us that just past that dirty looking underpass was a beautiful warm river. So we trekked through it and we weren't disappointed.

We found a nice little spot on the river bank, lit our candles, ate our food, and then headed into the water. I had never been in natural hot springs before so I was pretty impressed. I couldn't believe how warm the water was. We relaxed there for a few hours and then caught a taxi back to our hostel. We played a few games of Skip-Bo and then off to bed we went, to prepare for the full day ahead.

***We were told before going to the springs that there was a good chance we could be robbed. So we decided not to take cameras -- which means no photos. You'll just have to use your imagination :).

Day 3 - Hiking up to Arenal with a few surprises along the way.

"You don’t take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it” –Author Unknown

Costa Rica - Day 1

Theresa, Carrie and I had an incredible time in Costa Rica! The weather was perfect and we had a lot of memorable experiences. As always I took way too many pictures, so I'm splitting up my blog posts by days. 

So without further ado...

Saturday (April 16th): Jeff, Lacey, Maki, Carrie, and I took a bus with some short term volunteers to Tegus to catch our flight. The flight was only an hour so it went by very quickly. After I got off the plane all I could think about was seeing Theresa. I was so excited that I ran outside to find her as soon as we got through customs. It was so great to be able to give her a big hug :). I was so proud of her for traveling outside of the country by herself for the first time and sitting in the airport for twelve hours to wait for me. What a trooper!

After we got all of our bags together Jeff's parents, Rob and Patty, took us out to a nice Italian dinner. The food was incredible and the company was even better. Jeff's parents are both wonderful people so we really enjoyed talking to them. Patty was telling us stories about Jeff when he was little (which were hysterical) and we talked a lot about our work in Juticalpa. Vacation was off to a great start!

The next morning we went to the bus station to buy tickets for Monteverde - Santa Elena, to go on a Canopy Tour (Ziplining). We found out very quickly that people can buy tickets ahead of time -- something you can't do in Juticalpa. So there was only standing room left for a five hour bus ride. We weren't overly thrilled but happy we were at least able to get on a bus. 

There's a saying that says "If it's good it's good, if it's bad it's experience". That's exactly what this bus ride was...an experience!

When we first got onto the bus there were some empty seats so we tested our luck and tried to share two seats between the three of us...

Attempting to get all three of us in the picture.

Within a few minutes the bus was fully loaded and we found ourselves standing in the back sandwiched between a lot of other standing people...

Let's see if these smiles last for another five hours

Just excited to be on the bus

Luckily Theresa and Carrie are great sports and we all got off the bus with smiles on our faces! 

After arriving in Santa Elena we decided we were too tired to truly enjoy ziplining so we canceled our reservations and rescheduled bright and early for the following day. Instead we had a lesuirely lunch, talked about the awful but funny bus ride, and checked into our quant little hotel - The Rustic Lodge...

Then we decided we should do some sort of tour since we had the whole night free. After reviewing a few things we went with a sunset horseback ride. I was thrilled to say the least.

Here's Carrie and I before saddling up...

They had to give me a child's size helmet because of my small noggin

Theres on Freckles...

The tour guides posed us a few times for pictures, but instead of just sitting there we did something a little more fun...

Whoo hoo - rope and ride!

This is my favorite picture from the day...I love all of the colors in it! It's that time of day when the sun is first starting to set and everything has a golden hugh. The world always seems perfect during that time and being on a horse in Costa Rica made it that much better...

Day 2 - Selvatura Canopy Tour...coming soon to a computer near you!

“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy” –Anne Frank