Photo Entry of Costa Rica (much funner to "read")

So before crossing the border into Costa Rica, Becky, Kory and I went to Laguna de Apoyo here in Nicaragua. This is a lake inside a volcano crator, which has some great hostels, swimming and nothing else. It was amazingly beautiful. Granada Nicaragua is one of the oldest colonial cities in central america and has been "sacked" by pirates several times. (And not just any pirates, but seriously famous ones). Aside from being totally different than most of nicaragua, and having some really cool old buildings, there isnt TOOOO much to see. But we found this old church and paid to go up these stairs and that was pretty darn cool. You could see the Laguna de Apoyo crater, the Ometepe volcano and another one as well.

We walked to an old cementary where several Nicaraguan presidents are buried. It was very hot. We ate some beens and rice on the street after that and all was well.

The next day we headed out for the border and after being very confused as to where to stand in line and what to do there, we finally made it onto a very swank costa rican public bus. This was no chicken bus baby. It was a luxury liner to be sure. AND you pay BEFORE you get on. Costa rica appeared MUCH nicer, as people painted all the way around their houses, instead of just the front and also had glass in their windows. We were picked up in Liberia by Heathers family, after wearing the same clothes for 5 days and not showering for 3. We were swooped away to a luxury gringo villa (below) complete with a nicaraguan maid and a view to die for (above). We were about a ten minute walk from the Playa Ocotal and very close to Playa Coco. Ok, this is basically our beach. It was sooooo great. We snorkled here several times, sometimes we got stung by jelly fish, other times it was so beautiful. We saw lots of bright yellow puffer fish or purple ones with white spots. Sea snakes, tons of other fish, Heather saw an octapus.... It was truly savage.. (thats a good thing when you say it spanish).

Here we are having dinner together on our deck overlooking the ocean. It was sooooo great to be with our family and see the baby and have some fun together. This is just off our beach. We payed for a boat tour and went out past this little island to a secluded beach. We were all drooling to get into the beautiful clear water. I did notice lots of jelly fish on the way in, but not being a sea dweller, thought, what do you know? So we got on the beach, drew straws for the snorkle equipment and went out into the water. Then.... we all got stung by jelly fish bits. Not whole jelly fish mind you. The water was full of little tentical parts. It was like someone had blended a billion of the litte buttholes. It was very hot and we couldnt swim and things were sad that day. Not really, I mean... we were in bloody costa rica right, while you poor saplings in Utah chisled snow from your windshield. BUT, the jelly fish became my nemisis for the rest of our trip.

Another day we took a river boat ride through a natural reserve and saw crocs and white faced monkeys (by the way, we had howler monkeys across the street from our hotel for several days) but these guys were super friendly and some got on the boat so you could see them really good.

Another day we decided to go hike a volcano.. well I wouldn't call it a downright hike, but a walk through the jungle. (We did drive up really high first though.) Here we are 7 people in the SUV.. we are in the back. It is called Volcan Tenorio.

Baby in the backpack. Dad only fell once with her in there. No problem. This was what we saw along our little walk. It was truly breathtaking. No bugs that we could see. But we did see a toucan on the way out. Only becky has pictures. This is what was at the end of the hike, a strangley blue river which was caused by the minerals in the earth from the volcano. It was not recomended that we swim, because (the sign said) because they were not aware of the effects on your health.

Here we are doing "Turtle patrol", which is where you wait around for a female turtle to come ashore and lay her eggs. It was like an hour and a half drive from hotel, and we did not see a turtle. We were kind of sad, and tired enough not to go back to try again another night. But we played cards and had a picnic.

These are all pictures of the beach by where the turles come in to nest.

My sister caught a baby gecko which are all over here in central america and was showing it to the baby.

On our last day in there, becky and kory and I drove to the reserva Monteverde (2 1/2 hours) so that we could do a canopy tour. Which is strapping yourself to a zip line and ziping over the rainforest. The drive was bloody cold and there were hurracane force winds the whole way which scared us to death. But when we got on top of the mountain (still driving) we saw rainbows everywhere we looked. When we got there it was still raining (stupid "rain"forest), but we went anyway. IT WAS THE BEST EXPERIENCE OF OUR LIVES! Seriously. Since it was raining, we have no pictures, but words will never do it justice. Sometimes we would be going out over a valley with trees and rivers and vines below and go right into a cloud where you couldnt see where you were going or anything. Becky has one video and a few pictures of us before and after which I will post if I get them. Other wise, that is it! Back to work!

Check out Becky´s blog (see right) for more pictures and stories.