Rah Rah and Nana come to visit! Rincon, Nosara, Monteverde

Quetzal in Monteverde

Hola!  I have been very busy recently with fun travels around Costa Rica!  Also, the internet is out most of the time because it started to rain a bit so the power goes off a lot which causes the wifi router to need resetting.  Right now I'm tethered to my iPhone and using a very slow connection.  It will probably take a few hours to upload one or two pictures...

The upside to rain, however, is that there are fireflies lighting up the night!  and the dust is settling and the trees are budding!  So grateful for all of these things.  Plus, it is slightly less hot.

My parents came to visit us - we picked them up at the airport and the kids were SO HAPPY to see them.  We took them straight to Rincon de La Vieja after they had been up all night on a redeye flight.  We drove to our cabins so they could rest a bit before we went and cooled off in some pools in a nearby river.  Everyone had a great time jumping into the cold, clear water (quite in contrast to Nosara's warm and murky rivers).  We then treated them to one of the two local restaurants near Rincon - in which the only vegetarian option consisted of rice, beans and "salad" -literally a piece of lettuce and one slice of tomato.  Yum.

We spent the next day at Rincon and took a walk past boiling water, bubbling mud, and lots of strangler fig trees for the kids to climb.  I finally saw my first Blue Morpho butterfly!  They are iridescent!  I saw this as a good omen.

We drove back to Nosara the following day, after visiting a gorgeous waterfall just outside of Liberia.  Highly recommended (Llanos de Cortes Cataratas).   This was a nice reprieve from the heat!  Unfortunately for my parents, we unwittingly chose the hottest and dustiest time of year for them to visit Nosara.  Rah Rah was not amused.  We did manage to have some fun snorkeling, kayaking the Nosara River, and playing "futbol" with Graham.  After spending a few ridiculously hot days in Nosara, we were all ready for the cool mountains.  We travelled to Monteverde to explore and meet up with more friends and family.

Monteverde is absolutely beautiful.  The air is so cool that pine trees can grow!  We stayed at Los Pinos cabanas - a perfect place for families.  They have a garden where you can harvest fresh salad for dinner, hiking trails, and a playground for the kids.  It was cool enough that chocolate didn't instantly melt so the kids were able to do a belated chocolate easter egg hunt.

People come from all over the world to see birds in Monteverde, and Nana hired the best bird guide around.  With Danilo's help, we saw some of the coolest birds in the world at the Cure Cancha reserve.   He uses his scope and our iPhones to take close up pictures of all the beautiful birds.  He found for us the famous Quetzals, one of which was spotted long after our tour was suppose to end.  He was so passionate about his job that he took us back out into the jungle to find the bird.  We also saw toucans, hummingbirds, a woodpecker, and so much more.   We saw so many Blue Morpho butterflies that I lost count.  I still never did get a good picture of one though, so I'll have to keep traveling to the cool mountains in search of them.

Graham was our lucky charm, he was so excited to see the Quetzals that I think they may have showed up just for him.  He loves birds, frogs, snakes, spiders.  Maybe he will be a wildlife biologist one day.  Nearby at the Childrens Forest we also saw a Bell bird, which makes the most lovely clear bell sound!  Graham was our lucky charm here too had helped us find it.

While in Monteverde we also took the kids and my 71 year old aunt Lois zip lining!!  Lois has such a great spirit and "can be talked into anything", including zipping through the treetops even though she has a fear of heights.  She is awesome.  Amara of course was in heaven.  She was the first in line for the "tarzan swing" - which is basically a free fall with ropes attached.  She LOVED this tour.  Other people kept looking at her and saying "well, if she can do, I shouldn't be so scared!".    We loved Monteverde so much we didn't want to leave.  It was so nice to be cold enough to wear pants, and to have to use a blanket at night.

We left Nana and Rah Rah and the rest of the crew at Monteverde - from which they drove south to take a 5 day kayak trip and planned to meet up with us after.  When the kids and I stepped out of the car back in Nosara, one of the first things we noticed was that it had rained, and there were fireflies everywhere!  Absolutely amazing transformation.  2 days of rain and the fireflies return and the trees start to bud out.


After everyone returned from kayaking, we spent a few more days exploring Nosara before they had to return to the US.  This time Amara was the lucky charm, and she found us her favorite bird of Costa Rica, the Roseate Spoonbill.   Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at the time, but they were beautiful, and apparently somewhat rare because the policemen driving by stopped to take pictures of them.

It was so wonderful to have family come visit us!  Thank you Rah Rah, Nana, Linda, Bob, Lois and friends Michelle and Collete.  Thank you for the good chocolate, the Beechers cheese, the chokecherry syrup, almonds, books and
the movies!  We were all very sad when everyone left.  The kids especially loved sharing their jungle experiences and when we see something new they are sad you are not here to see it too!

Mi hijo guapo

Nana and her sis

Playa Pelada

Rah Rah and Graham playing futbol

Nana and G at Futbol 5.

Nesting Mot Mot right outside our house.  We see them everyday!

Coati in Monteverde.

Bell Bird in flight.

Bell Bird - these birds make a beautiful pure bell sound.  One of my favorite birds!

Nana and Amara on a jungle walk.

Violet Sabrewing Hummingbird - Monteverde - Cure Cancha.

Parakeet outside of our house in Nosara.

Orioles in our yard.

Nosara sunset

Happy Graham swinging in Rincon de la Vieja.

Amara in Rincon.

Pale billed Woodpecker - Monteverde, Cure Cancha Reserve.

Toucan - Monteverde - Cure Cancha.

Hummingbird - Monteverde.

Quetzal - Monteverde - Cure Cancha.

Rah Rah, Collete, Michelle, Geoff on the zip line in Monteverde.

G & A zip lining!

Tired and sick boy taking a rest with Rah Rah.

Aunt Lois

lunchtime.

Happy family!

Swimming in the refreshing cool waters near Rincon de la Vieja.

swimming in the river near Rincon de la Vieja National Park

Steam vents in Rincon de la Vieja

Mi hija muy bella

Strangler fig 

Happy birthday to me!

Quetzal - Monteverde - Cure Cancha

Nicaragua!

So we took a run to the Nicaraguan border last weekend.  I was pretty nervous about the border crossing, because I've heard some crazy stories.  When we arrived at the border, we first had to find a spot to park our car because it is really difficult to take a car into Nicaragua.  You need many photocopies and many stamps and they fumigate your car too.  A friend of mine told me it took her 6 hours to cross the border with a car, plus a $50 bribe.  So, instead we parked and walked across the border.  The border is kind of a crazy disorganized place that would be really hard to navigate without lots of prior research and an understanding of at least intermediate Spanish.  There are multiple pieces of paper you need and places to show your passport.  Plus you walk about 400 meters through "no mans land" between the two countries.  However, if you have done your research, know some Spanish, and are kind and patient, the crossing (for us anyway) can be fairly smooth (although long).  After a couple of hours at the border, we grabbed a taxi and headed up to Granada.  Granada is an awesome colonial city on the shore of Lake Nicaragua.  We LOVED it.  We walked around the city the first night, and ate a super tasty dinner near the town square.

The kids loved being in a city.  They spent a lot of time in the hotel pool, and at a playground playing with the local kids.  Graham walked up to people at the park and asked if he could play soccer with them, so he didn't want to ever leave.  We also took a tour of a local volcano, and spent a lot of time just wandering around the colonial streets.

When the kids got tired of walking, we took a horse carriage ride, which was fun for the kids.  They were able to see more of Granada, and we learned about the history of the city.  Later that evening, however, they noticed that the horses were STILL working and walking people around the city.  They felt really bad for the horses then, and also noticed that some of them were really skinny.  They also noticed a lot of homeless people, which made them ask a lot of questions about why these people are homeless, and Graham wanted to give them all money.  Geoff helped him hand out oranges instead - it was a good life experience for the kids to help them understand how lucky they are and how much people can suffer.

Overall though, our experience in Granada was great and the kids decided that they like cities where there are streetlights to walk at night, lots of restaurants to chose from and parks with lots of other kids to play with.  It was also cooler than Nosara, which at this time of year was really nice.  Nicaragua was such a fun trip it had us wondering if we have chosen wisely!  It is MUCH MUCH cheaper than Costa Rica and the roads are better too!

On the shore of Lake Nicaragua

My happy daughter

Yummy pizza and greek food!!  Pizzaiol!

Rio Celeste

Rio Celeste

So, Costa Rica has a river named after me, or so my children think!  Rio Celeste is located in Tenorio Volcano National Park, up in the mountains where it is blessedly cool and refreshing after sweating at the beach for almost 2 months.  The day we arrived the weather was cloudy and misty - we had to wear long sleeves and pants!!!!  It was awesome!  We stopped in Liberia on the way, to pick up Geoff from the airport, as he had been gone for an entire month back in the USA.  We stayed at a cute hotel in Liberia called Hotel Javy, which is run by a sweet Tica lady who speaks no English.  It was awesome practice for me! She cooks great food too, if you are in Liberia alone with two kids and its getting dark and you don't want to leave for dinner.

The next morning we left for Bijagua, which is at the foot of the Tenorio Volcano.  We checked in at the very cute Hotel Cacao where there was an abundance of colorful hummingbirds, butterflies and feral cats.  Amara ran around trying to catch a kitten to bring home but was luckily unsuccessful. One new pet a month is probably enough!  The owner of the hotel informed me that he only gets about 10 Americans per year, because most stay in the resort hotels.  I would highly recommend travelling like a European and staying in this place if you want a more relaxed and authentic experience.  Muy tranquilo!!!  Just down the street you can walk a half a block to a great little restaurant too, and order a casada - a Costa Rican dish with fish (or meat or veggies), salad, beans, rice, and a fried plantain.  Very healthy and tasty too!

The first afternoon we spent in Bijagua we went to Finca Verde, where we took a guided tour and saw sloths, sleeping bats (they are really cute!!), butterflies, frogs, snakes, and birds. Geoff also ate some termites.  He says that they taste "woody".  No one else felt it necessary to verify this information...

The next morning we got up early and headed up a really really slow, steep, rocky dirt road.  It took us about 45 minutes to drive 11 km, but Tenorio National Park is worth it.  Because of the road, there aren't a lot of tourists here, except a crazy German lady that felt obligated to bring her 3 inch heels with her to change into for a photo shoot - she was hilarious to watch!  The photographer kept missing the mid-air jump so she spent a long time jumping into the air in 3 inch heels onto a slippery wet wooden deck.  Entertaining indeed!

The hike through the jungle to the Rio Celeste waterfall was what I had pictured when I thought of Costa Rica before we arrived here.  Dense jungle, shin deep mud, misty fresh cool air. We all loved it!!!  The color of the water is the beautiful blue that reminds me of glacial-fed waters like Lake Blanca in Washington.  The color here is not glacier fed, but rather a chemical mixture from underwater hot springs bubbling up from the volcano.  Another "brilliant" tourist decided it would be "interesting" to stick her hand in the boiling water.  You can imagine what her reaction might have been at discovering that it was indeed boiling hot water.

When the guides at the entrance to the park tell you to rent boots if you didn't bring them with you, definitely listen.  They aren't joking around about the mud.  :)

It was such a great mini-vacation, getting away from the heat and dusty roads of Guanacaste in the dry season.  I could have spent more time sitting at the hotel just watching the hummingbirds and butterflies and wearing long sleeves!!

Graham holding the famous Red-Eye Tree Frog

Rio Celeste Waterfall

3-Fingered Sloth

The Mixing-Pool - where the beautiful blue color is made.

Hotel Cacao - a great place to stay in Bijagua

Cacao seed

Amara and the Frog

and, on a different topic, Happy Birthday to my awesome daughter! 

Stranded!

I decided that it was time to drive further than 2 miles from our home base here in Nosara, so the kiddos and I loaded up the Honda with our snorkel gear and headed to San Juanillo, about 18 km north of here - about 11 miles.  Not far.  At home, it would take about 11 minutes to go 11 miles.  Here, however, it took about 40 minutes of driving on some crazy dirt roads with hills so steep that my tires started slipping and I had to shift into a low gear.  I also drove through 2 rivers, a first for me and my SUV!  I was really nervous about this, and was second guessing my "brave" idea to go on this little adventure.  However, as I was sitting and pondering how many crocodiles were in this insanely deep river, I saw a tiny little 2 door sedan drive through the river with no hesitation.  The car was probably 4 inches off the ground.  I think the driver smirked at me, thinking I must be a tourist.  I decided that I was being a wimp, after all I was driving a Honda Pilot which has 4WD and is MUCH higher off the ground.  Off we go!  Into the river and through the woods!

San Juanillo is worth the crazy drive to get there.  The beaches are beautiful!!  The beaches are protected from the waves so lots of local people were out snorkeling and swimming.   It has been really windy here, so the water was pretty murky but we did see tons of cute blue fish and 2 freaky looking eels.  Rumor has it that there are two tasty restaurants in town that serve greek food, and we were really excited to try the vegetarian one - testing it out for Nana!  It closes at 4:00 though, and we just missed it.  Super sad kids, they were hungry!!  So we'll have to go back, and eat lunch there next time.

On the way home, we drove back through the two rivers.  Just past the second river, which I zipped right through this time, there was a photo I just had to stop and take of the farmland and sunset beside the road.  I had to take the keys out in order to do this, because the camera was safely stored in my rocket box on top of my car.  I took some pictures, including this one here:

Which was fine, although not an awesome picture and definitely not worth what came next...I got back in the car, and turned the key.  NOTHING.  Dead.  WHAT??  I've been here for 2 weeks, Geoff is out of town, I'm the furthest away I've been from "home" and my car dies???  On the side of the road, and its going to get dark any minute.  Seriously??  I try calling my husband and I CAN"T because I'm in Central America on the side of the road with no wifi!!   Poor kids started crying and were so scared!!  I called one of the 4 phone numbers that I have programmed into my phone of local people.  People I barely know.  Elizabeth answered, first try!!  She said she'd be right there.  She had to drive probably 20-30 minutes out of her way (each way) to rescue someone she just met a few days ago.  She didn't hesitate at all, and we are so grateful to her.  So we repaid her by then having dinner at her house that same night.  :)  I guess she figured I was too traumatized to cook for my kids or myself.

So what is wrong with my Honda, that has never caused me any grief?  At first I thought it was the river I drove through.  I must've gotten something important wet.  But that didn't make sense, the water wasn't deep enough.  It jump started just fine.  Then I turned it off and tried to start it again, and nothing.  Dead. ???  All the lights had just been on, working fine!!  What is wrong?  Then we went to jump it again, and the cable connecting the battery to the car was actually NOT connected at all.  It wasn't screwed on.  So, in conclusion, we figured out that the battery had rattled itself loose on these bumpy nasty roads, and had probably not been screwed on at the port here in Costa Rica when we shipped it.  Nice.  At least it was simple.  This time.  On the plus side, at least my car didn't start on fire in the parking lot at school (which did happen to someone!!).

Well, as they say here: Pura Vida!