Lots of Catching Up

So the previous post does no justice to the incredible trip to the waterfall, but I was typing while trying to use some sketchy internet, so that was the best I could do.  Truly standing at the top of the waterfall and then making it down the steep slope to the bottom is an amazing feeling of accomplishment, particularly when you’re carting along a 2 and 4 year old.  I am so proud of Gabby for walking and Lottie for not flipping out.  It’s just so different than walking along a maintained trail in a park.  The zoo is just not as impressive when you see the animals we have in their own environment.  Fruit will never taste as good as it does here.  Basically I am ruining all kinds of things for my kids ;p

So the next two days were more beaches.  The only small snag was that we apparently had a bad battery in our car, so we had to once again harass the wonderful caretakers to come and jump our car.  Thankfully the car rental company sent someone out to replace our battery before we had to make our next trip to the small airport.  In the afternoon on Friday after some time at our closest beach we went to check out the surf competition in Pavones.  The girls were pretty delighted to play on the playground by the beach. 

Saturday it was time for a REALLY early morning drive to Golfito.  I mean like 4am early.  That means it was pitch black for pretty much our entire drive.  Not being able to see and then the occasional patches of fog didn’t really make the trip more enjoyable, but we still made pretty good time.  After we dropped off David at the sprawling Goflito airport (it’s a small step above a hut) we set off for a chocolate tour at Finca Kobo.  Again this was about a 30 mile drive that took about 2 hours.  There were some pretty amazing views along the mountains and a good half of it was on paved roads.  Sadly it was a little toasty in the car by the time we got here and Gabby once again was feeling a little sick.  Luckily she made fast friends with the son of the people who own the place and enjoyed playing with his toys. 

These tours are AMAZING!  I am still partial to the coffee tour because it included all the coffee you could drink, but this was a pretty close second.  We were able to taste all different fruits including some that I don’t even think they have at Jungle Jims.  The girls were pretty excited to be handed star fruit.  We got to eat the fruit from a cashew.  We were also given a fruit called Caimon (sp?) which apparently are pretty rare.  The girls were delighted to be shown a fruit that is used for its red dye.  Lottie really wanted the mark to stay on her arm forever.  Then of course there was all the information about chocolate and the tasting afterwords.  The owner who took us on our tour talked a lot about sustainability and heirlooms, which are his preference.  Watching Gabby listen to these presentations makes me so happy.  She just takes everything in.  Learning about where lots of our fruit comes from is fascinating for me as well.  I feel totally justified in buying my slightly pricier Ghiradelli chocolates, which actually have chocolate and not just oil and sugar in them.