Helping in the Kitchen

Guess who was helping Dad make a batch of beer this weekend?

white out?

Would you believe me if I said yesterday I mowed the lawn?
Because I did. Because it was warm.
Yesterday.

And yes, I pulled out my winter boots today.

That snow stuff is wet.

CR 6: Muddy River Rafting

before the trip -
Elke and one of the French men seem to have traded shorts

And now on to our last Costa Rican adventure. We left central Costa Rica for Turrialba, the home base for our white water rafting adventures. Along with the zip lining, this was another goal of Kyle's during this trip. We went with a great small company, which we very much appreciated. While there were several boats on the river, we were just one instead of one boat of many from a company. It made it a much more personal trip, to experience what the National Geographic has named as one of the top ten river trips in the world.

While I was again apprehensive about this adventure, I felt a bit better about it than the zip lining. I thought I would have a bit more control, or could at least do something, with the paddle. However, when the owner picked us up from our hotel that morning he relayed with excitement that it had been raining so much the river was very high. One more inch and the ride would have been canceled because of too much water, instead of too little as he had been worrying about the previous day. While the owner, guides, Kyle and Christian were excited about this wonderful turn of events, Elke and I had serious second thoughts. And, in fact, it continued to rain during most of our float, making for some very rough, muddy, and dangerous waters. We were witness to the results of too much rain for the Pacuare, as we saw the effects of several mudslides which had happened the previous night.

during our lunch break

Now, really, the only way to appreciate this is to go yourself. These photos are the next best thing. Explanation isn't really necessary to describe how much water was attacking us from every angle. You can see for yourself:

The guide at the back of the boat would tell us to paddle, and in which direction. Then, all of a sudden, while you are scared to death of flipping the boat over, he screams to paddle harder. You think to yourself "Harder? My life depends on me paddling harder? I'm already paddling as hard as I can!" At times I was merely trying to hold on to my paddle and not loose it, the current and rapids were so strong.
During one of the rapids one of the French men in our boat fell out, everything was so strong. At another point, the guide suggested that a calm area in the river provided for a good opportunity to get out and go for a swim. All four of the guys (not including the guide) decided that was a good idea. However they quickly changed their mind when a minute later the guide was yelling at them to hurry up and get back in the boat as a class IV was coming up. And who, you may ask, was going to get them in the boat? Elke and I. All of a sudden both of us discovered amazing strength pulling guys weighing more than either of us into a boat from below with just our arms.
At another point, we had to veer off course, as a boat ahead of ours had completely flipped over during a rapid. All of the people were thrown from the boat and needed to get back in before the next rapid. One of the women, however, managed to climb up some rocks on a different side of the river than the rest of her crew, necessitating a rescue whereby she jumped from the cliff side into a boat. Luckily, she made it on her first attempt, and we didn't have to pick her up out of the river.

All in all, it really was an adventure. I'm glad I did it, I'm glad none of us left with broken bones, and I honestly probably won't be doing it again.

That night we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at our hotel in Turrialba, after a nice long hot shower. The next day we posed for a photo in front of Bego before Christian and Elke dropped us off at the airport.

The trip was wonderful, amazing, beautiful, exhilarating.
But, we were glad to get home.

Happy Valentine's Day

courtesy of the teachers at daycare

She's practicing for her career in show biz

We interrupt our scheduled Costa Rica post to bring you some important news...

Unfortunately, it would seem that Zoe was getting a bit too into the action during the Super Bowl this past Sunday, deciding she needed to participate more than merely watching the action from the sidelines. A step provided a bit of an obstacle, resulting in a small fracture in her foot.
The result:

Because of her age, the cast has to go up past her knee. And to avoid the cast saw when it comes off in three weeks, it's a soft cast, which means it's a bit squishy and doesn't come in pretty colors. She's a lot heavier now than her 25 pounds of body weight...

CR 5: On the road again

We were now headed back to the interior of the country for our next adventure. Along the way we saw many interesting things

the largest bridge in Costa Rica
(yes, this is still a two lane road)

the ox and cart we passed on the same road

the Burger King in a road-side hut

before stopping for the night at a small hotel/coffee farm, slightly outside of the city of Atenas. We had some difficulty finding the place, but were pleasantly surprised with the hotel and grounds.

We drove into Atenas for dinner, giving the daughter of the owner a lift to town on our way. It really is a great location for a night's stay immediately after arriving or the nite before leaving out of San Jose airport - close, but not in the big city of San Jose. The breakfast spread was amazing; fresh fruit, plantains, homemade tamales and pancakes, rice, beans, cookies, and fresh coffee. Those Ticos sure do like their breakfast.

And now, on to our last Costa Rican adventure...

CR 4: Beach Bums

Now for the fun part of the vacation - relaxing. We drove out to the western coast, staying at Hotel Brasilito and spending our days on Playa Conchal.

the view from our room

Can you guess what 'conchal' means in Spanish?

Playa Conchal is mainly fronted by this massive resort, but we had no problems taking a short walk to the beach after a leisurely breakfast beach-side at our own hotel. We had previously purchased a small cooler (which Christian and Elke later passed on to some other tourists just starting their adventure) that we filled with grocery store purchases for snacks and lunch. We would spend the day sitting by the beach, sleeping, eating, drinking, and reading. And of course, playing in the water - the water temperature was perfect. It wasn't crowded, as tourist season didn't start for another couple of weeks. We would take dinner at one of a couple of restaurants in Brasilito.

walking back to the hotel after a day at the beach

relaxing on the porch after a day at the beach

Mo, ready for dinner and a stein full of pickles after a day at the beach

the town rooster

One night during dinner, it seemed that Kyle's and Christian's feet were also on the menu. They had hundreds of bites, which slowly dissipated over the next 5 or so days. But boy did it not look pretty....

feet, for dinner, after a day at the beach

CR 3: The Great Outdoors

After the zip line, we took the scenic route around the lake, heading to Rincon de la Vieja National Park, outside of Liberia. We arrived at our hotel late that night, so enjoyed a bit of a picnic dinner outside our rooms. The next morning we awoke to an amazing view.

After about an hour's drive, we arrived at the park for a leisurely 3 or 4 hour hike. This area of the country is a bit of rain forest meets Texas hill country meets west Texas, believe it or not. Though we didn't have the time to hike up to the volcano, it was a gorgeous park nonetheless, with plenty of wildlife and not that many other tourists.

Hard to believe the two images above are from the same park.

Tree to Kyle: You're next...

Throughout the park there grows this amazing cannibalistic tree. It's roots and branches climb around an existing tree, slowly suffocating it. The original tree rots away, leaving a hollow center. They are all over the park, and huge.
There are quite a few hot springs of sorts in the area as well. We saw numerous 'mod pots;' basically hot steam or water exploding through layers of earth and mud. Christian was able to capture a bubble mid-burst. The sound is pretty cool as well.

After the first hike, we went up another trail to a small stream and waterfall, to rest our tired feet.

We ended the day at a little dinner spot overlooking the sunset.