So we went to Costa Rica.....

At the end of May Drew and I and our friends Tim and Rosie went to Costa Rica.
We joked that it was a mission trip, a mission to ourselves. Not that mission trips are a funny thing, we just felt like we needed a time of respite.
We were gone for 6 days, and it was the perfect amount of time. With a two hour time zone change, we could sleep till 8 and it felt like 10, and then we had the whole day before us.




This is the view from one of the balconies off our condo.
There was such a wide variety of landscape, white beach, peppery beach, jungle, mountainous volcano's, vast flats of farm land, and of course the ocean.

I quickly remembered the difference in how I like to vacation and how the other three like to vacation.
I like to sit on the beach with a drink and a good book and read and nap.
They like to explore and venture out. Apparently it was a easy decision, three "against" one.
I am glad that I went on all the excursions but, really,what mother of little kids, wouldn't want to just lie around for a good amount of time with a piña colada ?
Here are a few pictures from the trip.

One day we drove , and I use the term loosely, two hours, to Rincon de la Vieja Guanacaste Region. Which was great when we got there, except that the hike we were planning on going on was closed. I guess that's what you get when you think its a good idea to hike up to a volcano top.
So we went on a different trail that had a wide variety of terrain. Here are a few pictures from that venture.

Drew and Tim on the swinging bridge. There were these Ficus trees that were nothing like we had ever seen before, this root system was easily 20 feet wide surrounding the tree.

Some flora.



Some more.



This is the caution sign to warn hikers about the danger of the hot lava and water.
I hate to think about the moron that caused them to put up the sign.



I mean, what would make a person think that it would be a good idea to touch bubbling boiling water?



Or hot, moving mud?



Here is the growth since the volcano's last eruption. There are these huge rocks, 3 ft. in diameter, randomly placed in the field. Which I'm guessing used to be more forest like. We felt like at one point we'd be in the deep jungle, and then in like.... prairie land.

In the beginning of the hike, I commented that the terrain and the plants were seemingly very much like East Tennessee, and that held true until Drew found the monkeys. That's when we knew were weren't in just any mountian range.

If I die, 10 years earlier than I should, this little/monstrosity of a guy is the reason why.
Somehow for some dumb reason or another, I ended up at the front of the group while we were hiking, just for a short while. Within a mere flash of a second that came to a screeching halt .
As I distractedly reached out to steady myself on a small tree because the rocky path sloping downward, it wasn't until I was about 1 inch away did I notice this dude.
Yes, I screamed-had a heart attack-cussed-and almost blacked out all at the same time.
I am not a wimp, but this was to close to the wild for me.
Drew and Tim tried to tell me that he was more scared than I was, but I am not convinced.






Tim and Drew braving the frigid waters.



You cant tell from this picture, but this is where we lunched. There was a 30 foot waterfall to the right of us. It was very peaceful to listen to the water and eat our pb&j with limon pringles.



It was interesting getting to the forrest, we had to go through a working ranch, and pay the equvalant of a toll, just to get to the park.



The mountianous range in the back ground was the volcano where we had gone.