The {long} overdue Costa Rican post.

Finally! Wow, I am such a slacker. I have probably forgot about everything that happened but I will do my best to preserve the memories.

WARNING: This will be long and probably boring so have low expectations and maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Ok, so we started off our trip by taking the red eye flight to Denver and then to San Jose, Costa Rica. I'm aware that this is not the most effective route, but we were assured seats if we went this way so I'll take the extra hour and a half.

So we got in around 6 in the AM and found a lovely little car to rent. With a GPS, mind you, which was the best 8 dollar a day we have ever spent. The roads there are super windy and narrow, and people drive like they have a death wish.

So, we drove for about 2 hours through amazing scenery and also some scary, ghetto parts. We stopped in a town and ate at this tiny little place that I was a little apprehensive about at first, mostly because we couldn't communicate with nice man taking our order. But when they brought out our 'comida typical', we were amazed. So good. And only 7 bucks for both of us!

Next, we stopped on the side of the road when we saw signs for canopy tours. We were there at like 8 AM so they gave us a huge discount! Score!

Don't let the excited smile fool you. I was on the brink of hyperventilating.

But after the first line, I was loving it! It was such a rush and AMAZING views! The last line was 350 ft above the jungle floor and really long. There was fog so we couldn't see in front of us. One the craziest feelings ever.





You now have permission to make fun of me.

Then we headed over to our first hotel, which was right by a volcano! But lucky us, we couldn't see the volcano because of the dang fog. You stink, Mother Nature. But the intense greenery and general lovliness made up for it.

We went on Expedia and got awesome deals but it's hard to know exactly what your gonna get. We were VERY pleasently suprised. We got our own little cabana! Here's the view from our back porch.

And here's the front. Notice the crazy thick fog.

I did alot of this.

These are the only flowers that Brennon knows the name of. So whenever he sees them, he gets all excited to showcase his floral knowledge.

We didn't want to leave; it was a paradise. And the breakfast was awesome. All the fresh fruit you could ask for, "typical" rice, pancakes, omelets. I really like food.

After reluctantly checking out, we headed over to the La Fortuna waterfall. It was quite a hike down but well worth it.

The small waterfall.

I was so sad I forgot my rain boots after I saw this lady. And my fanny pack.

My hottie of a husband.

And here's the actual waterfall. Breathtaking.

After the long and WET hike back up, and realizing how out of shape we are, we shook out our ponchos and headed to the next hotel. It was about a three hour drive through windy mountain roads. Our wonderful GPS would say things as we entered into different towns so we stopped a few places like the crocodile bridge....

These are REAL crocodiles in the WILD. People throw chickens off the bridge and watch them go crazy. Good times.

We finally made it to the town of Parrita and we had to cross this scary, rickety bridge that was under construction. I already hate bridges so I thought I was gonna die. And no, I'm not overreacting.

The language barrier was quite interesting. Alot of people spoke English but this town was pretty un-Americanized so we had kind of a tough time. This old man was selling fruit to all the people waiting at the bridge. We wondered what they were so we rolled down the window to see if he spoke English. Negative. We gave him a dollar and he piled a bunch of these random fruits into our car. We had no idea what they were or how to eat them. It was really funny at the time, I promise.

We drank alot of flavored milk, banana milk becoming the favorite.

Our next hotel was on a pennisula, which made it very hard to find. Add in the fact that they had NO signs and we were a little lost. And by a little, I mean ALOT. After driving aimlessly for a while on an extremly bumpy road, we finally found our little peice of heaven.

This place is basically in the middle of nowhere. A hidden gem, if you will. We went during the rainy season so there was only 2 other couples staying there. And that means we got bumped up to a suite! It totally felt like the honeymoon we never had.

And here's our beach. We were literally the only people for miles most of the time. If the weather would have cooperated, we would have just been there the whole time.

Have I ever expressed my love for hammocks? No? Well, lets just put it this way. My only requirement when/if we ever get a cabin is a nice comfy hammock. I have such good memories with the hammock at my grandparents house and cabin and I want to pass this on to my kids. They are just so relaxing and peaceful and wonderful. A little obssessed? Maybe.

Anyways.

Back to Costa Rica.

I don't know if you knew this but it rains there. Alot. We were hopeful in the morning before we left that it might stop but we found out Costa Rican rain is NOT like Arizona rain. It lasts longer than 15 min and it is freaking HUMID.

Nevertheless, we ventured to Manual Antonio National Park to try and see some wildlife.

Don't you just LOVE my pink poncho? So attractive. It poured basically the whole time we were there so we wern't able to see any animals. All I wanted was one little monkey! Is that too much to ask from you rainforest!?

Anyways, we were able to see macaws but on a different day. We were exploring beaches and we heard some really loud noises so we pulled over, looked up, and saw tons of brightly colored birds flying over! It was crazy to see them in the wild. They are loud suckers.

There was alot to do in the area like snorkeling, white water rafting, repeling, ect. but it was all freaking expensive so we just kinda hung out for most of the time. About half way through our trip we realized we had already used all the money we had set aside for this so we had to be cheap. Boooo money.

The next 2 days we got some good weather so we were able to go to just the beach! It was amazing. The water is warm, sand is perfect and fun shells everywhere.

I get so excited like a 5 year old when I find cool shells. The middle sand dollar almost made me have a heart attack. This became our only souviner, cause we are cheap.

Beach shenanigans.

Akward self timer picture.

The National Surf competition was going on about 30 minutes from where we were staying so we decided to go check it out.

Overated.

No, it was cool but it was super crowded and the sand was burning hot. We sat down and watched the surfers for about 30 min until a storm rolled in and we left. We did see an igauna in the wild, which made up for the 5 dollars we paid for parking. (not.)

We went to bed around 8:30 every night, read alot, took lots of walks on the beach, and just relaxed. It was perfect. Thinking about makes me miss it.


Reluctantly departing.

Final picture. We were so sad to leave. I could have used another week or so.

We then drove the 3 hours back to the airport and stayed the night in scary San Jose. Our flight was at 5 in the morning so we wanted to stay close so we didn't have to leave at midnight.

We are so glad we got to go and I got to get some use outta my expensive passport! I was really sad when we realized we couldn't go to Scotland, but this was definatly an amazing substitute. It was some much needed Brennon and Dani time and it was the most romantic, relaxing and magical week for the two of us!