First, before we left Costa Rica, we had a flock of parrots visit us in our backyard. It was a pleasant send-off. Our friends, the Bustillos, also brought their whole family to our house at 4:00 a.m. to take us to airport. So sweet! We will miss them, and all the friends we made in Costa Rica!

Parrots in our backyard in Escazu

Our time in Salt Lake City was short, but we threw a “Meet Baby Aysia Party” where lots of family and friends came to say hi, meet the baby, and wish us well on our travels. It was so nice to see everyone who came. I just wish we had more time to visit.

All my siblings

After Utah, we had a long layover in Seattle, so we met with my mom and took the light rail to the International district for some dim sum lunch. It was cold there, but the trees were covered in beautiful autumn colors, and of course it was great to see my mom. We would also see more of her in Hawaii the following week. We were lucky that our trip to Hawaii corresponded with my aunt’s trip there (she is a frequent traveler to Kauai). And my sister came to celebrate her landmark birthday of 11/11/11, so my mom decided to join in the fun, too. We all had a great time together!

Oahu, Hawaii

Our first couple days on Hawaii — before we met up with my family — were spent on Oahu. The first day, I took care of some financial and business stuff that popped up, notarizing and mailing documents, etc. After that, we walked around Waikiki, did a little shopping, enjoyed the art galleries and took a peek at the beach.

We spent our second night and day with some friends, the Gledhills, who also happened to be visiting Oahu when we were. They were gracious enough to let us stay in the second bedroom of their Marriott timeshare and feed us dinner and breakfast. Ruth is also an art teacher and taught the girls some watercolor techniques, which was fun. Such sweet people. The next day, we all stopped at a beautiful lookout point over northern Oahu, visited the replica of the Byoudo-in Buddhist Temple, and finished up the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, where we enjoyed learning about the different cultures, languages, dress, songs, and dances from the surrounding islands.

Na'uanu Pali lookout

At byoudo-in temple replica on Oahu

Tahitian Dancers

Kauai, Hawaii

Once we flew to Kauai, we were soon joined by my aunt and her family (including many of my cousins), my sister, and my mom on the north shore in Princeville. It’s so beautiful there! The mountains on both Oahu and Kauai are striking and dramatic, with numerous waterfalls cascading down, and green everywhere.

My beautiful wife on Kauai

I simply couldn’t capture on camera how beautiful the scene below was. The rays of light from the sun were shining through and creating magnificent colors and contrasts across the Hanalei valley. And this photo only includes a small portion of the panorama.

Hanalei

One day, we went snorkeling at Ke’e beach, near the Na Pali coast. We saw a sea turtle resting under a rock, and a monk seal that came up on shore to sunbathe. We also took a short hike up the first 1/2 mile of the trail to Na Pali to see the views, including this gorgeous one of the beach we snorkeled at.

Ke'e beach

One evening we took a short walk with my sister down to Hideaway beach to look at the tide pools, where we saw some cool sea life, and of course a beautiful sunset.

Sunset at Hideaway beach, Kauai

Besides this, we spent the week hanging out with family, playing games, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, hiking (including a barefoot hike through disgusting and slippery mud), visiting the Kilauea lighthouse/bird sanctuary, shopping, eating, and being silly and laughing together, especially my sister and me who can’t help but be goofy when we get together.

My awesome sister, Ashley

It’s difficult to compare Costa Rica to Hawaii. Both are tropical destinations with beautiful scenery and a relaxed culture. Hawaii’s mountains are definitely more striking, and they have the added benefit of no poisonous snakes or dangerous crocodiles, and being developed to U.S. standards of cleanliness, causing me to feel safer there. However, it is also much more expensive. For example, I was used to paying 80 cents for a pineapple in Costa Rica, but in Hawaii, it’s $6-8! Of course, you can live on the cheaper end (we met a family who is paying $6/day to camp out at the beach in a trailer), but food is very expensive in Hawaii.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip from beginning to end. It was so great to be able to spend time with our family and friends and be in such beautiful places. We’ll miss you all and look forward to the next time we can get together.

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Below, I’ll be sharing some photos and videos highlighting our trip. But first I’d like to talk about what I learned from being without the Internet for almost a week. As much as I tout working only five hours per week (and I usually do), I have to admit that I do some work every day, and I use the Internet a LOT. In addition to being a fun vacation, this trip was also an experiment to see how my business would run without my daily interaction, and how I would handle being away from my business, personal email, online reading and research, and *gasp* Facebook!

It turns out that except for a few temptations the first day, where I resisted the urge to reach for my iPhone and check email, I didn’t miss these things at all! I was able to completely focus my attention on enjoying my time with family and friends, and the beautiful nature that surrounded us. I didn’t bring a book to read, and didn’t touch the iPad I brought, except to put it away in the safe.

Me drinking pipa juice

Before I left, I did let my teams know that I wouldn’t be available for about six days, and that they would be on their own for handling all problems. I also set up an auto responder on my personal email box letting people know not to expect a response right away. I unsubscribed from a number of newsletters and email notifications to keep the inbox volume down.

When I came back, I had 82 messages in my personal inbox and 84 messages in my business inbox. I was able to clear the personal inbox in 90 minutes and the business inbox in about 3 hours. It surprised me how many of the messages were unimportant in the context of a week, where I would have spent more time on them had I checked daily. And because I wasn’t readily available to my teams, they didn’t rely on me and came up with their own ways to solve problems. The result was that no major issues occurred, my businesses continued running smoothly and growing steadily, and my programmers even launched a couple new features while I was gone. I’m starting to think about maybe switching to checking email weekly instead of daily, at least for my business email. It’s less stressful overall. I’ll get more chances to test how this works in the weeks ahead as we travel to Hawaii and move to Malaysia.

Speaking of Malaysia, on the first day of our trip we ate lunch in Dominical, Costa Rica at the Coconut Spice restaurant which specializes in Thai and Malaysian food. I had the Penang Curry and was overcome by the explosion of delicious flavors, which got me even more excited to move to Penang next month. Only, once we’re there, the same dish will cost 10 times less! Oh, I’m so excited for more Malaysian food!

Penang Curry

On the way to Dominical, though, I did get pulled over for going 20km over the speed limit (about 10mph). I didn’t bribe my way out of this one so it’s costing me a whopping $350 for that ticket! Ouch! Not the best way to start a vacation. I’m not sure how locals making less than $1,000/month here can swallow that kind of ticket — it’s really expensive! But maybe that’s the point.

Speeding ticket

Anyway, after we made it to Dominical and had lunch, we stayed at Villas Rio Mar, where we enjoyed their swimming pools and lovely gardens, very clean cabins, and the delicious dinner and breakfast that were included in the price ($120 for all five us).

Kings and Pearces at Villas Rio Mar

The next day we got up early and drove another hour and a half to Sierpe, where we got on a small, crowded boat that would take us to Punta Marenco Lodge on the Osa Peninsula. However, about ten minutes out, the motor quit, and we had to wait about 30 minutes for a rescue boat. After switching boats, we enjoyed our ride through the river, until we came out into the ocean and started crashing against the oncoming waves. I got quite sea sick, and Emily and Marie were terrified when water started coming into the boat. Fortunately, we arrived safely, and I was able to recover without vomiting. But I’m looking forward to not being on a boat again for a long time, if ever.

Getting on the boat at Sierpe

The highlight of the trip was definitely our time at Punta Marenco! We hiked through Corcovado national park and saw all types of animals, including scarlet macaws, toucans, a white hawk, monkeys, basilisks, giant grasshoppers, poison dart frogs, hermit crabs, tapir footprints, and many more. We even saw a whale from the shore!

Large grasshopper

Being a rain forest, the trees were also incredible, and we learned a lot about the animals and foliage we encountered, from how strangler trees shoot down roots to kill other trees, to how leaf cutter ants don’t eat the leaves they cut, but use them to cultivate a giant underground mushroom inside their colony which they then eat.

Strangler and Ficus trees

We also had fun playing on the beach and in the waves, and hiking through the stunning landscapes. We even climbed a steep and wet trail to the top of a waterfall where we played in the refreshing water.

Many beautiful beaches in Osa

Despite it being the rainy season, we had near perfect weather every day of our trip — bright, sunny days with little or no rain in the afternoons — except for the last day, where it poured constantly. That was the day we were supposed to go snorkeling at a nearby island and hopefully see whales and dolphins. But we still had a great time sitting and talking in the lodge, listening to the rain, and relaxing. The kids played in the rain, did crafts, and made up games to play together. Our hosts were wonderful and made us feel like part of the family.

Kids playing in the rain

On the way home, we stopped in Manuel Antonio for lunch at Jefe’s Mexican restaurant, which was excellent. And then we came back home to reality, which I think doesn’t have to be quite so different from this vacation.

Here’s some of the video footage and other pictures from our trip.

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Puerto Viejo, Limon

Making chocolate

The first place we visited together was Puerto Viejo, a small beach town on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We had never been there before, but we absolutely loved it! The drive was lovely as well – lush and green the whole way (4 hours from San Jose), despite it being the dry season. The weather was warm and humid (just how I like it), and the food was some of the best I’ve had in Costa Rica. We especially enjoyed the Chile Rojo restaurant, where we had some incredible sushi and a coconut crusted sea bass in banana salsa that just melted in your mouth – mmmm!!

Around Puerto Viejo, we toured a sloth sanctuary where we learned all about sloths, got to pet some, and took a canoe ride down a river to spot some wildlife. We encountered monkeys in the trees, some cool crabs, bats, and of course, birds. Later, we toured an indigenous chocolate farm, where we learned how the Bribri Indians used to make chocolate for medicinal purposes. Interestingly, they never really used it for candy until the white man came along. Of course we bought some chocolate and ate it as well.

Marie with squirrel

We also visited the Jaguar Rescue Center, which, despite not housing any jaguars, was very cool. We saw and learned about many different kinds of animals. The kids got to have a squirrel ride on their shoulder as they walked, and they got to hold a red eyed tree frog, too! But the best part, in my opinion was when we got to enter a cage of about 10 howler monkeys, and play with them. They climbed all over us, held our hands, and were very sweet. Fortunately, no one in our group got urinated on, although there was a close call.

Of course we visited the beach while in Puerto Viejo. I especially enjoyed Playa Cocles, which had very clear, warm water and soft sand, with no rocks, and hardly any debris. Just a perfect little beach. We rented a bodyboard and enjoyed the waves until the sun set.

Baldi Hot Springs, La Fortuna

Arenal Volcano

After spending a night at home in Escazu to recover from the long drive, we headed out to Baldi Hot Springs Resort in La Fortuna. We’d been to La Fortuna before, and have stayed at Los Lagos Resort twice, but we love the area and the beautiful Arenal volcano. We also heard that Baldi hot springs was one of the best in the area, so we decided to check it out. It was a really nice place, with fantastic views of the volcano from the rooms. It had over 20 pools of various temperatures to enjoy, and three slides (although two of them were closed for repairs).

Just about every town in Costa Rica has a Canopy Tour (zip line) and if you come to Costa Rica, it’s something you’ll probably want to try. We really enjoyed the one at Selvatura park in Monteverde, but we’d heard some good things about Arenal Mundo Aventura in La Fortuna, which has a zip-line right in front of the La Fortuna waterfall. Since Jen is pregnant, she couldn’t go, and the girls didn’t bring their close-toed shoes, so Don & Michelle (my wife’s parents) went zip-lining together, while Jen and I got a massage at the resort, and the kids watched tv in the hotel room. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon.

Tamarindo

Sunset waves Tamarindo

From Arenal, we drove around the lake and onto the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. This is a drier part of the country with much less green. We’ve been to a few of the beach towns in the area before, but not Tamarindo, which is one of the most popular ones. We stayed in a nice vacation rental there, just a block from the beach, with its own private pool. We went surfing, relaxed in the sun, played in the pool, and ate at some nice restaurants.

The best part, of course, was just being with Don & Michelle, having great conversations, seeing them interact with the kids, and enjoy our vacation together. I’m glad they had a good time, despite continually getting creamed in foosball and pool. :)

I’m also glad we discovered that some of the best vacation spots in Costa Rica were still available for us to explore. It’s easy for me to start feeling again like I’ve already seen it all, but I’m sure if I look harder, I will uncover some other hidden gems. Or perhaps we could do some repeats. I’m really looking forward to the next time I can get back to Puerto Viejo for more of the best sushi I’ve ever had in my life!

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Like me, my mom works on-line, so she was able to come down for a 3-week stay, even though she had to work a little while she was here. The last week, my sister Ashley’s family joined us, including my awesome brother-in-law, Justin, and their 6-year old daughter, Kennedy. We had a blast! The little cousins loved playing together, too, except for the occasional (I mean, constant) fights over who’s “first” and what’s “fair”.

Most of all, it was just fun to be all together, and have time to talk and play. Our friendships and love for each other grew and deepened, and we’re really looking forward to the next time we can be “all together”.

My mom and sister are covering the trip in detail on their own blogs, but here’s a quick list of some of the fun things we did:

• Relaxed in our house, listening to music controlled by my iPhone (thanks for bringing down the Airport Express, Mom!)
• Watched the incredible display of New Year’s fireworks over the entire central valley
• Visited the nearby towns of Sarchi (hand-painted ox carts) and Zarcero (topiary), and also Montezuma (hippies) in Guanacaste
• Played Rory’s Story cubes (a game where you make up stories based on images on dice)
• Went to Doña Ana beach with some local friends
• Drove through four rivers in Guanacaste
• Visited Zoo Ave in La Garita
• Stayed in some lovely hotels in Playa Tambor, Playa Carillo, La Fortuna, and Manuel Antonio
• Visited La Paz Waterfall Gardens
• Zip-lined through the mossy trees and fog at Selvatura Park in Monteverde Cloud forest, and swung on the Tarzan swing
• Visited the fruit market in Grecia
• Saw (and almost got attacked by) Monkeys in Manuel Antonio National Park
• Bodyboarded and played at the beach
• Taught my brother-in-law how to play foosball. I even let him win me once. :)
• Had some amazing food made by Jen, our friends, and some wonderful restaurants
• Swam in the Los Chorros Waterfall
• Listened to dozens of Beatle’s songs as we drove, as well as other music
• Ate at Café Delicias numerous times
• Drove around lake Arenal and swam in hot springs at Los Lagos resort
• Took the ferry from Puntarenas to Guanacaste
• Watched Tangled 3D in Spanish, and The Incredible Mr. Limpett
• Had some friends over for visits and meals
• Saw sloths, monkeys, iguanas, scarlet macaws, blue-crowned mot mot’s, and more, in the wild

What a fun time we had! I’m so glad they took the time to come visit. Here are some pictures and video (not all taken by me) of our time together.

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The past few days in Cartagena, Colombia have been a little slower-paced for us than the first few, now that we have the major tourist attractions out of the way. We switched apartments to Edificio Palmetto, which has a pool and an ocean view that has brought us some fabulous sunsets. We’ve also spent more time swimming, since the girls can’t seem to get enough of it. One day, I even got a massage at the spa one day, and Jen got a facial. Ahh vacation…

Emily’s Birthday

Emily in the ocean

Emily had her 7th birthday over the weekend, and we turned the day over to her to do whatever she wanted. We don’t have a lot of room in our luggage for large toys, which is fine, because what she wanted most was a new dress and swimming suit, which she picked quickly and looks really cute in. We also went to the beach for a few hours, which was quite crowded and hot, but the girls had a blast playing in the water. After the beach, we went back to our apartment and played Go-Fish, built card houses, played stuffed animals, and then had some chocolate cake at a nearby Italian restaurant. I guess the day was a success because afterward she said that she wishes every day could be her birthday. Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes – she really appreciated them.

Isla Rosario and Playa Blanca Tours

Playa Blanca

Whenever you ask which beach is the best in Cartagena, people almost always refer to Playa Blanca, which is on the Rosario islands, about an hour and a half boat ride from Cartagena. This is the tour many people try to sell you on the street. The pictures I’ve seen show a lovely Caribbean beach with blue-green waters and white sand – a true tropical paradise like many dream of. However, it also looks like the place is crawling with tourists, may have no facilities, and usually costs $20+/person to get there. So call us boring or lazy or cheap, but we didn’t go. Did we pass up the trip of a lifetime? I don’t think so. We’ve seen lots of pretty beaches in our lives already, and will surely visit others that are even more beautiful and secluded, with more time to spend there and enjoy than just a quick day trip. It probably would have been fun, but we just weren’t in the mood.

Yellow Fever and Free Vaccinations

So, we haven’t ventured much outside of Boca Grande and old town since we got here. But we did go to a medical clinic in Getsemaní for yellow fever vaccinations. We were told before we boarded the plane to Colombia that we wouldn’t be able to get back into Costa Rica without an international certificate stating that we’d been immunized for yellow fever, since we’re going to three countries that have infected areas (even though we won’t be visiting any of the infected parts of these countries). I tried to find a way out of this, since I hate vaccinations, and think they can sometimes do more harm than good. I often end up getting more sick from the vaccine than I would get from the actual disease, and I didn’t want to spend a week of my trip in bed or throwing up. Plus, the last shot I got must have hit a nerve in my arm because it was sore for two weeks and felt like it took months to fully recover. I do NOT like shots.

Anyway, it turns out we’d need the vaccine to get into Ecuador anyway, since we’d be coming from Peru. And it’s required to get into Brazil regardless of where you’ve been, and we’d like to go there before too long. So we decided to go ahead with it. Fortunately, Colombia offers yellow fever vaccines for free (yeah! Glad we didn’t pay several hundred dollars to get it done in the states last year!) No appointment necessary. We just walked into the clinic and had it done. Although we came late in the day and they only had one vaccine left, so Jen was our guinea pig (thanks for being brave Jen!). We came back early the next day to do the rest of us. It was the “best” shot I’ve ever had, too. Only stung for about 1 second, and absolutely no pain after that. Yay. The girls handled it as well as could be expected.

Crepes & Waffles

We also found a new favorite restaurant in Boca Grande, which we’ve been to four times now. It’s called Crepes & Waffles and has the most delectable menu for lunches, dinners, and desserts! Their website also shows a breakfast menu, but it must only be available at other locations. But I’m pleased to learn that they have locations in Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, Panama, and Brazil, so hopefully we’ll get to eat there again.

Tomorrow we head out for Lima, Peru!

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Jaco is the closest beach to us, about an hour and 45 minutes away, and we chose to spend a week there. Jaco has a bad reputation of being an ugly town. I’d also heard it wasn’t family friendly. But we had to see for ourselves, and I’m glad we did, because we absolutely loved it! The town’s got a great variety of restaurants, art galleries, and other shops. The beach is clean, warm, and beautiful (although a bit rocky at the south end). The weather was absolutely perfect, the sun was out most of the day except for a short afternoon or evening shower, and it wasn’t super hot like Manuel Antonio last February. It makes me think that the rainy season is really the best time to go to the beach in Costa Rica.

Accommodations

We stayed at a small condo complex called Club del Sol, within walking distance of the beach. We rented a nice 2-bedroom condo with lots of privacy and a full kitchen for about $135/night. They also had a nice pool, which the kids swam in every day. Emily is now doing great swimming across the pool all by herself, and Marie is getting more courageous as well. Jen and I swam a bit, too, but also used the time to catch up on work and e-mail.

Fun at the beach

One morning, we rented surfboards and boogie boards and went to the beach for some fun. Jen and I had a blast trying to get up on the waves. The boards were a little lighter than last time, so harder to balance on, but we did okay. Emily and Marie also enjoyed their first time boogie boarding. They didn’t venture very far from the shore, but had a good time nonetheless. There were a lot of rocks at this part of the beach, though, which slowed us down due to the pain in our feet.

Out on the town

We had some great food in Jaco, including sushi, pizza, and delicious Mexican food, which is hard to find in Costa Rica. We enjoyed the many shops and got the girls each a new dress (including Jen), and I got a new swimming suit because my other one was ripping. I also got a new pair of shorts because I actually found a size 28! It’s so hard to find my size anywhere, so I grabbed it while I had the chance.

We didn’t really do any excursions or tours (we’ve done most already), but we just enjoyed relaxing, being together, and “hanging out.” One night we watched “Home Alone” in Spanish, which was on TV. The kids loved that. We did take a drive to the nearby beaches of Esterillos and Heradura, just to see what they were like (my opinion: beautiful and not very developed). I also talked to a couple realtors to see what their opinions were on the value of investment properties in the area – turns out it’s probably not a good idea right now. There are some great bargains available, but it would be hard to make them turn a profit as a vacation rental.

Dinosaur Park

On our way back from Jaco, we stopped at the Megafauna park (about an hour north of Puntarenas) where  we took a nature walk dotted with life-size statues of dinosaurs and other pre-historic animals. It was pretty interesting to see the types of animals that used to exist, and also how big they were. The museum there was cool, too. In addition to all the bugs, butterflies, and bones displayed, we were also fascinated by the human brain in a jar, as well as the human heart, which our kids were disappointed to find out really wasn’t in the shape of a heart after all.

We’re really glad we could take this trip to Jaco, and would definitely go there again. Enjoy the pictures and videos below.

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Surfing!

Neither of us had ever been surfing before, but we wanted to give it a try. We had a short lesson, some one-on-one instruction, and then a lot of practice. It was even more fun than I thought it would be! The waves were perfect for beginners like us, and I got up the second time I tried, and didn’t want to stop, even when the next class started coming in. This is something I’ll definitely have to do again. Jen liked it, too, but not quite as much as I did, I think. Unfortunately, we were both having too much fun to take any pictures. Oh well.

Nesting Sea Turtles

Sea Turtle

One night, we decided to take a tour to a beach where sea turtles often come to lay their eggs. It was late at night, rainy, and very dark, but our guide led us around with a group of about 7 until we saw a turtle coming up from the water. We followed her and watched the whole process of her digging the whole, laying her eggs, and covering them back up. The guide had a red flashlight for us to see highlights (he wouldn’t let us use our own flashlights on the turtle). It was pretty neat!

As the turtle was heading back to the ocean, we even got to touch her shell and her fins, which were very soft. Very few baby sea turtles will hatch and make it back to the ocean because of predators and other factors. But it’s neat to see all of this take place, and how such a beautiful animal carries on her species.

Hideaway Hotel

On this trip, we chose to stay at the Hideaway Hotel in Samara, which is within walking distance from both Samara and Carrillo beach. (We went surfing at Samara). We really enjoyed our time at Hideaway hotel and got to know the very nice owners, who recently built the hotel. They have comfortable and affordable rooms, and a great restaurant which even includes homemade ice cream and heavenly brownies!

Dinosaur Park

Dinosaur Park

On our way back home (it’s about a 4 hour drive from Playa Samara to Grecia), we stopped at the giant tyrranosaurus rex statue on the side of the road coming to Puntarenas, and found out that it’s actually the entrance to Megafauna Monteverde, a dinosaur park where they have statues of lots of extinct animals, as well as an interesting museum and butterfly house. We didn’t have time to see the park, but they did let us browse around the museum for a few minutes. We’ll have to take the kids back here some time! We also had lunch at their restaurant, which was good.

Our Friends

You may be wondering how we could leave our kids for 3 days and 2 nights in a foreign country. I think we’re lucky to have such great friends, the Bustillos family, who offered to watch our kids for us while we were gone. Emily and Marie really enjoyed having a sleepover with their friends, and it also gave them a good chance to practice their Spanish. :)

At the fun park

We’re so grateful to Maggie and Kincho for helping us out. It was a fantastic and very needed break away and a chance to celebrate our marriage. We’re so happy to have each other!

About a week after we got back, we went with the Bustillos family to a fun park (kind of like a mini-Disneyland). It was a pretty wet – and even cold – day, though, so we only stayed long enough to see what rides there were, and we’ll probably be back another day. So we decided to go see the latest Shrek movie instead, which we all enjoyed. Although the next day we found ourselves all sick in bed with a virus that lasted about a week. I guess that’s one reason it’s been so long since I’ve written on this blog. :) We’re happy to be feeling better now, too.

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Zip-Line Canopy Tour

Family Pre-Zipline

We ended our time in Dominical with a Canopy Tour (zip-line) at Hacienda Barú. They had 15 stations and we got to zip 8 times! It’s one of the more tame canopy tours, which was good for the girls, who were both brave enough to try it on their own (Marie went with Mom & Dad the first few times before she worked up the courage).

It was a blast! There’s nothing like soaring 150 feet above the rainforest floor. It’s beautiful and exhilarating! Our guide also spotted a large sloth in the trees, as well as demonstrated how soldier ants can work as temporary stitches for wounds. Interesting!

After that, we had lunch and then explored a little butterfly farm they had at Hacienda Barú. They even had our favorite – the blue morpho!

On to Manuel Antonio

Then we drove from Dominical to Manuel Antonio, about a 45-minute drive, through lovely groves of trees and what we think were pineapple farms. We drove all the way to Manuel Antonio Hotel, recommended to us by Denny. Unfortunately, they were all booked (it’s the weekend), but the receptionist found us a room at another nearby hotel, Verde Mar. They had one room available with a queen bed, and they brought in a roller bed for us. It was very tight quarters, but worked.

Our biggest complaint was that it was so hot! If only we had known there was an air conditioning unit in the bathroom, we would have had it on the whole time! Unfortunately, we didn’t discover that fact until the next morning after our showers and about an hour before we checked out. Oh well…

Into the Water

Manuel Antonio beach

After melting in our hotel after a long drive, the girls finally convinced us to go swimming. Once we got in the pool, we cooled right off and had a great time! Before too long, we decided to go explore the beach as well, which was right behind the hotel. Once we got in the water, we didn’t want to leave! The ocean water was so nice and warm, and the sand was so clean and nice – and just sand – no garbage, rocks, or even fish – all the way out into the waves! I maybe felt a twig or two the whole time we were there – oh and a nice leather hat someone must have just lost… I sent it back to shore. Hopefully the owner will find it.

We had fun for hours swimming in the ocean and riding the waves (as much as you can without a board). The sunset on the water was beautiful. You could see the colors reflecting on the surface and casting light onto the trees on the shore. Quite a sight! It was enhanced even more for me by the beauty of my wife standing in the middle of it.

I had our camera out for part of the time, but got tired of holding it and didn’t want to leave it on the shore, so I ran it back to our hotel so I could swim better. It’s supposed to be waterproof, but I thought it was best not to expose it to the elements unnecessarily. And I had a lot more fun once I put it away. But that also means you don’t get any sunset pictures. Sorry.

Monkeys!

After it started getting dark we headed back for dinner. But first, we had another quick dip in the pool. And while we were swimming, we heard some very loud noises. It sounded like a big guy with a loudspeaker was saying “WHOOOOO!” repeatedly.

In a few moments, we spotted some howler monkeys up in the trees! There were probably about a dozen of them, including some babies, and we got to watch them walk and jump from one tree to another. It was quite a treat! I went to grab my camera and caught a glimpse of the last one on video. I read that Howler monkeys are the loudest animal in the world, and I believe it after hearing them. For their small size, they can really bellow.

Dining on the Coast

Girls in Manuel Antonio Hotel

While swimming we also made some friends: Janet and her son Scott. We went to dinner with them that night and had a nice time.

The food here is very pricey though, no matter which restaurant you go to. Dominical and Manuel Antonio are very touristy towns – very fun, but hard to imagine living there. And everything seems at least twice as expensive as it is in Grecia. Cost is relative, though, so I’ll spell it out -  meals seems to start around USD $8-10 along the coast. (Of course, $30+/plate options exist.) Back in Grecia you can get a decent meal for $2-3/plate, and it’s hard to find anything over $12/plate. There are a couple very nice restaurants around that range, though.

Church in Quepos

Sunday we checked out of Verde Mar and went to church. We were given some very wrong directions by a hotel clerk, and ended up 20 minutes from where we needed to be. We drove back to the town and I stopped a man who looked like he might be going to church. He happened to be the Branch President, and he led us right there! It turns out we had just passed it without noticing – it was on quite a run-down little street.

We spent the afternoon relaxing in our hotel (Manuel Antonio Hotel), catching up on e-mail and blogs, and then had another expensive dinner that night (since that seems to be all there is). Tomorrow, we’re going horseback riding! Enjoy the video and pictures below.

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We were thinking of driving all the way from Grecia to Dominical in one day – about a 4-5 hour drive. However, because there are no street signs, we took a few wrong turns and we ended up only making it as far as Cartago before it got dark (about 1.5 hours from Grecia). But that’s okay.

B&B Grecia – Thanks Denny & Rachelle!

Rachelle and the girls

Before I get onto our journey I just want to say how much we enjoyed our time at B&B Grecia. Denny and Rachelle were awesome hosts! Denny was so helpful and informative to get us settled and help us know what to expect living here. And our girls absolutely adored Rachelle. They would talk her ear off as often as they could, showing her their computer games, telling them about their day. And Rachelle was so sweet to them. If anyone is looking for a good place to stay in Grecia, I highly recommend B&B Grecia. Breakfasts were good and it’s in a very convenient location, too.

The day before we left B&B Grecia, I also bought a GPS unit from Denny (Garmin Nuvi 260). It cost more than it would have in the US, but it has been absolutely essential! I can’t imagine getting around these streets without it. It also helped us find our hotels.

A Stop in Escazú

Mickey & Goofy at Escazu Mall

After we picked up our car around noon, we headed for Escazú Multiplaza, which is a giant mall, just like the ones in the U.S. We were searching for a certain type of shoe, called Keens, that are like sturdy, waterproof, close-toed sandals great for hiking, beaches, waterfalls, etc. Unfortunately, none of the stores there had our size. And they were twice as expensive as the store in Grecia. So we’ll go without them for now.

While in the mall, we were stopped by some journalists taking photos of this new rear projection touch-screen display, and they wanted our girls to model for it. Why not? We didn’t get any of the pictures (I forgot to take them myself), but it was a pretty cool technology. We also saw Mickey and Goofy at the mall doing a little magic show.

If I haven’t mentioned it here, everyone seems to adore our little girls. People are often touching their hair, and commenting, “Que linda!” either to our faces or to each other as we walk down the street. We really stand out here – but more so in the smaller towns. And when I hand shop keepers our credit card, which has a photo of our family on it, 90% of the time, they comment that it’s so cute, and excitedly show all the other workers there. I guess they don’t have photo credit cards here.

Escazú really seemed like a nice place. It appeared to be well kept up, very green, and had all the shopping and restaurants you’d expect for a medium-sized city. Everything is a bit more pricey there, though, and the people don’t seem as friendly as Grecia.

Cartago and the Irazú Volcano

From Las Brumas hotel in Cartago

After the GPS led us to a gas station, we continued on our journey through San José onto Cartago. We mainly stayed on the highway (except for another wrong turn – yes, I had a GPS, but sometimes those roads sneak up on you). I wasn’t too impressed with the journey to Cartago, or the city of Cartago itself. It was pretty dirty and very crowded.

We hadn’t planned on staying in Cartago, but it was already 4:30, and since it gets dark here around 6pm, we thought we should find a hotel and have some dinner while we still had daylight. The GPS led us to a couple hotels that looked like real dives in bad parts of town, so we went on the outskirts of the city a little, and found Las Brumas hotel, which had a vacancy with 3 beds, a restaurant, free wifi, and even included breakfast – for about $75/night. It also had nice views of the city.

Irazu Volcano

While staying there, we learned that the Irazú volcano was just 45 minutes away, so decided that we’d check it out in the morning before heading down to Dominical. It was a beautiful drive up to over 11,000 feet, and the volcano was breathtaking as well. We could see all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. You’re supposed to be able to see the Pacific ocean from there as well, but we didn’t go to the highest point (we were already getting lightheaded from the elevation and we were anxious to get to the beach).

We did stop at the Irazú museum, though, and learned about how volcanoes work, and watched a movie about Irazú’s eruption from 1963-1965. They had some fun little physics toys there as well, that the girls enjoyed playing with.

A Gorgeous Drive to Dominical

I love the jungle

After the volcano, we drove about 4 hours all the way to the Dominical, on the Pacific coast. It was a beautiful drive, where we passed giant canyons, misty rainforests, and jungles full of the sounds of birds and insects. We had lunch in a little buffet-type restaurant up in the misty mountains somewhere.

The only other major town we passed on the way to Dominical is San Isidro de General, about 45 minutes from the coast. We didn’t stop there, but it looked like a beautiful town, in a very green valley. We may check it out again some day.

Dominical

Jen spent some time the previous night looking for a couple hotels in Dominical to save us time going from one to the other on our GPS. We went straight to Costa Paraiso and fortunately, they had a vacancy. It’s a beautiful hotel right on the beach, with a lovely little swimming pool, which the girls were very anxious to try out. So, that’s the very first thing we did. :)

After swimming for a while, we took a walk on the beach. The water was SO warm – like a hot tub. And the views of the waves on the rocks, and the trees, with the sounds of the birds – it was just breathtaking. We feel like we’re in paradise! We’ll be staying here a couple nights and then head on to Manuel Antonio. Enjoy the video and pictures below.

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Sunday we went to church again in Volcan (we decided to stay one more night at Las Plumas rather than two nights in David). I got a bit more out of the lessons this week because I had my iPhone dictionary, but the girls chose to stay with us rather than go to Primary. We had a great time there, and said goodbye to some friends we’d met.

We spent the night in Hotel Iberia in David, which was just perfect for what we wanted. They had a decent restaurant, wifi connection, and hot water (after it was running for about 3 minutes).

The small airplane we flew in

The next morning we headed out for Bocas del Toro. We flew on a small airplane from David, which unfortunately wasn’t good for our stomachs. Emily and I both threw up (even though I took some motion sickness medication before we left). There were beautiful views, but it wasn’t a fun ride for us. Jen and Marie did just fine, though.

Once we got to Bocas, we were greeted by Gregorio who’s taking care of the property where we’re staying. We got some groceries, got in his boat, and he took us on about a 30 minute ride to the east side of Bastimentos island. The place we’re staying (Sal si Puedes) is heavenly! It’s so peaceful with the sound of the waves gently rolling in, soft sand all around, and an open and breezy house with light-colored furnishings.

This is where we're staying

When we arrived at our house, another couple workers greeted us and carried our luggage in the house. They then proceeded to work on the grounds. There was a woman in the house who had just finished cleaning. She comes three times a week. There was also a cute little boy who was fascinated by my video camera.

The girls immediately wanted to play on the beach, so we got their swimsuits on. The sand is so soft and the water is warm. It feels great here! It is a bit cloudy though. We haven’t seen the sun since we arrived, and it looks like it will be this way all week, along with some occasional rain. Oh well – at least we won’t get as badly sunburned. :)

It got a little rainy and windy that night, causing intermittent problems with the television and Internet, but they’re working now. The girls also played ball with some neighbor kids in our front yard until it started raining.

Getting ready to play in the water

This house is fully equipped and definitely up to U.S. standards. It even has a large refrigerator and full-size oven, which is rare here. Oddly, it’s missing a microwave.

The girls slept on an air mattress in the living room, and we slept under a mosquito net in our bedroom. We burned some coil by the girls that should keep the mosquitoes away. We also turned all the lights out, and stumbled around in the dark getting ready for bed – we were told that using as little light as possible would keep them from coming. They had some little lanterns but none worked, so the girls brushed their teeth by the light of my iPhone. And I think I only saw one mosquito all night, maybe two. And I’m not sure they were mosquitoes. Maybe it’s not as big of a problem here as they say…

Anyway, we had a great night’s sleep, listening to the sound of the waves and the animals and insects outside. What a beautiful place!

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