Costa Rica Part 2

Okay, so I left off with us leaving Tortuguero and heading to Sarapiqui . . . 

But our first stop on the way was for lunch at a restaurant off the busy side of the road. Again, it was that indoor/outdoor type thing because everything there was like that. Also, there was never any rhyme or reason to the off-road parking - cars, trucks, semis would just pull off any which way and park. It was funny. We had a yummy lunch - even if there were a few mistakes here and there. It's hard when we don't speak Spanish and our waitress didn't speak English. :) Shirley helped, but she wasn't always there. Anyways, it was a fun stop.

Right after lunch and just a walk up the road, we got to check out a legit Costa Rican fruit sampler (plus some fun treats) table. Shirley had arranged this (I think the gal who owned this store has become friends with Shirley and does this often for tourist groups). It was awesome. It was fun to taste all the fruit - some interesting, some delicious, some disgusting. I wish I would remember the names of them all. But who wants to write down notes while vacationing?! Actually, I am sure there are some, but I am not one of them! We all loved this experience.

After some more driving, we finally arrived in Sarapiqui - which is more of a region than a name of a town. We came to our lodgings - La Quinta of Sarapiqui (in no relation to the US version of La Quinta!). While the place seemed to have had better days (pre-Covid perhaps), it was still a quaint and unique place! Oh, and lucky for us, this one had AC in each room. :)

Just some of the crazy plants at Sarapiqui. 

Again, no TV and no WiFi except in the lobby area . . . So that evening, after dinner, we hung out for a bit and played a few of their games. 

We found their library - which was an odd and creepy assortment of odd and creepy stuff. Yes, it had books. But it also had bugs, old suitcases (which the kids thought one of which was stuffed with a dead body), some random display of phones through the ages, etc. It really was so weird.

Just another shot of the creepy library - with creepy faces. Jonas did not like this place much at all, ha.

Weird mushrooms of sorts.

That night, Miles, Ben, and I played scrabble. It was good fun - especially when I beat them both. :)

The next day was full of awesome adventures, Costa Rican style!

We started off driving a short 10 minutes or so from our lodge to our zipline destination. It was so much fun!! Just cruising above the tropical cloud forest was just amazing. We saw macaws, parrots, monkeys, and more. We all loved this so much. Our two guides made it even better - Wilson and Valerie. Valerie was something else. . . hard to describe, but just fun and funny in her own unique way.

Valerie. She was in her young 20s.

Me, acting like one of the girls. :)

A nice spider right close to where we had to place our hand. In fact, it was close enough that I had to tell myself not to put my hand on it when heading off. Well, I forgot and I did touch it when heading out. Yep, I screamed. Yuck.

We had to walk a bit between some of the lines - and it was gorgeous.

The last zipline (14 in all) was a long one and they wanted to make sure the girls (who are light) made it - or else it would have been a lot of "climbing" with their hands on the cord to get to the end. The girls went with the boys. For some reason, Jonas and Lucy didn't quite make it to the end and had to do some hand-over-hand climbing - plus Valerie came out to help. :) 

After that exciting adventure, we had our lunch. Again, everything was arranged and set-up so nicely for us. We had this quaint and pretty picnic spot at the adventure center - where all the tours they offered (rafting, ziplining, horseback riding and more) started. Lunch was so good - just some Costa Rican build-your-own burritos. Oh, and let's not forget the gallo pinto. :)

Lucy's hair was loving the humidity. :)

This cute guy was close to our picnic area - a green basilisk. Crazy.

After lunch we were on our way to the next adventure of the day: horseback riding. We were originally scheduled to go white-water rafting. However, after being in the river for like 8 hours at Tortuguero, we thought it could be good to try something different. (Shirley wasn't sure how much "white-water" there really was going to be . . . Also, the three oldest kids will be rafting this summer at OFY). I did a little research and found a different possibility: horseback riding. I asked Shirley the day or two before and she was able to change our reservations to horseback riding. One of the best decisions of the trip. The kids LOVED it, Ben LOVED it, and I liked it. :) For horseback riding (which I am not a fan of at all), it was amazing. 

Wilson, our ziplining guide, was also the leader of our horseback ride. He and his father own these amazing horses. They were the best horses I had ever been on - which is not that impressive because I haven't been on many. But there were also the best horses that Ben had ever been on - which says a lot more as he has more experiences with horses (thanks to his sister and brother-in-law working on a ranch for many years).

The area we travelled through was simply beautiful. Rolling, green country fields in Costa Rica. We saw monkeys playing in the trees, many macaws flying and landing in trees, Brahman cows (they are just so cute!), etc. We began on a gravel road, ventured onto Wilson's friend's ranch property, and then finally on a trail through this beautiful area. It was about 2+ hours. The kids were in heaven. So was Ben. 

This trail ride was just so unlike anything you'd experience in America. In America, you walk single-file on a long and boring trail. And that's about it. (Probably thanks to liability issues and wimpy Americans, ha.) In Costa Rica we were free to ride up to and next to whoever you wanted. We crossed several rivers that at times came up to the horses bellies. It was so magical, really, and you felt like you were actually riding a horse for real. :)

I thought the Braham cows (which we saw all over CR) were so cute. Until Jonas told me how one of them had charged the leader (Wilson, Wilson's father. Ha) and his horse. Then I didn't want to get to close to them . . . But they were/are still adorable.

Right before this spot was a wide clearing on the friend's ranch. We were told to run our horses if we wanted. The kids loved that! I did it once and it was slightly fun but more scary, so that's all I tried. Ben and the kids enjoyed running them for sure. At one point Jonas' horse decided to take control (which isn't a good thing . . . ) and ran up quite a steep hill. And Emmy's horse, which was a follower, went right up as well - with Emmy yelling out, "Ohhhhh I don't like this!" :) I think Ben ended up going up, as well as the rest of the kids, and got them back down. It was crazy cool.

The pastures were just gorgeous. 

Wilson Sr. and Wilson Jr. I don't know if they go by those names, or if they just both go by Wilson. They were great! I mean, Wilson Sr. didn't know any English and so we had limited communication with him. But he was sweet and cute. Wilson Jr. and Ben really chatted it up. The Wilsons have done an incredible job in raising amazing horses and providing a wonderful horseback riding experience.

Lucy's horse was cute - and very tame. It was chosen specially for her and was perfect. :)

Jonas' horse was fast - a good match for sure!

Emmy loved her regal horse - but it was funny because it just would choose one horse to follow and just do whatever that one did.

Miles and his spotted horse.

Macaws!

As we were riding, Wilson Jr. goes over to a tree, plucks off the weird, long pod thing. Then he cracks it open and gives us each a taste. Guava! Okay, just kidding! I didn't think it was guava . . . but that's what I heard. Turns out, in my google search right now, it's actually called Guaba! Haha. Here's what I found about it:

"It's not everyday that you can slurp white fuzz out of a foot-long seedpod – unless you're in Costa Rica! This delicacy is called pacay and is known as guaba in Costa Rica (not to be confused with guava).  Thanks to its sweet and velvety texture, it's also called the "ice cream bean." 

Native to Central and South America, pacay is not a really a fruit but a legume – a relative of green beans, snow peas and lentils – though its sweet pulp is more suited to snacking and dessert than as a dinner course. The plant's green pods are long, narrow and flat, measuring about a foot long, 1.5" wide and less than an inch thick. Crack one open to reveal a trail of white, cottony pulp surrounding black seeds. To enjoy, simply pop a section into your mouth, eat the pulp and spit out the remaining seed."

We (mostly the kids) gorged ourselves on a bunch of guaBa fruit. It was just so cool and just another small and simple, yet totally awesome, experience.

Last but not least . . . the water buffalo! Wilson Sr. was the first man in CR to own water buffalo. Pretty cool. Although I don't know what their purpose is . . . But the Wilsons let us all sit on this big guy (maybe Black was his name?) and so that was pretty awesome. Here's some fun information on water buffalos. 

We did some grocery shopping while in Sarapiqui - mainly for shampoo and conditioner. The lodges and hotels all had some, but they were pretty awful. So we got some of the hair products, plus some fun and tasty CR snacks and treats. It was fun checking out the grocery store. And, yes, a dog was there. Of course and why not?

Back at our place, we chilled for a bit and walked around our lodge as there was a lot to see. La Quinta is this eco-naturalist place and tries to grow all sorts of fauna to attract unique and beautiful animals. It had this "The Birds" spot and they would set up fruit and crazy cool birds would come by for a snack. Our pictures were the worst, but the birds were amazing. was also this water area with about a dozen or so caymans. Cute baby ones, too. 

We spotted more Red Dart frogs. They are the cutest. 

Sarapiqui was full of pineapple fields. Acres and acres of pineapple. I think this one was part of a Dole planation. Ben and I went running one morning along the pineapple fields and it was so cool.

Ben and Miles played two games of chess . . . with Ben losing each time. Ha. After that, the family played Uno (or You-Know as my dad likes to call it). I really don't like Uno, but it was something to do with everyone at least!

After our adventures at Sarapiqui, we started making our way to our big, final destination of the trip - the Pacific Ocean beach. But as it was a 4-hour drive, we had a few stops along the way . . .

First up was this beautiful waterfall. It was a good spot to get out, walk, stretch our legs, and see something pretty.

Next up on our drive, and at about the half-way point, was a stop at the Doka Coffee plantation. It was in a beautiful setting - and smelled soooo good! We all like the smell of coffee. :) We got to go on a ropes course over a small section of the coffee plantation. It was actually SO scary! At least for me and Lucy. But being short actually makes a huge difference and so as we are the shortest in the family, it made sense, ha. The kids all really liked it. The boys have done one at OFY, but did say this one was "better," meaning harder, i.e., scarier. I honestly wanted to just climb down a pole and be done with it . . . but I didn't and I guess I am glad I didn't. :) It was a cool experience, really. But just scarier than I thought it would be!

This picture gives a good view of the ropes course amidst the beautiful plantation. Also, it was much less humid here and I was loving that!

How pretty is this eucalyptus tree's bark?! Yep, so pretty. Lucy is also pretty. :)

Ben bought a couple of coffee bags for his co-workers and a few of us got some stickers, etc. Then it was off to finish up our drive to the west coast of Costa Rica.

I am pretty sure all of us napped in the van on our way . . . 

I wish we could have captured everything in CR - including just driving through it. The homes, the schools, the trucks (all so small according to Jonas), the stores and shops that always looked abandoned but weren't, the haphazard off-road parking at the fruit stands, the fruit stands, the kids in uniform walking to or from school, the motorcycles cruising dangerously in the streets, dogs everywhere, more dogs everywhere, the coconut trees, the mango trees, the risk-taker bicyclers with no helmets ever, etc. But you just can't. Ben did capture one of the many cemeteries we saw. They are all above-ground.

Next up, Fiesta Resort at Puntarenas . . .