Day 4 - The Beginning

On our fourth day in Costa Rica we were awakened by the loudest rainstorm we have ever heard. It started about an hour before we were due to wake up and lasted throughout breakfast. This wouldn't have bothered us except we were scheduled to take a boat tour down a river to see local wildlife. Starting to get nervous that we wouldn't be able to go we got a call from our guide. Daniel was checking in to see if we still wanted to give the trip a try despite the torential rains. Luckily we are the adventurous types because we said what the heck and told him to pick us up.

After about a 30 minute drive, it was still raining, we came to Rio Penas Blancas. Here we exited the van to see a small staircase leading down to the river and nobody else in sight. Daniel proceeded to pass out life vests and point us toward an inflatable raft. Here is where Amy and I looked nervously at each other and whispered that we were both expecting to see something along the lines of the "Jungle Boat Cruise" at Disneyland. The thought of 3 small children and 5 adults, in a blow up boat, on a river full of crocodiles was a little more adventurous than we expected. And to top it all off it was still raining!

Proving that once again our vacation was charmed and we were destined to have a fabulous time, the clouds parted and the sun peeked out. We couldn't back out now so down the stairs and into the boat we went, passing a poison arrow frog on the way!

I'd love to say the trip went smoothly and it did except for a few minor issues. One, kids don't like life vests. Especially when they are wearing waterproof rain gear and the jungle is now getting steamy. Two, once you remove a life vest from a child, in order to remove the hot and sticky rain gear, they don't want to put the vest back on. Three, telling children why they need a life vest and then pointing to the nearby crocodile does not settle them down, if anything it makes the problem worse because they now realize they are in a blow up boat on a river full of crocodiles! Chaos ensues, mom bribes all children with as many juice boxes and Oreos they want, youngest child falls asleep (yes our Olivia), and finally we can continue our cruise in peace. Of course Michael is now balancing the sleeping child on his lap while trying to remain in the boat and Jason is getting a permanent stiff arm from trying to shield the sleeping child with an umbrella. When all was said and done we saw so many amazing things that all the little issues were quickly forgotten!

More on day four later......it was a big day!

Jason and the kids ready for our big adventure. The foggy rain was just beginning to stop.

Not the best picture but the kids were excited to see a real poison arrow frog in the wild.

One last shot before heading off down the river.

This is a Jesus Christ Lizard....so called because it seems to walk or run on the top of the water.

This crocodile (cocodrilo in Spanish) wasn't fond of Livie's crying. We were a little nervous when he snapped his head around and dove into the water right by our boat.

This is a three toed sloth. The patch on its back means it's a male. You rarely see them moving so we were excited when this one started to go from one branch to another.

There were many cows on the river banks and they were all numbered except this one. His tag said Charlie. We hope Charlie's been told about the crocodiles.

We think this was called a Tiger Heron.

A howler monkey

Another howler monkey

There were tons of iguanas up in the trees.

These are bats that we found on the side of a tree. We saw nature at work when they all lifted their heads and started to move in unison. They were trying to make the appearance of being larger than we were by moving all at the same time.

Costa Rica - Day 3 - Land of the Lost

Well we didn't fall down a waterfall or go back in time like Marshall, Will and Holly, but it certainly looked like we were in a movie. It is amazing to see things in person that you have only experienced in pictures. Day 3 in Costa Rica was just as good as days 1 and 2!

We started out with a very uneventful four hour drive from Casa de Orlando to the town of La Fortuna. La Fortuna is located in the Alajuela region of Costa Rica, north of San Jose (the capital). While the trip was uneventful it didn't disapoint in its beauty. Surprisingly we found that Costa Rica has a diverse landscape, from lush tropical rainforests to rolling hillside meadows filled with dairy cows and even some mountainous pine forests. We left early enough that we were spared driving in anything more than a few scattered sprinkles and we had the Orlandos leading the caravan so all went well.

As far away from Land of the Lost you can get was our hotel, Montana de Fuego (http://www.montanafuegohotel.com/), a beautiful resort and spa located right next to the volcano between the green side and active side. We had a wonderful reception with a cool glass of juice and the announcement that our rooms were ready and waiting. We stayed in little cabins with a glassed in porch and a beautiful view. Tired of sitting the kids were excited to hit the pool as quickly as possible. After a quick look around the room we all changed and went to cool off. The rainstorm that hit immediately after jumping in the pool didn't damper the fun. What's a little more water when you are already wet?

The most excitement of the day was lounging in the pool and hearing the volcano start to rumble. For a good hour the volcano rumbled and sputtered and finally erupted while we watched in fascination. Of course the cloud cover was shrouding the mountain top but we were still able to see the thick clouds of brown smoke pour out the top. The pictures don't do it justice at all and of course after it erupted the clouds decided to part for a full volcano view. This remained the talk of the day and it was decided that after dinner we would head to the active side and see if we could spot some lava.

After our delicious dinner we threw the kids in pajamas and headed to the other side of the volcano. After a 15 minute drive, on an unlit dirt road, we crossed a small river and found ourselves smack in the middle of tourist central. In a muddy field we gathered with a bunch of other lava seekers anxiously waiting and hoping that the clouds would clear up enough to see something. While we waited we got to see fireflies and after about 10 minutes the clouds parted. There on the side of the mountain we were able to see a trail of lava coming out from the top and rolling down to the bottom. Sadly this is not an easy thing to photograph without a tripod and an understanding of night photography. So you will have to take our word and the Orlandos that we saw the lava, we cheered and clapped with the crowd, and felt like true adventurers (well most of us were adventurers, the girls fell asleep on the drive).

Here is a view of the hotel from our room.

Fun in the pool!

A little rain is no big deal!

Jacob loves to swim.

The view of the volcano from the pool. That is smoke coming out of the top!

The clouds rolled in and then the volcano erupted. The picture just doesn't show how exciting it was to see and hear!

Of course after the excitement was over the clouds cleared and here is the whole volcano still smoking at the top!

Excitement over it was back into the pool for more fun.

Sophie taking a juice break!

This is the best I could do getting a picture of some of the lava. This is from our front courtyard at the hotel. I put the camera on night photography and with the light from the porch and the flash it was enough to get this shot.