This month Cam and I went to Costa Rica with our wonderful friends Tom and Jocelyn Harris. If there is one word to describe this trip, "epic" would be the one. It was so, so good. We laughed for 7 days straight, slept in, ate delicious food like fresh mango, pineapple, and delcious coconut cookies. We joked, got lost, punched a racoon, and saw bugs as big as your face. We hiked, rafted, zip lined through the jungle, surfed, snorkeled, and soaked in some hidden hot springs with all the locals and their families. Fun? Yes. Relaxing? Definitely. Epic? Certainly.
Here are some pictures to remind us that our trip really happened and didn't exist solely in our imagination:
Jocelyn took an ambien for our red eye flight. She was out cold in less than 3 minutes. Tom was messing with her and making us all laugh, until she tried to bite his finger, then he stopped. haha
We drove to Arenal, our first destination!
Arenal Volcano.
It was my birthday this day! We started the day off by zip lining through the jungle. Hundreds of feet in the air, above the jungle canopy, you zoom through the air and take in all the beautiful scenery.
After our ziplining adventure, we drove to El Castillo (a little town 14 kilometers down a dirt road through the jungle). We grabbed a bite to eat at the local "Soda Mama" and drove up the hill to the house we would be staying at. Thank goodness for the 4 wheel drive car we rented! It was much needed.
Our first house in El Castillo.
After our nap, we hiked up the hill to check out the view.
From the top. Arenal in the background, and Lake Arenal below.
The next morning we had some delicious breakfast.
Fresh watermelon, mango, pineapple, and a breakfast burrito.
We then set out for our hike of Cerro Chato, a dormant volcano with a lake on top.
This was the beautiful garden on the paved trail by the observatory. Joc and I called it the "Garden of Eden." So magnificent.
Tom and Cam making jokes. The fenced in bulls seemed very "lonely" and were seeking out "companionship" with one another. It gave us all a good laugh and we made "bull" jokes the rest of the trip.
These beautiful trees are called Eucalyptus Deglupta, and have an amazing rainbow-colored bark.
We made it to the trail head and started our hike up. It was a 7 mile round trip hike, with a 1200 ft. elevation gain. Steep and humid. Imagine a stair stepper, in the jungle. It was awesome.
This gives you an idea of what the terrain was like. What an adventure!
Sweaty and wet, we made it to the top, and then ventured down to the lake.
Cam and Tom were the only ones brave enough to get in the water. It was cold up there! And the water was far from warm.....
We more or less skipped and jumped our way back down, and were amused with the Coati awaiting us at the bottom of the trail.
Another look at Arenal.
We then hiked down to the waterfall, and once again, Cam and Tom were the only ones to brave to cold water. Joc, are we wimps or what?!
That night we headed to a local restaurant and had a very delicious dinner.
While we waited for our food, we played some foosball. Joc and Tom gave us a spanking.
The next morning we woke up bright and early for our river rafting adventure. It was an 1 1/2 bus ride to the Sarapiqui River. On our way we stopped off to look at some Iguanas in the trees.
We put my phone in a zip lock baggy, so excuse the fogginess. A rafting we will go!
Both Tom and I nearly fell in the water, and the river was on low season! I can't imagine those rapids on high season! Wow!
This picture is the cliff we all had to jump from, then swim across the river, if we wanted our mid-river snack.
Fresh pineapple and watermelon. Need a table? Just flip over the raft!
After rafting we changed into some dry clothes and had THE MOST delicious meal of the whole trip. It was their typical dish, Casado, which is rice, beans, salad, and a meat of your choice. It was SO SO good. They also through in a fried banana.
After rafting we drove to La Fortuna where we did some shopping and chilled at a park. Cam looked so cute sitting on that bench, had to snap a photo. That's his happy face.
For some reason my left ankle always swells up when I sit for long periods of time (especially on a hot 3 hour bus ride.) Normal foot/ kankle foot.
We grabbed some grub in the city. They opted for Cansado once more, and I got a hawaiin pizza. Yum!
The next morning was our long, long drive to Playa Ballena. We had been driving for a couple hours and stopped off at a locals house to try some "jugo de cana," (sugar cane juice.) It was nasty, and tasted like very sweet grass mixed with dirt. But we were happy we stopped, because he noticed that our rear tire was very low. We found a tire shop, and they pulled out a screw from the tire. (Cam's holding the screw, above). All patched up, we hit the road again. We got lost a couple times, but finally arrived in Playa Ballena after a full day of driving in the car.
We were anxious to make something of the day, so we walked from the house, throught the incredibly humid jungle, to the nearby beach.
Once we made it to the beach, we discovered that it was high tide and there was NO beach to speak of, only rocks and washed up branches. Cam and I are giving it a thumbs down.
Cam still managed to catch a crab.
Loved the tree tops.
So with only an hour of daylight left (sun sets at 6pm year round) we hopped in the car to find a beach and get into the water!
We watched the sun set on this beautiful beach.
The next day we woke up early for our surfing day! Tom and Jocelyn took a private lesson, while Cam tried his luck with just renting a board and testing his knowledge from his lesson 4 years ago.
Beautiful beach.
Cam decided to hit "one more wave" and ended up with a sliced foot from the blade of his board. When I saw him crash, and saw his legs up in the air, I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. Poor guy. So we ended our surfing day, and drove Cam the half hour to the hospital.
7 stitches later, and an antibiotic through an IV, and he was good to go again.
They didn't take credit cards, so we had to scrounge up enough money in dollars and colones. $83, still cheaper than our copay.
On the drive home, we stopped by a butterfly garden. The butterflies love to eat fermented bananas.
We got Cam rested up, then headed to another beach. This is Joc and I, two bumps on a log. (we're being creative.)
We tried out our snorkel gear too. The ocean still frightens me and it took some time before I could calm down enough to actually swim. Cam stayed on the beach and read a book. Poor guy.
That night we went to eat at El Pavon. Tom and Cam went down to catch their own fish, Talapia, for the meal.
They cooked our meal over this wood burning stove.
I had the chicken, with fried plantains, rice, salad, and fried yucca. I think most of my pictures were of the food we ate. I just LOVED eating delicious food that I didn't have to cook or clean up after!
The next morning we woke up early again for our snorkeling adventure at Cano Island. It was an hour boat ride to get to the island.
Beautiful island!
Cam didn't want to miss out on the adventure, but he also wasn't supposed to get his foot wet. So Dr. Tom helped Cam to "waterproof" his foot. Basically they taped a ziplock bag to his foot.
Before.
We saw so many tropical fish, even Dory and Nemo were there! (as well as a big black eel).
After. Pretty much a bag full of watered-down blood. Wah Wah.
There was a lot of rocking on the boat. Both Tom and Jocelyn got sea sick, and Tom fed the fish with his vomit. haha Cam's sunglasses broke, so he was borrowing mine. He totally pulls it off, right?! That's his happy face.
After snorkeling, they drove us to this amazing island for lunch.
Cam caught some more hermit crabs, and we collected sea shells for the kids.
Another yummy lunch. Fresh fruit, sandwiches, rice with chicken, vegetables, and cookies for dessert.
There were cashew-nut trees growing there. The nut is at the bottom of the fruit.
Cam took a nap in a hammock.
Costa Rica 2014!
Once we made the boat ride back, we decided to get some smoothies from a little shop. There was a long list of options, so I picked the one in the middle, the "fruit salad" smoothie. Turns out it wasn't a smoothie. Turns out a "fruit salad" is a "fruit salad." Who would have thought?
So I had her blend it all up anyways, and I choked it down.
That night was a great one. We ate at the "Goathouse 169" and listened to the live band playing. It was awesome. They sounded incredible and the food was delicious. The group of men playing were older, American, and could totally rock it.
Jocelyn and I even danced the "chicken dance." Basically a guy making chicken sounds while we made fools of ourselves. We were wild women and we had zero alcohol in us baby! It was a blast.
We even got delicious desserts. (yes, I did gain 5 lbs from this trip)
Tom and Jocelyn hit the dance floor. Cam must have seen my pleading eyes, because he even asked me to dance! Saying that he is uncomfortable dancing is a HUGE understatement, but he did it for me. I love that boy!
Once you get back to the house, and it's dark, there are TONS of bugs. Like, big bugs. There were no glass windows, only screens, so you would see little geckos on the outside, eating up some bugs for their dinner.
We slept with bug screens around our bed. Luckily, the bugs stayed outside and I never awoke to a bug-covered screen! We did, however, wake up at 6am each morning to the sounds of birds, the ocean waves, and howler monkeys. A true jungle experience!
Tom found a cocunut and cut it open so we could drink the cocunut water. It was pretty nasty.
Here are some more pictures of the "jungle house" we stayed in at Playa Ballena.
On our last day, we drove to Manuel Antonio where we hiked through the National Park, and ended up at the beach. We saw all kinds of animals: sloths, monkeys, snakes, lizards, even crazy-aggressive racoons. We even saw a snake eat a lizard.
Manuel Antonio.
The beach was AMAZING. Very beautiful (and our first experience in the country at a touristy place.) There were even racoons and iguanas on the beach that would come try to take your stuff, hence why Cameron punched a racoon.
On our drive to San Jose (to spend the night so we were ready for our early morning flight home), we crossed over "Crocodile Bridge" and decided to stop and take a look. There were crocodiles everywhere!
It was an unforgettable trip. It's tricky vacationing like that when you are a mom. You struggle with "mom-guilt" the whole time: before you go and while you're there. My thoughts would always race to "What time is it? What are the kids doing right now?" Mornings for some reason were the hardest, and I would usually just be quiet for a while until I could shake the feeling of guilt and worry.
But then you get home and the hugs from your kids are SO much sweeter. Hey, they really do need me! Amelie even had to do a double take to make sure it was really me.
You return and your bucket is full. I am SO much more patient with the kids now that we've had time apart. Things that seemed like a big deal before are now no biggie.
Plus, I got to spend one whole week with my sweet heart by my side, constantly. I got to remember all the reasons of why I am so in love with this boy. He makes me laugh, he's adventurous, he's smart, handsome, clever, and he pays for me to go on cool trips with him!
"Pura Vida" is what all the Costa Ricans say. It means "pure life." It means to chill out, relax, enjoy, and is now the motto I'm using for everything. Does it really matter if the kids miss the bus? Nope, Pura Vida. Drive them to school, no big deal. Does this mean that my house is messier? You bet. Pura Vida. Does this mean dinner might be later than normal? Yep. Pura Vida.
Can't we all use a litle more Pura Vida?
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