Pura Vida!

Our vacation to Costa Rica was just awesome. What a great country to visit. It had come highly recommended by several friends and it certainly lived up to all of the praise. The first half of our trip was spent near the active Arenal Volcano, in La Fortuna. The area was beautiful - unlike anything I had ever seen before. The resort we stayed at had hot springs on the property which we definitely took advantage of.

Here is our cute little bungalow, and the view looking out from it.

Our first day there we went ziplining. So much fun!

We also be-bopped through the hot springs.

That night was the night John proposed. The next day we hiked down to La Foruna Waterfall. I don't hike. Or exercise. Especially at 8am. In the heat. But it was really pretty - and a lot bigger than we were expecting. We also got to swim in the natural pool adjacent to the waterfall.

On our last full day there we went to the Tabacon Hot Springs. The grounds were amazing! Lots of different hot springs to explore. And of course, a swim up bar. By this point we were quite familiar with Imperial - Costa Rica's local brew.

The next day we packed up and headed to our next destination: the trendy little surfer town, Tamarindo. The roads in Costa Rica are horrible. Narrow, curvy, and potholes the size of bathtubs. Here's a pic of our GPS - you can see how squiggly the route is. It was a slow going, but the views were great as we drove around Lake Arenal.

We checked into our hotel and made it down to the beach just in time to watch the sunset.

Tamarindo was a lot more chaotic than we were expecting. But we quickly fell into the lifestyle and the way of life in Tamarindo. If you are wearing more than a bathing suit and flip flops, you're over dressed. We did little more than eat, sleep, and enjoy the beach. It was extremely relaxing. Since there was no coffee maker in our room, each morning we headed to Olga's Cafe. John Buss got his caffeine fix and I got my huevos rancheros fix.

This guy kept us company at our hotel. Its hard to tell from the pictures, but his body was about 3 feet long - his tail 5 feet. He was enormous.

One day we did venture to Playa Conchal - about 20 minutes north of us. Its called the Shell Beach because there is no sand - only shells. We renamed it the "Everything Bagel" Beach because the shells looked just like the toppings on an everything bagel.

This is also where we saw the howler monkeys. Cute, right? Don't be fooled - you should hear the noise they make. This guttural shriek - the most terrifying sound I have ever heard. *shiver*

Enjoying a few cervezas before heading back to Tamarindo.

And seriously. The rest of the time we just enjoyed ourselves.

Food...

Beach...

Love...

Of course there are a lot more pictures. You can see the flickr albums here and here.