So for my 40th birthday, I wanted to go somewhere exotic. Somewhere with a beach but also some adventure and wildlife. Somewhere where I could speak Spanish. Well Costa Rica checked all of those boxes. Below is a LONG travel log, but these are the things I don't want to forget.
We drove to California and spent the night with the Reids. They spoiled us with a yummy pizza dinner, ice cream, backyard entertainment and 5 star accommodations. They are just the best.
We flew out of LAX and landed in Liberia. Unfortunately, we where immediately up charged on our rental car. Pro Tip: if your credit card comes with rental insurance, have a letter from them at the ready to reduce paying DOUBLE what you are quoted for a rental car. That started the trip off a bit rocky.
Before heading to our rental, we stopped off at walmart for some provisions. They do snacks differentlyl in Costa rica. Giant bag of random chips and a HUGE soda container. So many artificial colors! Ha!
We then drove a couple of hours to our ABNB in Samara called Villa Espivelle, a small town on the western coast of Costa Rica. The boys were quick to find the zip line on the property.
We were pleasantly surprised in the morning when we could get a better look at the property. This was our view from the front porch.
From the yoga space where I read each morning looking down at our place. This particular morning, we woke up to a gathering of howler monkeys in the trees nearby! They sound pretty scary.
yoga space
Pool and other villas. There were 3
We headed to church 45 mins away in Nicoya.
(Costa Rica and my hair do NOT get along!)
We hit Samara beach first to catch some of those waves on our boogie boards that we picked up at Walmart!
So excited to get into that ocean!!
This scene reminded me of when we would beach the boat at the lake and the three of them would immediately start playing in the sand.
Boogie boarding pros
Josh's collection of shells from Samara beach. Very unique ones!
My favorite on this trip
Just walking around town...Looking for a place to eat.
We found a spot to eat and Josh just dove right in and ordered this! Bold move.
Another beach we liked was Carillo Beach. It was less crowded and the waves were a bit bigger and stronger. We even found a couple of spots to snorkel while there. The kids loved boogie boarding and body boarding. They are are as brave as I once was!
Snorkeling
I loved sitting under these palm trees, just listening to the ocean. Perfect weather while we were there.
Another good view...
Leaving the beach for the day...
Before heading to dinner that night, we found this cool rope swing on the property we were staying at.
Dinner at the Emerald House. I ordered a typical Costa Rican meal. Chicken, rice, beans and two sweet plantains. It was OK. I don't think Costa Ricans are known for their culinary successes though;)
Found this little friend watching over our car for us...
On our third day in Costa Rica, we were very sunburned and Josh was a bit sick. We just took a morning walk, did more backyard zipline/rope swing and hung out at our rental, by the pool for the first half of the day.
friendly iguanas...
cool bird...
making lunches...
Basically orange KIX. Good.
I tried my hand at driving in Samara. Very narrow roads in Costa Rica, but it wasn't bad.
Spending time in the loft at night watching movies. Just like at home.
Our last day in Samara, was spent at Carillo beach AND Samara beach for a sunset dip. Being on the beach at sunset was one of my bucket list items for Costa Rica. The pictures don't do it justice though.
You can't tell, but the boys are snorkeling here. I saw a cobalt blue blow fish with perfect white polka dots on it. I wanted to make a skirt out of his print! We saw some cool fish. The boys even saw an octopus.
A friendly little hermit crab. They had cool shells and crabs on this beach.
#treehugger
obligatory family beach photo
It was a beautiful night to cap off our Samara experience.
Before leaving Samara, we hiked to the La Roca water falls. There were three and we hiked up to all three. It was a short hike, but pretty much downhill then up hill on the way back. It was tricky in 90 degree weather, but we have tough kids so it was fine;) I wonder what this place looks like in the wet season.
After our waterfall adventure, we made the 4 hour, mostly windy, trek through the jungle to the small town of La Fortuna. VERY touristy, very pretty. It sits at the base of Arenal Volcano and Lake Arenal.
#gas
Our first adventure was to go on a night frog tour through the jungle behind the place where we were staying.
poison dart frog
I went back in the next morning to get a better look. Such a pretty space. The flowers are unreal.
Previous to our night frog tour, we made our way over to the El Salto Rope Swing. It was very close to where we were staying. It is a very popular spot for tourists and thrill seekers. The kids LOVED this! Josh and I even did it a few times.
Eating empanadas...
Officially granolas...
You can see the beautiful volcano from anywhere in Fortuna. You just rarely get to see the top of it.
One thing we did was take a nature tour. The manager of the place we were staying (Leo) had a girlfriend (Rose) and she had a nature preserve deep in the jungle that she and her uncles were building. She took us on a tour even though it wasn't quite ready. We saw some cool wildlife and flowers and trees.
These leaf cutting ants are everywhere...
Rare sloth sighting
Tio offered us some coconut water. I had never had water straight out of a coconut. I love that we all got to do things we had never done on before on this trip. That's one of my favorite things about being a parent. Watching my kids experience new things. )
trying a new fruit. VERY tart. Not sure on the name anymore.
Then we planted trees, because Costa Rica doesn't have many trees;) JK. When someone asks you if you want to plant a jacaranda tree, you just say yes.
, then they wanted to go back to the swing. So we walked there.
We did some more exploring on the property where we were staying. Unfortunately, Zach and Josh were swarmed by some stinging wasps and ran out. Very scary or Zach. Bugs are lame sometimes.
Proof that there was some down time on this trip...
Our Fortuna home for a few days...
Another cool thing we did was go to the Tabacon hot river ( I'm sure it has a more official name). It was so weird sitting in an almost HOT water river! I love warm water so this we really cool for me. I kid you not that we saw Rango the lizard there. I wanted to get a picture of it, but never did. It walks on two legs on water apparently!
Jungle turkey in the tree...
Another highlight was going on zip lines and a tarzan swing with Jacamar tours (formerly Arenal Canopy Tours).
Next stop was Baldi Hot Springs. I think all water parks should be heated by volcanos. Just my opinion...Anyway, this water park was a bit extreme in the slide department. Not sure your body should skip across the water when you come out of the slide. They were FAST! It was an experience we'll never forget!
These are the fun friends that we came across at El Salto and Baldi. We have a mutual friend. So random. They were nice guys and we loved watching each other come down the slides, mainly because it was so brutal to watch!
You can see the top of the volcano!
This was the fastest slide they have. Oddly enough, it's right by the kiddie pool.
For our last night in La Fortuna, we grabbed dinner and then headed to a bakery we liked. We also went to an art gallery where we met the owner, a very drunk gay guy, that thought Tyler looked like an artist with his long hair and that Zach looked like Leonardo DiCaprio. Josh and I just looked on as they had no idea how to handle this guy. SO funny.
Taking covid tests via zoom the night before leaving Costa Rica. This was quite stressful for some of us since Josh and I had both been sick at various times on this trip...
We all passed, and made the trek back to Liberia. Just had to wait on the results from Zach's test (We only had 4 home test kits.) He took a drive thru test early the next morning.
peeling our sunburns...
A toucan sighting! This was one of the animals I had wanted to see in Costa Rica. I'm glad we were able to sneak this sighting in!
We took a driving break and did some exploring in this creek bed. This would be an amazing place for a fairy tale. Magical. And so many pretty tiny plants.
Eating cheese bread.
Last picture just to capture the enormity of my hair over this week.
It was a bit of a stress coming home as we still hadn't got the results of Zach's test and we were to board our plane in 2 hours! We didn't have cell phone service to call the company that administered it so we went to a church in Liberia to get on their wifi and Josh sent a chat message to someone who works there. Luckily someone responded to his chat and Zach's test results came in while we were at the ticket counter. #Divineintervention
It was a pretty epic trip and I'm glad my family went along with it even though I don't know how excited they were to go;) I was able to do all of what I wanted to do while there. Oh I love a good family vacation...
