Costa Rica

Right after we left Utah we drove to Colorado and celebrated my mom's birthday for a couple of days. Then we drove straight on down to Houston, Texas for the beginning of our 2 week vacation spree before Colby had to start work. We flew to Costa Rica and stayed for almost a week. We hiked through jungles, towns, soaked in hot springs and really enjoyed the culture - not to mention the clean drinking water and delicious food! Since we were surrounded by the jungle we saw lots of wildlife and stayed near a town called La Fortuna. This town is located next to Arenal volcano and used to be called a different name. But in 1968, Arenal Volcano unexpectedly erupted and destroyed a town located on only one side of the volcano. Ever since then, "La Fortuna" became the new name of the town that was not destroyed from the 1968 eruption--they were very fortunate.

Someone's front yard! Maybe we should retire here ;) 

Happy cows live in Costa Rica! 

Hiking on a road near our hotel

The Central Plaza of La Fortuna

The second day we did a zipline tour. 

This particular zip-line out of the 12 was 1000 Meters long. So long that some us had to be pulled in by the guides because we stopped before the end. 

The Jungle! 

Arenal Volcano behind me

After the zip lines we hiked down on our own into the canyon to La Fortuna waterfall! Suspension bridges were needed to get around and were very high! 

Gigantic trees! 

La Fortuna waterfall from the zip line view

La Fortuna Waterfall! Colby was looking for ways to kayak it! 

The rivers in Coasta Rica are so warm and refreshing! Not like swimming in the Grand Canyon! 

Our third day we went to a resort called Baldi Hotsprings. The resort was fed by real hotspring water right into their pools! The resort had 25 pools, and 4 water slides and it's all nice and hot! And at night they stay open and turn on the lights! 

We didn't want to stay at the resort all day long, so we took an  ATV tour through the jungle in the afternoon, then returned to the Baldi hotsprings for a few more hours in the evening. 

Another great view of the volcano! 

Went around town and found  little chicks for sale :) 

The next day, we went on a 7 mile hike called Cerro Chato. Cerro Chato is located right next to Arenal volcano and is an extinct volcano that had collapsed and over time filled with rain water. It is now a green lagoon surrounded by jungle with a 360 degree view! The minerals at the bottom of the lagoon are what make the water green! 

The first part of the hike was the hardest part. It had huge steps constantly (like in this picture) to get to the top. It was not so much hiking as it was climbing! But it was fun and worth it! 

The top of Cerro Chato. If you look to the bottom left of the picture you can see the green lagoon. 

Hiking down to swim in the green lagoon. 

This tree became a good diving board. 

We hiked out on a different route that was just as steep

View of Cerro Chato after hiking out on the other side

My favorite part of the hike was swinging on the Vines like Jane and Tarazan! Can you find me? It may not look like it, but I'm 15-20 feet in the air on a vine! 

This is a male White-nose Coati. It has been domesticated because of all hikers giving it food. It's not afraid of people at all. 

Is it hot here or is it just me! ;) 

Picking fresh limes off the tree

Another waterfall that I can't remember the name of

This is some kind of Tree Frog! So a little story with the picture: At the very beginning after arriving in Costa Rica we were told not to touch or hold the blue and red frogs if you had an open wound because it is poisonous once it gets in your system. So our guide is holding this tree frog and literally right after I took this picture this frog jumped on my phone and onto my hand. Initially I freaked out because I thought this was a poisonous frog! But it turns out it's not, so now I'm glad it jumped on me! 

Sunset at Lake Arenal. The Volcano is just to the right of this picture. After we watched the sunset we went to river hot springs and the whole time Colby was dreaming of what it would be like to kayak this river because it was literally all hot spring water. 

The day before we left paradise we went Kayaking on a 2+ section of the Balsa River.  It was really fun except when I booked the trip I thought Colby and I would be in one inflatable kayak together, but it turns out we weren't. So we did this trip and it was really fun! I only fell out once. Our guides fell out three times! lol We didn't even need a guide, but it was required because we were renting the gear. 

After kayaking we had lunch at this really fancy resort! We are talking like $600 a night fancy! This part was included with our kayaking trip, which was fine with me. We had the best lunch with a perfect view! 

This resort also owned part of a river that had natural hot spring tributaries! It was fun exploring!  

The resort also had a refuge place for different kinds of wildlife in Costa Rica. We saw jungle cat's, crocodiles, monkeys. sloth, rodents and toucans!