8/10/16: Zen after the Whale Tale

Wednesday, August 10

Well... This day started off interesting.  And before the sun even rose. Spencer fell out of bed. He's 13 and fell out of bed.  This bed was high!  To top it off... It had a bug net on it.  Let me just say... This bug net was no longer in tact after the fall.  He then kept sitting up and putting his hand through the hole.  I kept telling him to lay down.  It was bizarre to say the least. The rest of the night I was worried about him sleep walking.  He's been known to in the past... 

When morning came... We went down to talk to the ladies running the place.  I let them know about what happened and as I was telling her, Spencer said "what? I did?!"  I looked at him in shock.  How could one not know he fell out of a high bed?!  We were both in shock, just for different reasons.  But we did later find an open wound in his right elbow which would make sense from the fall.  

We then moved rooms from the tree house to the Flutterby House 2.  This was not because he fell out of bed.... But we only had the tree house rented for one night. Our new diggs were nice though.

I also took a few more pics of the area.

Breakfast was another delicious one... Smoothies, pancakes for Spencer, and an omelet & yuca cakes for me. 

After we were full and satisfied, we explored A nearby waterfall where you can slide down or jump off.  

Spencer decided not to try the slide or the jump but we enjoyed watching a few others make the leaps!

Back to Flutterby and then a 45 minute walk to what they call the Whale Tale.  It gets its name because during low tide, there is whale tale shaped peninsula that you can explore.  It's quite large and the pictures don't do it justice and you can hardly tell.  Here we were standing on the sandy part of the tale.  We were no longer on the straight beach.  On both sides of us there was water and out where we took the picture, the rocks/land went quite far in both directions. Hard to believe this isn't visible during high tide. 

We hung out here for a little bit and enjoyed the sand and water.

Spencer carried his football around with him quite a bit on our beach walks...  He knows he's missing football practice tonight so making sure he gets a little practice in! 

It was a hot day and the ocean water felt like bath water.  Very warm!  Spencer said he was getting tan and toasty!  He found a river with cold water. To cool off... He decided to take a short rest in it!

A little more fun on the beach taking some photos and chasing crabs and lizards. 

We were warned not to leave anything unattended as there has been some theft on the beach so most of our beach time, I didn't even bring my big camera.  If we were to go again, I would as there was so few people on the beach that I feel we would have been fine.  But... Better safe than sorry!

After we got back we decided to shower. Seriously, cold showers have never felt so good!

It was nice to have dinner feeling all fresh.  Spencer enjoyed the Sea bass sandwich and I had Falafel with rice & beans.  This was Spencers first time trying falafel and he really enjoyed it!  We also enjoyed a couple fun drinks after dinner. Good stuff!

It's become our tradition to end our night playing cards on the deck. 

We had a visitor tonight too...

Not looking forward to sleep... Did I mention it's hot?! 

8/9/16: flying through the rainforest... onto a new destination.

Tuesday, August 9

Another somewhat lazy morning listening to the rain.  Yes, it has rained every day. I guess this is what we get for coming during wet season.  But I will say... It hasn't interferred with too much and the rain is actually very refreshing.  

Before heading on our way to our tree house in Uvita today, we had to backtrack a little to head out on the zip line our friend Brent recommended.  Spencer was a little off today. I'm wondering if it was because last night he had a bit of a headache and the only thing I had was Tylenol PM. He slept plenty so it should have worn off by morning. He needed to sit down a lot and was just "off". That is so not like him!  He still enjoyed the zip line and even hung upside down for one of the lines.  Me?!  I was too chicken!!  I'm glad he did though!  It was fun to see the photo after.  However, we decided to save out $22 and not purchase it.  

Remember I said the rain hasn't really interferred??  Well, Today is one day the rain somewhat did. Our plan was to meet a family we had met our first night here.  They were from Chicago and had two boys... 1 and 2 years older than Spencer.  We were going to meet the Olsons at Manuel Antonio National Park to spot some monkeys and sloths.  I had been in concact with Julie and she even recommended we skip it.  They had been there two hours already and she said they only saw one monkey.  I almost went just for the one monkey!!  I will be disappointed if I leave Costa Rica without a monkey sighting!  We still drove through Manuel Antonio and talked about meeting them for a bite to eat but Spencer was still not himself and... It was pouring and we wanted to get to the Flutterby House before dark so we continued on.  

I had checked my email before leaving and got a message from the Flutterby house letting me know a bridge was out and we needed to take a detour.  The detour was barely a car width wide!

Nothing better than some off-roading!!  We've had the opportunity to do a lot of that here... Even some of their good roads are like off-roading!  It's been fun driving! Reminds me of some of the roads we encountered in Iceland!

Only one missed turn and we found it! What a unique and interesting place! They are very "green". Everything is recycled or composted. All the food is organic and local.  They have a decent menu but also have a kitchen if you want to make your own food. 

Here is our place for the night!  A tree house!!  How fun!!  Spencer thought it was awesome when he saw it!  He's never slept under a bed bug net... This trip is full of new experiences!

They also have a rock climbing wall. 

There are more people hear than we have seen at any of the places we've stayed.  It's not exactly "hippie", but boarder line.  Spencer said he loves the atmosphere.  They even have a ping pong table and you can rent bikes, boogie boards or surf boards.  Spencer may have to before we leave.  

We sat down for dinner and a refreshment.... Happy Hour jungle juice at 5 until it runs out for only €1000 which is less than $2.  And yummy!  Spencer had a Spunky Monkey smoothie which was milk, banana, coffee and cocoa. He found it delicious. 

Dinner was pretty amazing as well...  Spencer has a bacon sandwich, I had chicken and chips and salsa on the side. They have some green spread on the sandwich which is to die for!  And the chips and Salsa were amazing.  I'm fairly certain I am going home with a few extra pounds.  

I ended my night with a corona and lime but my line was a mandarine lime which is so amazing!  I wonder if they will let me bring some home?!  

Spencer rounded off the night with some Costa Rican ice cream which comes in a bag... He thought it was ok, but not the ice cream he was hoping for.  

Off to get my butt kicked in cards... Again!

8/7/16: A day that Spencer has been waiting for...

The beach!!

We woke up at 5:15 to head to the beach to try to catch the sunrise.  It was a bit cloudy but we got a little teaser...

On our way back... A man stopped us and gave us a coconut with a straw in it. I didn't have any money on me but he insisted I take it anyway. He must have talked for a good 7 minutes and it was all in Spanish.  What we understood is 1) he was ok that I didn't have any money and 2) that he was bitten by two alligators right down the beach.  Play charades is fun!  

We went back to have breakfast and get ready for the day on the beach.  

Breakfast started with a delicious smoothie!!  It was blueberry and I'm sure some other fruits.  Yummy, yummy!! 

We also had scrambled eggs and bread with rice and beans. A very typical Costa Rican breakfast. 

Then off to the beach.  We did make a pit stop to rent a boogie board.  

After we played on the beach a good part of the morning... We headed back to get ready for Spencers next adventure. At that point.... We noticed a visitor... A possum! 

Spencer decided to join Brent, Justin and Darious for a surfing lesson.  He was excited. Not nervous at all.  He got up on his second try and most after that. He caught on "surprisingly fast" as he described it himself.  I stayed in the beach and took photos of him and everyone else in the lesson.  The was a mother daughter from Britain.  Moms name was Amanda!  And there was one other boy about 3 years older then Spencer who is in a boarding school in Costa Rica.  

I took some pics of everyone and will share them with those I exchanged emails with.  The only fluke of surfing lessons was mine.  I was in the water between foot and low calf deep and right when things were wrapping up... I somehow knocked my lens shade off my camera.  Down into the ocean it went.  Most things that close to the shore tend to wash up... But this one got caught in the rip current and I couldn't grab it in time.  The Pacific Ocean now owns it. I just hope no sea creatures get tangled up in it!  

More photos to come...

After we got back and cleaned up... We headed about 2 miles down the road to the only restaurant in the area that was open.  Super cute, quaint place right in the water.  Shrimp and rice was the choice by both spencer and I.  The food was really good, but not as good as the place last night... But they are closed on Sunday's. 

Back to home base to settle in for the night. A couple games of cards (which Spencer of course won) and we were off to bed. It's interesting how tired the beach makes you!

8/8/16: A lazy morning...

Monday, August 8

I was woke at about 3am to a storm.  We lost power for about 20-30 minutes, but no big harm there.  I was hoping to get up and do a morning walk on the beach to try to capture the sunrise.  Sadly, it was still raining at 5:30 so not good conditions to capture the sun.  It was a bit too overcast. 

Instead... I found myself sleeping a little later and then moving to the hammock in the common area to just lay in peace and listen to the sounds.... Birds, roosters, the ocean and the rain.  It's peaceful here no matter what the weather.  If only there were monkeys running around... I'd think it was perfect! 

Another delicous breakfast.  Omlets with the most delicious bacon. And of course...  The blueberry smoothie.  I may need to get the recipe for that!

We then hit he beach for Spencer to boogie board for awhile before we had to turn it back in.   More Photos to come later. 

After we returned the boogie board, we decided to walk down the beach about 3 miles to the place we ate last night.  They had some appetizers that we thought would make a delicious mid afternoon snack.  About halfway, I stopped to take a couple photos.  While waiting for me, Spencer decided to throw his football and try to knock a coconut out of a palm tree.  Typically, they say "what goes up must come down" but apparently not when a palm tree eats your football. We estimated that it took him about 27 minutes to throw rocks and fallen coconuts at the tree to finally nudge it loose.  I do have some photos of this too that will have to be added later.  It was one of the first days I had my camera with me!  

Anyway... Back to our walk excited for those apps.  But... Much to our surprise... We got there and they were closed!!  Epic fail!  Either they are closed on Mondays or only open for dinner.  It seemed like a much longer walk back.  But.... We did find a smoothie place that helped break it up. 

Once back... We enjoyed a shower, put some nicer clothes on as we were planning to walk to Los Almendros for another amazing dinner.  Spencer cannot wait to have the shrimp and rice again.  The only problem we had... The walk turned into driving as it started pouring right as we were going to head out the door!  For some reason, the rain is way more tolerable here!! 

I'm not sure that I even want to mention that we ended the evening playing cards.  I think Spencer must be cheating!!  There is no way he can be that lucky!  

We move tomorrow... So calling it an early night!  

8/5/16: Falling & flying through the rain forest...

Friday, August 5

We awoke to the sounds of nature.  I love that sound!  After we showered and got ready for our day, we walked around the grounds where we are staying.  Last night after the near monsoon rain... We thought we heard a waterfall so we were on a mission to find it.  We did find where  the waterfall would have been but realized what we heard was the runoff from the rain and wasn't an actual waterfall.  We are right on the edge of a very steep ravine so not a ton of area to walk and explore but we only had a half hour before breakfast anyway so of course... I requested Spencer be my model for a couple quick photos.  

We sat down to a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, fresh mozzarella cheese and toast along with  some of the best OJ I've tasted.  Yummy!  Spencers been talking about it all day and he's not even an egg person.  

After breakfast we were off to do some shopping in Fortuna.  As the decent mom I consider myself to be, I couldn't let Spencer go all the way through day 3 still wearing the same clothes.  Lucky for me... He's a boy and a tshirt and a pair of swim trunks made him happy!!  Besides... We needed a change of clothes for our activity of the day... Canyoning aka: Waterfall Rappelling.

After we found some new clothes, we attempted to go to the bank.  Let me tell you... That bank will never be robbed.  It was almost like walking through the machine at the airport, except a door actually closed you in before the other side would open.  It was crazy.  And you had to take a number like you do when you return something at Walmart. Needless to say... The wait was too long and we didn't want to waste any more of our time so we left and got ice cream instead.  It may have been the best ice cream I've ever tasted.  Yum!  

A couple more hours to kill brought us to a waterfall that you can swim at the base of.  On our way there, we pulled over to check out a bridge and the small river under it.  We saw the coolest thing.  Spencer said it was crazy.  We saw an ant colony.  It was seriously was straight out of the movie A Bugs Life. These little tiny creatures were carrying things much larger then themselves.  And there were thousands of them all walking in a line.  It was quite incredible to watch. These photos aren't great and don't do it justice... I wish we would have had more time to try to perfect one! 

Not much further down the road, we found the waterfall and certainly got our workout in.  I almost wish we would have counted the stairs up and down. It was quite a workout but I didn't have the attention span to count that much!  Here is what we found when we reached the bottom:

By the time we made it back to the top.... We were hot and thirsty.  One of the things Spencer wanted out of this vacation was a pina colada. Well... This was the perfect time for it!!

And I had a strawberry, pineapple and passion fruit smoothie.  Delicious and refreshing!!  But now it's time to leave so we can get back to our hotel and get ready for the real excitement of the day!!

We were picked up about 10 minutes late which made us nervous given our luck so far.  Right when we started talking about that, they showed up!  We then commented on how perhaps our luck is turning around and today is the day it all changes.  

We had about a 20 minute drive and it was only us and one couple from France.   They were very nice!  We talked about how long we were all staying and our flights.  Ironically... They had lost luggage as well. But they had gotten theirs back after one day.  We are on day 3! 

Anyway... We arrive and they get us all of our gear and we get back in a truck for another 5 minute drive. Right when we get there... It started raining.  Victor, our main guide, says "welcome to the rainforest". We really didn't care as we were going to be getting wet anyway!  

A quick picture to start our journey...

After our safety instructions, we start hiking to the first waterfall. It wasn't just a walk in the park... More a walk in uneven rocks at varying degrees of difficulty. 

The first waterfall was short, about 40 feet, but a little difficult just because we were getting our grips on how to maneuver. 

Between each waterfall... We had to hike to the next through the water and crevasses in the mountains. Absolutely amazing to be in the midst of this amazing nature!  

The second waterfall was super short, about 15 feet, but it was very narrow. Before we got to the next waterfall, we had a different sort of adventure.  There was a water hole in the midst of our hike.  In order to continue through.... The only was was to jump in this waterhole. It also was not vey large.  We were told to jump straight down and to keep our elbows tucked in.  It was narrow.  Maybe 4 feet.  And maybe 6 feet long.  But the water was 7 feet deep. 

Let me pause and point out that I thought I would get cold.  This whole experience was so refreshing!  The waterhole being the most. 

The third waterfall was big. I didn't like looking over the edge.  It was about 120 feet. It was spooky for me to stand on the edge getting ready to rappel, but once in motion... So much fun!!! 

As we were walking to the next waterfall... One of the guides was laying down across the river. He said he was tired and needed a nap. We just giggled and continued on. A short time after, one of the other guides told us to sit down and got us all situated. We thought this was simply a photo opp, which it was... With a twist. 

Here is before:

Here is during the surprise:

So... The guide we passed was laying down to create a damn.  As soon as he stood up... We got soaked!  This too, was amazingly refreshing!!  What a blast!! 

The last was around 250-280 feet.  Let's just say it was tall!!!  This was the most fun though....  After the first 12 feet repelling... We got to let go of the rope and essentially zip line the rest of the way down.  

At one point in our hike... the sun came out and it was just amazing!  

This was certainly a fantastic and adventurous experience!!

After the fun adventure was over.... They sat us down to the most amazing meal!  It was chiken and potatoes. So delicous and  flavorful.  Along with a small salad, there was a generous portion of rice, beans and some vegetable concoction and the last thing on the plate, I believe was fried plantain.  Delicious.  This whole experience was amazing.  Simply amazing and epic. 

Once back at the hotel, I decided to call on Spencers bag again.  For some reason I couldn't get through on their phone so I decided to just use mine and deal with the cost that would come along with it as I was getting nervous the bag would come after we leave here tomorrow.  Just incase anyone wants to know... You need to dial a + before the number.  And to do so... You need to hold down the 0 until it turns into a +.  There you go... I just saved you 20 minutes trying to figure that out!  Or maybe I'm the only slow one.  Hehe.  I got a very nice lady who told me the bag was en route.  Although, I believe they told Roxie that yesterday.  Here's hoping!!  As we finish up our night, we decided to go play in the hot spring pool again. Not the same with out the monsoon rain, but tonight was very peaceful.  Spencer decided to wear his new outfit so I made him let me take a pic before jumping in! 

Notice the volcano in the background is playing hide and seek with cloud cover.  We were not able to find it at all today.  Glad we saw it yesterday!  

We spent the rest of the night in the pool...  Found more ants at our place that were working very hard... Played another game of war (pretty sure Spencer somehow riggs the cards!)

We decide to call it a night around 9:15 and head back to the room.  A bit later we have a knock on the door.  It was a beautiful sound. The luggage is here!!!  Day 3 at 9:35 pm, and Spencer finally has his clothes!!  I would say our earlier prediction that things were turning around came true...  Spencer is so excited to have cloths, he hugged his suitcase and already picked out his outfit for tomorrow!!  

Sweet dreams from Costa Rica!