Hanging in the Lounge

Oh, the perks of first class. You skip lines, you get a placemat for good food (you actually get food), you have ample drinks, leg room, and pretty much your own toilet. We are now hanging in the lounge. Actually, we brought McDonalds into the lounge, so we knocked down the snooty level. Our flight is delayed 25 minutes, so we just get extra time with a bunch of people on laptops. 

I'm anxious to see my own sloths. This will be the last blog entry of this trip, unless photos of my hail destroyed car are necessary.

Is it snotty of me to whine that they took the chocolate chip cookies away and put out salty snacks?

Last Night in Costa Rica

Nothing Too Exciting Today

We were supposed to go to our monkey tour this morning, but it rained all night...hard, we were needing to go on unpaved roads to get to the hotel.  Since I was pouring, we didn't want to load our luggage into the car, so I decided to email and cancel our tour. Of course, after we ate breakfast, the sky cleared up, but then we didn't have enough time to shower and then check out of the hotel, and we would have had at least a 25 minute drive to the tour of the wildlife sanctuary. I wish we would've gone with the original plan and just braved the weather. 

Instead, we just headed to San Jose. We thought we could dump off our stuff at the hotel and then return our rental car early for a discount. Of course, we didn't stop on the way, so Brian desperately needed the restroom, and this is when we took the Garmin for a wild ride in the city. We really were just circling our hotel...and we finally made it.  We were able to check in, and then we went to the AVIS car return, which is away from the airport and not well marked.  I thought they should set AVIS as home on the GPS.  We got a little discount for the early return.  While we barely drove over 700 miles, we spent 20-25 hours driving in the car.  It is slow moving in CR. 

For lunch we ate at a nice restaurant across the street; we thought it was the Costa Rican version of a Panera with a local flare. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the hotel, and then we went to dinner at Ticontenta, a Mexican cantina across the street. All TVs are set to the World Cup. Brian wanted to ask the waiter to change to the NBA Finals, which we are now watching from our hotel room. 

We fly out early tomorrow in first class (thank you frequent flier miles). We already paid for our departure fees at the hotel desk, so we can skip the line at the airport. Hopefully, we will come home to a dent free car...

Brian's Favorite Part of the Trip

We started off with a buffet breakfast and then met our personal guide, Johan Chaves, at our hotel. Johan is actually the second rated thing to do on Trip Advisor, behind Manuel Antonio National Park, which is where we were going. We drove to the park in Johan's Yaris. We liked him immediately. Johan is a well educated 26-year-old who knows his stuff. He was able to find impossible to see critters, and he was entertaining to talk to. He would find us animals, and we would look at them in his scope. He would then take pictures using our iPhones through the scope. 

We saw several birds and bugs, capuchin monkeys, a three toed sloth, a two toed sloth, raccoons, and a deer. While other people trampled around in large groups, we had Johan to ourselves. We could have walked around the park and seen only monkeys and raccoons.  I can't find anything in the wild, unless it was walking up a staircase, like the alpha capuchin monkey.

We ate with Johan at the Marlin restaurant and had the typical Costa Rican lunch.  We watched the first part of the World Cup match between Costa Rica and Uruguay. The fans were crazy, and the waiters were wearing soccer jerseys.

The afternoon was spent walking around town and swimming in the infinity pool. We ate dinner at Johan's recommendation, Aqua Azul.  Brian and I both had hamburgers.  There is a wedding at our hotel today, so we keep hearing the music coming from the restaurant. 

Our last adventure is tomorrow morning. We are going to a sanctuary that is called Kids Saving the Rainforest. They have done things to protect the animals, like creating a rope system, so monkeys can cross the street without getting hit by cars. They have five types of monkeys there. After that, we are heading to San Jose for the night before flying back to Lincoln on Monday.

Manuel Antonio with Johan

Manuel Antonio with Johan (and his amazing scope)

La Mariposa, Manuel Antonio

Waiting for our Construction Window

The Only Photo from our Night Tour

Sunset at Manuel Antonio

Monteverde to Manuel Antonio

While we were eating breakfast, our waiter asked where we were heading today.  When we told him we were going to Manuel Antonio, he asked if we knew about the road closure. Of course, we didn't, and he gave us the schedule of construction. Initially, we decided to go the alternate route, but were convinced to take the normal route. There were a few windows during the work day when the road was open. We stayed at our hotel for an extra 45 minutes before heading out to a gas station and then bumped on down the road. It was supposed to take 20 minutes to get to the road construction, but it was more like 40 minutes. The window was open between 9:40 and 10:00...we were in a long line, but after waiting about 15 minutes, we were able to take the detour. Once we got off the unsaved road, we were impressed by the quality of the roads to Manuel Antonio. We were not impressed by the service station restrooms, but we were happy to beat the tourists from the coach bus. 

Upon arrival at La Mariposa, we saw capuchin monkeys on the roof of the hotel. We were given awesome smoothies, and I got to drink Brian's because he didn't stop to feed me in Jaco, a surfer tourist town (we drove through without stopping). We ate lunch at the hotel's restaurant that has a 180 view of the ocean...our ocean view room is also outstanding. We are happy we end at this resort. We watched the sunset from the infinity pool and then ate fish outside at the hotel's restaurant. 

We ended our night watching the lightning stretch across the sky.

Tomorrow we are looking for monkeys and sloths in the wild with our personal guide, Johan.

Flying in Monteverde

For breakfast, we had the typical fresh fruits with the addition of strawberries and mango. The fruit was chopped up this time, and Brian could've lived without the fresh mint leaf. 

Our bus came at 8am to take us to Selvatura Park. The road was steep and exceptionally bumpy. I think Brian was happy to not drive this route. 

When we got to Selvatura, we collected our tickets and then walked over the 12 suspension hanging bridges. We could overlook the cloud forest canopy. We saw lots of vegetation, but not really any animals. We did quite a bit of walking...most of it was in solitude, and it felt like we were all alone in CR again. 

Our next adventure was getting outfitted for the zipline. After acquiring our helmets, gloves, and harness, we boarded a bus to take us up the mountain...again, more awesome roads. Overall, we did 17 ziplines. The scary part for me is climbing up to the platforms. I'm okay if I'm hooked on to something, but I don't like ledges when I'm not strapped on to something. On the last line, we flew 1000 meters, and Brian and I were strapped together...we needed the extra weight to get to the other side, so everyone rode tandem.

We quickly joined the butterfly tour, so we didn't have to wait another hour. It is hard to capture the elusive blue butterflies, and we took a million pictures. 

Returning to the hotel at 2pm, we ate lunch (I had fish tacos), and now we are relaxing in our room. 

Tonight we have our guided tour...

Monteverde

Ziplining Through the Cloud Forest

This photo is some random person sailing through the canopy.

The Hanging Bridges in Monteverde

Arenal Volcano

We could finally see the Arenal Volcano this morning

Pura Vida! Don't worry, we didn't have to buy papel por el inodoro.

Driving in CR

Evening in Monteverde

Lunch was at our hotel. I had a really good chicken sandwich with bacon and avocado; Brian had a hamburgesa sin queso. The bus that was trapped under the power lines stopped at our hotel for lunch, so I told the tourist hero (who stood on top of the bus) that I would send him the photos I took. I commended him for his efforts.

We were supposed to go on a night hike this evening, but our guide called our hotel room and told us he had car trouble and wouldn't make it on time. We rescheduled for tomorrow evening. Instead, we drove a few minutes into town. After circling the block, we found the car park and then used the ATM for the first time. The exchange rate here is crazy: one dollar is over 550 colones, so it felt like we pulled out millions from the machine. Despite the complex hike yesterday, Brian chose to roll his ankle falling off one of the few existing sidewalks in CR. Luckily, he was able to walk it off.

We walked through a few souvenir shops, but we didn't find anything to purchase. Dinner was at the Tree House restaurant. The roof is actually the leaves of a giant tree. Brian kept getting dripped on, since it was raining a little. I had a ginormous trough of nachos, pineapple juice, and a Pilsen. 

It is 7:52, and Brian is trying to fall asleep. I frequented the hotel's coffee bar for free coffee and chocolate cake at about 4pm, so I'm up for awhile. 

Tomorrow we are flying on ziplines, walking on suspension bridges, and seeing butterflies. In the evening, we will have our night hike. It's a good thing Brian didn't hurt his ankle that bad, because I'm not carrying him.

Monteverde: The Cloud Forest

After breakfast, we left Arenal. Finally, we had good views of the volcano. It actually has a cone shaped top like the pictures you draw as a kid. The drive was beautiful, but Brian didn't notice much, as he was focused on the switchbacks. Along the route, there were about 50 different signs for a tourist trap called Toad Hall. There were even signs to tell you to turn back in case you missed it. We purposely missed it. 

The highlight of the afternoon was watching a bus get untangled from some low hanging power lines. One of the tourists climbed on the roof and used a broom to get the bus through. Of course, Brian didn't enjoy this because he had to use the restroom, but he is unwilling to stop at any of the little places. The road is a disaster, but it is beautiful up here.

Brian's Favorite Costa Rican Animal

The Springs

Creepy Bugs

Rio Celeste

Our Costa Rican Friends

We had an amazing private tour today to Rio Celeste. We had a guide, Gabriel, and the best driver ever, Renald. Gabriel was very talkative, and he always referred to us as "my friends."  Along the way, we stopped to see spider monkeys, ginormous beetles, and tree frogs. Our driver actually hit and (most likely) killed a vulture, and it left a huge dent on the hood. 

The hike was muddy, but Brian and I had waterproof trail shoes. We wore pants and longsleeves. Brian wore his rain gear and sweat like crazy. It is the perfect temperature, but it is humid.

We saw the turquoise waterfall. This is where Jill was able to swim when she was here. She actually broke her toe at this spot. We were not allowed to swim in the waterfall pool, because they determined the chemicals were dangerous to the skin. 

Our guide pointed out a couple of poisonous (sleeping) snakes. He also told some European dude to put out his cigarette. The hike was pretty strenuous, but it was enjoyable and beautiful.

On the way to lunch, our van had to make it up a steep rock road. It took us eight tries to get up the hill. We would stall out and have to roll to the bottom. The three of us had to sit in the back to give the driver more traction.  We were also impressed by our driver's ability to fix the massive dent by the time we returned from our hike.

I had a typical Costa Rican lunch; Brian had pasta; our guide had tilapia head included. 

On the way home, our guide and bus driver found sloths in the trees...

The Springs Part 2

We arrived at the resort and decided to check out the animals at Camp Rio first. Cristian was our tour guide. We went into the toucan cage where they landed on our arms. We saw several monkeys, including a spider monkey named Mike Tyson. I can now say this sentence: Mike Tyson tried to steal my camera (through the fence with his tail). We saw lots of big cats, including a jaguar. All animals here were confiscated, orphaned, or hurt. Seriously, we were on the tour with Kurt Vonnegut (my favorite dead white guy author). He had even been to the Galapagos (Vonnegut wrote a book called Galapagos). Their daughter made my cat voice sound completely normal. One of the big cats was schizophrenic.

We spent our afternoon hot springs hopping. We really had the whole place to ourselves. We can say this about everywhere we have been. It is definitely low season here and it is a great time to not have to be inundated with other tourists. We ate dinner at The Springs with a partial view of the volcano (it was cloudy).

We had to drive up the perilous road in the dark. Brian is a pro at navigating potholes.

We watched a hilarious Michael Scott movie, where he is a bad Vegas magician, on HBO with Spanish subtitles. They replace the cuss words on HBO with nicer sounding words, like imbeciles for assholes, for example. All of our nights end early.

Rappelling Down Canyon Walls

We had our usual fruit for breakfast and then we were picked up for our rappelling  down waterfalls. Jill and Derek did this excursion with Pure Trek a few years ago, so we had high expectations. The van picked us up and then we transferred to 4x4 trucks to get to the top of the mountain. There were lots of workers to help us rappel down three waterfalls and a dry canyon. There were maybe 30 people, but things moved quickly.  The same Indian family that was at Tortugerero shared our ride.  We were given waterproof jackets, helmets, harnesses, and gloves. After a short hike, we arrived at the first waterfall. This was the longest rappel, and Brian was visibly nervous, although after the first descent, he was enjoying himself. It was raining during the first drop, but like most showers here, it didn't last very long. My favorite descent was the last one, as there were fewer rocks to negotiate and we could fly down. It was fun to critique other people's rappels. We got back on the 4x4 and then went down to La Fortuna for lunch.  I got to pet a jaguar (except maybe it was just a housecat).  We ate a typical Costa Rican lunch; Brian liked the hot cocoa best.

When we got back to the hotel, we changed into swimming gear and headed back to The Springs. 

Jill's Happy Place at The Springs

Detours and Hot Springs

We ate dinner at our resort. It gets dark around 6pm, so we tend to go to bed absurdly early. It rained hard all night, but we woke up to a dry sunny day. 

Breakfast is a huge plate of fresh fruit (pineapple, papaya, banana, cantaloupe, and watermelon). Brian has been insisting that we don't waste any of it. Today I also had French toast with salsa de chocolate. 

Seriously, I think we are the only people in Costa Rica. We were the lone riders on the boat back to La Pavona. Our boat driver wanted to set some new driving record, and we were back to the car in a blink. We each paid a dollar to use the restroom.

The first stretch of road is unpaved and chock full of potholes. This is a skill set that Brian has (we were singing John Denver's "Thank God I'm a country boy..."

The GPS was helpful until we came to road construction in the mountains. The detour was unmarked, and we had to veer off on dirt roads. There was a stream of traffic, so my theory was to go with everyone else. After a few random turns, there was a cardboard sign to the town we were trying to get to, so we headed in that direction. Sure enough, we were back in the right direction. Of course, we were both thirsty, starving, and we needed to use the banos. Finally, we found a service station and used the restroom and bought a couple of drinks. We had filled up with gas earlier... We paid $78 for gas and our tank was far from empty. This was the first time we had to fill up.

Getting to our hotel, El Silencio del Campo, was easy, and the receptionist was nice. She was even impressed I knew some Spanish (although it is pretty limited). Jill and Derek stayed here, and it is a nice place. Brian is happy it is air conditioned and it has a flat screen tv (he's watching basketball).

We had lunch/dinner at the hotel, and then we went to Jill's happy place, The Springs, to play in their hot springs pools. This was the gift Jill gave us for Christmas, in the form of a diorama. The spas were wonderful, and we are going back there tomorrow after repelling down waterfalls. They have animals and pools. 

Now, we are just relaxing in our hotel room. Brian is happy that we don't have to drive anywhere the next few days (except back to The Springs on a seriously treacherous road.

My New Bar Friend

Look at this Beast at our Hotel

Monkeys and Massages

This morning Brian and I woke up to rain, but it burned off pretty quickly, and we got to see the sun for the rest of the day. 

We got a huge plate of fruit to start breakfast and fresh squeezed strawberry juice. I had the Costa Rican style breakfast with scrambled eggs, black beans and rice, cheese, tomato, and fried plantains. To no surprise, Brian had the American breakfast. 

We left with our guide, Norton, and Viktor, a tourist from Belgium. Norton may have lost one of his eyes, but he could spot animals like crazy. On our several hour boat ride, we saw two-toed sloths, iguanas, monkeys, butterflies, and also mosquitos. I am sad to say that the Costa Rican bugs think I'm tasty, but I don't feel compelled to itch them compulsively, like Brian. 

My favorite thing about the tour was watching the monkeys swing wildly through the trees. We saw a Capuchin monkey up close.

When we returned, we showered off layers of sunblock and bed repellent and headed to the hotel's restaurant for lunch. Brian was scared of the veggies in his chicken wrap. 

At this point, we were happy we traded in our kayaking adventure for massages. The woman came to our hotel cabin an d set up some blankets on the tile. We each had good 45 minute massages. I am typing this blog entry from the hammock as Brian is getting his giant head massaged. 

I need to find the bug spray. There don't appear to be bugs here, but something has caused the giant welts on the back of my neck. One bite is right by the citronella wristband. That mozzie was mocking me.

It's a lazy day...

Best Photo of the Day

This momma bird just got done feeding her babies...

Best Photo of the Day

This momma bird just got done feeding her babies...

Audible for Turtles

So, much like our failed attempt last year to see the whale sharks in Belize, we are denied watching the sea turtles mate. Since we have already paid for the tour, and that's why we came here, they gave us two tours: a three hour boat ride with a naturalist guide and a kayak tour. Brian and I are not great in the kayak, so we swapped that out for afternoon massages. I haven't done a lot of work (other than watch for people on the side of the road), but in sure Brian has some stress from the intense driving.

Our hotel room comes with two pairs of earplugs, in case you can't sleep through the howler monkeys.

Water: Pool Version and Rain Version

We spent our afternoon looking for wildlife. We found some red tree frogs and clusters of the national bird (mosquitos). We borrowed some of the hotel's wellies, so we didn't have to hike in the mud on the surrounding trails; however, the bugs made this a rather short venture.

I went to the pool by myself for about an hour, and I didn't have to share the infinity pool overlooking the canal. When it started to lightly sprinkle, I sat at the edge of pool looking for signs of wildlife. I took a glorious shower and now I am outside on our covered deck watching it pour from an Addrondack chair. 

The hotel keeps giant golf umbrellas everywhere, and might need them to make it over to the free appetizers a little later. 

While I was getting ready to shower, Brian and I heard this big boom...the green iguana had fallen about 30 feet down from a tree branch. Eventually, he scampered off. 

I have never heard thunder crack so hard. I am glad we are just hanging here tonight and not going on our turtle tour.

Tomorrow we are going on a 6am hike (I'm sure the howler monkey alarm clock will wake us up). We are planning to go into the small village and then we will maybe see some turtles mating.

I hope our new iguana friend is good. 

And this will shock no one...we already lost water in our room and we had to get help.

I Have Two Bug Bites

I thought all bugs hated me, but clearly, two were confused. They must have thought I was Brian. 

Last night we actually had dinner at a nice Italian place called Gatto Ci Cova. It was a cute open air restaurant in Cahuita, the touristy beach town by the Jaguar Center. Our guide recommended it. They were slow bringing us the bill, so we had to drive back a ways in the dark. I do not recommend night driving. People refuse to use their headlights and people bike and walk on the road. 

Things to note:

We saw a dead sloth on the side of the highway.

There are a million one lane bridges.

So far we have only used dollars, except to pay for today's restroom visit.

The humidity in the car is unreal.

At the Tortuga Lodge

It was a frantic drive darting Delmonte trucks, crazy Ticos on bikes on the side of the highway, and navigating the potholes to La Pavona, where we ditched our rental car, paid a dollar to use the restroom, and took an hour boat ride to Tortugerero. Our resort is lovely... We are sitting by the canal waiting for our lunch. I'm having plantain chips and guacamole.  We have already stalked a giant iguana in the tree outside our cabin.

I need to commend Brian for his awesome driving. He can maneuver around trucks and people with ease, and he doesn't exhibit road rage.

The Jaguar Rescue Center

In the afternoon, we drove 40 minutes to the Jaguar Rescue Center. Instead of getting lunch, we stopped at a gas station and grabbed snacks. When we got to the area we had to ask where the sanctuary was--we just had to drive a few more meters. 

I had arranged a private tour, and we basically had the sanctuary to ourselves. Our guide was a cute girl from Spain, and it was obvious she loved the animals. We saw the sloths, a few big cats (there are no jaguars currently), birds (Brian loves the toucans), caymans, and frogs. I got to have an anteater like critter crawl on me, and then we went into the monkey cage armed with bottles of milk. It then became a feeding frenzy. Sometimes I had four monkeys fighting for the two bottles of milk. Generally, there were three monkeys climbing on me. The monkeys were sloppy, and I was wearing the milk. The monkeys would climb up our legs and jump on us from above. When they were done fighting for the milk, they continued to play with us. A few took naps on my lap. Brian liked taking photos of the baby monkey. 

The Sloth Sanctuary

We woke up several times the first night listening to the rain and howler monkeys. 

Breakfast was with Buttercup, the first sloth to start the sanctuary. We had fresh fruit and an omelet (the animals at the Jaguar Rescue Center got the same food in a different form). We took several photos of the sloth star and watched the rain. 

Our personal insider tour was with Jeff, the founder's grandson. He reminded us of Mark Larson (both in personality and looks)--this was his Costa Rican double. We went through the nursery and the sloth version of the NICU. We got to feed a mom and baby sloth hibiscus flowers inside their cage. The baby was born in captivity by accident--the father got the mom pregnant through the fence. The sloths would sniff us and grab our arms. We didn't hold any sloths, because they can bite, but we did get to touch and pet a few of them. Brian was happy to notice that the sloths were throwing the green beans out of their cages. It was cool going into the animal enclosures. 

After the amazing tour, we went on a canoe ride to look at nature. The guide was quiet and somewhat hard to understand, but I enjoyed watching him wack stuff with the machete. We got rained on, but we were wearing our waterproof jackets. I saw frogs, a butterfly, and howler monkeys.

I, of course, bought a new sloth stuffed animal. She is named Buttercup appropriately. 

Anteater Critter on Head

Costa Rica: Day One

Yesterday, we made it to the San Jose airport a little early, our luggage came mostly in one piece, and we got to the Avis shuttle with ease. I'm pretty sure that we then bought the rental car, but we upgraded to a 4x4 (some fictional Nissan car). It took me awhile to adjust to the GPS, and we had to recalculate through a series of narrow one-way streets. We finally made it back to the highway, where we battled rain, banana plantation trucks, cars with no headlights, and Ticos walking on the side of the highway, even when it was dark. We didn't stop the entire way, which was four long hours (luckily we were dehydrated).

We made it to the Sloth Sanctuary at 6:15, and it was dark. Security opened the gate and the owner greeted us in her pajamas. At this point, we didn't want to drive in the dark for dinner, and we hadn't stopped for lunch either. We decided to just go to bed. It was dark anyway. 

We kept waking up to the growls of howler monkeys.

Sometimes we were feeding two monkeys at once

Animal Adventure

I'm going to post after I wash the monkey milk off of me, but here are a few photos to hold you over.

It is Rainy Season! Sloth Sighting.

Leaving Miami

We stayed at the airport hotel (right at the airport). This morning we ate at the rooftop restaurant that overlooks the tarmac. I'd give the hotel two stars--it was clean (Amberly stayed at a place in Guatemala where we didn't sit on the toilet seat), but I'm glad we got to leave. The convenience factor was high though, as it was a hallway walk to check in. 

The flight to Costa Rica isn't too long, and we lose two time zones. Costa Rica is on CST; however, they don't follow daylight savings time. We leave here at 12:25 and get there at 1:15. 

When we get to San Jose, my goal is to buy a cheap cell phone for emergencies and local calls. Hopefully, it is not hard to get onto the highway from the airport. We will have about a four hour drive to the Sloth Sanctuary. The distance isn't far, but the roads wind through the mountains. 

If you need to contact us after 11:45 today, you'll need to email. We should have irregular wifi, but not cell service.

Adios!

Lost: One Skittle

If you have lost your Skittle, it is on the floor of this Miami airport hotel room. Our second flight tried to make up for our first flight of gloating...this time the normal amount of no leg room. 

Jill reports that there wasn't hail damage at Eppley, and I hope she's right. Brian's parents lost electricity in David City (maybe that's ironic, since his dad worked at the power plant). 

12:30 flight to San Jose, Costa Rica tomorrow. 

What Will the Tooncemobile Look Like?

While you guys and my car are riding out a terrific storm, Brian and I are nearing the end of our long Chicago layover. I hope I still have windows in my car, and I curse all of those people who beat us into the parking garage at Eppley. Keep an ear open for reports of damage at the airport. 

Day 4 with Jaws

We are killing time at Macaroni Grill in Chicago O'Hare. Brian is showing off his drawing ability...notice who signed the artwork... We watched the Jaws movie all week, and clearly, Brian is obsessed with sharks. This is the only official shark on our itinerary.

Leg Room in Coach

We didn't get a spot in the garage, but check out this leg room in coach...

Seven Days to Sloths

Costa Rica June 2014 Brian and I are heading to Costa Rica on Tuesday. He does not know much about our agenda, but he is in for an adventurous journey (animals included). Things I'm looking forward to: *Navigating the pothole-covered roads in a rental 4x4 *Staying two nights at a sloth sanctuary (the sanctuary was featured in Animal Planet's show, Meet the Sloths) *Seeing baby sloths use stuffed animals as surrogate mothers *Getting a private tour at the Jaguar Rescue Center (hopefully, we'll see some big cats) *Taking a boat to Tortuguero to go on a late night turtle mating tour *Rappelling down canyon waterfalls near Volcán Arenal *Going to Jill Brandt's "happy place": the thermal pools at The Springs Resort *A private guided rainforest hike to Rio Celeste and Tenorio Volcano *A private guided night walk in the cloud forest of Monteverde *Relaxing in hot springs and landscaped pools *Eating in a tree-house restaurant *Flying through the canopy on a zipline and walking on suspension bridges through the rainforest *Negotiating conversations with my rudimentary Spanish (and watching Brian fumble with his 10-word Spanish vocabulary--his best: "No fumar.") *Observing big cats, monkeys, butterflies, frogs, reptiles, sloths, and birds *Seeing the painted ox carts in Sarche and the crazy shaped topiary sculptures in Zarcero *Getting a private tour of Manuel Antonio National Park with Johan Chaves *Learning how kids can make a difference at Kids Saving the Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary *Flying first class all the way home Time for some strategic packing! Prepare for some email updates along the way...