03.22.09

curran the day we got back ... no more baby curry! :)

03.21.09

day 7 - today we rented bikes again and just biked around town, did some shopping, watched surfers, and got packed up and ready to go. we took the 4:00 bus back to san jose and got a taxi from the bus station back to vida tropical b&b in alajuela, same placed we stayed the first night we arrived. we went to bed early because we had a 5:30am pickup to go to the airport. when we got up, we met a couple from flagstaff staying at the b&b, they were going home on the same flight. :)

03.20.09

fresh seafood truck

day 6 - today we decided to rent a motorbike so we could check out manzanillo beach, it was 13km from puerto viejo and our legs were tired from all the biking yesterday. it was worth it! manzanillo is a beautiful beach and the water was perfect for swimming in. that night we watched pulp fiction at a beachside restaurant in puerto viejo and then listened to live music at rocking j's.

03.19.09

the night before, the raft company dropped us off in puerto viejo on the southern caribbean coast. we didn't have plans for a place to stay so we got off at the same place as the mpls guys - rocking j's backpackers resort. it was a pretty cool place, we got a tent for $14 a night. they also offer hammocks for $6 a night.

day 5 - we rented bikes and went south to explore other beaches and see if there were any places we might want to move to. we stopped at punta uva and enjoyed a day at the beach there and biked home in the afternoon. decided rocking j's was perfectly fine and cheap, so we stayed there another night.

03.17-18.09

outside gringo pete's too waiting for our 5:55am pickup for the raft trip

days 3 & 4 - we signed up for a 2 day raft trip on the rio pacuare with exploradores outdoors. they picked us up in la fortuna, took us to their base for breakfast and then dropped us off at the river. there were 3 others in our raft, 2 nice guys from mpls and a gal from spain. we had two guides, one on our raft and the other on a second raft with all of our gear and food for the night in the jungle. it was so much fun! the first day of rafting was pretty easy with class III rapids and beautiful scenery. the camp was very rustic with no electricity but we stayed up chatting and played dominoes under candlelight. our guides avel and kenneth cooked amazing meals for us. both days we stopped to hike up a river to a waterfall for some swimming and cliff jumping. the second day had a few class IV rapids and both bri and i fell out during one. i got bumped around a little under water but it was exciting. :)

the rafting pics are from the raft company, they have "river paparazzi" and then sell the pics on a cd when we were finished.

03.16.09

thermal hot pools

fun water slides

zipline canopy tour

crocodile pond

day 2 we woke up and hiked to this beautiful waterfall. we checked out of the lodge and headed to la fortuna in search of hotsprings, a canopy tour, and a spa. we lucked out again and found all three at hotel los lagos! brian signed up for a canopy tour, i got a volcanic mud massage, and afterward we soaked in the hot pools and flew down the waterslides a few times, it was perfect. we returned the car in town and found a room at gringo pete's too for $12.

03.15.09

enjoying the beautiful sunset over laguna de arenal

volcanic crater lake at the top of cerro chato

view from our room at arenal observatory lodge

hanging bridge over a deep ravine

volcan arenal

today was our first day in costa rica. we rented a small 4x4 vehicle and headed up to la fortuna where volcan arenal is located. this volcano erupted in 1968 and has been active ever since. we totally lucked out because people we talked to said it had been clouded over for pretty much 2 months! we could see smoking rocks roll down and heard it rumble. we didn't see anything at night though, it clouded over again.

we got to the arenal observatory lodge around 2:30 and left right away to hike to the top of cerro chato. it was a steep, muddy hike! once we got to the top it was an even steeper descent down to the lake, so we just admired from above because we didn't have much time to get down before it got dark. we got back just in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset over arenal lake.

03.14.09

curry baby the morning we left, not so much a baby anymore!

03.13.09

some quick pics from this morning. :) i got my cast off last monday, everything looked good! my wrist is still pretty stiff but feeling better every day. it is really nice to be able to use my right hand again! but i'll be honest, i do miss being able to use the excuse "i can't do that, i have a cast on" for things like the dishes, haha!

just another reason to avoid high fructose corn syrup! a study found that half of the samples tested contained mercury!! yikes! one of our resolutions in 2008 was to avoid hfcs and i'm happy to say we've pretty much eliminated it from the foods we buy and eat. so check those ingredient lists - i know that i've become a little obsessed over it in the last year but i think now more than ever it's important to know what we're putting into our bodies and our children's bodies. :)

well ... brian and i are off tomorrow to COSTA RICA!!! the boys are super excited to stay for a whole week in phoenix - i wonder if they'll be fish-children when we get back after all the swimming they're going to do! ;)