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.

CR 2: Flying

the group before the 'fun'

After our farm visit, we moved on to another part of the country. Kyle was all about adventure this trip, so zip lining near the Arenal Volcano was next on our itinerary. This area of the country is gorgeous, in part due to the volcano and a man made lake through which hydroelectric power provides electricity for most of the country.

Disclaimer:
This was easily one of the scariest days of my life, right up there with experiencing an earthquake. Please keep that in mind as you read through this -
Kyle had a very different experience.

The course we used was this one, which advertises itself as having the highest and fastest zip lines in the country. After the two training runs, there is the highest run (656 feet IN THE AIR - easily over a 40 story building), and later on the fastest run (about 50 miles per hour) and then the longest for this course (2440 feet - almost half a mile). After a fairly beautiful ride on a gondola up the mountain (I wasn't really looking - nerves were already starting to get to me), you are greeted with a delicious fresh fruit drink and get to enjoy the views of the lake far below.

Kyle and I before the 'fun'

After that, there are two quick, short, not-very-high-up runs to practice zip lining. No problem. Then you come to the third run, which is the highest off of the ground. You can barely see the platform on the other side. It's windy. And it is really far down to the ground (if you could see it, which you can't, because there are 30ft tall+ trees that you see the tops of instead). Everyone went before I did, and I told the guide that I wasn't going to continue. This is the last point to 'chicken out,' and I was clucking. This was not for me. The guide said he would tandem ride with me the whole way, but I still was saying 'No way.' He somehow convinced me to hook up my pulley on to the cable. At this point I was shaking my head and nearly crying, ready to jump right off but I didn't know how to disengage my pulley.

Instead, he just pushed us off.
No warning - just

whoosh

I was so frightened that I could not scream. I don't have a problem screaming. It can be fun - lets off a lot of steam. An excuse to be loud. But I couldn't. And I had my eyes closed nearly the entire time. By the time we landed at the platform, I was shaking head to toe, probably in shock.

And now there was no turning back.

The rest of our group enjoyed themselves quite a bit. Here's a short video of Christian at the end of a line.

You may ask why he said "I made it all the way." Well, that would be because on the previous line he didn't make it using just the pulley. Yes, that's right, he came up short. Too much wind had hit him, turning him sideways and reducing his forward momentum. When he stopped he had to turn himself around in mid-air and pull himself to the platform with his hands on the cable. The guides had warned us this was a possibility. Do you really wonder why I didn't want to do this?

And so now, for my embarrassment and your enjoyment, is a video of me during the second to last run - the longest. I had been riding tandem the whole way, eventually getting to the point where I could look at stuff in the distance (not down). Definitely screaming the whole way. When we got to this one the guide all of a sudden announced that we couldn't do tandem. It was too long to do tandem. And there are trees in the way. You go through a tunnel of trees that are so close to the line that if there are two people riding too close to each other they will be hit by trees. Yippee. You can imagine my excitement. Consider this as you see my expression compared to Christian's in the video above.

Yup. That's me having fun. Can't you tell?

Needless to say, I was relieved when the last run came and I could get my feet on the ground. You better believe I won't be doing that again.

CR 1: Farm Living

Our first stop was an eco-farm in the middle of the rain forest. Christian and Elke, friends we were traveling with, picked us up from the airport and off we went. Since there were four of us, we made the decision to get a car, which was a good one. I'm thankful Christian did the driving - it's crazy there! 'Highway' is apparently a subjective term. Even the great Pan-American was oftentimes just a two lane road, distinguished from other two-lane roads by painted lane dividers. Most of the roads we traveled were dirt/rocks, which sort of gave you that stage-coach feeling.

Bego, the beloved 5th member of our crew

The first day we eventually arrived at Finca Luna Nueva. These were the directions they gave, which we found typical of directions given for the entire country:

From San Jose head north to San Ramon via the Pan American highway. Exit Pan American highway (right turn) go straight until the last stop sign, and turn left. Immediate right turn at traffic light. Follow road for about 2 km staying to the left. When you go uphill over a speed bump with small school on right then another speed bump make a left at the y intersection. This is the road to Fortuna. Follow this road north for about an hour when you will arrive at a single lane suspension bridge over the Peñas Blancas river.

About two kilometers after the bridge watch for a church and cemetery on left. 150 meters past the cemetery turn left onto a rock road (look for the Texas A&M sign on your right hand side, across the street from the turn). Go 2.3 km west into the jungle. Keep bearing to the right when you come to intersections. When you see a large tin building go 100 m and make the right into the driveway thru our beautiful gates.

You may ask how one knows it's the 'last stop sign,' but trust me, you know. It's that 'bearing right' that gave us problems. After asking directions in broken Spanish from some kind neighbors, as night had already descended by the time we were close, we finally arrived through those 'beautiful gates.'

The farm is amazing, and really uses all of their resources wisely. The food they serve is delicious, all vegetarian, and beautifully presented. They have all sorts of animals, farm much of their food, and make the soaps that are used as well. We went on a farm tour, a rainforest tour, and generally just hung out and enjoyed the place.

a real banana tree, with ripeness monitor

Christian and Elke finding relief from their headaches
or
"Let's see what we can get the tourists to do this time"

Mo resuscitating a coconut

Cheers!

Kyle: Isn't this meal the best ever?
Christian: Where's the beef?

Costa Rica

With many thanks due to our parents, Kyle and I were able to take a vacation to Costa Rica in December. Costa Rica is a surprisingly short plane flight from Texas (3 or 4 hours) and in the same time zone, which makes it a nice get-away-from-it-all destination opportunity. Kyle generously cashed in his airline miles allowing us to fly there for the cost of only the flight taxes, and we were fortunate enough to fly first class no less, as it was right before the start of busy season in Costa Rica. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, but we were of course glad to get home to see Zoe again - ten days is a very long time! She grew both physically and emotionally while we were gone.
And now, on to a few posts summarizing our wonderful adventures!