The next place we stayed at was Nosara. We had our own house here which was nice. It had a kitchen (sort of) so we were able to make breakfast and lunch and a couple dinners there. This was another beach spot, it was nice because it was in a small town with restaurants and shops within walking distance. We stayed here for a week. It was another surf spot and Lauren, Gavin, and I spent more time on the beach and in the pool. Natalie and Paul (the Dudley cousins) also happen to be in Costa Rica at the same time we were and their stay overlapped ours here by a few days. We also celebrated Caleb's birthday here. On his birthday though we celebrated by him getting stung by a stingray, hyperventilating and all of us praying around him!! But praise God we did not have to find a hospital or medical care since we had no clue where one would be! The beach was beautiful here as well, lot of places to walk around and explore. There were also monkeys!! The hung out right around the pool, that was an interesting sight.
The next place we went was to a place called La Carolina. It was a 2 hour drive from Nosara to there and on the way we stopped by a Macadamia Nut Tour. We weren't sure it was going to be anything worth doing but it ended up being really cool. A couple own the farm and have started doing a little tourism as well. They have cabins where people can stay and mostly host high school groups and schools involved with research they have going on at different times. The husband and wife were so nice and it was impressive the knowledge they had about growing different things and the investment they made in the community they lived in. We had a cooking lesson in which we learned how to make ceviche with heart of palm. I never really like heart of palm but it was amazing in this dish, similar to a salsa, only no tomatoes. Then they served lunch and it was one of the best meals we had over there. Caleb had also brought some papers on Bag-a-Nut in case they could use one, turns out they already had one! That was kind of funny and they all took pictures with it for the bag-a-nut website. Then it was onto La Carolina. This was one of the most interesting places I have ever been. It was somewhat primitive cabins in the rain forest area. There was limited electricity. For example, our cabin had one light for the bathroom and that was it for electricity. All the cabins were right next to a very cold rushing stream that came down from the mountain/volcano near the area. The windows and door were not solid they were all screens and that's how the cabins cooled off. It was never really hot there and there seemed to always be a breeze from the stream. It also rained every night, which was so loud. I would wake up when it would start, but it was a nice sound so it didn't really bother me. At this place everyone staying there ate their meals together family style. We were such a big group though we had our own table. All the workers there spoke spanish only, there were only a handful of them. La Carolina is a fully working ranch as well so they not only helped with the guests but ran the ranch. The owners are from the states, South Carolina, hence the name of the cabins. They provided all your meals and there was no electricity involved in this either. The ladies there cooked over a wood stove and all of the meat was provided from the ranch, they had cows, chickens and pigs. One morning I saw them bring the chickens up and start cleaning them, so I knew that's what was for lunch! At every meal including breakfast they served beans and rice. We ate by candle light. At night light was provided by candles, they would light candles in our cabins and all along the paths. There was also a hot tub right by the stream that was filled every morning with fresh water from the stream and heated by a fire that was burning right next to the water, that was my favorite place. Even though we didn't speak much spanish (except for caleb and shama) the workers really like us I think. We were unlike many of the guests I'm sure since we volunteered to go milk the cows...although this was really hard and we did not help them out in that area any. They were really surprised though when the boys decided they wanted to grind coffee and also got up early to help chop wood. One of the days there we did a hike in a really beautiful area. It was really steep in some places and I blame the difficulty I had with it on the extra pounds around my midsection! This hike was around a river coming down from a volcano and you hiked up to the point where the water from the rain steamed down and met the water from the volcano. For some reason when these two waters hit each otter they made this beautiful aqua color. There were also areas bubbling up that were hot springs from the volcano. We got in the water and you would walk around and if the rocks shifted under your feet it would burn your feet. It was a neat to sit in the cold water and feel the hot water bubbling up under you and mixing it all around to make a comfortable temperature. Also on the hike was a gorgeous waterfall (couldn't find the pictures though) of the aqua water falling into pool below, so pretty. We stayed in La Carolina for 2 nights and then it was on to Tabicon.
Tabicon is a 5 star resort located right by an active volcano, aeronal. It was the best way to end this trip. 2 nights in luxury...Finally really comfy beds and water pressure!! At this resort there are natural hot springs and this is what we spent the days and nights doing, going to the springs. They were awesome. There were 5 ro 6 different spring pools all varying degrees the hottest being 102 (of course I couldn't get all the way into these). There were waterfalls of hot water coming into them and I felt ok to sit and let the hot water hit me but not have my body in them. There were pools that were a little cooler in temperature and I was able to get into those and also a swimming pool filled with the hot water with a water slide and swim up bar. After 2 nights there it was a drive to the airport on some crazy roads...Costa Rica is not know for great road construction. Lots of bumpy gravel and dirt roads with pot holes and there are some pictures of bridges you drive over...not side rails just made out of wheels...also most of the bridges have only room for one car and you have to yield, the only problem with that is that most of located on a sharp curve so you have no idea a bridge is coming up or that there may be a car in your path around the corner. I was glad to be home after 2 weeks, but would defiantly but up for another trip there!!
 |
 |
| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
