Beaches

At the risk of sounding unbelievably lazy, I’d like to say how much I enjoy the fact that on this trip both girls for the first time could really entertain themselves by the water.  They have enough common sense (or fear) to not stroll out into the ocean alone.  Gabby is a pretty strong swimmer in the pool and Lottie is getting there.  It's a toss up as to whether these breakthroughs or their interest in lying in a hammock reading make me happier. 

It is pretty awesome to watch how they entertain themselves at the beach.  Gabby loves drawing pictures in the sand and adding accessories of shells and rocks.  They both enjoy catching (torturing) tadpoles.  I am slightly concerned that particular fun is on some checklist that qualifies them as sociopaths.  Playing with trash washed up on the beach was hours of enjoyment.  Who doesn’t love collecting things in someone else’s discarded water bottle?  They love exfoliating with a good sand rub, which is the stuff of nightmares for me.  Best of all near the beaches in Pavones we saw some amazing animals.  And despite all the development that has been happening in this area in the last couple years we still had the beaches pretty much to ourselves.  The only exception were the surfers and we don’t really seek out the good waves, so we weren’t too close to them either. 

Nothing like letting the current of the river push you out to sea.  Very Anne of Green Gables here.

I love this art.  There is no expectation for it to come home with us.

Spa treatments anyone?

Turtles in the river leading to the beach at Pilon.  We also saw an amazing lizard that ran on the water. 

Beach fort.  I think we should consider a slightly larger one for a more permanent stay.

The Trip to the Waterfall

Like so many aspects of our trips to Costa Rica this waterfall is something that terrified me the first time, but we have to keep going back.  This was our third trip down.  Our fearless guide Enrique has definitely adapted somethings, probably to accommodate the other spazzy tourists.  For example we used a rope for the steeper parts, which given the rain was especially helpful.  This trip both girls made it on their own two feet through the creek and up and down the hills.  I’ll add hiking independently to the list of amazing vacation developments that already includes reading in the hammocks and entertaining themselves at the beach. 
The waterfall is just beautiful.  The walk there was a good reminder that all that time I spend at the gym is nothing compared to actually going outside and exploring.  Walking on a “trail” where you’re not constantly brushing up against other people and where there’s not signs and directions everywhere is exciting.  We were told our kids are the only tourist’s children to make the hike.  You are welcome Gabby and Lottie!  My gratitude to Enrique and in the past Freddy and Grace for taking us on this adventure is beyond measure.  They have always been amazing hosts and super patient with us.  I hope the girls remember these experiences, but if not I have a million pictures to remind them!!!  To make the day of this hike more wonderful the trees by the house were full of monkeys just before sunset. 

They really think this is the waterfall every time.  To the left is the top, but they were not allowed anywhere near it. 

Dan took this and then almost slid down into us.  This was one of many times I thought of Auntie Mame on our trip.  He will be Beauregard someday trying to get a picture. 

The rope makes all the difference.

Time to swim in the ice water.

Good parenting:  Abandoning your child at the bottom of a waterfall. 

More good parenting

Oranges make it all worthwhile!

This fool got to lead us out.

This looked like a sea urchin and was a fun toy until Lottie got stuck with a spine.

 

Throwback to 2013

Throwback to 2012

Pavones to Monte Verde to SJO

We learned our lesson (sort of) for the next drives.  We were told it would take about 7 hours and so we gave ourselves 12 hours of daylight to get there.  I knew it would be a little trickier heading to Monte Verde because the roads up into the mountains are a slow go.  We got out by 600am.  This time we made sure to actually stop for food and crocodiles.  And it was a good thing because the last 15 km of the trip to Monte Verde probably took at least 1-1.5 hours.  When we were really moving we were in second gear.  It was terrifying.  Heights don’t bother me, but one lane dirt roads with traffic moving both ways up the side of a mountain test my limits.  Thankfully the girls slept through Dan and I panicking in the front.  They have a gift for that.  They completely missed Dan’s nervous breakdown driving through Arizona.  Thankfully I have video to show them later, so we can all laugh.  I spent most of this drive trying to figure out why I plan these ridiculous trips where I spent hours at a time certain we are not even going to make it to the next stop.  There are flat places in the world right?  Maybe our next trip will be to the prairie where we can learn about the dust bowl or something?

And then we arrived.  The view was breathtaking.  The man who rents the property was incredibly nice.  The house was super cute and quaint.  We were a short walk or drive from town and multiple activities.  You can check out the rental here www.vrbo.com/106066.  We even decided to go all out and head back out that evening to a nearby restaurant.  Casado con pollo and arroz con pollo make everything better.  And the Imperials were tolerable.  Two meals in one day sort of made up for the moments of worry on the road. 

Now the trip back down the mountain at 400am in pitch black on dusty and deserted roads that are closed during daylight for construction was a little more awful.  It didn’t help that a cow had pooped right behind our car the night before.  Dan was loading up the car in the dark and didn’t see it until he stepped in it and some luggage fell in it.  Once it’s time to go home our patience for long semi-dangerous car rides sort of disappears.  It’s not like you look forward to sitting in an airport and on an airplane for hours after a long drive.  On top of that we ate breakfast at Denny’s by the car rental place out of desperation.  There is nothing like paying $50 for breakfast at a garbage American chain restaurant. 

I'm totally sure that barbed wire would keep me from rolling down the side of the mountain.

And this is what we get when the road finally levels out. 

Victory!

The View

The inside of the house

Animals in the Road

So sometimes large trucks can be a nuisance because there’s not always a lot of options for getting around them.  This either means slowly following them or stopping to wait while they drop heavy equipment in random spots on the side of the road.  This can be annoying and make already slow drives just that much slower.  I’d say the average speed is around 30kph (roughly 18 mph).  Then sometimes there are cows or horses milling about on the sides of or just in the middle of the road.  In fairness we had similar problems with bison out west. 

Our last night in Pavones was a special sort of ridiculous.  We went out to dinner at a normal dinner hour.  By the time we were done we had the misfortune of taking another drive in the dark.  This shouldn’t have been a huge deal since we know this area and it wasn’t too terribly long of a distance.  Once on the driveway to our property we saw a mommy horse and her baby.  The baby horse looked like it was sort of struggling to stay on the hillside by its mom.  Naturally we stopped to take pictures.  I sort of worried we were scaring the baby, so we hurried up and moved on.  At this point I hear what sounds like a squealing noise.  In my side mirror I see this white baby horse sprinting after the car and whinnying.  I thought it was just scared and confused.  We stopped in front of our house and it came up to the front of our car, turned around and rammed into us.  It was the most absurd thing I have ever seen.  Dan started to get out of the car to see if there was damage, but then Gabby and I noticed the mom running up behind us.  I yelled for Dan to get back in because I was worried we were going to get rammed again.  Thankfully she ran past us and went up to her baby.  It looked like she was scolding the baby.  They both ran off together.  Thankfully there was no damage to our car or the horse. 

These guys were in and out of the road while we drove past.

There's not exactly a cul-de-sac to turn around in, so we were concerned for a while we were going to have to back a couple km out of the driveway.

Crazy horse

Costa Rican Driving: San Jose to Pavones

Because I have had the great pleasure of driving the questionable roads of Costa Rica on 3 previous trips I have developed a foolish level of confidence in my ability to get from place to place.  On our first trip down in 2009 we drove in the dark most of the way through the mountains.  Had it not been for our GPS (which we don't get any more) and following a truck in front of us I probably would’ve pulled over and had a nervous breakdown.  After that trip I vowed to never drive in Costa Rica at night.  On the second trip it took us almost double the amount of time the directions indicated to reach our destination.  After that trip we started spending the night in a hotel and waking up bright and early before making any major journey.  We also had the joy of getting rear ended on a mountain side that encouraged a little more caution.  (I think after that accident I said I'd never go back to Costa Rica again.)  On trip three I started making better time and remembering the routes, so this time we were going into the journey as experts. 

Despite the fact that we weren’t arriving in San Jose until midday and then had a 6-7 hour drive ahead of us without traffic or weather problems, we decided to just go for it.  We picked up our rental car and headed out for Pavones.  This wouldn’t be a big deal except the sun goes down around 500 pm.  Throw in a festival that blocked streets and caused us to take a “detour” and some torrential rain and you have a sort of stressful drive.  We still managed to stop for groceries, but failed to feed our children.  The roads were slightly better than in the past.  They seem to have compacted some of the dirt and rocks, but those bridges in the dark and rain almost made me want to turn back around and go home.  I don’t mean to complain, but just a small guard rail on the side would make me feel a little better. 

We made it to Casa Amarilla by about 900pm and it was crazy how easy it was to settle back in even with new “guard” dogs outside.  It was such a relief to be some place familiar and have the drive ended.  At that point lack of food didn’t even matter.  We knew where everything was.  We knew how to get places the next day.  There are some serious perks to revisiting the same place. You can check it out here http://www.southerncostaricaland.com/ 

These were waiting for us.  The yellow one Gabby created and added to the arrangement.

I do like to acknowledge that school is important.  So when I take them out for travel I try to compensate a little by making them fill out journals.  Someday I'm sure they'll appreciate them. 

Not a bad view.

Studying Spanish is pretty exhausting.

We don't take vacations from crafting!

I just find these a little unnerving to drive over.  I believe the planks on top were added since our last visit.

Pay no attention to the slight gap on the side.

Flying - The Most Inconvenient Form of Travel

Apparently a good rule of thumb is that regardless of whether you've been somewhere multiple times you should probably review the baggage policy for each new trip. In the past two years it seems American Airlines decided to take away a free checked bag to Central America. I tend to max out my baggage allowance.  Although it ends up being hideously inconvenient to lug all the unnecessary items around, I am somehow convinced it means I am getting more for my ticket price. Thankfully this time I didn't do that because our otherwise very friendly ticketing agent informed me that I'd be getting not one but two baggage charges for my checked bag because our layover was to be greater than 12 hours.  Ultimately this is a pretty minor problem.  We got an incredibly good deal on airfare ($350 round trip) and who wants to hear complaining from someone taking a trip to somewhere warm and beautiful in the middle of winter? I just really hate flying and when small problems arise at the beginning it makes me a smidge paranoid that things will only get worse.  Naturally not 15 minutes later they announced that our flight may be delayed for mechanical issues.  I was a little sad but tried to maintain perspective. Then they announced our flight was cancelled and I was slightly more annoyed. I was happy to remind myself that this is why I always buy travel insurance through squaremouth.com. Then the gate agent said just kidding and told everyone to relocate to the gate across from us. Haha. It's so funny when airlines mess with your head. Is there an industry with worse customer service? In fairness 99 percent of the airline staff and even TSA agents have been nice to us but their level of inefficiency kind of boggles the mind.

So we made it to Miami and had the pleasure of standing on the curb waiting for our hotel shuttle for 45 mins at 9:00 at night. Again more whining and crying from a person escaping frigid temperatures for a warm weather vacation. Sorry. By the time we got on the the shuttle and to our hotel there wasn't a lot of joy among family members. The hotel was a little on the shady side. I do not recommend the Quality Inn near Miami International Airport. Their breakfast is too late. Their shuttle takes FOREVER. I woke up in the middle of the night to people arguing in a way that sort of made me wonder if I should be calling get front desk or police. Thankfully we were up and out of there at 6:00 am. After more annoyances in the the airport we made it to our gate with hours to spare. An empanada sort of made up for the headaches.

The trip back from San Jose to Cincinnati was pretty uneventful aside from our car seats being left behind.  I'm sort of shocked we ever get any of our luggage after going through customs and having to pick up and recheck all our baggage.  The coffee duty free items made it and we had extra car seats so I guess we'll say this was only a minor snag?  

I don't know why Lottie looks so unhappy.  She just finished a lovely meal at Subway and they were only kidding about cancelling the flight!

Waiting for the flight out of Miami.  Happy to have made it out of the Quality Inn!

Waiting on Solid Rental Car to pick us up.  Pura Vida!!