We had the opportunity to travel as a family to Costa Rica in April for 10 days. (And I'm finally making the time to get some pictures posted!) After graduating from college 8 years ago (wow, time flies!), I spent a year and a half teaching English/learning Spanish/living with a host family there. It was an incredible experience, and since returning to the states in 2006, I've been anxious to get back! I've wanted to re-connect with my host family, I've wanted to go immerse myself in Spanish again, but mostly, I've wanted to take Eric back to see where I lived and let him see for himself the beauty of the country that is Costa Rica.
Sooo, after five years of nagging, errr... convincing Eric, we finally got there! I couldn't bear to leave our baby for 10 days at only 17 months old, so we invited my parents to come with us - to help us out and join our adventure! We all had a great time!
It was so good visiting my host families who I'd lived with for over a year and then not seen for 6 years, and it was so fun introducing them to Eric and Asher and catching up. The few days we had just weren't anywhere near enough!
We also rented a car and traveled around the country, visiting Arenal Volcano National Park, Monteverde cloud forest (briefly!), and Manuel Antonio National Park (with it's rainforest running alongside pristine beach coves). It is such a beautiful country! It was so fun sharing it with Eric and watching Asher experience it - the beach, the jungle, the monkeys, the tropical fruit, etc, etc, etc! It hurts my heart not knowing if or when we'll ever get back. My home away from home, so to speak. Hope you enjoy a few of our pics!
Airport with Asher and arriving in San Jose!
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| This kind man made our lay over go much quicker for Asher by offering him a ride on his cart! |
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| Our first morning in Costa Rica! Enjoying the tropical flora and fauna of the hotel garden! |
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| All the travel tuckered poor Asher out! He zonked on the bench at the restarant we ate at for lunch our first day! |
Reconnecting with Friends! I really wish we lived closer to one another!
Arenal Volcano National Park (Check out our hotel room view below!)
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| Grandma and Asher in front of our hotel! |
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| Hiking around the National Park |
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First Monkey Sighting!
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| Where's Waldo... err, the toucan, I mean! |
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| Asher having a complete BLAST on the wagon ride back to our hotel! |
Our brief stop at the beautiful
Monteverde Cloud Forest!
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| View on our drive there (It was the end of the dry season. Usually is more green, but still beautiful!) |
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| Hiking the Hanging Bridge through the forest |
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Such dense tropical rainforest!
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Manuel Antonio National Park! (and area surrounding)
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| About 30 alligators under the bridge in the Tarcoles River on our drive down to the beach |
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| The beautiful, open air lobby in our hotel near the beach |
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We made finally made it to the beach!!! :)
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| Asher's 1st time in the ocean! |
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| Picnic lunch at the beach! |
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| Ready to hike back to our hotel after a fun day at the beach. Little did we know yet just how burnt we were! Oh the sun in the tropics... at least we weren't horrible parents... Asher managed to stay burn free! |
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| Enjoying dinner at an open air brick oven pizza place when... |
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| ...we spotted this sloth hanging out over our heads with her baby (not pictured)! |
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| Back to the national park for a guided wildlife hike the next day |
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We saw SO many monkeys!!! Plus several more sloths, tree frogs, bats, etc!
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It was an awesome trip and I feel like I've just dipped my toes into the collection of pictures we have. So many beautiful places, cultural experiences, fun times reconnecting with friends, and being with family.... I just hope we make it back again someday! Like I said, a home away from home.
#Meagan
