Then we headed to our final destination. Villa Sueno de Ocatal. It was a 2,000 sq. ft. house with 4 studio apartments beneath it. The Christensen's and Grammy stayed upstairs and we stayed in one of the studio apartments.
The view from the beach. There are a lot of boats sitting out there. Most of them are tourism related, waiting for someone to book a fishing or scuba diving excursion.
The beach at Ocotal was black sand and incredibly fine. It would stick to everything and since it was super hot and humid, it always stuck to us.
This is the view from the house. It had a nice pool and a covered gazebo with a ceiling fan.
A small red crab sidling through the weeds wondering how he got so far from the ocean.
We saw monkeys and a ton of birds in those trees behind the beach.
There were tons of crabs on the beach. They would dig holes to hide in whenever people were around and the little balls of sand are the scoops the dug out to make their holes. It was really quite fascinating.
The temperature wasn't what made it seem so hot. It was the humidity. But it was very nice weather to be at the beach.
One night Grammy watched the kids (or let the MacBook do the wathcing) and the four of us went to a resort next to the Villa where we stayed. It had a private black sand beach with gorgeous views. We got there right as the sun was going down.
So while we were eating our dinner, 4 very tame racoons decided to join us. We were the only ones at the restaurant, so they were only bugging us.
This guy literally climbed the chair to try and get some food. The waiter didn't seem to care, but Emily and I were a little freaked out.
The next day we went to a zip line course 45 minutes from the Villa. What a blast! There were 12 zip lines and we zipped from tree stand to tree stand only coming down to earth 1 time between zips.
All suited up with helmets, harnesses and really thick leather gloves.
We saw some howler monkeys in the trees during our zip lining excursion.
So on the 5th zip line, we actually zipped from the tree tops to the ground and since there was a tour guide on the ground to catch us, they let us go down upside down. The scariest part was at the beginning. On all the other zip lines, you are hanging on with one or both hands, but to go upside down you have to let go and then fall backward. It shifted your weight, so rather than the harness riding up, it suddenly felt like you were going to slip right out of it. Once we realized we weren't going to plunge 50 feet to our death, the rest of the zip line was all giggles.
Jon wasn't sure if I was going to ride upside down, but I was brave and went for it.
Jon's picture isn't as close up as mine because it was the tour guide who was tasked with catching us that was also taking the pictures. I think he felt like he needed to brace himself a little more when he saw Jon coming.
Following the upside down zip line, we hiked up to the next tree top station. What a gorgeous view.
Katie got to ride the longest zip line SuperMan style.
The only way to slow yourself down was with your hand squeezing the actual cables. Now we had some pretty hefty reinforced leather gloves, but sometimes it was tough to gauge your speed and distance. So if you were "coming in too hot" the guide would slide this wooden stopper along the cable to help slow you down. Emily got the stopper thrown at her on this ride.
Grammy screamed like a terrified little girl on all the zip lines, but she said she finally started to get a little comfortable near the end.
While we were returning our gear, a little baby monkey came to visit. He was really tame and climbed all around us and on the guide's shoulder/neck.
So the road to and from the zip line course was less than smooth. We looked at the map before we left and we thought we picked the paved highway, but after 20 minutes on a dirt road on which we had to traverse two creeks we realized that we were on the wrong road. About 2 miles before the turnoff to the zip line course, we met back up with the paved highway. Oops, but it was a fun adventure.
After the zip lining, we drove to Guanacaste beach. Even though the water was crystal clear and the view was incredible, the best part about the beach is the fact that it's made up entirely of seashells. Yup, no sand on this beach, just small seashells. We didn't believe it until we saw and held if ourselves.
Just on the other side of the point was another beach not 100 yards from Guanacaste, but it was made up entirely of sand. What a crazy world.
Drinking fresh fruit smoothies at the market in Playa de Coco.
On our last night in Costa Rica, we went down to the beach for one last swim. One of the best parts about the beach at Ocotal was that nearly no one else was on the beach the whole time we were there. The sun set behind that point in this picture, so we swam 200 yards into the ocean so we could watch the sunset. It was one of the most memorable parts of the trip.
We really left an impression on Costa Rica.
These mini bananas are called apple bananas. Jon had them all the time in Brazil and he was excited to have the sweeter cousin to the banana again in CR.
Yes, the milk is boxed and it has so many preservatives they store it on the shelf and NOT in the fridge.
This was our favorite treat while in CR. It's like a giant ice cream sandwich with super creamy ice cream with a soft graham cracker cake and melted chocolate and caramel. We miss you Trits.
Yes, one Coke and one Pepsi and we still get along, but Coke is definitely better.
In the airport on our way home we saw a small purse made from a recycled coffee bag. What a cute idea.
