Malapalito Beach

Where is he taking us?!?!?

End of the road

Heading over the shoals to Malapalito

Searching for shells on a deserted beach

Pelican

Today we borrowed Sandra's big truck to go on an adventure to another beach called Playa Malapalo. To get there we had to go on an unpaved dirt road through the jungle and even drive through a river! When we just managed to get there it was so beautiful and we had the whole beach to ourselves! That's because we went across the shoals at the end of the beach to get to a different little beach called Malapalito. At the beach I collected shells and swam. After the beach we went to a place for lunch called Asia Tico. I had a humongous bowl of miso soup! There are some good clothing shops near Asia Tico so we looked in one on our way home. Since Sandra can't keep all the puppies she was giving two of the black ones away today! Tobin and I came with her to drop them off to their new owners. I'm sad to see them go! That day the fish person came to our place and we got some really big shrimps which we grilled up for dinner. Delicious! Once we finished dinner we just stayed at our house. 

Hermosa Beach

Playing in the waves at Hermosa Beach

Two of the puppies

Today we went to the same beach as yesterday, Hermosa Beach, because we liked it so much!!! Sandra and friends Val and Corby came too. At the beach the waves weren't as big as yesterday but there was still some big ones! When we were sitting on our towels we saw a person with a colorful cart selling something on the beach. It turns out it was a type of snow cone called "copa" so we all got one. Mine was cherry flavor! After the beach we came home and hung out in our pool. Also we played with all the animals, of course! Tobin and I played this fun game in the pool where we spread out the mattresses from one side of the pool to the other, then tried to run across them! Amazing Race was on so we also watched that. The rest of the night we just hung around at our house until it was time for bed.

The Road to Nowhere

Lunch at Hermosa Beach

Sunset at the the top of the Road to Nowhere

Sandra, Dad and Mom 

Golden skies

Twilight

Today we took Sandra's car to the Hidden Art Gallery to try and meet Carlos Hiller and see some of his art. His art is mostly of underwater animals and we've been studying him in school. There was a really good one of turtles that I liked. There was also a mini craft market outside and Mom got some body oil thing, Dad got some wine and cheese and we all split a smoothie. After the art place we had lunch on Hermosa Beach, and I got a salad. At the beach the waves were so big so I crashed and tumbled around in them! Also there were so many shells and I got a really cool clam kind. When we got home we hung out at our house until it started to get dark. Then we took the Road Up to Nowhere with Sandra and her friend Val to watch the sunset. It was so pretty and really colorful! Afterwards we came back home and had a big dinner with grilled fish with Sandra. Once we ate all our dinner Sandra brought out this really fun game called Apples to Apples!!! It's a fun word game and it's not a boring writing thing. It's actually really fun! I had so much fun but as soon as it was done we had to go to bed!

A trip to Liberia and a really bad headache

This is "pipa", fresh young coconut milk. Yum!

Today Mom and I went to Liberia with Sandra and her friend Val to go shopping. We went to a store called "Ropa Americana", but it was a second-hand store and I didn't find anything I liked. When we were in the store I started to have a really bad headache and see flashing lights everywhere. My headache really hurt and kept getting worse and worse. Mom took me to a pharmacy to get me an aspirin but it wasn't a good kind and didn't work. Sandra got me a fresh coconut to help me re-hydrate (which actually tasted good) and we made our way home. On the way home though we were all hungry so we stopped at a cafe. To eat I got grilled cheese sandwich but my head was still really hurting and I didn't eat much! When we got home I took a real aspirin and it turned out I had a migraine! I couldn't really do much so I just laid in bed for awhile and then finished Spiderwick Chronicles. At least mom made a really good soup for dinner! The rest of the night I rested at the house. Oh, I almost forgot! While I resting in my bed, I lost another tooth! It was so wiggly and hanging by a thread and my mom came in to check on me and told me to just pull it out so I did. Out it came, just like that!

Playas del Coco

Howler monkeys above the house

Watching the howler monkeys

This morning we got up, had school and then went swimming in the pool. Dad lifted me up on his shoulders and I stood up on them and he walked around. It was fun! On our way walking up from the pool we saw a troop of howler monkeys in the trees. They are also very loud, but today they were making an extra weird yelling noise because they had gotten too far from their baby! But don't worry, the baby made it back to them! Then we drove into Playas del Coco, just to walk around and check out the town. We stopped at a real Italian gelato place and it was so good. I got Snickers and Oreo flavor, which tasted exactly like Snickers and Oreos! Also we stopped at the grocery store and they were having this contest where you would spin a wheel and win something, and we won some wine! Mom was so excited! For dinner that night we went with Sandra (the owner of Verde Misterioso) and her friend to a little soda. To eat I got the traditional Costa Rican dish, casado with fish. Afterwards we came home and went to bed.

Another pool day

Hiding under the beach towel with Coco, the littlest puppy and the only girl 

This morning we had school with my mom. For school we did math, Spanish and geography. After school we just hung out on the property again. The pool is so nice so we played in it! Also the puppies were there and they were so cute so we had to play with them! Besides playing down at the pool with the puppies, Tobin and I watched the Spiderwick Chronicles. It was actually pretty good! There's a  lot of Brahman cows (these huge cows with humps on their necks) near our house and today they broke onto the property! It isn't good because the cows make a huge mess everywhere and the dogs get all freaked out so one of the workers had to chase them away. Mom just made dinner at our house from the groceries she got yesterday and we stayed at out house for the rest of the night.

El Verde Misterioso

Our beautiful casita

Puppy!

This morning we got up and played in our own pool here at El Verde Misterioso! The pool is really big, and is just the right temperature. When we were down by our pool we also played with the puppies and kittens. They are so cute and will play almost anything! Whenever they see me they come running up and trample me! After some swimming and playing with the puppies, Tobin and I came back to our casita and watched The Brothers Grimm. There's another bigger dog called Mitchell who lives next door. After the movie he came over and I threw the ball for him for a long time. He will play ball with you forever! The rest of the day we just relaxed more at the pool and hung out at our place. It's so nice to be here!

The Children's Eternal Rainforest

Start of the Bajo del Tigre trail

Heading deeper into the jungle

Dense trees

Familia

Today we got pancakes especially made for us by the owners of the hotel, Anna and Heiner!!! They were so yummy! Afterwards we went to the Children's Eternal Rainforest to go hiking. Back in the 1980's, a group of children worked to raise money to save the endangered rainforest. That's why it's called the Children's Eternal Rainforest. I thought that was pretty cool and even wondered if I could raise money to buy and protect a piece of the rainforest too! The hike was really fun. I was so excited because I finally saw an agouti in the wild! Mom and I heard it first and then Dad and Tobin left but we stayed and waited and we both got to see it! After the walk, Francisco, our driver, met us at our hotel and drive us to our next stop El Verde Misterioso in Playas del Coco. We have rented a villa there and are staying for one month. On the way we stopped at a restaurant for lunch and saw toucans, a deer and around 20 monkeys. All the monkeys weren't even far, they were near us! Once we got to our hotel as soon as we got out of the car a lot of dogs came running up to us! It turns out the place we are staying at has around 5 cats, 4 kittens, 6 dogs and 4 puppies! The puppies are so cute and so tiny! The owner, Sandra, rescues street animals and finds them new homes. After playing with all the animals for a while we went up to our new home and went to bed. 

Zip lining through the jungle

The family is ready to zip line!

Getting instructions from our guide Leo

Ready to go

Through the trees

Coming in for a smooth landing

Tarzan swing

Today we went zip lining! It was so fun! I was a little scared at first because there were lots of branches sticking out and one of them hit me in the head and it really hurt but the next time I went with a guide and he made sure we didn't zip line into any trees! My favorite part was the Tarzan swing! It's where you stood on a really high platform and then you jump off of it (attached a rope) and then swung back and forth. It was my favorite part! Also we did a zip line that was 1 km long. It felt like it went forever! After zip lining Dad and I walked into town and got crepes. Mine had Nutella, whipped cream and ice cream on it. It was super delicious!!! When we got back to our house we just hung out there until dinner and for dinner we ordered pizza. Afterwards we went to bed.

Cloud Forest

Cloud Forest

Hanging bridge

Waterfall (just a little one)

At the hummingbird garden

Velvet-purple Coronet Hummingbird

Walking home

Today we got up to go hiking at the Monteverde Cloud Forest. In the cloud forest we didn't see any animals but it was okay because the cloud forest was so beautiful. I really liked it because it was so green and lush! The cloud forest is called a cloud forest because it's in a cloud. I thought that was so cool! Because it is in a cloud it gets a lot of precipitation so it's usually damp and rainy in a cloud forest. We were pretty lucky because it hardly rained at all on our hike. At the end of the hike we went and checked out the hummingbird garden nearby. Hummingbirds are so cool! After that we came back to our hotel for a little rest before going on another long night hike. I was super excited on the night hike because we saw two kinkajous (my favorite animal from the jaguar rescue center, Stanley). Also we saw a sloth that was so big. At first some people thought it was a bear, that's how big it was! We also saw a lot of sleeping birds, and bugs and snakes. For dinner that night we went to a restaurant called Sabor Tico. For dinner I had this really big Costa Rican dish with beans, rice, fish and salad. That's the traditional dish they usually make here called casado. When we got home after dinner we just went to bed.

Monteverde

The boat that will take us across Lake Arenal

Cold and wet day...this is Costa Rica?!?!?

Heading up into the cloud forest

This morning I woke up to the sound of pouring rain! Luckily I got the have the best breakfast ever. There was a humongous breakfast buffet at our resort with so many things! I had 2 pancakes, a waffle, some watermelon, some cantaloupe, a hash brown, a fruit shake, scrambled eggs and toast. I wasn't going to be hungry again for a while! After a quick last soak in the hotsprings, we left the hotel to take a jeep, then a boat, then a jeep to get to our destination...Monteverde Cloud Forest. The boat was so slow, it was going maybe one kilometer an hour. I could swim faster than it! It took an hour to get across the lake when it could have taken 5 minutes at normal speed! On the second jeep we had to travel on a road that was so bad and bumpy. It was a plain dirt road in the middle of nowhere with bumps every two seconds! Once we finally arrived at our cabin we checked in and it was absolutely freezing and still raining! For dinner we went to a restaurant called Blue Morpho. For dessert I had one of the best desserts I had ever had! I got the peanut butter pie. It was so delicious! On the bottom it was chocolate cookie crumbs for the crust and on the top it was like this sugary, peanut butter thing that tasted like a mix of peanut beater, cream cheese, sugar and whipped cream. It was so good! After dinner we came home and went to bed.

Tabacon

Tabacon Hotsprings - you can walk right up the river!

Enjoying the hot waters

These was like a hot water massage

So many different paths and waterfalls on the resort.  And they're all hot!

This morning we got up and went in our private hotsprings again. It was raining so hard which actually made even more fun in the hotsprings! We only stayed for a short time because we had to check out and go to a different resort with...even more hotsprings! The new resort is called Tabacon, and it has the biggest and nicest hotsprings of them all. At Tabacon they have a something like a river made from the hotsprings with all these water fall paths you could walk up. The higher you walked the hotter it got! That's because you are getting closer to the volcano which is what heats the water. Also there was a water slide and when you turned the corner of it you went flying! When Tobin and I were going down the water slide we met these other kids that were 11, 11, 13 and 13. It was one boy and three girls and we played a game called Colors with them. After playing for a while in these hot springs we went for Indian dinner at our place but it took so long! Then we went to bed.

Molar news!

Relaxing with a fruity drink

Our own private waterfall

Standing in the hot waterfall

Today we got up and walked into town. We explored the town and looked around in the shops. I got a shirt and Mom and Dad got the best coffee in Costa Rica! Then we took took a taxi to a different hotel that had its own hotsprings. There were about four different hotsprings, one really cold pool and one main big cold pool. Since only people who stayed at the hotel could use the hotsprings there wasn't anyone there, and we had the whole hot springs to ourselves! I really enjoyed sitting in the hot water and drinking this really really yummy fruit drink that the people gave to us! After relaxing in the hotsprings for a bit Mom and Dad decided to do more relaxing at the spa! While they were gone Tobin and I were watching this really funny show, Adventure Time, and I lost my first molar! It was the first time I had lost a tooth in 3 and a half years! I was so excited! Later on we got dinner at our hotel and then just hung out in our room until bedtime.

La Fortuna Waterfalls

Oasis Arenal Ecolodge

Blue Morpho

Butterfly garden

Me and my horse, Bonito

Volcan Arenal

Swimming in La Fortuna waterfall

These are our horses. Our horses are amazing!

Today we got up, had breakfast at our place and then went to check out the butterfly garden at here at the ecolodge. The butterfly garden had a so many beautiful butterflies, including the Blue Morpho, one of my favorites! Later on we rented horses to ride up to the La Fortuna waterfalls. It was a nice, sunny day and you had a good view of Arenal Volcano. I really enjoyed it, especially when you made the horses go very fast! Dad, Tobin and I always raced to see whose horse went farthest. Mine won almost always! At the waterfall we had to hike down a million steep stairs and when we got there the water was freezing! I still went in it and tried to swim against the waterfall but it was too powerful. Hiking back up the steep stairs on our way back was so tiring! On the way back home we enjoyed riding the horses so much that our guide let us ride them all the way back to the stables (instead of dropping us off at the lodge). When we really had to leave we came back to lodge for a bit before going to have pizza at a restaurant called Vagabundo. Vagabundo's pizza was yummy and they had a kitten there. After dinner we walked home (which took a while) and then went to bed.