Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio

New favorite fruit - Lychees

 As I settle in to write about this week the theme that keeps popping into my head is new things.  Simple as that! This week we all tried new foods, went new places, tried out a new sport, tried out new ways of getting around and pushed ourselves to new levels physically and mentally.  It was a good week for us to see what we are truly capable of doing and it felt awesome to put ourselves out there!!
Monday was  grocery day, which is always a long trip into Quepos, so we decided to go in early with the idea to try out a few new soda shops and fill our bellies for lunch.  Sodas are what Costa Ricans call restaurants that are usually in open spaces, smaller and serve local food dishes.  They often look dingy, with that hole in the wall feel but that is what makes them so unique and worth the experience.  The food is amazing and way cheaper than your regular restaurant.  We tried out yucca, chicken empanadas, baked plantains, natural fruit juices and pizza baked in stone outdoor ovens.  The staff were so helpful and had a good laugh at us Canadians trying to figure out what we were actually eating.  We also made our way down to the Marina that day which was very beautiful but very quiet this time of year. With it being low season and not fishing season either, it was like a ghost town!

After a day at home we planned for a day out and about Wednesday.  Made our way by taxi to the next town over, 30 min drive, called Dominical.  A small, laid back surf town was what we found and it was really neat to walk around and checkout the surfing and all of the shops.

From there, we found a taxi driver who would drive us up into the mountains, 17kms, to the Nauyaca Waterfalls, which is ranked in the top 5 for all of the waterfalls in CR. We were a little nervous to be honest when we were dropped off basically in the middle of the rain forest beside a sign that said Nauyaca Waterfalls - 4km!!  Were we prepared for this? Enough water? Enough snacks? Hike 4km there and back, with 3 kids in +30 weather??

  Well, WE DID IT!!! Why not??  We are here for the adventure and the experience, so away we went!  Totally worth the unbelievably hot and sweaty hour and a half hike that was uphill!! Once we arrived at the top and could hear the waterfall in the distance we were all so excited and pumped to see it, we actually forgot how hot and tired we were! There were two levels to the waterfall, the top was very high and dangerous to swim.  The lower level wasn't as strong and you could go in the water if you were careful of the current. I have never been that close to a waterfall of that size and magnitude, it was so amazing.  It was such a powerful force of nature that it was quite overwhelming to me, a feeling that I never expected.  There is so much beauty in this world and we witnessed first hand one small piece of it. We will never forget that 8km hike or that waterfall!!

Bamboo

Hiking trail

Mountainside view on hike

Upper Waterfall

Lower Waterfall

It took us 1 1/2hrs to hike up, 1hr to hike down and then about 2 days to recover!! haha  We were all physically exhausted but the feeling of accomplishment was so strong we all felt good about what we had done and would do it all again!  Good stuff!
After a day day of rest and school we were ready to head out again and this time we chose to try surfing.  The kids have been anxiously waiting to try but Nate had cut his big toe by the pool the last week so we have been waiting for it to heal up before we tried out surfing.  His toe would drag on the board when he was popping up so we didn't want it to break open again if he tried surfing too soon.  We decided to head down to the main beach by Manuel Antonio park and scout out the best deal for surf lessons.

Guys are set up everywhere willing to help you out and all for a "good price!" lol  Found this guy, Oscar, we had talked to last week and he offered to give all 3 kids a lesson for $50 American, pretty good deal!  In the end, the kids had a blast, got up on their boards and gained a ton of confidence out in the water.  We learnt, that Oscar is not a surfer, his helper was about 12 years old and we did get a good price! You pay for what you get though!  He was super nice and great with the kids, which we were happy about.  Part way through the lesson a guy came up to us and offered to help us, since we only had 2 guys teaching us, Doug was in the water with Nate trying to help him until one of the guys could teach him.  This new guy said he wouldn't charge us, just wanted to help.  He ended up spending time with Adison and he was awesome!! And an actual surfer!!  He took her way out into the water and waited for the right waves to come in and she was up and on her board in no time, it was amazing to watch! Even though he said he just wanted to help us we did pay him in the end as well, he was so good and helpful to us! We will be going to him again if we get another lesson, that's for sure!!  After the hour lesson we were able to rent the boards for the remainder of the day for $5 a board.  The kids played around and surfed the rest of the afternoon, came home pretty sore and tired. Great day on the water and a great day learning a new sport!!

Saturday was another recovery/ school day at home.  Nate started complaining about ear pain a couple of days ago and I had a feeling that he had water in there but then he woke up with it discharging fluid and a bit of blood.  Tough kid I tell you!! Our doctor back home had sent us with a few perscriptions as a safety measure in case something came up while we were away. We started him on medicine for an ear infection and he is doing better already.  Not sure if the ear issues in our family will EVER end!! ugh
Ended our busy busy week with another road trip, this time into a nearby city called Jaco.  Our plan was to head to Uvita but we missed our connecting bus so switched up our day on the fly.  Took one of the larger busses, like a Greyhound one back home, and rode the 1 hr 20min to get there.  Interesting place! It was very different from Quepos and Manuel Antonio, it was a busy city with tons of shopping and resturants.  Food was cheaper and in the stores prices were lower, but the beach wasn't as nice or inviting at all, that's just my opinion.  Thought it was a great day to try out something new and go somewhere new, but it was not my favorite place.  Jaco lacked charm and I can't say I felt safe all of the time, I felt we were being watched a lot. We were warned to really watch our stuff and to not be there once it got dark, something we haven't had to do at ALL here in MA. Oh well, we made it home safe and sound with the days experience under our belt.

Jaco Beach

Sorry for this extra long blog this week but it was tough to narrow things down to a small write up when we did so much and went so many places!  New things are sometimes the things that scare us or stop us from doing something we really would love.  Limits are set when we don't allow ourselves to open up to new possibilities.  This week was a true test to all of us on what we can do and how hard we can push ourselves. So, PUSH YOURSELF!! You would be surprised on what you can do!!  I can say this,  the kids set a new record for us this week on how proud we are of them. What they accomplished this week, few will ever do.  No one can ever take those experiences or that  feeling of pride away from them.  What they did, THEY did on their own!!  Our hearts are full!!

PURA VIDA!!

Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio

I 

This week has been a week of beaches and celebrations!  Can't complain about that, that's for sure.  Started off with the recommendation to head to one of the local beaches called Playa Biesanz.  It's actually on Trip Advisor as one of the must do's in the area.  Bussed it part way and then we decided to save the taxi money and just walk the rest of the way.  Well, it was a long hot 2 1/2km walk until we hit the hidden beautiful sandy beach. Well off the beaten path, would have missed the little trail through the rain forest to be honest if it wasn't for a local guy who stopped us and told us where to go, was the incredible beach! Again, because of it being green season here the beach was not busy at all and we basically had it to ourselves.  Great day watching the kids play, birds fish bombing and soaking up the rays while catching up on my latest good read!

   

Not only did we walk down to the beach we decided to push ourselves and walk back up the hill to the main road to catch the bus home, another 2 1/2km we went!!  The kids were such troopers, have to say I was tired myself but they kept on going!  So proud of them, and us too!!  Not having a car here has been one of our biggest challenges, even though we could rent one, we are trying to do things on this trip differently than we do things back home.  Easiest isn't always the best way to learn something either.  Kids won't forget having to walk everywhere, with all of our stuff in tow, anytime soon.  Life back home is easy and we want them to see things differently and so far I think they are doing a great job in recognizing just that. 
Decided to hit up the #1 ranked National Park in Costa Rica and have a school field trip day, so on Wednesday morning we packed up and went to the Manuel Antonio National Park. 

The park is around 680 hectares, with beautiful beaches and the hiking trails were all well kept.  We didn't hire a guide to tour us around, we are on a strict budget so we opted to tour ourselves around.  To be honest, we also didn't feel like we needed one either and we were right. There are guides everywhere with groups of people, so if they were all stopped and looking at something, we stopped too.  I had brought a pair of binoculars from home so we would just pull them out and use them when it looked like there was something to look at, worked awesome!!  Also, people we were so kind to us!  Many times they would tell us where to look and then some of the guides even offered for us to look into their special scopes, so nice of them!  Saw many huge spiders, lizards, fruit bats, caterpillars, snakes, crabs, one deer, a lemur(we think), a guinea pig thing(haha), a sloth in a tree, raccoons and a few white face monkeys.

We stopped at the first beach in the park, Playa Galardonada and it was crazy!! Monkeys and raccoons were running around the beach area and people were so excited. Once the kids got their fill of all the fun we walked down a bit, settled in, and went into the ocean to cool off.  We didn't last long!!! The raccoons kept coming out of the bushes and were sneaking up behind me trying to steal our bags.  Then the lizards kept on going in behind me and they all were FREAKING me out!! Not relaxing one bit!!  Doug and the kids had a good laugh at me but agreed we should move on and try out the other beach we had heard about. Found our new resting spot for the day at Playa Espadilla.  Another beautiful beach in Costa Rica!! Waves were bigger here and the riptide was stronger so we had to keep a closer eye on the kids, and our shoes!! A huge wave came in and all of our shoes were washed away, so after a mad scramble and a bit of a panic attack we were able to collect them all!  Funny now but it would have been an interesting hike home without them! Haha  After that, all of our belongings were put up the tree for safe keeping!

Sept 15th is a special day in Costa Rica, as it is their Independence Day. They celebrate every year, it commemorates the independence of the entire Central America from Spain which took place in 1821.  The celebration actually starts the night before at 6:00 with the singing of their national anthem and a smaller parade with lanterns.  We went in to Quepos for that and we watched on, not knowing for sure of what was going on and it was in the pouring rain.  Interesting night, that's for sure!! Went back into Quepos the next morning for 9:00 a.m to watch the actual Independence Day parade and it was amazing!! The costumes, music and bands were so beautiful to see and to listen to.  Nate was bummed that they didn't throw candy but the kids loved it anyway. Haha

Finished up our week with the biggest celebration of all, Adison's birthday!!!!! YAH!!! She was so excited that she was having her birthday out of country and that she was finally going to be 11. The day was her choice, so she chose to head back to Playa Biesanz but this time no walking, she requested a taxi. Haha  For dinner that night she chose to go to El Avion, which is a super neat restaurant/bar just down the road from us.  The setting is in and around a C-123 air plane, it was dismantled and shipped here from San Jose in 2000.
Pretty amazing story on how it came to be and a wonderful birthday night out for all of us! Memorable night for all of us!

Each day has been a great combination of school, family time, water fun, culture awareness and some quiet down time. Life here is very different and it makes us be different people. Nothing stays the same which is a good thing in my books because this year is about growth and learning.  Some days are trickier than others! Getting around takes time, we miss our family, friends and pets, surviving the heat and humidity is interesting, but in the end it makes us better people. Challenges us and we all love a good challenge!

PURA VIDA!!

Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio

We have been here a full week now and I believe that we will never be the same!!  This week has been amazing and has opened our eyes to so many new things. We have settled into a great routine of school work after breakfast, morning swim, lunch and then heading out to explore.  We have had the pleasure of being entertained by the Titi monkeys and the White-faces monkeys pretty much daily on our deck and swinging in the trees. Super cool that our kids can hear the sounds in the forest now and know that the Titi's are near, or hear the loud screeching of the Scarlet Macaws and be able to identify their sounds.  We are also getting used to the huge iguana on our roof banging around!! haha

Wednesday and Thursday were spent around the house waiting for our internet guy to show up and for me to nurse my migraine that hit me.  Terrible timing, I was not impressed!! Thank goodness for Doug and his amazing helping hands in the kitchen and basically everything else around here. Woke up Friday feeling like a million bucks so out the door we went!! It had rained all night, well poured!!! Can't believe how hard the rain can come down here, and it can happen so quickly but then stop in an instant. We have basically realized you just need to be ready for it all times and understand that is just how it is! The weather report means nothing here, you have to just go with it and be prepared to get wet! Worse things in life!! No need for my hair straightener or my blow dryer I packed, seems ridiculous now!! Haha  Oh well!

Enough about the rain, Friday was BEACH DAY!! Couldn't wait to get there and it didn't disappoint! Bussed down to Manuel Antonio beach which is right outside of the National Park entrance, it was very easy to get to since we rode the bus the other day just to check things out.  Funny story, well not really, but nothing we can do about it now but laugh!! We stepped off the bus and we were instantly crowded by vendors trying to sell us items and tours. The sidewalk was very narrow and it was also lined with many items for sale, in Doug's attempt to walk down the stairs to the beach he kicked a small pot over and broke it.  They were very dramatic about it breaking and kept saying "you pay, you pay!" Well, of course Doug paid, $20 American, and my money is on that they have pulled this scam before!! It all seemed a bit too organized and we were the suckers of the day! lol

Found our way to an amazing shaded spot on the beach to settle in for the day, the views were spectacular!!

We all had a great day but we also had a scary reminder on how dangerous the ocean can be!! We had been watching the kids play in the waves all day and never letting them go out to far.  It was fun until we heard yelling and then whisltes blowing. Two people ran out into the water to help a group of people who went out to far.  They were followed by two guys on surfboards and a seadoo, it was unbelievable how quickly people pulled together to help out. |The people ended up being ok so that was so good to hear, but it sure shook up the kids, us too!!
Saturday is the farmer's market in Quepos so we got up and headed in, once the rain stopped.  Pretty cool to experience the market and all of its goodies. Spent around $20 and we filled up on fresh fruit and veggies for the week, so amazing and fresh!! It was a great day for the kids in the sense that I think they put a little more thought into how easy it is for us to shop at back home!The whole process of getting groceries today took about 3hrs by the time we bussed there, shopped, walked back to bus station hauling bags of groceries and then bussed home.  Not so simple as a Costco run!! Plus it was about +29, sweat was dripping down their faces and backs. Good experience for them though!!

Sunday was an amazing morning of watching the Whiteface monkeys and 3 Scarlet Macaws with our wonderful neighbor Paula.  She is the owner, along with her husband Clark, of the hotel beside our house, Jungle Creek. Vacations.  She is so kind and helpful to us, I can't imagine this trip without her guidance. She is full of amazing information and is so willing to share it all with us. THANK YOU Paula from the bottom of our hearts!!
The afternoon seemed like a great time to take a hike, another one of Paula's recommendations. Behind our house is a path, well kind of, that follows along a creek to a waterfall called El Salto. Majority of the hike is actually in the water so it was definitely a different type of hike! Super cool experience and it was so beautiful walking through the rainforest. The hike took about 30min and it was a bit challenging at times navigating through the water, rocks and trees. Kids were rock stars though!!

Here we thought the hike was so great, but we were not prepared for how awesome the waterfall was!! Seeing it was a Sunday afternoon there was many local kids there hanging out and jumping from the top.  This was great for us because now we knew where we could actually jump and they were very willing to help us out. Nate was having trouble climbing the rope to get back to the top but a teenage boy was quick to help him out, so nice of him! They knew no English, but there was a lot of smiles being passed back and forth!! Universal language. I have to say I was extremely impressed with the kids and how they just jumped!! No convincing them or anything, bravery took over and they were so excited to go! Doug was the big guy on campus as well, but I took pictures and videos, maybe next time! Or not.

I was hoping to post a few videos of the jumps but the internet is very slow right now, thinking because of the rain, and they won't upload. Maybe another day! We have had a busy week and are loving every minute of it. Feeling very blessed to be here and we are soaking it all up.  The kids are pushing themselves to do new things and to experience life here in Costa Rica. Attitudes are positive and they are full excitement everyday to see what the day brings. 

 Change is good, change changes you!!

PURA VIDA!!!