Costa Rica, Part 1

Bear and I ended up in Costa Rica for a week.  We went with a couple from Bear's work, their names are Mike and Jessica.  We stayed at an all inclusive resort in the Province of Guanacaste.  We enjoyed beautiful 90 degree sunny days!  It was wonderful going to that, with winter still going strong at home.

I took quite a few pictures, so I broke them up into 3 parts.  Hoping this way, whoever chooses to look will not get too bored. :-)

The view from the coffee shop, we happened to go to a lot!! You can see parts of 5 pools that were there, and also the Pacific Ocean.

Coffee break.

We took a taxi into Coco Beach Sunday afternoon.  It was so hot, we found some sort of smoothies to slurp down.

Bear enjoying vacation.

Downtown Coco Beach.

Enjoying the view and the warm weather.

Doing some shopping.

Another view of town.

We walked to Coco beach.

Coco Beach.  So pretty!

Love this of Jess!  She was looking for shells.

Love the lines in the sand!

Us.  We did not take very many of us together.

The next day we took a tour to Rincon de la Vieja.  We had a tour guide, Juan Carlos (JC for short)  who was wonderful!  He loves his country and knew so much about it!

Stopped at a view point.  

We were driving along and came to a screeching halt.  JC shouted something out the window, and pretty soon we were headed through a gate into someone's property.  He had spotted this from our van and wanted us to see it.  This family was making syrup out of sugar cane.  

They first had to go and pick the sugar cane off their property.  Then had these 2 oxen hooked up to that beam thing.  The oxen went around and around in a circle.  By doing that, some other piece of equipment moved and squished up the sugar cane.  After squishing it, it would flow into that green barrel. From the green barrel, they would dump it into that thing I have a picture of below.

The sugar cane boiled in this thing for a certain amount of time. 

A close up of them shoving sugar cane into that orange contraption.

I was standing a good 15 feet back and could feel the heat from the fire!  

That's JC, our awesome guide!

Bear sampling some syrup that is done.  It was quite good.

One of the boys that was helping make the stuff.

After the sugar cane was done boiling, they would put it into this wood thing.  Here it would sit and cool.  After that they could use it for syrups/ brown sugar, whatever.  This was one way this family made an income, by selling the syrup.  Absolutely fascinating to watch.  This family works so hard, for pennies. Yet their life is so happy!

After watching the sugar cane thing, we left  and drove for a while longer and reached our destination.  We started out on horses.  We rode them up the mountain to where we would start the zipline tour.  JC would not let me carry my camera, so he had it and snapped a few pictures.  Most of them turned out blurry, too light or whatever great quality. :(  Here is a few that turned out.  The picture above is some geothermal unit.  There is a volcano near by that supplies it.

Our group on horses.

My horse ended up being nice.  I was slightly freaked to get on one!  My last experience on a horse was not a good one!  I managed to stay calm and the ride went well.

Views from the ride.  

It was quite green here.  And so beautiful!

Preparing to  head out on the canopy tour.

The group we were with.

The waterfall we went zipping by.  I wish I could have had my camera, I would have snapped way more photos of the whole experience.

There I am.  I must admit, my heart did a few palpitations!  I'm not a fan of heights, so this was quite nerve racking at first.  After a few times, it becomes easier to relax and enjoy the experience! 

Bear had no fear!

Great picture don't you think?! jk

After the canopy tour, we had a yummy lunch.

Then on to some hot springs.  We first sat in an inclosed building with hot steam boiling up.  It was an outdoor sauna.  We sat there for maybe 10 minutes, that was to open up our pours.  We then lathered our skin with this volcanic mud.  

Us.  

Our group.  After dowsing ourselves in this mud, we walked around the area and let it dry.  Ha, we looked quite scary!

This is where the mud comes from.  This water comes out of the earth at a boiling temp.  It's from the volcano.  

Some ancient writing on the rock. 

 After seeing this, we went and rinsed off and soaked in 3 different hot spring pools.  Our skin was so soft and fresh after the mud thing and soak in the springs.

This is a Guanacaste tree.  The leaves are shaped like ears.  They use the wood to make necklaces, bowls and I'm sure plenty of other things!

The area in the clouds is what we explored.   Was quite the day,  and one we will not forget!