Costa Rica!!

Well, getting caught up now! I sorted all the Costa Rica pics, have unpacked and organized from artfest and the snow is almost gone. Hurray!

So, I changed my banner.. no flowers yet, but at least get the snow outta there.



Now to Costa Rica. It was amazing. I am so glad I went. I booked it right as the economy took a tailspin and our dollar started rising. ugh. but it was booked and too late to back out! I am happy now.. this might be one of the last trips I can take with Sarah before she leaves home - sniff- and I wanted to make it count.

We booked with Caravan which is a tour group out of Chicago and I recommend them to anyone! Great Mercedes buses, full meals and snacks, all admissions, great guides - everything was bang on.

We started in the main city SanJose and from there took a day trip to Paos volcano at 8,000 ft. I had heard that there is only a 30% chance of seeing the crater but we lucked out!



It was like that all the trip, no rain except at night, no bugs, not too hot - but still wonderfully warm with breezes.


Huge rhubarb type leaves!

From there we took a 1 1/2 boat ride into the jungle to our resort there. It was supposed to be rustic, it had no tv (wonderful!!) and no phones but it was great. The only way into this village is by this boat ride or a plane ride. There are no roads. Very cool. It was on the Caribbean sea.






Each group had their own cabin with a front porch and rockers. We would take these little paths to the docks and dining room and wake up to the howler monkeys. They are so loud!

We were there for 2 days and then went to our next place which was at the base of an active volcano! Very cool. We had little cabins and air conditioning! and the bathroom was the size of a living room. We went ziplining on our 2nd day there. This was something we did extra and booked before we came. They picked us up and drove us back. It was beside the volcano on the other side and again we got lucky that is was clear! Sarah got some great shots.

That's us geared up. We took a cable car ride up and then ziplined down. This was at 4 and the sun sets at 6, so we had a nice zip down!. Wow. It was amazing. The first line was over 400 feet in the air and you are going over 45 mph. Intense, but oh so cool.

This was the last one - see how you can't see the end? ahh! This took you through a little path through the woods. As you were zipping if you looked to one side you could see the volcano and the lake.. very surreal.




This is one big ass tree that we had near a place we stopped for lunch. Can you say HUGE?

Then we were off to the pacific for 2 days at a great Hilton resort - all inclusive and beautiful.
We took a day off from touring and lazed around the pool and went into the ocean, all the while having some beverages and food of course! A great day to relax.
This is the sunset from the beach and of the pier of the resort.

so.. I have some more Costa Rica posts, some animals! and some arty ones of course. Then some artfest posts. Come on back and see. And if you EVER get a chance to go - jump!