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.