Wed., Jan. 16 - Day 9

Today was a great last full day in Costa Rica.  We started out by heading to the public beach.  Jennifer and I planned on finishing our surfing lesson, but there ended up being three other people who wanted to do it, so we ended up taking a an entirely new lesson.  It was a good review of the fundamentals.  The water conditions were completely different today.  First of all, it was the morning and the tide was coming in, so there were more waves and bigger waves.  There were also a lot of rip currents, which I had never really seen first-hand.  It's interesting because it really does look like a river of water going out to sea.  We had to move around a little bit to avoid the rip currents.  I was glad our instructors know exactly what to look for, because I would have been clueless!  The owner of the surf school, Dante, was also keeping his eye out for them and would whistle to us to move if we were close to one.  The surfing was awesome!  I got up many times, and I think I did quite well for my second day of surfing.  I'm so glad that I can now say that I've surfed. :)

When we were done surfing we took some great pictures, and then Ariel and Michael gave us some water and cut up watermelon for us.  So refreshing!

Then we loaded up the bus and headed back to the hotel to quickly shower, change, pack and check out of the hotel  Then we hit the road towards San José.  Along the way we saw some red macaws eating in an almond tree and stopped at the "crocodile bridge" to see the crocodiles.  It surprised me that there are cattle grazing in a field right next to the river with no fence or anything, but they must be safe.

We are now back in San José at the same hotel we stayed in as the first night, the Country Inn & Suites.  For supper we walked to the nearby mall and gave the students some time just to shop and eat where they wanted to.  It was very relaxing.  Mrs. Petty and I each had a slice of pizza from Pizza Hut (very American) and a milkshake from "Pops Helados" ("Pops Ice cream" - very Costa Rican).  Now I'm sitting by the pool on a beautiful 70ish-degree evening writing my blog.  I hate to say it but I'm actually getting chilly with the breeze right now.  I can't imagine how it's going to feel to get back into Iowa winter weather tomorrow night.

We get to sleep in a little in the morning - we're eating breakfast at 9:00 and are leaving for the airport at 10:30.  We fly out at 1:50 and are scheduled to arrive in Minneapolis at 10:00 after a layover in Miami.  It sounds like the weather is going to be not very good tomorrow night, which could be interesting.  We'll use common sense and are very glad we have good drivers driving us home.

This has been an awesome trip, but I'm glad to be heading home.  I can't wait to see Josh and the kids!

Tues., Jan 14 - Day 8

Today was a great day.  After breakfast, we got off to a bit of a slow start due to some bus problems - the brakes weren’t quite working perfectly and Jonathan was going to take it in to get fixed, so we had to wait about 30 minutes for a different tour company to send a replacement bus to get us to our destination.  We were all really sad when we figured out that Jonathan didn’t get spend the day with us today because he’s so much fun, but we understood that it’s more important to get the bus fixed.  It ended up taking all day to get it fixed and he wasn’t able to join us until supper.  So, our substitute bus  drove us down the coast to the entrance of Manuel Antonio National Park.  At 8:30 as we were walking down the street it was already 95 degrees and extremely humid.  We were ready to hit the beach!  There’s about a mile hike from the entrance of the park to the beach, and along the way you can usually see lots of wildlife, which we did.  We saw our first monkey of the day, a family of deer (which are much smaller than the deer in Iowa), and others.  

Then we were finally at the beach!  The beach at Manuel Antonio is honestly my favorite beach that I’ve ever been to.  It is so beautiful and scenic, and it’s crescent-shaped, surrounded by a coral reef so the waves break very far out and by the time they get to shore they’re just big swells, so you can just hang out in the water and ride the waves.  We all had fun body surfing and floating, just relaxing the gorgeous water.  

About an hour into our beach time a family of white-faced capuchín monkeys moved through the beach area.  We were so excited!  Many of the students have been waiting to see the monkeys.  They were looking for food (unfortunately, they know that where there are people there is also food) and are very accustomed to being around people, so they got very close to us.  They can be naughty and try to take things from people’s bags, but we didn’t have any thefts to report at the end of the day. :)  There are some very smart raccoons that do the same thing, but they were a little more persistent.  We had to shoo them away several times, even with Rocío guarding our stuff.

Around 11:30 (during the time the sun’s rays are hottest) we took a hike along some trails of the national park so we could make sure that we were in the shade.  Manuel Antonio basically has an island which, over time, has been connected to the mainland by a sand bridge (which has not been there so long that it’s basically part of the jungle.  We hiked out to the island, up to the highest point and round the island.  We had a great view of a two-toed sloth hanging out up in a tree.  This was a very scenic hike, with many opportunities to take beautiful pictures of the ocean and the bay area of the beach.

Do you see the sloth way up there?  He really is there, I promise. :)

After our hike we swam some more, and then when everyone was hungry we left the park and got lunch at “El Marlín”.  I shared chicken nachos with Rocío, and they were fabulous.  I even liked the black beans in them. :)  One thing that I think is so smart is that they’re served as one big bowl of all the chips (which are homemade) and then all of the toppings are served in a separate platter, so you can load your chips however you want to.  I think more restaurants should do that!

After lunch we took taxis back to the hotel.  Some of swam in the pool (very refreshing!) and others went to shower right away.  At 6:00 we met again to go for supper at “El Avión”, which is a very good restaurant along the Pacific coast.  We missed the sunset by about an hour, but it’s still nice to be able to eat supper overlooking the ocean in an open-air restaurant.  “El Avión” means “The Plane”, and there is actually an old bomber inside of the restaurant.  The plane was originally stranded in Nicaragua and the owner had it taken apart and shipped down here, put back together, then build the restaurant around it.  The bar of the restaurant is inside the plane.  After we ate our supper we went inside the plane and Rocío taught us some salsa moves.  It was so much fun!  Jonathan is a great dancer, too.  We all decided that Jonathan’s the man. :)  Everybody had a great time!

Rocío gave us all a gift to remember our awesome experience in Costa Rica.

Jennifer and Jonathan making fish faces. :)

Our internet connection here is on the slow side and somewhat sporadic, so I haven't been able to upload pictures to the blog the last two days.  I'll try again tonight, but hopefully by tomorrow night when we're back in San José I'll be able to upload them.  Tomorrow we are going to the public beach in the morning until 11:00.  Jennifer and I will finish our surfing lesson, which will be fun.  The waves are supposed to be better in the morning as the tide is coming in, so it will probably be different from yesterday.  Then we’ll be able to come back to the hotel, shower quickly and check out, then it’s back to San José.  Even with as much fun as we’re having, I’m really looking forward to being home & seeing my family!

Mon., 1/13: Day 7

Today marks the one week point of our trip!  This week has flown by, but it also seems like ages ago that we were driving to the airport in the frigid midwest weather.

Today was a big travel day.  We got an early start so that we could enjoy some beach time when we got to the Manuel Antonio area.  We loaded suitcases on the bus at 6:45, ate breakfast, and then left Arenal.  From there we started heading up the mountains towards the Pacific side of Costa Rica.  Very near the continental divide we stopped at the Monteverde cloud forest.  We hiked a little bit, which was interesting because of the differences between the cloud forest and the rain forests we’ve grown accustomed to.  Plants and trees in the cloud forest are almost completely covered with mosses and epiphytes because of the almost constant moisture in the air.  There are also some unique flowers in the cloud forest that are perfectly suited to “catching” water and providing a drinking spot for birds and other animals.  

There was also a great butterfly garden there.  We saw many clear-winged “glass” butterflies and blue morpho butterflies, among many others.

The clear-winged butterfly

The blue morpho butterfly

A butterfly coming out of its chrysalis

There was also a hummingbird garden.  Hummingbirds, of “colibríes” en español, play an important role in the cloud forest because they pollinate so many different plants.  They normally don’t have the hummingbird feeders out because they want them to get their nectar from the plants they’re pollinating and not get used to having an “easy” source, but when groups are coming in the guide calls ahead and they put out the feeders so we’re guaranteed to see them.  It’s amazing how quick those little guys are!  Their colors are beautiful.

Then it was back to the bus to head to the Pacific.  Once we passed the Continental Divide, the sky cleared and there was beautiful blue skies ahead!  This is typical of Costa Rica - the Caribbean side is very wet with frequent rain, while the Pacific side is much drier with lots of sun.  Once we got to the coastal highway it was very exciting to see the ocean.  We even saw two scarlet macaws from the bus.  When we got to our hotel everyone quickly put on their swimsuits and got ready to head to the beach.  Tonight we went to the public beach.  There are many fun activities you can do there.  Our guide, Rocío, called ahead and reserved chairs for us, which was great.  Rocío has all the connections - not only did she reserve the chairs, but she lined up her “surf guy” as she called him (his name is Dante and he has quite the staff of surf instructors), to greet us as we got off the bus and tell us about the surfing lessons, and she also paid for two boogie boards for our group to rent from Dante.  Rocío’s pretty awesome!  We got in the water right away, which was a beautiful 90 degrees!  (That’s what our surf instructor, Ariel, told us.)  It felt great!  Jennifer W. and I decided to take surfing lessons.  Ariel was our instructor, and he was great!  First he explained the basics with one of their boards on the beach.  Then he took us into the water and we got to try it.  He watched the waves for us and told us when to start paddling and when to get up.  I think that Jennifer and I did pretty awesome.  It was great fun!  Because we got there later in the afternoon he wasn’t able to finish our lesson, so he’ll finish it tomorrow.  He told us that he had to go meet his wife and baby daughter for supper in town and she’d be really angry if he was late. :)

Watching the sunset at the beach - hard to beat!

Our awesome guide, Rocío!

Around 5:30 or so we headed back to the hotel and almost all of us headed for the pool.  It felt great to get the walt water off of us, and the water temperature was great, also.  We ordered pizza from a local pizzería and ate it by the pool tonight, which worked out great after our busy day.

Tomorrow we go to Manuel Antonio National Park.  There we will hike along their trails and will hopefully see lots of wildlife.  Then we’ll swim at the Manuel Antonio beach, which is much more laid back and relaxed than the public beach.  Our plan is to be there until early afternoon, then we’ll eat lunch and go back to the public beach for some more fun in the sun.  

Sun., 1/12 - Day 6

Today was an adrenaline-filled morning, followed by a totally relaxing afternoon.  We started out with breakfast at our hotel, which was very delicious.  Their fresh fruits and fresh-squeezed mango juice is pretty unbelievable.

After breakfast we headed to Sky Trek to go zip-lining.  We rode the tram up to the starting point and then took eight different zip lines down the mountain.  The longest zip line was over half a mile long, and most of the zip lines overlook Lake Arenal, which is a beautiful view!  It rained off and on while we were zip lining, which is just the typical weather here.  I was sure glad I wore my rain gear!

Taking the tram to the top of the Sky Trek zip line 

Me with Jonathan, our driver

The view from our trip overlooking Lake Arenal

Our group at the top zip line platform, with Lake Arenal in the background.

Here we go!

After zip-lining we drove to the town of La Fortuna and ate lunch at the Lava Lounge.  Then we were able to do some souvenir shopping.  While we were eating the clouds started to clear around the volcano Arenal, and we were able to get some decent pictures of the top of the volcano.

The small dark line is part of the top of the volcano - it looked way better in person. :)

After shopping we headed to los "eco-termales", which are the thermal hot springs.  What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon!  There are a series of pools which are all connected, and they're all different temperatures.  You can go from the hot pool and gradually get a little cooler, until you're in the coldest pool, which is basically like a normal swimming pool.  The atmosphere is pretty amazing - very tropical with lush, green rainforest surrounding us.

Along the path from the locker rooms to the hot springs there was a huge group of leaf-cutter ants working.  Here they are going down into their holes.

Most of us started out in the hottest part of the hot springs - it's like a 5-foot-deep hot tub.  In places you can feel the hot water bubbling up under your feet.

Eventually we worked our way into the coldest pool.  ¡Qué refrescante!

Austin, Ashley, our guide, Rocío, and Travis relaxing in the warmest pool.

One of the small hot tubs is connected to a lower hot tub by a series of small waterfalls.  ¡Qué lindas son! :)

Chillin' in one of the warm pools

Our whole group on the water fall.  We need to get some hot springs in Spirit Lake!

Jonathan, our driver, trying to get a coatimundi to stand on its hind legs for us.  He did it several times, I just have bad timing getting it on my camera. :)

This is about as close as I want to get to a coatimundi - they can get angry if they realize you don't have food!

We just got done enjoying another great meal at the Arenal Observatory Lodge restaurant.  We had some good laughs at supper, which was a lot of fun.  Then we met to talk about plans for tomorrow.  We're going to leave early in the morning so we can get to the Manuel Antonio area early enough to spend some time at the beach tomorrow afternoon / evening.  We're heading to the Pacific side of Costa Rica, which is always sunny and tropical.  Time to start lathering on the sun screen!

Hasta mañana, y ¡Pura vida!

Sat., 1/11: Day 5

Today was a big day!  We said good-bye to our host families, which was kind of sad.  At the same time, I think we were all excited to move on to the next part of the trip and all the adventures it will bring.

Natalia and I

Bernarda, Ademán, Natalia, Daniela, Natalia's mom, and me

First we drove for a few hours to the Malecu Indian reservation.  They explained some of their traditions, then we got to try our hand at shooting a bow and arrow.  I think we did quite well!

Then they did a demonstration, sort of like a small play, about their tradition of the marriage proposal and the wedding ceremony.  When a young man decides he wants to ask a girl to marry him, he goes hunting and then brings his catch to the girl's family in order to prove that he can provide for her.  His mother asks her mother if the girl will marry him (he doesn't ask the girl directly).  Then, if the girl says yes, they do a small ceremony right then and there and the couple is married.  If the girl says no the families are now enemies.  I'm very glad that our customs are different from theirs!

After the Malecu reservation we were able to visit a local school  Even though they are on summer vacation, the parent organization got a group of students together to lead us in some dancing, which was very fun.  We also gave them some school supplies for them to use in their classes when school starts in a month and a half.  It was a very good experience!

After that, we drove to "La Vida Campesina", which is an organic farm near La Fortuna in the Arenal volcano area.  At Vida Campesina we ate lunch, which was made from all fresh ingredients grown on their two acre plot.  First, we made the tortillas that they served us, which was a first for many students.

 Then we ate lunch, and afterwards they served us coffee made from an old-fashioned, traditional coffee maker.  I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but that was excellent coffee!  (Especially after adding milk and a few teaspoons of sugar).  Then we headed to a hut where they store their firewood (which they use to prepare all of their food on old-fashioned Costa Rican wood-burning stoves) and had a sugar cane demonstration.  We used a machine that basically squeezed the sugar cane juice out of the sugar cane.  It took four people to do it - one to hold the cane as it went in, two to turn the cranks, and one to "catch" the sugar cane as it came out.  I think we did a pretty good job!

The result was sugar cane juice, which we got to try.  We also tried pure sugar cane, which indigenous people used like gum.

After that we got to help them out with their re-forestation project by planting a few trees.  Very exciting!

That's sugar cane in Boz's mouth. :)

The last activity of our day was La Fortuna waterfall, which is about 1800 feet tall and absolutely spectacular!  There is quite a hike down to the bottom of the waterfall.  We were able to swim in the lower pools and climb on the rocks, enjoying the water and the beautiful day.  Then, of course, we got to climb back up, which is, of course, quite a hike, also.  It was good to get some exercise. :)

On the way to our hotel, the Arenal Observatory Lodge, we stopped at a grocery store and were able to buy a few snacks.  I bought Yippy bars and Chiky cookies, a few Costa Rican favorites!

Our hotel is really nice.  It's quite the road to get up here, though - narrow, winding, very rocky with quite a few potholes, winding up the volcano.  And just when you think the road won't get any worse it branches off to an even narrower road, and at the end of that road lies our hotel.  Our driver, Jonathan, did a great job!  He has a pretty fun personality.  At one point, when the road was pretty rough, the bus stopped, the lights turned off and everything was completely black.  After a few seconds he laughed and started the bus back up again. :)  It's hard to really tell what the hotel's like because we arrived in the dark.  I'm looking forward to seeing everything in the light in the morning!  I know the basics from two years ago, but our rooms are in a completely different part of the lodge, overlooking what I remember to be beautiful gardens with winding pathways.  Each room has a nice patio, and all of our rooms are together.  So we can sit out on the patio, see the volcano and type our blogs in the beautiful Costa Rican weather. :)  Tonight we ate supper at the hotel restaurant, which is very good.  I had a Caesar salad, spaghetti, and a banana split for dessert.  After supper we had a meeting in the reception area.  We had a lot to talk about.  We discussed a lot about our family stays, and Mrs. Petty and I also wanted to have a discussion with everyone about having a good traveler's attitude.  Today was a very busy day, and at times we were tired, hungry and hot, and that came out in a few of our activities.  In our opinion, we didn't make the most of every opportunity we had here in Costa Rica today.  So, we had that discussion and I think it went well.  Our students are pretty self-aware.  I'm confident that we will have better attitudes and make the most of our future activities.

This evening I was so excited to have Internet access and even more excited to be able to call home.  Then I spent about 20 minutes trying to get my calling card to work, all to no avail.  Our internet connection here seems slow and sketchy, so I'm afraid Skyping won't work, either.  Hopefully we'll be able to figure something out so that I can talk to Josh, Lucas and Leah.  I know the kids are in good hands, and I'm sure Josh is having a great time in Florida right now.  I miss them and I wish I could talk to them!

Right now it's about 11:20 and I'm sitting on the patio of our hotel room in the dark, and there is this absolutely amazing bird call coming from the rain forest around our hotel!  I wish I knew more about birds so I could identify it.

Tomorrow we get to go zip lining, do some shopping in La Fortuna, and then spend some time at the hot springs.  I'm sure it will be another great day!