Our Costa Rica Quest

8:30 a.m. - Shhhhh!!! The Limo surprises the kids and arrives to pick us up at the House to take us to O'Hare. The kids were so surprised and could hardly believe it. 2-8:45-pm Airplane Ride. Smooth Flying! 9:00 pm - Walk out San Jose Airport and see our Driver from Adventure Life waiting for us with a "Maki" sign. 9:30 pm - Arrive at Hotel LeBergerac (beautiful and clean). We are pleasantly surprised we get two rooms (one for my family of 4 and one for my mother-in-law). Hotel Staff delivers our drinks to our rooms and we hit the sack for the early departure to begin our adventure into Costa Rica.

6:15 - A very nice, large, air conditioned van comes to transport us to Tortuguero, right on time. There is a very nice driver and our guide. The guide spoke great english and informed us greatly about things we would see. The guide also educated us about the past and present condition of the rainforests of Costa Rica and its history. Very educational for our children and us. 7:30 - Stopped for breakfast at Selva Tropical Restaurant (Excellent food, great service. Children ate great and really enjoyed the butterfly garden). BANANA PLANTATION TOUR: Stopped at a real banana plantation where we got to get out of the bus and walk around to see the entire process of harvesting and packaging bananas. Outside the plant some men were selling coconuts. Our son enjoyed that. That was one thing he was extremely excited to try. BEAUTIFUL BOAT RIDE/TOUR: Next we hopped on board our boat that would take us to our hotel in Tortuguero. It was very fast paced and we were able to see a Crododile basking in the sun on the banks of the shore. Amazing tour in itself, with spotting of other wildlife along the canals of Torteguero. TOUR OF VILLAGE: Stopped at a Tortuguero village along the canals where we were guided and educated about the people of Tortuguero and witnessed their education, living conditions and their ways of living, both past and present. ARRIVE AT TURTLE BEACH LODGE: Special Drinks awaiting us. Kids loved the fruit and umbrellas. Found our spacious/clean rooms. No air, but it was extremely cool sleeping in an entirely screened room. Amazingly, there were no bugs in the room at all! Enjoyed lunch and all the chef had prepared. The food here is extremely good. Again, kids loved everything which I was concerned about prior to leaving for this vacation, but pleasantly surprised how much they are eating the food. TOUR TURTLE BEACH: Get a chance to relax so we hit the turtle shaped pool for a while and then head to the beach where we had fun finding many, many sand dollars. 7:00 p.m. Went to another fabulous open air dinner. My daughter asked "Mom, how many days have we been here?" and I said, "This is only day two of eight". She said, "No Way! It seems like we have done so many things in just one day".

4:50 A.M. CANAL WILDLIFE TOUR: Our guide wakes us up with a knock on the door for our 5:30 am canal tour. What a beautiful way to start the morning. We were able to see: a caman, all three types of monkeys (Howler, White faced, Spider), iguanas, nocturnal birds, Jesus Christ Lizards walking on water. And when we returned one of the gardeners of the Lodge had found a Boa Constrictor and we all got great photos of that! 8:30 a.m. Breakfast with always fresh made juice of the day! Different every day! RAINFOREST WALK/TOUR: Once again our guide takes us on a tour of the forest. But first hits the coconut trees. Teaches us all about the diferent stages of the coconut and the benefits to drinking its juices especially before going on long, hot walks for hydration. (GOOD THING, WE NEEDED IT!) Cuz we hiked past, through, over, under, large rainforest plants and trails in our special rubber boots (provided by the Lodge). This was HOT and MUGGY and had lots of MOSQUITOES. But I would do it all over again and again. We got to see and learn about so many plants and animals. The kids loved the eye-lash viper snake, the blue-jean venemous frog, etc... This was the very reason we came, to walk in the rainforest. SIESTA! After an early morning start, we thought we should get a small rest so the kids were ready to go on the next adventure: Night Walk with the Turtles! NIGHT TURTLE WATCH TOUR: 8:30 pm - Another boat ride, except this one in the black of night! How exciting! We got to witness a green back sea turtle lay her eggs, cover them, camoflage them, and then walk by its side as it returned to sea. A MIRACLE!! That was amazing to watch and be a part of. A gift from God!

We had to say goodby to Turtle Beach but now we were on to the next adventure: BATS! This day was spent transfering back (all perfectly arranged and ALL ON TIME!)to the middle (or so) of Costa Rica to a nice little country inn called La Quinta de Sarapiqui. Nice little Inn with nice, clean rooms (still no air conditioning, but heavily supplied fans and screens). Lots to look at: butterfly garden, lagoons with caymen, beautiful flowers, tubing down a river, educational wildlife books, etc. Nice staff, good pool, great food! 7:00 p.m. BAT TOUR: A Costa Rica Rep came to pick us up from hotel, right on time, and take us to the Tirimbina Reserve. We were met by a Biologist of Bats who educated us on the myths and truths of bats. We got to sit in an air-conditioned room (which at the time felt marvelous!) We learned much and even got to touch and see up close (very close) five different bats. GREAT Pictures! The kids thought that was cool! Especially watching mom, Freak Out about being so close to those things!

Start off with great breakfast and hummingbird watching off our bedroom porch. Get packed up to leave for our next adventure: White Water Rafting with Aguas Bravas. Again, get picked up right on time by Aguas Bravas and head to river. We were met by our rafting guide and carefully instructed of safety measures. I was a little concerned about my nine year old, however, our guide was the best and made sure I knew he would protect her "as if she was my own", he said. My daughter was not real sure about going on this adventure, however she now says it was by far her most favorite part of the trip. These guys at Aguas Bravas are first class and know exactly what they are doing and enjoy every minute of it. I have to say this was the most memorable thing ever! My 65 year old mother-in-law was amazing and even fell out. But was completely fine and everyone (especially the kids) will never forget how "grandma fell out of the raft". What an amazingly fun, fun, time! The Best! After rafting they served us probably the best food we had! And that says alot since everything we ate on this trip was great! Next we meet our driver (right on time) to take us the rest of the way to La Fortuna to Arenal. What a blessing this gentleman was. He was such a special driver to us. He asked what we "haven't seen on our vacation yet?" We said, "sloths and toucans". Guess what, he made sure he found a sloth sleeping in a tree along the side of the road. He pulled over, stopped the car, got out and we all got to see one and take its picture. Very Cool. Then he took us to a restaurant where there are a million iguanas and my kids fed one an ice cream cone by hand. It was beautiful. Our driver was especially kind and took us even to the grocery store before we got to our next hotel, Lomas Del Volcan.

Although you didn't know what you were missing with air-conditioning until you had it again. Wow, dry clothing and no sweat! Lomas Del Volcan is very nice! Sitting out on our porch, overlooking the volcano and having in-room coffee is like being in heaven. BEAUTIFUL! 90 MINUTE GUIDED WALK: Start this day off with a good breakfast and a 90 minute walk along the volacano with a guide. Again, very educational and were able to witness cool things like a CORAL SNAKE, a rubber tree, vines, turkeys, and many, many toucans! Unfortuneatly, because of the rainy season, we were unable to see the top of the volcano, but still neat all the same. NEXT: HORSEBACK RIDING TO LA FORTUNA WATERFALL: We booked this excursion on our own through the hotel. They recommended them and it was a good one. This was a surprise for my daughter. My horse was named, Maripazona, my husband had Homer, my son had Pa Snow Snow, my daughter had Tequila and Grandma had a spanish name we could not pronounce, but she said it was "slow and steady". We spent an hour horseback riding to the waterfall. Walked down 482 steps, swam in the cool, clear water and took many pictures of the aweness of the waterfall, then walked back up 482 steps (yes, grandma beat half of the men back up to the top, she is Superwoman!) and rode another hour back. Great Excursion! Many memories and I think my son loved the horses more then he ever would admit to!

We start the day off with our last adventure before transfer back to San Jose to catch our flight back to the States: Its Zip Linning! ZIP LINNING: Again we set this excursion up through the hotel and it was great. The place is called Ecoglide and they are fabulous! My son thought this was the best adventure yet! The team of guides were very thorough and made us very comfortable with what to do! Because of the wet lines and rain it was hard to stop and so they were awesome with my mother-in-law and always helped her out with stopping! Bronco was very kind and helpful to her! After zipping through the trees and seeing the beauty we were offered a Tarzan Swing. Which is a 50 ft free fall drop until the swing kicks in and you are swinging over the canapy back and forth. Stomach dropping fun! Everyone did it, yes even grandma! In fact, she was the only one who did not scream like a baby! What wonderful memories! At the end of the tour, we were offered a drink and reviewed all the great photos the photographer took! Thanks Ecoglide! 11:30 Transportation arrived to take us back to San Jose. Again we were blessed with another great driver who stopped to show us parts of this beautiful country and even bought us some local fruit from the side of the road which was crazy looking, but wonderful tasting! Our driver took us to lunch at a little, little, place along the side of the road (not a part of the trip plan) and even took us to a souvenir shop before finally arriving in rush hour traffic in downtown San Jose. I never have seen rush hour like theirs! Back at Hotel LeBergerac! Dinner at Hotel Restaurant: This dinner was very memorable. Not part of the package, but a must do! The restaurant is located right in the hotel and very fancy. French! Men have to wear long pants and no open toed shoes! We ordered a bottle of wine, had the kids get all dressed up and enjoyed a very delicious meal to cap off the worlds greatest vacation! Thanks Adventure-Life! For complete perfection!!!

3:45 am our transportation to the airport arrives. However, not before the hotel staffs makes sure we had coffee waiting for us in the lobby and bananas for the kids to eat! What a gracious staff at Hotel LeBegerac! 6:30 Airplane leaves to United States and head for home! Definitely will go back and visit Monteverde Cloud Forest and the Pacific side of Costa Rica and all the adventures that await us there! Grandma Included!!!