Tue, 30 Jun 2009
Costa Rica Days 7-10We spent two days at the beach. On e of the days was at a national park where we saw monkeys and the sand was white. In most of the rest of the country the beaches are black because of the volcanoes. Either way, the beaches have so much life on them. Every shell has a crab or a snail in it. We even had a crab in our hotel room.
The beaches were great for "Super Blancos" like we are. You could sit in the shade and still enjoy the beach. We survived without sunburns. The water was warm and wonderful for swimming.
After the beach, we traveled back to San Jose for our last two nights. On the way there, we stopped at an oxcart factory. Perhaps you have seen the beautiful painted oxcarts that are "typical" in Costa Rica? It was neat to see these artisans at work.
The last day of the trip we went whitewater rafting. The rapids were class two and three. It was a nice end to a really fun trip.
Costa Rica Days 4-6
I mentioned how nice it was to have someone else do the cooking and cleaning up while we were on vacation. The food we ate was good. I was in heaven to have fresh pineapple and fresh juice at just about every meal. We did have a lot of beans and rice (three times a day!) but had a variety of other things with it. I did take a picture of every meal we ate, because I like doing such things, but will not post them all here.
We saw lots of rain and cloud forests, and lots of birds, but one of the most exciting things we did was go zip-lining through the forest canopy. I thought this sounded fun but had no idea how much fun it would be. The "extreme" zip-lining course that we did was set up with fourteen zip lines, one rappel, and a Tarzan swing. The last zip line was over a kilometer long. You are attached to the line so it is safe, but must put on the brakes with your gloved hand. Marc was behind me and he would come in so fast, smoke would be coming from his glove!
We visited a local elementary school where they did regional dances for us. This group of 8-11 year olds are the best in the country for their ages. It is a very rural school (of 15 kids) and they were very impressive. Our visit was also a highlight for me.
We visited a high school the next day where we participated in a reforestation project and planted a tree each. Good luck to my tree. I think I heard it wimpering as I selected it.
The following morning we loaded the bus and drove down to the Pacific coast.
Here we went on a bird and crocodile tour that was on a large river that emptied to the sea.
It also included some mangrove swamps that were filled with a great variety of birds. The adults were the ones mostly enjoying the bird watching, but kids and adults alike were impressed with the crocodiles, especially when our boat driver got out of the boat, BAREFOOTED, and fed them some chicken with his bare hands.
We ended up at our nicest hotel yet, which was located right off a beautiful beach.
Jan Dill Hall St. Peters, Missouri
Page created: 09 November 2008
Page modified: 31 December 2009
