Costa Rica parte uno

Tuesday
The airplane ride: Oliver did pretty well on his flights and for the most part all of the kids did pretty great. We flew from Salt Lake to Huston, TX (3 hours) then from Huston to San Jose (5 hours). We had 1 hour between landing in Houston and catching our next flight. The flight was boarding and all we had to do was walk 5 feet to cross one gate to get to the other. Both flights were booked up and potentially equal misery for anybody sitting next to our crowd. Again, the kids all did great! We arrived in San Jose around 9 pm and commissioned some taxi vans to drive us to our first hotel, Adventure Inn. Rach and Gio had arrived a couple hours before us. It was pretty exciting trying to get settled in which lead to a little bit of a scolding from one of the other guests. We each had separate rooms and took up most of the hotel. The humidity is incredible here. Oliver’s cheeks, which have been SO dry from our Utah climate, have almost immediately heeled and turned Oli’s hair into soft curls.

Wednesday
In the morning, it took a while to try to puzzle our luggage into our cars but eventually we all crammed in and made it work. We drove to La Fortuna Volcano which was an amazing drive. Winding up and down in our train of cars, zig and zag all the way to our stay at Kokoro and met a helpful/ hospitable staff including Felico. Kokoro was a beautiful place to stay, you felt like you were right in the jungle with all its glory right out your door/windows. We had our own individual cabins side by side to one another. It was impressive to not be bothered by many bugs bearing in mind that we were in the middle of a jungle. Weather near the Arenal was warm and rainy (in my opinion is the best kind of rain.)

This is mine and Curtis' cabin

Thursday
On this day it was our treat to have Felico became our personal tour guide around Kokoro. We hiked a small but slippery trail and started to begin to see just how incredibly beautiful Costa Rica truly is.


In the afternoon we hiked to La Fortuna waterfalls. Now that was crazy steep, but the view at the end was well worth it! This waterfall has a 70-75 meter drop and creates a loud crashing noise. Some of our extreme guys thought it would be great to dive into the waterfall and try to swim as close as they could to the falls but the push was way too strong and they were lucky to not be pulled under by the pressure. We delighted in the flavors of Lava Lounge and enjoyed some delicious nachos after being teased with them by the folks. Afterwards we ventured back to the hotel sat by the hot tub and ordered some takeout from La Parada Soda (a soda here roughly translated means fast food)

Here we spotted our first monkey!


Friday
Los Lagos was our next stop on this day. Here we were able to enjoy all kinds of activities: Zip line, hot pots, waterslides, pools and even some incredible animals. First the zip line: We separated into two groups, the women and the men, so the children would always be supervised. We were sad to not have my sister-in-law, Jennine, in our group but I hope she had a great time with all the stinky men. There were 12 platforms that we zipped to. On our second zip the guides flipped me upside down so I could appreciate an extra thrill, it worked! It was on like the 7th or 8th zip where they asked who would be brave enough to try something daring. I was up for the challenge. They had me soar through the zip like I was an eagle! For this to work I had to go tandem so I could be horizontal and outstretch my arms like I was flying! What a rush!


The animals: Los Lagos has some pretty exotic animals, at least to me! It was like a zoo! Walking around we past lizard after lizard, turtles, a butterfly farm, an ant farm (nasty!) and best of all crocodiles. What fascinating creatures crocodiles are. They sit completely still, some with their mouths gapping wide and some just laying in the mud. I did something that I know was very stupid but I just COULDN’T RESIST. One of the crocs tails was pretty close to the chain link fence, and yes the path walks you right along the fence. A bottom section of the chain link was turned up and just beckoning me to reach my hand in and pet the croc’s tail. So I did, not once but twice. I felt I was just tempting fate to try for a third. (I will get back to the rest of what Los Legos has to offer)

Vegetation here is so lush and green! Costa Rica has 2 seasons: Rainy (winter May-November) and Dry (summer December-April) so Costa Rica is in high season right now.

The ants go marching one by one.... NASTY! There was a whole hut as one giant ant farm, Blah

"Never smile at a crocodile, no you cant get friendly with a crocodile".....

We wanted to drive around the Volcano before it got too late. We witnessed a breathtaking sunset just over the lake and then took an alternate road definitely less traveled. Potholes were typical ok typical is a kind word but potholes littered the road. Poor Oli was trying to sleep, every time he closed his eyes we would hit a big pothole and he would jumpstart awake again. We were really hoping to be able to see the lava spewing from the volcano but the cloud/ smoke cover was too thick however some say they could hear the rumblings. We headed back for dinner at La Parada again and then back to Los Lagos.

This is what my view was

Hot pots: One of the swimming pools was a warm pot with a giant slide attached. There was a horseshoe trail with a handful of hotpots. The designer must have had honeymooners in mind, there were many secluded little alcoves that almost guarantee you possibly interrupting some couples intimate moments, just ask my brother-in-law Gio (and that was in broad daylight!) There was a giant slide that we were pretty sure was closed down because all of the lights were off but I couldn’t refuse when my brother suggested we check it out. Of course I made Curtis come with me! As a side note these slides aren’t built by American standards, my second time going down I was going so fast I almost slipped right out!

Oli became pretty accustom to be in his carseat

Family photo at Kokoro, in the backround is the volcano even if you cant see it trust me it is there.