From the beach to the books....

Well, our trip finally came to an end, and we are back in Salt Lake. We decided that we didnt want to drive home in the middle of the night just to make the first day of school, so we ditched it and stayed the night in Vegas. Now we are back in school, spending more time studying that anything else. Our first week back was a busy one, if you remember we moved apts the day before we took off on vacation so we came back to a house full of boxes. We spent this week unpacking and decorating our new diggs. This weekend Brian's sister Heather flew into town to visit for the weekend, so we are having a great time hanging out with her.

Can you get a sunburn on top of a sunburn....?

Why, yes you can!! All you have to do is take a look at Jenn today. So today we went back to the National Park to a different beach than we were at the other day. This one was almost totally deserted. It was awesome! We spent the morning swimming in perfectly clear water, and snorkeling around the reef. Also we spent a good deal of time fighting raccoons, at one point, there was one inches from Jenns unknowing hand ready to steal her granola bar, luckily Brian was there to warn her. (After it got really really close that is) After a few hours in what we thought was a spot mostly out of the sun we realized that were getting deeper sunburns, so we called it a day. On the way home we went to the street market for some good old fashion haggling. We got some pretty cool things to bring back and probably put in storage with all the other things we bring back from trips. Tonight we went back to the beach to watch the sun set. It was beautiful, and sad to know this is our last day at the coast. Tomorrow we leave for San Jose to catch a flight home on Sunday. We capped off our night with dinner at el Avian. Its a restaurant at the hotel that is build into an old CIA plane.Brian building "sand castles"

Jenn pretty much alone on the beach

At Sunset

The street market

Briand in front of the plane restaurant

Another Day at the beach....

Well, today we started the morning by letting the sun wake us up....which is at 530 am in Costa Rica. We decided to eat breakfast in our hotel room so Brian used his new pineapple cutting skills to make a fresh fruit spread. Then it was off to the beach. We went to the public beach that is right alongside our hotel. We have been using the public buses here because they pick up and drop off right in front of the hotel. In fact we have seen that they will usually stop whenever there is someone on the side of the road and pick them up, and they will let you off wherever you want. And it only costs like 50 cents for all day, unfortunately there are only people on the bus, we thought there would be chickens and goats like every South American bus on TV. So we took the bus to the public beach, it was another perfect day, too perfect we ended up looking like a pair of lobsters at the end of the day. On the public beach there are about a hundred guys renting chairs and umbrellas for 6 bucks a day. We got some from a guy who was stoked to meet us because he has a son named Brian. He was so excited that later that day he brought his wife and "little Brian" over to meet us. After a hot hot day at the beach we got take out on the way home and hung out in the hotel room. Jenn was out like a light before 830, gotta love vacation.

Before

After

This is where we spent the day

The arrow is pointing to our hotel from the beach

Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio

This is the beach we were at today

Today we spent our first full day in the tiny town of Manuel Antonio, and it was amazing! We are spending our last 5 days in the same hotel, we have a sweet view of the ocean from our balcony. We get to watch the sun set from there. Today we went to Manuel Antonio national park. It was perfect weather today so we hiked through the park to the beach. It was the most serene beach that we have been to in Costa Rica. White sand, calm waters, a coral reef to snorkel around....it was great. Also there was a family of racoons that were trying to get to everyone's food supplies. They must have been fed from coolers before because as soon as one hit the beach they were all over it. We literally spent the whole day laying in the sand and swimming in the ocean, a perfect day!

Jenn hangin on the beach

The racoon trying to steal food

Sunrise from our balcony

Tarzan....what?!?

Being that Aranal is the highest point in Costa Rica, we decided that we should take advantage of the views. We woke up early this morning to go on a canopy tour. We hiked so far up the mountain side we were literally in the clouds. We successfully survived 15 zip lines and one Tarzan swing. The Tarzan swing is a repelling rope tied up to a tree. You free fall about 40 feet before the rope catches and the swing begins.YIKES! Today is our last day in La Fortuna, We are now headed to Manuel Antonio, on the Pacific Coast. The beaches there are suppose to be some of the most beautiful beaches in the WORLD!

Volcano, Waterfall, and Hot Springs.....

Today we had a busy day in the Arenal Volcano area. We woke this morning and looked out our hotel window to see that the volcano was actually visible. Apparently over 70% of the time you arent able to see the volcano, so we got a real treat. Our hotel faced the inactive side of the volcano but we could still see smoke billowing out all day. After breakfast we took a hike to the La Fortuna waterfall, we hiked up and then went for a dip at the pool in the bottom. The water was amazing, it was nice and cool, a break from the usual water we have experienced. Later in the day we joined a tour group that took us on a hike through the rain forest at the base of the volcano. We spend a couple hours learning about the volcano, the plant life and the animals that live in the jungle. We also saw a bunch of monkeys again today. After that we drove around to the active side of the volcano to chance it and see if there was any lava flowing, luckily for us we got there just as some started coming down. After hanging out there for a while we went to Balhdi hot springs, its a resort that has pools that are natural hot springs feeding from around the volcano. They ranged from 94 to 152 degrees. We put our toes in the hottest one, but that was all we could manage. It was a great way to relax from a busy day halfway though our trip

Brian swimming in the waterfall pool

Arenal Volcano

La Fortuna waterfall from a distance


Jenn Hiking in the volcano rainforest

Lavaflow at volcano

Rain...in a rainforest.....who knew?

After 5 days of humidity and lots of walking we decided that today we needed a break and rented a scooter for the day. It was pretty fun since neither of us had ever drove one before, evident halfway through the day when Brian drove us into a ditch.... No harm though, it was already pretty banged up, and we walked away without a scratch to continue our day around the area. We went really far south today to a beach near the border of Costa Rica and Panama, It being a holiday weekend it was packed ! But when we got there it was perfect clear blue, calm waters. Then, the rain hit. It started pouring on us. So we packed up the scooter and headed back to town, By the time we got back we were soaked! We spent the rest of the day exploring Puerto Viejo, where at one point Jenn had a pack of 6 dogs trying to get her ice cream cone, (don't worry...none of them were successful.) Tomorrow we leave the beach for the volcano regions.

The beach across from our new hotel

Downtown Puerto Viejo

Manzillo Beach (before the downpour)

Brian (after the downpour)

Day 5 in paradise

Jenn in front of our Puerto Viejo hotel

Today we said goodbye to our first Caribbean town and headed 15 miles or so down the dirt road to another called Puerto Viejo. This morning we went on a tour with another couple we met at our hotel. We started out by driving down along the Panamanian border along all the banana plantations and ending up on the Bri Bri reservation. The Bri Bri are a native people who were here before the Spanish. There we went on a walk around a families home and got to see how they live, as well as a demonstration on the different plants they use for medicines. We also got to see a white-faced monkey that the family had found up in the mountains with a broken foot that they were nursing back to health. It was cool, the dad was feeding it with a baby bottle. After the visit we hiked down to a waterfall and went for a swim underneath it. Then we went to a native chocolate making demonstration. Finally the tour ended at an Iguana farm where a local family is single handedly keeping the iguana population from going extinct. After the tour was over we checked into our next hotel. This one is similar to the first in that it is a collection of little bungalows set in the jungle. The rest of the day was spent exploring the town and the beach.

This is the native's house... 16 people live in this one room house

Feeding the injured monkey

Hiking down to the waterfall

Brian under the falls

chocolate making demonstration

Re-populating the endangered iguana population

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Today we made the 2 mile hike to Cahuita National park. On one side, just steps away from the trail was the Caribbean ocean. On the other side of us was the Jungle. We saw all sorts of wild life. Monkeys, sloths, Iguana, huge butterflies, blue crabs, and one dog whom followed us the entire way. Later that night we tired to blend in with the locals to celebrate the New Year ( and stuck out like sore thumbs). Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Entrance to the park

a baby sloth sleeping in a tree

a family of monkeys in the trees

Jenn pointing out the adult sloth in a tree

Brian in front of the beach on the park trail