Our Costa Rican Adventure - Day 3

Our adventure continues on day 3 (technically day 4 but the first day was all travel and not too exciting) with a drive down to the west coast. We wanted to give Amy and Jason a break before they got too tired of us and this gave us a great opportunity to experience a different region of the country. Our day began with our personal tour guide, Amy, leading the way to the Courtyard Marriott where Michael's relatives from Colorado just happened to be staying. Michael's cousin Jeannie was in Costa Rica on business with HP and her mom, Linda, and her son, Christian, came down for a vacation while poor Jeannie was working. Ideally we would have loved to see everybody but our vacation was already so packed that the best we could squeeze in was a quick visit at the hotel on our way out of town. After that Amy led the way to the main road that would take us to the coast. Armed with a map that Jason had clearly marked and the Orlando's extra cell phone we said good bye to Amy and Sophie and started our 3 hour drive down to the Los Suenos Marriott Resort in Playa Herradura. http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sjols-los-suenos-marriott-ocean-and-golf-resort/

The drive was very beautiful with short rainstorms as we made our way down the winding mountain road. We passed through Atenas and Orotina before we were out of the mountains and headed for the more coastal landscape. On our way to the hotel one of the most exciting sights was the Tarcoles river. The actual river wasn't exciting but rather the fact that it is infested with very large, okay HUGE, crocodiles. This was another one of Jacob's favorite things. After crossing the river we pulled over and walked back to the middle of the bridge on a very narrow concrete curb. Looking over the side we were able to see at least 15 crocodiles just swimming or sunning themselves on the sandbar. Michael and Olivia took a brief look and made a hasty retreat to the car but Jacob and I stayed for quite awhile going back and forth to each side to see how many crocodiles we could spot. It was such an amazing sight knowing that these crocodiles were not in a zoo or preserve, just right out in the river. A very brave person could walk right down the riverbank for a close up view. NOT US!

We made it to our hotel in the early afternoon and were very pleased with the resort. The people were so friendly and the grounds were beautiful. All around the hotel were places to sit and lounge, the pool was gigantic with lots of little bridges and waterfalls, the beach was just steps from the pool, and iguanas were all over the place. We took a tour of the grounds, hit the pool, had dinner in our room, and called it a night!

Michael's family!

Yikes! The crocodiles are huge!

My what big teeth you have!

Jacob looking over the side.

His favorite was the one with the orange necklace.

Just one little piece of a very large pool.

We are just steps away from the beach.

Ah, peace and quiet.

Playa Herradura

Los Suenos Marriott

La Paz Waterfall Garden Nature Pics

One of the best parts of our trip was seeing all of the brightly colored wild life! These are our favorites from the La Paz Waterfall Gardens.

Our Costa Rican Adventure - Day 2

Day 2 of our Costa Rican adventure started out beautifully. We got up fairly early and hit the winding mountain road for The La Paz Waterfall Gardens (http://www.waterfallgardens.com/). It was an absolutely beautiful drive through the Cloud Forest. We arrived at our destination and immediately set out on the trail. We first wandered through a giant aviary full of toucans, macaws, other birds, and some lemurs. After that we made our way into the Butterfly Observatory. There were hundreds of butterflies flying around and landing right on us. After the butterflies we walked through a hummingbird garden and made a stop to check out the snakes. We then made our way to another delicious Costa Rican buffet before we continued on our way to the waterfalls. After lunch the rain started but that didn't bother us since we were in the rainforest. We took a quick ox cart ride, wandered through the frog habitat, and finally began our descent to the waterfalls. We followed an amazing stairway down to the falls and were amazed by how gorgeous everything was. Jacob couldn't believe how big the waterfalls were and Olivia couldn't stop looking (even for a picture). We made it to the top of the third waterfall before calling it quits and heading home. The kids did an amazing job exploring the jungle. Jacob walked the whole way on his own and thanks to the Kick family Olivia had a cushy backpack ride. Sophie even walked most of the way with a little help from mom and dad! We started back down the mountain, stopped for a quick fix from the Auto Mercado (supermarket), and called it a day!

Jacob was in heaven exploring through the jungle.

Olivia riding in style!

Explorer Jacob!

Jacob's favorite story is how this toucan tried to eat his hat.

Olivia loved the butterflies.

The Orlandos in the Cloud Forest.

Jessica, Sophie, and Jacob taking a ride in a traditional ox cart.

You can't get any closer than this!

The whole gang!

As pretty as this picture is the real thing was spectacular!

National Geographic in Costa Rica

Here are some pictures of Costa Rican wildlife that Jessica took while at the INBioparque. She is the family photographer.

Our Costa Rican Adventure - Day 1

On July 6th we left to visit our friends, The Orlandos, in Escazu, Costa Rica. We left our house at 7:30 AM and arrived at their house at 10:00 PM. It was a long travel day so we slept in the next morning, enjoyed a delicious pancake breakfast made by Amy, picked up our rental car, and hit the road. We didn't go far but boy did we have fun. We went to a beautiful park called the INBioparque (http://www.inbio.ac.cr/inbioparque/es/index_eng.html), a place designed to teach about the different animals and regions of Costa Rica. We started our tour with a wonderful Costa Rican buffet, then headed out to some trails which took us to many different exhibits. We wrapped up our day with a stop at POPS (the best ice-cream for a buck), picked up some pizza, and headed home.

"Umm, Mom, there is a giant bug right behind Jacob!"

Here is Olivia in her jungle attire.

The great white hunters heading into the jungle!

Okay it's three white boys from the states and it was a nicely paved trail through the park.

" You want me to touch what????"

Sophie and the giant toucan.

Jacob was very impressed with this waterfall, just wait until you see day 2! (Here is where we quickly explain that somebody will most likely always be missing from the picture. Amy is missing this time because she is taking the picture and Olivia was in the stroller trying to fall asleep. We promise to show Amy soon!)

We aren't sure who had more fun, the kids or Michael!