Pool time and a beach massage.

Friday March 21st

We had a lazy morning, woke up, sat on the deck, had some coffee -watching the ocean. Then headed down for the buffet breakfast. They have quite the selection here the biggest selection of buffet that we've had thus far in Costa Rica. After breakfast it was pool time we found a spot in the sun to catch some rays. The girls swam for a bit in the pool. And we caught up on some reading. After a while Frank and the girls headed down to the beach for a swim in the ocean. And Delaney collected a full bag of shells. Back to the pool for some more pool-time. And of course some cool drinks. By 1 o'clock it was so hot we had to leave the pool and come back to the room to escape the sun. We hung out in the room for a bit and then I went for a massage at 3 o'clock an hour-long massage on the beach- nothing like that  slice of heaven. Frank and the girls went for a walk into town to pick up some water and snacks. After the massage I came back to the room and we got ready for the night. We headed out around five-ish took a walk into town the other direction this time. We watched the sunset over the gorgeous surf another stunning sunset. We settled at a picnic table restaurant- Eat at Joes- and we all ordered burgers, I ordered a fish burger the girls beefburgers and Frank a pork burger. Pretty cool setting sitting at a picnic table watching the sunset over the ocean. The meals were of course more than we could possibly eat. And once again not very cheap about 70 bucks for dinner. After dinner we headed back to the hotel room as were exhausted once again all that sun really takes it out of a person.

On the Road again!

Thursday March 20th

We headed up with all of our bags for our morning departure. Once again the volcano was missing- it was actually raining and pretty cold just a perfect time to leave Arenal.  After breakfast our bus arrived as usual on time at 8:20, we picked up a couple more people and were on the long bus ride to the coast. The bus driver was pretty good - he stopped a couple of times for bathroom breaks. During the long five hour bus ride I listened to my book, the girls listened to their books and music and by the time we reached Tamarindo we were ready to get off the bus. Finally we arrived in Tamarindo- thankfully we were the second stop. 

Our hotel was pretty awesome. Our Room wasn't ready yet and it was really hot so we ended up sitting at the restaurant on the beach having a little bit of a lunch. At 2:30 I room was ready. So we dumped the stuff - the girls found their bathing suits on and headed for the pool. The pool with a view of the ocean was awesome, warm and big enough to have a fun time in. We even met another family from Vancouver what a small world! After a few hours of the pool and the hot sun we headed back to the room had some showers. Enjoyed the most incredible sunset and then headed into town for the evening. We ambled around looked at some of the pretty cool stores and settled on a place called Longboards for dinner. Frank and I shared a delectable pulled pork plate and the girls had a hamburger to share. After dinner we walked around some more but we really exhausted after all that travelling and so we headed back to the room TV for a bit and lights out at 10 o'clock.

Zippppppppppp

Wednesday March 19th.

Once again we woke up to a fog hiding the volcano - pretty strange that there is a huge volcano in front of you that you can't see!

Up to breakfast we headed as our ride was picking us up at 9:40am- we were headed to the zip lines!!!  Frank was very nervous but we were all super pumped!  We took the 20 minute ride to the zip trek spot and off the bus we were outfitted with our gear- Frank was getting more nervous by the minute!  The first part of the journey is in a cable car type ride- that takes you way up the mountain above all the vegetation.  Then you get to the top and they showed us the 8 lines we would zip and then warned that the first 2 were practise ones and if we hated it after the second would be the time to quit!  We did one and were fine and 2 no problem - then a guide showed up and said he had to zip with Delaney as she was too light so me and Delaney were bumped together to the front and zip- Delaney was off with the dude and I was clipped in!  I had to try and check if Frank was going to make it but I had no idea as we were off on the first zip- 1550 ft long and and 656ft high- oh my we were high up and what a view!  It went so fast 35secs!  I braked a little too soon and had to monkey pull myself to the platform!  What a rush.  Still non sign of Frank and Danica.  We were off on the next 3 lines and loving it!  We got to line 7 and there was a refreshment stand there - we had our fruit punch and after a lot of people Frank and Danica arrived.  Phew Frank didn't hate it and was doing awesome! So we finished the last  few zip lines- the biggest was big papa which was 2060ft long (even went through some trees) and 263 ft high- reaching speeds of 80km/h then we were at the last station! What a cool fun zip lining experience!  Frank didn't love it but he didn't hate it and got to do all eight lines no problem. Delaney did eight  zip lines and three without a guide the rest she had to do with a guide and she was just too light Danica had a blast and thought it was pretty cool - would definitely do it again!  We caught the bus back along the bumpy road to the hotel just in time for lunch were starving after all that crazy activity so I ordered a pizza for lunch. 

After lunch we caught a taxicab into La Fortuna. First stop a coffee shop where we had a delicious Costa Rican coffee and some snacks to fortify us for our walk around town. La Fortuna is a pretty cool town tons of touristy stores. We didn't really get anything to exciting-  I got a really cool ring that was about it. After a couple of hours we were exhausted so we headed to the Taxi stand and back to the inn.   We got back and packed up our bags for early morning departure to the Pacific side and Tamarindo. We had a light dinner followed by an early night as we had to get up pretty early.

Hanging Bridge and Hot Springs

Tuesday March 18th.

Up at 6:15 as our tour was picking us up at 7:15 and we have learnt that they are very prompt around these parts.  The volcano had disappeared this morning and the rain was hanging in the air. We headed up for breakfast- not a bad spread - fruit, toast, eggs, rice and beans, cereal.  Luis and the go green bus picked us up at 7:15 prompt and we were off to the hanging bridges in Arenal.  We arrived and the view was spectacular.  We started on our first bridge and wouldn't you know it we had our first wild life sighting- an olingo decided to join us on the bridge - pretty amazing!  We started off well and saw many birds and could hear a toucan but couldn't see him!  The jungle was pretty alive with birds - one lady in our tour got dive bombed at least twice by a bird or 2! Luis was good at spotting so many critters! We saw a viper too although how he spotted that I have no idea!  After 2.5 hour hike, seeing some cool sites, walking over quite a few hanging bridges and seeing a small waterfall we ended up back at the beginning.  We spotted a monkey and a macaw right at the end too.  Pretty awesome morning.  We were dropped off back at the inn and had some pizza for lunch.  We chilled for a few hours.  The girls in the pool and me listening to a good book. After a relaxing afternoon we hailed a cab to take us to Tabacon hot springs for dinner and a couple of hours in the incredible hot waters of the volcano.  The buffet was not bad - all meats are covered, a good pasta bar and some incredible desserts. We tried most of them!  Then we hit the springs.  It was tough to see how big the place was as it was dark, but we came upon pool after pool and tried them all.  There were waterfalls and bubbling pools a swimming pool with slide and so many more - too many to mention.  When we found the water slide - we all had a ton of fun on that.  After 2 hours in the pools we were prune like and exhausted.  We caught a taxi back - another $15- and headed to bed as tomorrow more fun would continue.

On the road to Arenal

Monday 17th of March we left Shawanda right after a yummy breakfast- Interbus driver was on time! The bus picked up two more people from Cariblue which is a cool resort we were going to stay at so we could see how it looks -pretty cool.then the bus drove us for about three hours bringing us to lunchtime when the driver stopped at a soda- that's what they call the local eateries around here! Frank had a local dish eggs rice and beans I had a delicious Empanada and the girls had a ham and cheese sandwich. Then it was back on the road again for another three hours. We arrived at La Fortuna late in the afternoon about 3 o'clock. Pulling into the Hotel Arenal Volcano Inn just after three. We checked and headed to our room number 114 and took a load off. Of course the girls saw the pool. So they suited up and headed for the pool Frank and I headed for the dining room and a drink was in order! After a few hours in the pool the girls ready for dinner. So were we!  The restaurant at the girls - Que Rico had a great pizza oven and we had pizza and chicken and it was yummy!  Although  we are still a little shocked at how expensive meals are here - average dinner is $70!

This area is gorgeous with this huge volcano looming over us, hundreds of birds flying around and calling!  Very beautiful!  After our long day if travel we were pooped and had to be up early for our hanging bridges tour! 9pm and lights were out and so were we!

Surfin' costa rican style.

March 16th, we woke a little later today and had our breakfast of fruit, eggs and toast.  Then it was to the beach for a few hours.  The beach by our hotel -playa Chiquita is very nice, white sand and blue ocean.  It is swimable at low tide, but the waves were pretty rough today.  So we took a walk and then lazed about reading for a while, nice and relaxing.  After a few hours of sun, we headed out for lunch.  Being a Sunday not much is open and even the places that are open don't much serve lunch.  We found a little cafe that served vegan lunch, so the settled for this.  Frank and the girls had a lentil burger and I had a bruschetta plate, it was all quite yummy. Then we headed to the hotel to get ready for our surf lessons.  
Bento the surf school owner picked us up and took us to the black sand beach just south of Puerto Viejo.  Delaney and I were presented with the paddle boards, a quick lesson on where to stand on the broad and then we were sent off in to the ocean, yikes, my balance sucks!   Delaney was pretty steady but she was nervous when the waves hit. But we went out into the bay and water was pretty calm, we spent a while getting used to it and trying to balance, I think I only fell off twice.  Frank and Danica were doing surf lessons, Dani was quickly a pro and frank was holding his own.  We got tired after a bit and then headed back to shore to watch the 2 of them.  Bento called us to bring the paddle boards out to him and then we could surf those, so we paddled out and he set about pushing me and telling me to get up and surf I did.  The first 2 or so waves weren't too bad, then I fell and wouldn't you know it a face plant into the sand.  Oh my I had sand in places that sand should not go, including between my teeth!  Okay I think I will stick to the paddle board.  After a couple of hours we were spent. So back to the lodge.  Dinner, we weren't sure where to eat, we walked back down to jungle love but they were full and so ended up at the same place as we ate last night, tonight was not that good, as they were having a problem getting water and the menu was whittled down to not much to offer.  The girls had pasta and chicken, I had Portuguese style pork that was not very good and Frank had a fish plate.  The food is not that great here considering it costs us about $70 on average per meal!  After dinner we had to pack as tomorrow we leave.

Cauhita snorkel!

March 15th-We were up at 6:30am as we had a snorkel and hike planned.   A 7am breakfast and 7:30 pick up.  Our cab driver drove us the 20 mins to Cauhita for Roberto's snorkel adventure.  We arrived and were quickly outfitted with flippers, mask and snorkel and then we trekked downtown to the shore to the boat.  
A rustic boat unlike the catamarans we have experienced in Hawaii! We sat down and were off to the reef.  Thank goodness for ginger root! After about 15 minutes we were at the reef and our guide was in the water in a flash.  It took Delaney a little courage but she jumped in like a pro, as did Danica. 
We were snorkelling for a while before we started to see the good coral, the brain coral and the coloured fish. But once we had our sea legs we saw quite a bit.  After about 40 minutes Delaney was done and so we headed back to the boat, just in time as he was gathering everyone.  We climbed in and headed over to a new spot and jumped back in.  There was a lot of coral here and tons of colourful fish, we saw 2 lion fish, some eels, a small stingray and lots of colourful little guys.  After another 30 or so minutes we all piled back in to the boat and headed to the little peak we could see at the head of what we found out to be Cauhita national park.  
We climbed off and enjoyed a snack of some red fruit we had no idea what it was, as well as pineapple and papaya!  2 raccoons and a white faced monkey joined us for our snack.  The Anthony showed up- he was to be our guide for the hike back.  We started on the trail, following the shoreline and before we knew it we were seeing all kinds of things we would have walked by, right off there were multiple sloths in the trees above; we must have spotted at least a dozen before the end of the hike.  Anthony pointed out a bright yellow viper hiding waiting for its prey, he said if we were bitten that we had 2 hours to get anti venom,  good to know!  We saw some more monkeys, the white faced ones though and not the howlers.  We also learnt a ton about all the plants and trees along the way. There were long lashed vipers, purple land crabs, gold fitted spiders, gorgeous blue butterflies and at the end of our 2 hour hike back to town we even saw some large iguanas!  A pretty amazing day. 
We headed back to the place we had started and were treated to a "typical" lunch, which is a meat/fish of your choice and rice and beans.  Then our ride was there and took us back to our hotel.  We spent the afternoon chilling at the pool.  Dinner was tough as we don't have too many places to choose from, but we settled on huge place that had live calypso music.  The girls had pasta and Frank and I both had lobster tacos, the were not too bad.  Then we headed to bed as we were pooped.  No rain tonight, but the monkeys still woke us at 5 am.