Last days in Costa Rica

Here is a cloud in our front porch

Some pretty sunsets!




After Charlene left us in Costa Rica, we had about 10 days left. We decided to spend them relaxing, reading, and searching for information for Spain. We went into town a few days to get some extra groceries for Spain, and spent some time with Bob and Deb, the people we were renting from. They are both very nice and gracious, and helped us out with a lot of things. Here is a picture of us with our adoptive grandparents, Bob and Deb.

Our friends, Caleb and Jerlyn came to visit us one more time, and we had a great Sunday with them, playing Phase 10, making yummy food, and just talking in Spanish. Jerlyn loves guacamole, so we made some more of it, and then had a dinner of pasta and salchichon (sausage).

Here is us playing phase 10


After our relaxing few days, we headed to the airport on Friday morning June 11th. We were very sad to be leaving our home for 4 months of Costa Rica. We had a great time, some great memories, and definitely plan on coming back in the future. Our journey to Spain consisted of a flight from Costa Rica to Miami, then Miami to London overnight, then London to Madrid. We landed in Madrid at about 3:30pm local time. And now begins our time in Spain…


Us with Bob and Deb, our hosts for the last month

Time with my sister Charlene

My sister stayed with us for an additional week. We spent this time relaxing, sleeping in late, staying up late, and eating well. We played Phase 10 and Skippo which poor Krystle could never win. We used the remaining time reading and watching movies from the extended collection that Deb, lady we were renting from maintained. We tried to watch the Suns on occasion but of course only ESPN worked and the Suns were on TNT.

Orphanage
We went twice to an orphanage to play with the kids. It was a very touching moment hearing about the conditions that these kids are subject to. It reminded us of the many blessings we have and to be thankful for every opportunity. It will stand as a challenge to bear in mind the blessings we can bestow on others.

The kids were attacking me as I had a bowl of grapes for them!


Charlene leaving

Horse Back riding and zipline

Borinquen was pretty much in the rainforest, so we decided to go ziplining there. We picked a tour that had a 2 in 1, so we got to go to the waterfalls and zipline. To get to the zipline, we rode horses through the countryside. This was absolutely amazing! We have all ridden horses before, but never like this. We were all walking scattered around, you didn’t have to stay in a straight line, and they actually encouraged you to go faster and gallop a little bit. We all had a great time getting our horses to run. Charlene decided to make her horse run a little faster than normal after following Dad’s horse, then Krystle’s horse followed. Only, Charlene decided to put her feet up and was almost out of control. She almost gave our guide a heart attack, as he thought she was going to fall and he was very scared. Charlene was just laughing the whole time though, so luckily she couldn’t tell that she was close to falling.
Anyway, during our horseback ride, we went through the countryside, saw amazing views, saw some wild animals, and really enjoyed a different type of horseback riding. After horseback riding for over half an hour, we got to our first destination, a beautiful waterfall. We took some family pictures, then got back on our horses for the second waterfall. All this time we were walking up and down hills in the middle of the rainforest.
Then we got to our destination for the beginning of the ziplining tour. It was great! In total there were 11 lines and all were very different lengths and speeds. We had to brake on our own, as we were wearing a glove with a thick leather pad to stop with. Mom was very scared to do it, and decided to go with a guide the first time. The second time she went with a guide he made her do the breaking, so she realized she could do it and was off on her own the 3rd time around. She did a great job and really enjoyed it, although she didn’t want to go upside down or do superman like the rest of us, we were really proud of her. It was a great tour and we all had a great time.

3rd day- Borinquen Hot Springs and Resort

Enjoying the pool

Our last moment with the beach.

Beautiful nature shots!



In front of our casita!


Here is us enjoying our last few days on the beach and at the pool in Playa Flamingo.
Krystle and I woke up early and played some tennis. And boy what it hot and humid! Being so close to the ocean made it extremely humid and once done we were quite ready for the air conditioned rooms!

Next desination was Borinquen Hot Springs and Resort! This is up in the Rincon de la Vieja, in the Northeast portion of Costa Rica. The hotel is located on some natural hot springs at the bottom of a volcano. One nice perk is that this is the country's off season for tourism because of the raining season, so we saw a couple in another room and a family enjoying the hotsprings for a day.

HOT SPRINGS!!!!



And first thing we did upon arrival was go get our nature bath! It had 4 steps.

First 15 minutes in a natural sauna/steam room.


Next apply mud to your bodies.




Let the mud dry.



Wash off the mud and get into natural spring spas (3 different temperatures).



After cleaning up we got ready for dinner, at the one restaurant on the isolated property. The town was an hour away and there was not much of an option to drive to to town because it was pitch black in the countryside and driving at daytime is dangerous enough with tico drivers.

So we got to the restaurant and there was only one other table occupied; by people that is. They had left multiple windows and doors open and there were bugs everywhere. As we scanned the menu for edible options, bugs covered the glasses and plates on the table. We ordered our selections and as our annoyance and initial shock wore off a little it became a comical in a pitiful kind of way of the quantity of bugs. We muscled through this experience, swatting bugs that flew by to close, brushing off bugs from the table, and picking out the additional protein in our water glasses. We enjoyed our food and decided we would need alternatives to dinner.

invasion..

Here's some more killer bugs and animals!

Can you carry 4x your body weight?


Lizards!


Skinny Cows!


Nasty looking horse fly or something..


Tarantula


So much for marching 2 by 2, i think this is 6 by 6.


Pterodactyl


Crab


Those black mounds are swarms of little black bugs... disgusting.


Some beauty for you, a butterfly.

Brasilito and Flamingo

Day 2
We arrived in Brasilito well after dark Sunday evening. It is a small town nestled between Tamarindo and Flamingo. While roughing it a little and getting the first real dose of insects and coastal humidity, we hid in our hotel room enjoying the air conditioning. We awoke early and saw the beautiful playa conchal!! This is the beach Krystle and I had previously visited that is made of sea shells.

Hotel Brasilito










Hotel Flamingo



We then headed to Playa Flamingo and a sunset cruise we had scheduled. This ended being a so magical!

We arrived at the dock, or really a small beach near the dock, and the 1st mate of our boat picked us up in a small boat. We were taken to a beautfiul sail boat, called the Shannon. http://www.flamingobeachcr.com/sunsetcruise.htm

Our captain had been in Costa Rica for over 8 years and had some exciting stories to share about his sailing trips. My favorite was a story about 2 different whale sharks he has seen. On one trip some surfers asked to be taken out to some deep water and some waves off of rock point normally unreachable by foot. As they were about to jump in the water, the whale shark swam by and the surfers were terrified because such an enormous fish had swam by in the water. On another trip, a friend of his was steering the boat while he was up front entertaining a large group of tourists when his friend yelled at him to take the wheel and tell the tourists to grab their cameras as he jumped into the water. A few minutes later he rose to the top of the water holding onto the dorsil fin of a whale shark. Unbelievable!





On this trip we went snorkeling and got to a gorgeous sunset. A few of us had to overcome anxiety about what is lurking beneath the water. We all jumped in and began to search for fish. We saw a few schools of fish, some eels, blowfish, and dad and I were fortunate enough to see a manta ray!







As we were heading back to the boat, an unwelcomed fleet of jelly fish swarmed the waters around the boat. Some of us were stranded in the water waiting for an opening in the jelly fish ranks.








We also enjoyed some delicious watermelon and pineapple on the boat and some fresh guacamole/salsa and chips as we headed back for the harbor and a good view of the setting sun.