Reserva Conchal Brasilito

... came back with this terrified look on her face. She told the guy that there was a tarantula on the ground out there. So he opened the door and saw it and then slammed the door back close. He said that there is a tarantula out there but the bigger worry is that there is a tarantula wasp out there too and that wasp had stunned the tarantula ...

... hike back to the hotel we saw at least 7 monkeys in the trees on the edge of the beach. None of us had our cameras though, darn! It is neat how you can be driving and a taxi driver or bus driver will point out animals in the trees along the road. Once one guy stopped for us to take pictures of coatis, these raccoon looking things that were all over the road. There tend to be ...

... with our driver, learning some Spanish. Drivers pass on curves and stop suddenly for bikes and people walking, so observing this is not for the faint hearted. (I am sure I left my fingernail marks in the upholstery). Vistas of the mountains were beautiful. The driver often pointed out fields of sugar cane, coffee plants and many types of Cost Rican homes as we drove. The tourist town of La Fortuna was named Fortuna (fortunate ...

We arrived in Liberia at around 6 pm, but by then it was almost pitch dark. Nevertheless, we found our way to the hotel by foot. The hotel was a bit expensive for what it offers...that said, that´s because we have travelled through Guatemala where rooms are at 10 USD per night. Anyway, we decided to take the easy way and booked for the transportation service organised by the hotel to get to the National Park of Rincon de la Vieja ...

... tonight. This morning, we hiked over hanging bridges and down to a really powerful waterfall near the lodge where we´re staying. There are tons of hiking trails all over the grounds. But, our best activity yet came this afternoon when we did a 4-hour waterfall rappeling tour near Arenal. We went with ...

... as possible (kids are really the same all over the world), and immediately fell asleep. I was about to doze off myself when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Andrea, Omar's sister, asking if I had a towel. What? Why? What happened? Why did she need a towel? Then she mimed her brother throwing up. I looked down the aisle, and sure enough, it was as I had feared. Now, I had brought Dramamine and had passed out puke bags in the event that someone felt the urge to spill the contents of ...

... even harder. Then we found out it was ladies night at a bar called Babylon. PARTY! Ladies drink for free all night, which means MAX drinks for free all night. They had all my favorite music from South America, a bunch of nice Americans, a skate ramp and a big old dance floor. The night was very good thank you, no more questions please. The next day, ummm, was a write off. The day after that was fantastic because we left Tamarindo and Costa Rica and headed into Nicaragua.

... Faultier zeigte uns unser Guide. Wir waren uns bereists waehrend der Tour einig, dass die 50$ sehr gut angelegt waren. Als naechstes Ziel wollten wir den N.P. Santa Rosa ansteuern. Wir fuhren also von Cano Negro ueber Upala in Richtung Santa Elena und landeten wieder auf unbefestigten Strassen. Nach laengerer Fahrt durch huegeliges Gelaende kamen wir erstmals an den Pazifik! Die Freude waehrte nicht lange, da die Strasse mitten ...

... month-long holiday after the recent elections. We also talked to a Portugese lawyer & her husband. It struck me as funny that here we were, two lawyers & the sons of two lawyers having lunch thousands of miles from our respective homes. That's the beauty of travel. We continued our journey over rutted roads, top speed of about 30 mph over the course of two hours. It was an exhausting journey, but we knew that an enchanted forest lay just beyond the next bend in the road.

... who invited us into their home for Midnight. First we had to go out for dinner where Kathy and Brian bought us a couple of songs to celebrate our........ENGAGEMENT! Yep! Mr. Romantic popped the question while we were in San Juan del Sur. Sorry I didn't announce it right away but family needed to hear first. We're very happy!!!!!! At Benjamin and Lisette's gorgeous mansion right on the Parque Central (I had been taking photos of their house all day without knowing I would be ...