Costa Rica

Dan and I spent Christmas in Costa Rica this year. We were interested in visiting Costa Rica after we heard glowing reports from friends who had been there, about how beautiful the country is, and how many interesting things there are to do. We packed the trip full of them.

These first three photos show us on a whitewater rafting trip, with a stop at a jungle "hotel" in the middle of the trip.



Class 3 and 4 - Hang on!
We are very far from the nearest road here, along the Pacuare River.

When the river trip was over, we rode in the back of a jeep with no seatbelts for five hours to get to our next location, at the active volcano Arenal. Our activity there was waterfall rapelling, followed by a soak in a wonderful hot springs.

We arrived at Playa Flamingo on Christmas Eve. That evening we went to a restaurant and sang Christmas carols karaoke style. On Christmas day we attended a Catholic mass with a very lively nativity scene at the front of the church.
We found an idyllic beach by kayak and did some snorkeling. The water was warmer than Hawaii.

The following photos were taken at Monteverde Cloud Forest, and it was misting, as is pretty normal there. At 5000 feet, it was a bit chilly and breezy. The most exciting part of this adventure was the really bumpy road on the way there. I almost kissed the ground when we arrived.




No trip would be complete without a ride in a typical wooden cart.