Weekend trip to Montazuma

Our friend JJ from Peace Corps is working in Costa Rica right now and we all went on a little trip this weekend. We rented a car again and drove to Puntarenas where we loaded the car onto a ferry to cross over to the Nicoya Peninsula. Then drove another hour to the small Pacific side beach town Montazuma. We hiked along the river and played in the ocean. While Josh and JJ played in the massive waves like they were little kids, I found my childhood glee by watching crabs scurry along the beach and disappear into their holes or hermit crabs waddle across the sand. Josh and I really enjoy coming across all the creatures here. I have never seen so many cool bugs and animals. I get so excited like when we stumbled upon a live sand dollar. I have never seen one before. We also hiked up to an eighty foot waterfall. This was super fun. Josh was determined to get under the waterfall even though there were several signs posted NOT to do this. We had a great time except when we met up with the ferry to go home and we had to wait four hours to get on. We were really glad that we brought travel scrabble!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day Dads!
We hope you have a great one and know that we will be thinking of you.

Trip to Manuel Antonio

We went to Manuel Antonio this weekend and had an amazing time. As I have mentioned this is the rainy season here and I was not that interested in going because I was sure it would rain, but it was BEAUTIFUL all weekend. Even though I am not crazy about the rain, it is the off season or as they call it, the green season, so rates on hotels and some tours are discounted. We have been able to afford to do more because of it. We stayed in a hotel that had private access to the beach and there were monkeys playing in the trees outside our room. It also was air conditioned!! My allergies are awful here so air conditioning is a huge help.
We also went on a zip line tour (see following blog) that was amazing. You are not able to see very much however since you are flying through the air trying not to spin into a tree. We went on a hike through the National Park though and were able to see a lot more. We came across monkeys, iguanas, brightly colored crabs, a sloth, enormous rodents, amazing scenery, birds, and creepy crawlies. It is incredible to see these animals in their natural habitat. There are a lot of ex pats that settle here so it is an ideal place to come if you speak no Spanish. Everyone speaks English. Most of Costa Rica is like that. Our lanlord has been here for eight years and speaks, well barely.. ten words in Spanish. Anyone could move here and get along fine..hint hint Robin and Jaime.

Fauna of the Forest

We went on a zip line tour while we were in Manuel Antonio. It was great. We were over 100 feet above the ground, strapped into a harness, and sent zipping through the forest. It is hard to see what is all around you since you have to concentrate not to spin and run into an adjacent tree. It all happens pretty fast. Once you are on the platforms though you can see all around you. The guides are really professional and we had a man who told us a lot about all the medicinal trees and animals. There was even a 5 1/2 year old that went on the trip. These pics were taken by the tour company which is nice since I am usually behind the camera and we have few pics together.
(click on the collage to see the photos bigger)