Since Logan had some time off in between jobs we decided to plan a trip just the two of us. I love planning our trips. So amdist everything that was going on we started talking about where we'd like to go. Our first thought was Canada but then after looking at the weather in February we decided against that. Brittany and Grant had been to Costa Rica several years ago and from things they talked about it we had been interested in it. So we got a book right after Christmas and I started reading about different places in Costa Rica to go. So all of this was planned pretty last minute but it was the BEST! We had an amazing time and are so glad we splurged and did the trip when we did. We flew into San Jose and rented a car and headed to the La Fortuna area first.
This was the view outside our room....yes that's a volcano...actually the Arenal Volcano. Just 2 years ago it stopped spitting lava! So we didn't see any lava but we did see it smoking. It was gorgeous and the rain forest around it was amazing.
The first morning we were there we went to the Hanging Bridges. They were suspension bridges all in the jungle that you walked across while hiking in the rain forest.
This was the view....amazing!
The next day we went hiking in the national forest which is the closest to the volcano you can get. Do you like the sign?
This is the lava fields from the eruption of the volcano in 1992. Since Dec 2010 it's been in a relatively quiet phase. This is me running from the eruption :)
We almost missed this while we were hiking back but this is the LARGEST tree I've ever seen in my life! We estimated it'd take like 40-50 people to go around it.
Here's Tarzan (oh I mean Logan)
One night we drove into town to eat dinner and almost drove into this....you probably can't tell but it's the largest drainage ditch we've ever seen. It would not be a good day if your car's tire ran off the road into it. It's really deep.
I don't know if it was the Costa Rica coffee or atmosphere or what but I drank coffee every morning while we were there! It was good (never have liked it before) and fun to drink it with my coffee addicted hubby.
The next day we went white water raftting. This is us before we started.
Maybe this should have told us a few things about how it'd be.....very dry and rocky. We spent the most of our time manuvering around rocks. They said it had been a while since they got any rain and the river was down. But it was still fun!
We survived :)
Behind our resort was more hiking trails all back in the jungle. You were definitely alone and in the middle of nowhere. It was starting to get dark and a little eerie to be back there!
The next day we went kayaking across Lake Arenal and mountain biking. We had the same guide this day as we did the day before rafting. His name was Diego and was so smart. We loved getting to know him and all about his culture. He was a bird lover and knew what every one of them we saw were and could call them! We had some good laughs about it.
This was our snack in between....yummy fresh pineapple on banana leaves.
He ate his weight in pineapple.
This was the not so exciting part....do you notice the road....NOT a mountain biking road....well that was the road we were on the entire time. It was SO bumpy and well...that just hurts on a bike seat for that long! It was gorgous scenery but we were so sore and done with the bikes by the time we got back.
This was one of our favorite things....it was called Sky Tram. We rode in an open gondola style ride that went up in the jungle. We had awesome views of the lake and volcano. Then once we got to the top we were rode zip lines down across the jungle. SO fun!!! We were like 600 feet off the ground and going around 50mph at times. We have a few videos but they'll have to be on the next post because I ran out of space.
Not a great picture but the view of the lake was breath taking.
See the smoke??? really cool.
Dinner at a Mexican food place that night....not San Antonio Mexican food but it was ok :)
These are some pictures of our room in La Fortuna.....very Costa Rican!
This was our shower....outdoor shower.
Nice robes :)
Not that great of a picture but it's a Toucan that we watched every morning while we ate our breakfast. It was really fun to watch it up close like that.
This is a typical fence in Costa Rica. They drive wood in the ground for their fence and trees start growing out of them. Eventally they grow so big they don't need any wire or anything in between. They were everywhere....so lots of trees!
This was the Rio Fortuna waterfall. It was a steep hike down and back up to see it. Logan went for a quick swim in it....little chilly!
After the waterfall we headed to the airport to fly to a different area of Costa Rica. This is the funny part.....that is the sign for the airport! It was tiny and said aeropuerta in the smallest letters. We almost missed it twice and actually got out of our car to make sure we were in the right spot once we pulled in. It was basically an open air restaurant with a little counter that was the terminal :)
Looking out the back of the "airport"
This is the ticket counter and terminal. We never once showed i.d. :) We had to weigh our bags and we had to be weighed too! The same guy checked us in, took our bags, and loaded our bags on the plane.
This was our plane!
We were sitting right behind the pilot and copilot...literally!
About 15 of us on board...
So here's a funny story....we were taxing down the runway getting ready to take off. The copilot was checking lots of things and going down through a list. All of a sudden the pilot opens this little door underneath his feet and the copilot takes out a 2' metal pole and sticks it in there and starts cranking it back and forth. It was a little scary looking and he kept doing it while we were taxing down runway. Then all of a sudden everything shuts off and they say there is a problem with the airplane and we have to wait on another plane :) So an hour later we boarded another plane.
While we were waiting on the next plane the pilot and copilot were out on their cell phone trying to fix the plane :) That's comforting!
View from the air
The next area of Costa Rica we went to was on the central pacific coast. It was called Manuel Antonio. We LOVED it! This was the sunset the first night.....amazing!
We saw lots of iguanas while we were there.
View of the coast
The resort we stayed in was amazing. We loved every bit of it. They had their own private beach that we spent a lot of time on. They had a little cafe on the beach that we ate lunch in several days.
This is sweaty Logan. We walked to dinner the first night and sat down at a restaurant and he is pouring sweat! It was definitely much more humid here than up in the other area by the volcano.
One day we went on an adventure tour. We rode in a humvee deep in the jungle, hiked, did a tarzan swing (very fun), rappelled down waterfalls, jumped in waterfalls, and did a few ziplines. It was an awesome day! We were with 2 other families from our resort and had several guides with us.
This was where we had lunch. Just a little cabin type thing in the middle of nowhere! It was the yummiest lunch we had! Very Costa Rican....rice and beans with a tomato pico salsa and some veggies.
Another day we went to the Manuel Antonio national park. We made fun of ourselves for this and thought we'd never do something like this but we actually paid to have a guide. I sorta felt like I was on a school field trip but we learned a lot and saw many many animals we would have never seen on our own. Here's some pictures of the monkeys and sloths.
This was the public beach in the national park.
Some cool looking bird....can't remember the name. Diego would know.
So after we finished with our guide we did some hiking by ourselves. We found a group of monkeys and watched them for awhile. We were pretty close to them. I sat the backpack down and I sat down and all the sudden they started coming towards me! I jumped up because it scared me and one of the monkeys started pulling at the backpack! He started putting his paws in the pockets and trying to bite it with his teeth. Then some other monkeys started coming over with him. Logan tried to come towards it to scare it away and it hissed at him!! So he picked up a stick and the monkey ran off. It was crazy!!!
Here's my little surfer :) He rented a surf board for the afternoon while we were at the public beach. The waves were much bigger than where we were staying. I've actually never been in waves that big. They got huge when the tide was coming in. It was very fun boogie boarding!
sunburned dinner in Quepos :)
Our resort didn't include breakfast so we walked to the store (Super Joseth) and bought milk and cereal. This was where we had breakfast every morning :)
This is where we stayed in Manuel. It was called a bungalow. It had 360 degree view....windows all the way around. It had amazing views!!!
Our last night on the beach
What an amazing trip! We had so much fun playing together and just getting to be together. 10 days just us with no kids.....VERY different from our normal world. It was awesome to talk and reconnect. We love that place and highly recommend it!
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