COSTA RICA

On the 11th of this month (November) we took a week long trip to Costa Rica with Brad and Ruth,  John and Tracy Beckett, Kathy Mouritsen and DeeAnn.  We stayed in the same house in Playa Hermosa that we stayed in two years ago with our kids.

We flew out early in the morning (5:30) and arrived in San Jose around 2:30 in the afternoon.  After renting our cars and stopping for dinner, it was dark.  We traveled the two hours to the market in Playa Herrardura to pick up some groceries and then drove the rest of the way to the house and arrived around 9:00.  I think everyone was happy with the accommodations.  I know we were!  We love that house!  The sad part of our trip was that it rained for THREE days after we got there.  There were spurts of it stopping but it pretty much was a constant.

After getting a good night's rest we all came into the kitchen to get some breakfast.  It was really nice because we just sat around the table talking for a long time.  It was nice after a long day of travel to just have a laid back morning.

We got out for the afternoon and drove around to see some things.  

Here we all are at the Jaco’ sign.

We then drove down to the Tarcoles River to see the crocodiles.  The river was running really high because of all the rain, but we were able to see three crocodiles.  It was exciting!

We then stopped at the little shops there and grabbed a little something to eat for a snack.

Afterwards we took the scenic drive up the mountain to Bijagual.  

It is so beautiful up there.

At Bijagual we stopped at a little shop to look around.

I think some of us bought a few things.

We had dinner that night at Los Guarumos, one of Rick's and my favorite places to eat in that area.

We all enjoyed our dinner!

The next day was Wednesday, and we had an appointment at the San Jose Temple .

We left the house by 8:30 to make the drive and get there on time.

We listened to the session on headphones in English.

It was a good experience to be there.

After the temple we found a food court just across the street and had some lunch.

After lunch it had stopped raining, so we decided to take another picture in front of the temple because in the first one it is hard to tell that we are at the temple.  We met up with the missionaries and they got in on our picture.

We made the drive back to the house and that evening we just hung around and snacked and watched some Carol Burnett you tube videos and laughed a lot!

After a while I escaped and went to read my book:)

The next morning we had our tour with The Crocodile Man Tours on the Tarcoles River.

This is always a must when we are in the area, and it did not disappoint.

We saw a lot of birds and crocs.   It rained quite bit but we were still able to have a nice time!

After our tour Rick and I went to get a massage in Jaco’ while the others got some lunch.

Kathy and Tracy got in for a massage right after us.

After our massage Rick and I got some grub at 

Rhythms Restaurant.  We all spent the evening at the home playing games and then watched the movie Support Your Local Sheriff.

The next morning we ate at a fun restaurant in Jaco’.

John got a massage while Rick, Kathy, DeeAnn, Tracy and I did a little shopping.

Well actually, THEY did some shopping while Rick and I just mozied around.

We walked over to the beach only to find that it was pretty trashy.

The water was brown in color from all of the muddy rivers running into the ocean.

It was not pretty at all.😔

That afternoon we went to Rainforest Adventures and took a tram ride up the mountain to a waterfall.

It was a fun, slow ride with beautiful views at the top.

We had a nice dinner at Hicaco restaurant.

John and Tracy got a little lost but finally found us.

The restaurant had really great ceviche, and I had yummy shrimp and rice

That night we went back to the house and watched You Again.

The next morning we went over to the Marriott and had their wonderful buffet breakfast.

Kathy said, "This is the best meal we've had on our trip!"  Ha Ha!

It WAS really good!

We wandered around the Marriott grounds and enjoyed the beauty there.

The view from the tower is spectacular!

After the Marriott John and Tracy joined Rick and me for an ATV tour at Vista Los Suenos Adventure Park.

We got a four seater ATV so we could all go together.

Our tour took us down to the beach where we were able to see three sloths!

The other part of our tour took us up high to an overlook where we cold see the jungle and the ocean in the distance.  It was a great view!

Lastly, our guide took us to see a bunch of scarlet macaws hanging out in a tree.

I believe I counted eight, and we were able to get pretty close.

We saw some Capuchin monkeys at the adventure park.  They are fun to watch with their tail working as another arm.

After our adventure we stopped at a Panaderia for some baked goods.

Then we were able to catch the sunset at Playa Hermosa.  While the water at this beach was brown like the other beach, the difference is that the beach was clean and much nicer than the on in Jaco’.  It was a black sand beach.

On Sunday we went to church at Quepos.

Rick was able to translate for me, which was nice.

The others were using their google translate.  They said that it was saying some really funny things.

After church we drove the extra ten minutes to get to Manuel Antonio Park.  The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day!  The views driving into the park area were really beautiful!

With so much rainfall in the previous days, the park had closed down, which was a bummer because it's a really fun thing to see while there in the area.  The drive was nice, though, and we were able to get out and see the beautiful Manuel Antonio Beach.  DeeAnn said, "Oh, NOW I see why you love costa Rica!"

It's too bad that we had so much rain because it does put a 'damper' on our trip and it is hard to experience the true beauty of the area..

I could see that if it were my first time to visit I would be less than impressed.

Anyhow, we got a couple of pictures and then drove to El Avion Restaurant to get a picture of the vista from the restaurant balcony.

This being a Sunday and our last night of the trip we ended up making a yummy dinner at the house.

We all pitched in and cooked up some potatoes and chicken and steak.  We had a fresh salad and some pineapple and watermelon.  It turned out very nice.

That night we played games and watched some silly videos.  It was nice to spend the time at such a beautiful home surrounded by beautiful people!  This was another amazing trip making great memories with some of our favorites!  Hasta luego CR!