View from our Chicago hotel. Not as scenic as Costa Rica.
Dinner at our favorite sushi conveyor belt restaurant.
Saturday: up at 4 am to catch our flight to San Jose, shuttle to car rental place and what ended up being a very, very long drive to Quepos
On the plane!
We did not have the best luck with traffic. We were stuck in traffic jams almost the whole trip from San Jose to Quepos
Pitstop for fruit
Beach view in Jaco along the way
Finally made it to the house!
And into the pool!
Daily highlight video:
Sunday: waking up to an ocean view, exploring the house, and hitting the beach for the first time
The view we didn't know was there the night before...
The door had kid and adult sides.
Agouti. Pretty sure.
Vicky made us a traditional Costa Rican breakfast and it was delicious!
First (of many) trips to the beach (Playa Espadilla)
There was a nice mix of big and little waves and we learned that the rip current warnings were for real at this beach. We had to move around a lot to avoid them.
Boogie boarding!
At the beach you pay to use umbrellas or tents and chairs and there were lots of vendors going up and down the beach including our favorite - coconut water. Very refreshing.
We spotted a toucan as we left the beach.
Lounging after a long day at the beach while the chefs prepared a very fancy dinner for us.
I think overall we saw more wildlife from the deck than we did in the national park.
Pirate Elly?
Cannonball!!
The kids spent a lot of time in the pool.
These guys hung out on the deck ceiling at night catching bugs.
One last swim before bed.
Daily highlight video:
Monday: Manuel Antonio National Park
The morning started with a visit from the neighbors.
It was sooooo hot.
Coati
In the first part of the park there are a lot of groups with guides who spot wildlife with telescopes.
Bamboo which is invasive but was neat to see it so huge
No food is allowed in the park because the monkeys will go after it. There's a caged-in gift shop and cafeteria-style food place. We took a break from the heat to get some nice cold fruit smoothies.
Playa Manuel Antonio
Monkey who tried to look through one of our bags on the beach
Back to the monkey cage for some lunch. Sadly they were out of almost everything by the time we went back.
Playa Espadilla Sur - beautiful and less crowded. And bigger waves.
Heading out of the park.
Agouti
Coconut water just outside the park. The kids drank from a coconut almost every day. I think we only missed the day we left.
The chefs made two amazing dinners. It was unreal to have them come prepare and serve such fancy dinners.
Beautiful lava cake for my fake birthday dinner
Back in the pool. We learned you can change the color of the pool lights.
Daily highlight video:
Tuesday: waterfall tour
Our first stop. We did a tour with 3 guides, another family and a couple.
First jump. It felt a little weird because you had to jump out while standing in a waterfall to avoid hitting the bottom of the waterfall and the rocks were a little narrow below.
The waterfall Elly and I jumped from.
Kids can usually jump from that flat spot in the upper left, but the water was too shallow that day.
Beautiful view on the way to the next falls.
Poza Azul waterfall
There was volcanic clay in the rocks that you can rub on your skin like a mud mask.
Playa Hermosa. The waves here were much bigger and we weren't allowed to go out very far.
The guides set up a table with lots of fruit and snacks at the beach.
We saw a few sloths but they were just balls of fur in trees.
On our way to a platform jump and the waterfall slide.
Elly climbing the ladder to do the waterfall slide. She was the first in our group to try it.
People were also jumping from a spot just out of view in the upper right.
On our way to lunch.
Views from the restaurant (La Parcela)
Jungle snowflake.
There was a little trail and overlook at the restaurant.
Daily highlight video:
Wednesday: Parasailing, more beach, surf lessons
Getting harnessed up
And away they go!
They went up to around 600 feet in the air
Splash down!
This day we had a tent with chairs, boogie boards all day and they dumped buckets of water on the sand to make a path to the tent. The sand is scorching hot in the afternoon.
Cute little puppy hiding in the Magic School bus
Eating lunch at the Magic School bus
Arroz con Camarones. Delicious. We found that a lot of places that we thought would be 'fast food' like eating out of a school bus next to the beach were not fast at all. They seemed to make everything fresh everywhere we went.
Back in the water. We were wet most of the week. The kids would want to get in the pool right after getting back from the beach and sometimes we'd just want to be dry for a little while.
Surfing lessons
Elly was a natural
We came home to coconuts for everyone!
Happy birthday Papa!
Daily highlight video:
--------- more parasailing videos at the bottom----------
Thursday: souvenir shopping, and more beach
The kids' bedroom.
Bedroom balcony where they would sit in the mornings.
Iguana under the deck.
View from the very steep backyard.
A Grackle visited us at least once a day and liked to take baths in the pool.
Souvenir shopping
Quick snack at a nice bakery (Bon Bonete)
We tried to get to another beach but there was nowhere to park so we ended up at the same beach to cool off.
The only geocache in the area was in an open hotel lobby.
Dinner at El Avion for Vicky's birthday
Inside of the plane that is inside of the restaurant
View from the restaurant
Monkeys on the roof
Tuna and shrimp. So good.
The kids learning how to make pina coladas
Signing the guest book
Daily highlight video:
Friday: last morning before we had to drive back to San Jose
The driveway to the house was ridiculously steep
One last visit from the monkeys
And one last swim in the pool
The tree above the pool was constantly dropping these flowers into the pool.
Passing through a palm plantation
There was a traffic jam outside the car rental place so it took forever to get an Uber to the hotel
View from our hotel
It was raining so we couldn't go to the pool so we went to the mall attached to the hotel. These cracked me up.
It was a nice, huge mall
It was back to school time in Costa Rica and the kids refused to pose next to anything that said back to school
They had a real toy store like we used to have
Dinner at the hotel restaurant
The kids made a fort in the hotel room.
Up at 4 am again, waiting for the shuttle
Breakfast at the airport
Waiting after we had to get off the plane. We almost took off at 7am, but didn't leave until 11:30. On the plus side we didn't get norovirus.
Back in Chicago and 30 degree weather.
Daily highlight video:
------More parasailing footage from the drone------
No comments:
Post a Comment