Costa Rica

How this picture got to the top I know not, but it is that first hotel room with the crunchy bed.

Sorry, blogger won't let me put in paragraphs, so the next paragraph is scary and makes little sense. My mom and dad gave us the best gift they could possibly give, besides the gift of my life and the gift of raising me of course. They gave us the gift of a week. They watched both boys while Mark and I traveled to Costa Rica. We were so amazed and grateful, and promised them over and over to take care of them when they are old :) We did miss our boys very much, and we were so excited to see them when we got home. Russ jumped and screamed and laughed with delight when he saw us. Luke was a bit confused, and wanted Grandma for a couple of minutes while he remembered who the heck we were. Russ has said a number of cute things about them in the week we have all been back home. These are only a couple... "Mommy, you're not my real mommy." "Oh really, who is?" "Grandma". Mark was telling Russ about Heavenly Father yesterday and he said, "Russ, do you know you have two daddys?" "Yes, Daddy and Grandpa!" "We have four boys in our family. Russell, Lukey, Grandpa and Daddy." Here goes the trip; Saturday night, arrived in San Jose. Sunday morning, off to church. The addresses there are a little funny ie. "600 meters south of ..." we got to where the church should have been and found a tiny house with huge gates all around, and barbed wire on top. After going through gates and knocking doors, peeking in windows, knocking on doors again, we decided to leave. Walked by this church, close but no cigar. Back to the hotel. Search internet. Second try: church by the temple. Pull through the temple gates and the first people we see are the brothers of one of Mark's best friends, and they told us he -Ben the friend- was here too! We accompanied them back to their hotel to shock Ben. None of us knew the others were in Costa Rica. Randomly wonderful. Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, swinging through the jungle into a waterfall swimming hole. Me gusta. Doesn't Mark look wicked awesome? Sunday we drove from San Jose to La Fortuna. La Fortuna is a little town at the base of Arenal, an active volcano. On to Monday morning. We woke up in our not so delightful hotel, energized for a morning hike through the rainforest to a turquoise blue waterfall and swimming hole. We jumped in our rental, which we named Jimmer...

And drove on some pothole riddled rodes into the cloud forest. These cows spend their days living in a cloud.

It was pouring. We were the only two on the hike. We put on our ponchos and trekked through the gorgeous rainforest. We tried our best to not accidentally touch one of the 11 species of poisonous snakes our guide books and locals had warned us about. Mark looked adorable in his Mickey Mouse poncho.

We reached the waterfall to see the downpour had transformed it from turquoise to chocolate. Mark declared it an angry piece of water.

Back to our hotel room to dry off. This picture really makes it look much better than it was. When we first saw it we almost cried. There were a number of bugs climbing and flying around. The room was tiny. The bed was tiny, and can be described as crunchy. There were windows in our room which could not close, resulting in us hearing every noise and person around. It was a couple notches above camping. Who cares. We were in Costa Rica without the kids.

Monday afternoon we ziplined through the beautiful rainforest.

We loved it!

Arenal Volcano.

There are natural hot springs all around Arenal. We enjoyed swimming in some of these hot springs Monday night.

Tuesday morning we woke up and were off to a "Safari Float Tour". Mark and I floated down the river with a local guide who had an eye for spotting all the local wildlife. Mark jumped in to swim a bit, and within a couple of minutes of getting back in the boat, we passed right by this guy hanging out on the sand. About 8 feet long. I am awfully grateful he did not get gobbled.

We were also lucky enough to see about ten monkeys swinging on the branches above us and toucans. The monkeys were desperately adorable.

Tuesday afternoon we hiked through the dense jungle to the top of an inactive volcano. The crater is filled with rainwater, making a breathtaking misty lake. The hike was difficult and amazing. It was two miles of a very steep slippery incline. We like a physical challenge, and it was even more enjoyable to do it together in such a setting. We were dripping sweat, and our legs were shaking by the end, but we were rewarded with a gorgeous and cooling swim in the lake at the top.

Mark

It is not every day you get to swim in a lake filled volcanic crater.

Wednesday morning we checked out of our hotel -Hallelujah- and headed to the coast. Manuel Antonio and Uvita

On our way down we crossed this river

Manuel Antonio is a National Park where the rainforest is pushed right against the beach. The forests are occupied by thousands of animals, and just walking to and from the beach we came across many monkeys, sloths and deer.

One of the beaches at Manuel Antonio. Note iguana, bottom left.

The beach was one of the prettiest I have ever seen, and the water was as warm as a bath. We spent the afternoon swimming in the warm ocean and walking on paths through the jungle, where Mark spotted tons of animals, and then pointed them all out to me. He should quit finance and become a jungle tour guide.

Sloth

Jumping Monkey

Just checking out us human beings.

We loved being able to go out at night alone together. Wednesday night we found a perfect little restaurant; decorated colorfully, candlelit tables and set by the ocean in the rainforest. The owner waited on us, and obviously took so much pride in his restaurant. Every detail was ideal

including the most phenomenal pesto, chicken, almond pizza. He had described this pizza with sincere tenderness, and once we tasted it we shared the same affection!

We had seen an article online featuring top boutique resorts at an affordable price around the world. When we saw one of them was in Uvita Costa Rica, we made a reservation. It is called Oxygen.

The website does not give an address or directions to make the hotel more private. Once you have made your reservation they send directions via e-mail. As we drove up very steep dirt rodes, our heads were bobbling around and I was beginning to seriously think we had been scammed.

We finally arrived and were thrilled with our glass villa in the jungle.

Our bathroom

The pool

Our villa. Do not fret people. There were curtains that closed all around the villa to ensure privacy.

Thursday morning we took a trail to a small, peaceful river with a couple of waterfalls.

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How could I not smile at this image of Mark bathing in the falls :)

Thursday afternoon we headed down from our castle in a cloud to a little beach town called Dominical.

Hung out on the beach, shopped for souvenirs, watched the sunset, and found a little internet cafe to watch the BYU game, and the official end of the season. We had both previously swore if we watched the game we would not let a loss ruin our vacation, or even the night.

Friday we experienced our favorite activity of the trip. We went on a horseback ride through the jungle to a beautiful waterfall where we could swim and jump.

It began with a bit of chaos. There were about ten people in our group. None of us spoke Spanish. We had two guides who did not speak English. They did not give us even one instruction. They helped us on to our horses and the horses just took off. The horses immediately tried to break free from the crowd and were quite jittery. My horse, Sonta, broke free and galloped to the front. One horse started running around in circles and bucked his rider right off. Mark and I gave eachother the, "We might die, but let's see" look and off we went.

My horse insisted on always being in front. This naturally endeared me instantly to her. If she stopped to get a drink and others passed she would gallop to the front. This was my favorite part of the ride, and would hope another horse would pass her so we could trot again.

Mark's horse was named Pollo, which of course means chicken. Pollo and Sonta were the best of friends, and Pollo always had to be right behind Sonta. Pollo would push and trot and kick until he was in front of every other horse besides Sonta. So, we ended up leading the troops. Or rather our horses did, because we honestly had not the slightest control over them.

I laughed almost the entire time I was on Sonta's back. It was such fun, I really want to move to the country and buy a horse.

Ride 'em Cowboy

Halfway to the waterfall we stopped for a yummy Costa Rican breakfast and saw the following;

Isn't the jungle colorful?

Best Friends

And our horses led us here...

We went swimming in the pools and jumped off of the rocks.

Here is Mark jumping. I jumped as well, but Mark documented by taking a long video including my seriously awkward climb to the top.

Friday night we headed back to San Jose and flew out Saturday morning. We were giddy to see our boys.

We had an amazing time in Costa Rica.

We loved experiencing a completely different culture. Travelling always helps me understand humanity better.

We did not watch a bit of television, did not watch a movie and did not use the internet (except to check for church locations and watching the BYU game) and cutting out media was wonderfully relaxing.

We had time to read! Glorious!

We had such a great time with eachother. The longer we are on vacation the more Mark makes me laugh. Spending so much time together was delicious.