Pura Vida in Costa Rica!

We are sitting here, in our hostel in Alajuela, trying to decide what to do with our last 24 hours. It is hard to believe that 2 weeks is up in Costa Rica. I'm actually a bit nervous about my flight to Colombia tomorrow because of the way I smell. We hired a laundry service, we've left our luggage out to air, we've showered and perfumed and yet nothing can hide the stink of our shoes. So to my fellow flight passengers tomorrow: lo siento - I am sorry. The past two weeks has been absolutely amazing with nearly perfect weather (except for on my birthday when it poured rain the entire day). But that only made it feel like home!

Our trip began in Playa Jaco (pronounced Hack-o), located on the Pacific, northern coast of Costa Rica, where we stayed at a yoga/surf/Spanish hostel called "School of the World". It turned out to be the highlight of our trip and as such, we have decided to become surf bums for all future vacations. While I don't have any pictures from the surf adventures, we walked back to the beach and enjoyed the view, which I attempted to sketch.

Our stay at School of the World was brief, but in three days, we have learned to surf, improved our Spanish and relished in fulfilling yoga classes with an amazing instructor.

Next stop: Manuel Antonio National Park, renowned for its beautiful beaches and variety of native wildlife. We see almost everything there is to see: two different kinds of sloths, including one with a baby, some capybaras, a group of raccoons (stealing food from unsuspecting tourists on the beach), squirrel monkeys, white-headed capuchin monkeys and hearing, but not seeing the largest of the Costa Rican primates: the Howler Monkey. There were mucho lizards and iguanas (these are everywhere and one even escorted me to breakfast this morning), as well as the industrial leaf-cutter ants, butterflies, small songbirds and a female deer with two fawns.

The only thing we haven't seen are toucans, but we are determined. Our guide advises us that there are actually over 915 species of birds in Costa Rica, many migrating from North and South America. Wouldn't you love to be the Ruby-throated hummingbird, spending summers in Vancouver and winters in Central America? We spend the evening hanging out at our vibrant hostel in Manuel Antonio, called Selina's. Lounge music plays constantly, and people are swimming in the pool with cocktails, playing pool and dancing. Some salsa music comes on and Steed takes over the dance floor while I impress the locals with my full-body dry heaving. We end up going to bed at 9pm - I can't stand anymore, I am so exhausted. We look around our musky room, which is way less awesome than the common lounge area, and start murdering everything that walks, flies or crawls. They have the whole jungle, why do they want to be in here?!?

We head back north and go inland in the direction of Monteverde. At first I think the patch of dirt road is a temporary construction site, but an hour goes by of winding on unpaved roads and we realize that this is it. The journey is totally worth it when we arrive in Monteverde to a beautiful, clear view of the cloud rainforest.

We have an early night and get up early to catch our shuttle for jungle zip-lining. We pass through the colourful town of Santa Elena and see dogs everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Dogs here have their own lives. On a road up into the mountains a short-legged, long-bodied black dog goes running past us full tilt on the way to make his own adventures. The Spanish word for dog is "perro", and we find that many like to chase cars. Libre perro! Libre!!! We arrive at Selvatura Adventure Park which feels very remote, very lush, and very touristy. To be honest, everything is. Costa Rica is in a state of rapid growth, and they are figuring out how best to take as much money as possible from tourists. We pay $75 USD (so like $200 Canadian? Haha just kidding) each to walk through the canopy hanging bridges and do zip line tours. It seems expensive to be sure, but the views are exceptional, the paths are well maintained and the whole thing is highly organized.

We spend the afternoon on solid ground, being led through the El Trapiche tour of coffee, cacao and sugarcane. We learn everything there is to know and decide that in addition to being surf bums, we should open a sugarcane shop.

We spend our last day in Monteverde hiking in the cloud forest reserve. Unbelievable vistas, with the clouds rolling up over the ridge and down the other side. I've been good at covering myself in deet which may be bad for my health, but good for my sanity as I watch Steed swatting and cursing the array of insects that typically find me more appetizing.

We're enjoying the view when I feel something on the back of my neck and casually ask Steed if there is something there. He starts picking through my hair like a monkey and you can't understand real fear until you hear someone say while looking at your hair "oh wow. You have a whole ecosystem living back here". I scream "OH NO I HAVE LICE" which is one of my greatest fears as an adult, and every tourist within a 100 meters turns in horror (because let's be honest, I'm not the only person who dreads this). Steed laughs and says "no, it's just these little tiny black bugs crawling in your hair" to which I shrilly reply "THAT'S LICE!!!!" After slathering my head in cream, we decide they were just temporarily visiting and not lice. Sighs of relief.

We head out to La Fortuna, knowing that the roads are unpaved and the drive will be long. More than half our trip is spent driving around the beautiful lake Arenal - which is at the base of Arenal Volcano - but I have too much motion sickness to enjoy it.

We arrive in La Fortuna at our hotel, where we check in to a charming bungalow on the edge of the jungle, complete with a hammock on the porch and we decide this is heaven.

We spend the whole next day on a luxurious horseback tour of the region, riding through fields and jungle with a guide, where we finally see toucans, howler monkeys and green parrots. My horse is named Pino Lero and our guide, Danni explains his character: "he is a workhorse, he can't stop, and hates waiting for others. He is very particular about things, like don't touch his face - he doesn't like that - or his belly, he is ticklish."

We take one look at each other and it's meant to be. As soon as we cross into a huge open field, Pino Lero takes off. At first I try to stop him - because I've never been on a horse who is galloping before - but then I just let him go free. We run around the field and this is the next best thing to surfing. So, Daddy, I want a pony. And a surfboard. And a sugarcane plantation! Our last day in La Fortuna is spent at the Eco Termales hot springs resort. For 6 hours, we move in and out of different pools that are heated by Arenal's volcanic activity, switching between reading our books, and watching the howler monkeys moving through the trees and harass a Jesus lizard until we catch her run on water to escape us.

So we've checked into our flights and nothing to do but wait and google fun facts about Bogotá. I'm really looking forward to part two of my trip, but getting a bit nervous about how humid it will be. If the Amazon in Colombia is more humid than Costa Rica, I may need to shave my head. But as the locals say: Pura Vida - and this encompasses frizzy hair and stinky feet.