Costa Vida

Jonah kept getting the name of the country mixed up with their slogan, Pura Vida (Pure Life). So, we've named our trip "Costa Vida!"
(Jonah's comments are in ALL CAPS)

We were gone for 10 days, and that was two weeks ago.
Despite the hard time Jonah was having with work (that horrible disaster that we don't want to talk about), we decided to still trek down to Costa Rica for Spring Break. I had found a phenomenal deal on plane tickets, and we all needed a break, so we loaded up the kids and luggage and dropped Elsie off at my mom's and flew out of Las Vegas to Houston. Jonah's youngest brother Eli came with us. We wanted to have one last hurrah with Eli while he's still single (wedding on May 2nd!) and we wanted to have an extra adult along to help with the kids. It was great having him, especially on the flights, since he usually got an exit row or bulkhead seat and would trade them with Jonah, even though Jonah's only three inches taller.

We had to spend the night in Houston, since our layover was 12 hours long (I planned it that way), so we hung out in this hilariously derelict hotel IT WASN'T THAT BAD BUT WE DID SEE A SKUNK RUN DOWN ONE OF THE OPEN HALLWAYS WHEN WE FIRST ARRIVED in Houston and flew to Costa Rica the next morning. CAM WAS SO EXCITED TO GET TO COSTA RICA THAT HE WOKE UP AT 2AM AND ANNOUNCED "IT'S WAKE UP TIME"
On the flight to Costa Rica, Ana struck up a conversation with the 20-something guy sitting next to her. He looked like a surfer. Come to find out, his name was Casey Jones, WHEN HE SAID HIS NAME WAS CASEY ANA TURNED AROUND TO CAMDEN AND ASKED FOR HIS NEW NINJA TURTLES COLORING BOOK...THEN FOUND THE PAGE THAT HAD CASEY ON IT AND COVERED UP THE LAST NAME AND ASKED HIM "WHAT IS YOUR LAST NAME" WHEN HE SAID "JONES" ANA COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE EXCITED AS SHE LIFTED HER FINGER OFF THE LAST NAME AND SAID "YOU ARE HIM? CAN YOU DO ANY MOVES? HE SAID THAT HE COULD BUT WAS "NOT ALLOWED TO DO THEM ON THE PLANE." AFTER THIS INTERCHANGE WHILE BOTH ANA AND CAMDEN WERE AWESTRUCK HE SAID TO AJA AND I "WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? I HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS WHEN NINJA TURTLES WERE BIG THE FIRST TIME AROUND" which is the name of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' human friend! He was a good sport about it. Ana still tells people about that lucky seat assignment.

Its really hard to describe Costa Rica. Its unlike anywhere I've been. It's got the bustle, humidity, laid-back nature, food, grocery stores, bathrooms (or lack of), driving style, and bad roads of other developing countries I've been to. But, it has none of the in-your-face poverty, beggars, litter, bad smells, or hecklers that usually make you feel so uncomfortable. Its a pretty safe country to visit, as long as you don't die on the roads or leave your stuff in the rental car or get knocked on the head by a coconut or get attacked by marine life or swept away in a rip tide. One of the things that surprised us the most, though, was how expensive everything was! Not only is the US dollar so low right now, but there are so many US Tourists in Costa Rica, that they just rip everybody off. Food was $4-$6 a plate for subpar food, and the cheapest hotel rooms were $40-$60 for no a/c, shared bathrooms, and the worst beds ever. So, we were a little shocked, because we're used to being able to travel for nothing, but we just made due and ate a lot of PBJs and put three people in a bed.

Nevertheless, the country was stunning, especially the beaches. They didn't have the soft sugary sand like Hawaii or Australia or So. Cal., but they made up for that with being pretty much deserted, with jungle and palm trees hanging out over the sand. The water was bathwater warm. Wow. Even I couldn't resist going in a few times a day.

Our first day there, we got our rental car and tried so hard to get out of San Jose during rush hour on a Friday. It took awhile, but we made it. We drove down the back bone of the country, up through the mountains on a road called "Cerro de la Muerte", road of death! We did have one near-death experience when we hit an oil slick and began sliding around on the two-lane road with steep forested hills straight down on either side of us. Luckily Jonah was driving and corrected the car and got us off the slippery part without sending us over the edge. STILL, I HAD A HEADACHE FROM THE MASSIVE ADRENALINE RUSH THAT FOLLOWED.

We stayed that night at a place on the fringe of the Quetzal National Park. WHEN WE PULLED IN AT DUSK AND SAW THE VIEWS AND THE LITTLE CABINA HOUSES ANA SAID "THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT" The Quetzal bird is probably the most culturally significant bird in Mesoamerican archaeology, so I just had to see it while we were in Costa Rica. AFTER BEING AWAKENED BY NEW AND STRANGE BIRD CALLS...SOME LIKE FIRE ALARMS We went on an early morning, chilly cloud forest hike and saw about 12 quetzal birds, male and female. We even saw one male sitting in his nest. It was pretty awesome. CAM WAS SO GREAT LOOKING THROUGH HIS "NOCULARS" AT EVERYTHING. HE HAD HIS GO DIEGO GO VEST ON AND AFTER LOOKING AT BIRDS FOR A WHILE HE SAID "I'M GONNA FIND A SWOFF NOW" WITH THE BIGGEST SMILE ON HIS FACE. He loves sloths.


After all the "Road of Death" business in the mountains, we came down to the sea, and stuck near it for the next seven days. We were all in heaven, especially the kids.

First dip in the warm Pacific.


Look at that! Nobody around but the coconuts. And this is on a Saturday afternoon!


We stayed the next night in a great place called Hotel Toucan. It was a great little backpackers hostel. If I ever own a hostel, I want it to be like this one, except with more comfy beds.

There were like 20 hammocks in the Hotel Toucan. Ana kept calling them "canoes".

WE made our way down to "the most biologically diverse place on earth" (according to National Geographic), the very sparsely populated Osa Peninsula, which is home to the Corcovado National Park. 2-3% of the world's plants and animals species are found on the peninsula, which is about half the size of Maui. We stayed in this awesome Eco-Lodge retreat. It was a tad expensive, but it was worth it! The food was over the top amazing, the eight huts were beach-side, artistically created from bamboo and native jungle hardwoods and only hand tools, and the grounds were impeccable. We enjoyed our second story bedroom with views of the ocean, while Eli and the kids slept below. We have a great outdoor bathroom, with macaws and howler monkeys overhead. The main lodge was one of the most delightful structures I've ever seen, and the Germans that ran the place were lovely. Jonah and I even did a little yoga session on our eight-year anniversary! The only electricity was from solar power and it ran the main lodge's refrigerator and oven. At night, we just enjoyed the jungle noises and candles and fireflies. Love that place. Its called Ojo del Mar, in case you want to make the trek.

The bone-rattling dirt roads leading to the National Park.

Cam lived and loved his "field journal", looking up the name of every animal we encountered.

Lovin' the jungly beaches.

This is right by where we nearly got swept away by the rising tide the night before on a family walk.
Those pelicans were really good divers.

The macaws were so amazing. They mate for life, so you'd hear a team of extra-loud squawks, and then they'd fly overhead. Sometimes, they'd sit in the trees and throw almonds at us. Delightful.
Where's Cam with the field journal... I think this is a spider monkey.

Cam's second favorite animal (besides sloths) in Costa Rica was the palm-sized Blue Morpho Butterfly. Their iridescence was shocking, and they were everywhere.

Ana was in heaven the day she FINALLY got to go horseback riding. She got to ride her own horse and did really well. The guide said he was so impressed with her that she could come back and ride for free the next time we visited.... ha ha.
Cam and I didn't fair as well on the fun horseback ride to the tip of the peninsula... Cam was on the front of my tiny saddle and had a little pain in the peeper area. I tried to keep the horse from trotting as much as possible.

Even the capuchin monkeys take afternoon siestas.

This is the path from our hut to the beach. It was so great at Ojo del Mar! Check it out at http://www.ojodelmar.com/

Jonah and I went for a little hike together to the really posh "eco-resort" at the top of the mountain. We laughed about their eco-friendliness, since they enjoyed way too many modern-day luxuries, but we did see a lot of wildlife up there.

Including this gorgeous little Toucan!

Here's our fun night-time gatherings at Ojo del Mar with the other travellers, most of whom were coerced by Ana every night to play a few games of Uno with her and Cam. She's so funny how she is so personable with adults when we travel. She's like, "great meeting you! Catch you later, amigos!" and they are like, "See you around, Ana! Thanks for the Uno games."

After four days and three nights, we left Ojo del Mar and travelled to the other side of the peninsula to Bahia Drake. Quick stop for ice cream at the only grocery store on the peninsula.

The beaches at Bahia Drake were tons of fun with the perfect sized waves for the kids.

Jonah and Eli went for a fabulous dive at Cano Island. Ana and I snorkelled while Cam helped the Ticos fix the boat. Ana did really well snorkelling, except she didn't like breathing through the snorkel as she did looking through the mask. She got to see a stingray, so she was pretty stoked. We were both ready to get out, though, on account of the hundreds of microscopic jellyfish that kept shocking us. OR "SHARKING" US AS ANA WOULD SAY. SPEAKING OF SHARKS (SEE BELOW)FLYING RAYS
On the way back from Cano Island, we were treated by a pod of dolphins playing games in our wake. We even had some double jumping and backflips. I couldn't stop laughing in delight. THAT WAS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE TRIP.

The roads and bridges in Costa Rica are indescribable. The bridges are so bad, you usually have the option of crossing the river instead. Jonah thought he was in a car commercial.
The western shore of the Osa Peninsula.

On our way back up the pacific coast, we found a great little place called Playa Matapalo. Our cabina had a leatherback turtleshell on the wall that Cam tried to move in to. Here's his best Ninja Turtle face.

We had breakfast on a Gringo's front lawn, and he pointed to some sloth poo under one of his trees. We were so excited because Cam had been searching for so long! We finally found the sleeping animal and watched it for a long part of the morning. It was pretty boring, but at least Cam got to see his "swoff".

Got to love those Pacific Sunsets. This is just north of the most-Americanized town in Costa Rica, called Jaco. This is at Punto Leona.

Crocodiles sunning on the Rio Tarcoles.
There were about 16 crocodiles. I was glad we were up on a bridge and not down on the shore.
We decided our final adventure should be up in the cloud forest, so we took the long, steep, bumpy dirt road to the Monteverde Cloud Forest. We got hooked up with the longest zip line in Costa Rica at Selvatura. There were 11 zip lines and they were so much fun, especially this super long and high one in the picture. The booking agent was afraid they'd be scared, but Cam and Ana LOVED it so much. They got to have a guide behind them applying the brakes. Cam shed some tears when it was over and said, "That's the most fun I've ever had in my whole life."

Yes, this is a different day than the previous photos... Cam just wore the same outfit for the whole trip. Didn't mean to confuse you. Here's another Ninja Turtle training session.

We also did a Tarzan swing that made us each scream like little babies (Eli included). Then, we ended our Selvatura Adventure with a hike through the 12 canopy bridges, which really gave us an up close look at the cloud forest trees and flowers.

We decided to leave a day early to get Jonah back to work, and actually got all five of us on the standby flights! Cam and I even got to sit by each other on the plane. Ana got to make friends with other adults, and lucky for them , she didn't have her Uno cards.