March 13, 2009

Iguana

Crab

Hermit crab

Jesus Christ lizard, yes they walk on water, hence the name!

Monkey
Isn't he cute!

Lauren's favorite, the sloth!

He even turned his head to pose and smile for us!

Bats!

We saw all these animals with our guide at Manuel Antonio National Park

Yes, it is bathtub warm!

My favorite swimming spot!

Isn't it beautiful! This was one of my favorite places, I want to go back!!!

Swimming with the fam

Everyone say cheese!

Like father, like daughter!

I'm not quite sure about these waves!

The grandkids

Just before sunset, lots of people taking pictures!

Wow, I have to say this is one of the coolest pictures I've ever taken! Lauren is walking along the beach. I want to blow this one up and give it to her!

Today we packed a picnic lunch and drove down to Manuel Antonio Park. We went on a guided tour through the park. We saw lots of green and black iguanas as well as bats and various types of crabs. The best part was spotting the sloth up in the tree and watching the dozens of monkeys swinging around in the surrounding trees. Then we experienced our first Costa Rican beach. I had a hard time believing Renae when she said the water was bathtub warm, now I must eat my words! The beach was beautiful; we were in a cove that was surrounded by the nature reserve. We spent most of the day in the water, it was so fun to go out a little ways and just close your eyes and float! There was a big balsa wood log that the kids had a great time floating on. We called it our Costa Rican beach noodle! It was a great place for the kids to play; the waves were pretty mild until the tide started coming in. Eric and my mom took the boys back to the house and dad, Renae and Lauren and I stayed to shop. It was very cool to watch the beautiful sunset over the ocean!

March 12, 2009

Lunch at the German Bakery in Nuevo Arenal

These are coati, they were along side the road on the drive around Lake Arenal. We stopped and fed them crackers and bread.

These we didn't feed, however I thought Mason might be their lunch a few times as he pushed out of my arms to see over the bridge!

Today we headed around Arenal Lake toward the coast and down to Bejuco. The drive was beautiful, just really long. We stopped at a German Bakery in Nuevo Arenal and had pastries for lunch. There was a place called Tarcalos where we stopped and walked along a narrow bridge to glance at some wild crocodiles. There were over two dozen under the bridge. I had a death grip on Mason as we walked along the bridge with cars zipping by on one side and snapping crocs under the bridge to the other side! My sister said they had an incident a few weeks ago when a tourist wanted to get a closer shot at the crocs and ended up being a snack. True story, what an idiot, yes wild crocs are very fast!!! We grabbed Subway sandwiches and groceries on the way in and dropped off our laundry in Herradura. Alexander was the funniest! He asked if they folded the laundry too. When I answered affirmatively he exclaimed, “yes!” I guess he was afraid he’d have to fold laundry on vacation! It was pretty much an all day drive so we just crashed when we got to Renae’s house.

March 11, 2009

Are we ready for this?

Lauren can't wait!

Here she goes!

I think dad's a little more apprehensive!

Alexander was terrified, but quickly caught on!

Let's do it again!

Here Renae goes down the long one, it's almost a mile long!

Like the nice shuttle?

We did it!!!

Maleku Indian Village

Wild turkey!

Ouch, the turkey chased me and pecked my leg!

The boys on horseback

Eric enjoying some R&R!

Can we live here?

Mom going down the slide!

Mom landing in the pool!

Cool volcano pool, the top lights up at night!

Sampling yet another hot spring pool!

Belling up to the fun pool bar!

We got up at 6:00 and watched the volcano. We thought maybe the clouds would move for us since most of the sky was clear. No such luck! The volcano seems to have it’s own weather system. We went down and had breakfast, then the shuttle picked us up at the front gate. We went to the Arenal Adventures starting point then jumped on a trailer pulled by tractor up to the canopy tour. We received a quick instruction then we strapped on our harnesses and hiked up to the first platform. I was the first one to go after the guide. I didn’t want to hesitate and think about it any longer. It was actually not as intimidating as I thought it would be. Eric said Alexander was scared and wouldn’t cooperate. The guide just picked him up, hooked him on and held his arms while Alexander was screaming “go slow, go slow!” He was still a little tentative on the 2^nd one, but after that he was racing to the next platform! There were 10 zip lines, the longest one was 980 m and the highest was about 450 m above the ground. It was absolutely incredible, one of the most exhilarating experiences ever! The views of the waterfalls and rainforest were breathtaking, literally! The ziplines ended at an Indian reservation. Lauren and I found a restroom and were chased away by a wild turkey that actually attacked and pecked Lauren on the leg! From there we rode horseback back down to the starting point. Alexander and Lauren rode their own horses and the guides walked beside them. Dad, Renae, Eric, Lauren, Alexander and I all had a fantastic time! None of us has been able to stop talking about it since then. We went back to the resort and sat in the hot springs the rest of the day. There were at least a dozen pools and hot springs, all of which we had to try! There were also 2 really fast waterslides, one that lands in the hot spring and a big long one that goes into the pool. I think we spent about 5 hours sampling the various swimming holes. One of the coolest things was swimming up to the drink bar and sipping frozen drinks with cherries and little umbrellas from hollowed-out pineapples!

March 10, 2009

Breakfast on the patio

Can you spot the toucan?

Ticos often carry machetes, especially for landscaping!

Take our picture!

Look, I have built in fans!

Good thing we're behind a fence!

Cute little guy

I'm not sure what these are, but they were the size of bowling balls hanging from the tree!

This is COOL!

AWWW!

Say cheese!

Gorgeous waterfall!

Wow, looks like a scene from a movie!

Look ma!

Hope you're not afraid of heights!

We love the hanging bridges!

Hi mom!

Little kinkajou that snuck up on my dad!

Isn't he cute!

Maybe we were just hungry, but this meal was delicious!

This morning we got up and caught our first glimpse of the resort and Arenal Volcano. Unfortunately the top of the volcano was not visible, we’re hoping to see it before we leave. There are 2 queen beds each with pullout trundle beds beneath. The rooms are large and comfortable, but very simple. However, the resort itself is incredible and more than makes up for it. The landscape is breathtaking, both figuratively and literally; it is very wet and humid! The resort is huge, so there are shuttles that fly by constantly taking visitors to the restaurant or pools and spas. Breakfast was delicious. We had our first taste of gallo pinto, as well as omelets or pancakes made while you wait. There are lots of tropical fruits and native specialties. We saw our first toucan in a tree next to the outside patio while we ate breakfast. Then we went exploring around the exhibits on the resort where we saw crocodiles, turtles, butterflies, leaf-cutter ants, birds and many cool tropical plants. Next we went down to La Fortuna and did a little shopping. We also ate ice cream cones and lunch and booked our canopy tours for tomorrow. Then we decided to drive up to the hanging bridges. We got there right before they closed so we had the whole place to ourselves. It was a 3km hike through the rainforest with about a dozen hanging bridges, similar to the one at the resort but much more spectacular! The ravines we were hanging over were steep and rugged. We got some rain and misting which kept us cool the whole time. It took about 2 hours, we finished just before sunset. My dad went back on one of the bridges to take pictures and was startled by a kinkajou. My dad heard an animal rustling in a tree over the bridge and it climbed out right by where my dad was standing. We had already hiked on down the way, so we just go to see pictures. On the way back, we stopped at a really great restaurant for dinner. They brought out Jenga-like blocks for the kids to play with while we waited for the food. The kids thought that was way cool. The food was excellent, and the atmosphere relaxing.