Ahhh, Costa Rica! What a great place to visit! Some of the things might be out of order, but we'll give it a shot. Another awesome breakfast in the morning at the rental house we stayed at!
Great morning view. I would love to come back. Costa Rica was very similar to Nicaragua, but just better. Though that won't stop us from going to Nicaragua!
After breakfast we headed to the La Fortuna area again for a ATV outing.
We also did a little hike to get a nice view of the volcano, stopped at a river to play in and see a waterfall, drove around the countryside and stopped at a visitor center type place that indigenous Costa Ricans run. A little store is there too.
We paid to have pictures taken and we got A lot of them. The camera guy took so many that Cal and Elden did several funny faces.
Many of the fences are made of sturdy sticks. And it's so tropical there that the sticks start sprouting and turn into mini trees!
Visiting some of the Maleku people that I had mentioned earlier.
The first part of our ATV outing was this little hike. The tour guide told us a lot of neat things about Costa Rica and preserving the land. They are very eco friendly. Then he went on to tell us how they sell their pineapples to other countries marked as organic but that they aren't. He worked at a pineapple plantation. He said they are somehow paid or money gets exchanged somehow to get an organic label. He said it's not logistically possible to ship out so many pineapples at the same time and same ripeness if they are organic. And they aren't.
Visiting the Maleku people I mentioned earlier.
After we ate at Tiquicia, about 10 minutes away. Yummy food!
At some point we stopped at a store to get treats. We always like to look for a Pali, or Maxi Pali.
A huge attraction by the Arenal Volcano are the natural hot springs. There are many resorts in the area that have access to the hot springs right on their property. The ATV tour came with access to a resort to use their pools and hot springs. It was raining by the time we got there, but kind of fun to be in the hot water while it rained. Cold to get out though!
The indoor hot tub that we got kicked out of. I guess you needed reservations....
More pool time! I guess we didn't eat anywhere Saturday night due to a late lunch. But we did stop at the grocery store for Sunday dinner items and then stopped to top off the gas tank for church the next day.
Sunday we went to church, hung out at the house and ate de-bugged pasta. Another yummy breakfast!
Church was about an hour away. It was a fun drive. This Sunday it was Halloween. We were back to 2 hours of church in Virginia but in Costa Rica, this town anyway, it was just one hour. We met this Sister Missionary from the states. She said some wards are still meeting through Zoom!
Hanging out at the house!
The pasta....I didn't think to check the bag when I bought it. I mean, it was all sealed and everything. When we dumped the noodles into the boiling water at first I thought it was interesting that there were spices in it, like Oregano. But then upon closer inspection they were bugs. And live bugs! We cooked a second pot...first getting the bugs out, then boiling the pasta. Thankfully I found something else to eat already and the kids ate the pasta.
The second bag...noticing LIVE bugs!
This sign on our way home from church was funny...our nephew is Jake.
Halloween in Costa Rica! It was a relaxing Sunday. We did home church through Zoom with my sister Deb which was SO nice of her to let us join her!
Carl and Susan bought a TON of fun goodies the beginning of the week. We kept working at them.
More balancing!
The house we rented had fun artwork all over.
And other interesting stuff....
These hand painted tiles on the staircase were awesome!
And in honor of Halloween, Cal's pumpkin he "carved" in class...
