Day 4: The Beach

After a full day of traveling on "Tico Time," we finally arrived at our hotel at about 4:30.  We got checked in and where headed to the beach within minutes.  This resort was unlike any other I have ever staying in, in that the rooms where not right near the beach.  We actually had to get back in the car and drive a couple of miles to where the beach front was. 

It was well worth the drive.  Once you checked into the beach club, there was an infinity pool (which I saw for the first time here).  For the uneducated like me, an infinity pool is a pool that is built up a bit from the ocean, so that the edge of it looks out to the horizon and it literally looks as if the pool goes on forever.  It's pretty amazing. 

Past the inifinity pool was the ocean.  We've been told that this particular spot on this particular beach is one of the top 5 places to surf in the entire world.  For as much as I know about surfing, I have no idea if that's true or not.  I do know the waves, the beach, and the surfers we watched were absolutely unbelievable. 

We got to the beach just before sunset, and so we were able to watch the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico, along the northwestern shores of Costa Rica.  Standing here at the water's edge was one of the scariest, intense, spiritual moments of my life.  Even though I like to pretend that I am a writer, I think I have absolutely no words great enough to explain what I was feeling in those moments. 

But since I like to pretend that I am a writer, I have to at least try!

The waves that evening were unlike any I have ever seen.  They were beautiful.  The beach was absolutely spotless.  Nothing like the dirty, overpopulated Californian beaches that I am used to.  There were no picnic remains, cigarette butts, or people for that matter anywhere in sight.  The sand was soft, clean, and full of shells.  The water was not vibrant turquoise like you see on some beaches, but rather clear as could be with whiter than white swells. 

I have never felt as small and insignificant as I did with those waves washing over my feet.  Sometimes, especially as Americans, we get so caught up in our own worlds and our lives.  We think and act as if the world revolves around us.  Living in the United States breeds in us this mentality that "It's all about me."  Even if we try and deny it, fight it, it's always there.  It's our culture and how we live. 

But man, it takes one or two of those massive, powerful waves washing over you to remember, you could be caught up in one of those and be gone in an instant.  In the blink of an eye. 

And what's even more amazing than that is that those waves are normal life.  They are not a natural disaster or a freak occurance, or a one in a million event.  It happens all day long, every day, 24/7/365.  That power, that majesty, that beauty, that intensity.  It's always there. 

And in the scheme of it all, how do I fit in?  Those waves will continue, with or without me.  Wowsers.  Pretty amazing stuff to give you perspective.

CR Day 3: La Paz Waterfall Gardens

They don't call it the "rainforest" for no reason.  Holy smokes; it's amazing my camera is functional in any way at this point.  If I had a dollar for every time I've heard "I've never seen it rain so much here," I might have been able to pay for our entire trip.

The day brought us to La Paz Waterfall Gardens, and the key word here would be WATER.  We left San Isidro, and drove through the cat hair rain, into the sunshine, through the mountains, under the clouds, over the potholes, and the weather would change every ten minutes.

Until we got to where the Waterfall Gardens were.  The cat hair rain had turned into definite mist.  But we are, after all, in Costa Rica, and I had been warned to bring an umbrella.  Being I didn't have an umbrella, I decided now would be as good a time as any to get one.  I was glad I had brought it to the waterfalls.  And, since we were, as mentioned, in Costa Rica, I was not about to start complaining.  (Even when Tim conveniently offered to carry Phoebe in the front carrier, meaning he weasled his way into using the umbrella I had purchased for the occassion.)  Rain or no rain, I was going to experience this rainforest!

La Paz Waterfall Gardens were explained to us as the owner's "own personal Jurassic Park."  We couldn't wait to see what this meant.  It was kinda like the zoo meets the butterfly gardens meets waterfalls meets Jurassic Park.  There was a bird area where we got to feed the toucans, there was a butterfly section where the chrysallis were not behind glass like at the Butterfly Pavallion, there was a snake and frog area, an orchid area, a monkey area, and a large cat area where you could play tug of war with the leopards on the other side of the glass.  No joke.

There were also some pretty amazing waterfalls.

And some rain.  Okay, more than some.  Lots.  I think I wrang out a waterfalls worth of water out of my fleece hoodie by the time we stopped for lunch.

And for those of you who are keeping track, yes, Phoebe was with us the entire time.  She endured the rain like you absolutely wouldn't believe.  Not a complaint out of her the entire day!

Seems to me she had the right attitude.  We may have been wet, but we were wet in the rainforest in Costa Rica.  WOW!!!

In the bird hut

In the butterfly "pavalion"

checking out the butterflies

the orchids

poison dart frogs

waterfalls- i don't think the picture does justice for how wet we were

lot of good that umbrella was doing...

Day 2: COSTA RICA!!!!

"May the Lord bless you and keep you.  May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.  May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace."

For the last year, Tim and I have prayed this blessing (taken out of Numbers 6) upon our kids every night.  But after having experienced my first full day in Costa Rica, I couldn't help falling asleep on Thursday night feeling as if the Lord were making His face to shine upon Tim and I as well.

Phoebe breezed through the 5 hour overnight flight like she was an experienced world traveler.  I normally get a little uptight in situations like the customs experience, but I managed to get both Sweetest P and I, the stroller, the carseat, our two suitcases and our two carry-ons through as if I had spent my whole life practicing.  It couldn't have gone more smoothly.  Tim told me that he expected to meet me immediately on the other side of customs and "rescue" me from an over tired Phoebe, and do whatever he could to get me some sleep.  STAT.  He was totally unprepared to see me breeze through the doors, calm, cool and totally together.

The rest of the day is a little bit of a blur (because even though it did all go super smoothly, between holding a baby and an uncomfortable airplane ride, I didn't get much sleep between Denver and San Jose).

I can tell you that I spent the ride from the airport to our lodging totally soaking it all in.  The sun, the air, the architecture, the people, the traffic, the landscape, the insanity of it all.  We got to where we were staying, and it was nothing that I had imagined.  The sun was shining, it was greener than I've seen since I left Minnesota, but everything was WET.  And I learned a new phrase.  "Cat hair rain."  Most of us would call it mist, but it's slightly more than mist.  Somewhere between mist and very light rain.  And here in Costa Rica, I guess they call it "cat hair rain."

Our activity for that first day was a tour of Cafe Britt, where they make coffee.  We learned all about the coffee process- from the picking of the beans to the packages on the shelf in the store.  And we found out that the adults in Costa Rican coffee store are the same as kids in a candy shop.  And why wouldn't I be, after I had just survived an overnight, international flight with myself and a baby?

That night, as I lay in bed, I feel like I spent hours jabbering to Tim about how I really felt the Lord's blessing upon our trip and our time in Costa Rica.  So thankful to be here.   


*PS- pardon the quality of these pictures.  We have Tim's work computer with us, rather than our own, so I have edited all the pictures in our online albums, rather than on the computer, as I eventually intend to transfer them to our computer at home.  As a result, you are seeing the unedited versions.

Posing with these crazy statues outside Cafe Britt- waiting for the tour to start.  Man, do I look old.

They had all these crazy trash cans around the yard.  I wanted to take pictures of more of them, but they all kinda represent evil spirits, so something told me it just wasn't all that appropriate.  I guess they put on masks like these and chase little kids through the streets to chase the evil out of them before Christmas.

We were told that we would get all kinds of good prizes if we volunteered when they asked, so Tim jumped at the chance.  He's getting ready for a professional coffee tasting experience.

Stirring the coffee before he tasted it.

Tim showing off his "great" prize.

Costa Rica Day 1: Leaving Home

Maybe that title is a misnomer, seeing as how the first day technically didn't get me any farther than the airport, but it was the beginning of the journey, and I feel like it was significant enough that I need to document it.

As the days got closer and closer to departure, I was beginning to not just realize, but also acknowledge that I was having a little bit of anxiety over our trip.  In fact, it wasn't until the first week in January when I knew for sure where Sophia and Noah were going that I even began to get excited about Costa Rica.  We had talked about the possibility of me accompanying Tim for almost 6 months, but it was just the very beginning of January, when I finally felt the details coming together and found myself smiling at the thought of our trip.  That's when I realized that yes, I had been a little stressed about the details, but now it was time to think about the fun!

But then Tim left Sunday night, in the middle of a snowstorm, leaving me with the kids, a couple of days of work ahead for me, single parenting, and the daunting task of organizing details for 3 kids going in 3 separate directions; 2 of them without me, and the youngest going on a international flight, overnight, with me.  Many would call me crazy; I like to think of myself as adventurous!

In any case, by Monday morning, I was beginning to realize that I was more than a little apprehensive about the upcoming flight with Sweetest P.  By Wednesday, although I had prayed about it some, I decided that it was time to quit praying half-heartedly and to truly "cast my cares" upon the Lord.  I earnestly prayed for traveling mercies and begged the Lord to show favor upon me and Phoebe for 6 hours while in the air.  And I pleaded for more faith to believe that the Lord would answer such a "trivial" request.

Wednesday flew by in a blur of preparation.  I braced myself for an emotionally ugly good-bye scene with the two older kids, and continued packing what seemed like endless bags.  (Except they weren't really endless because I was trying to avoid paying for excessive checked baggage.)  Bedtime came around, and I laid Phoebe down as usual, and took the older two over to the neighbors, where they would be staying for the first part of our trip.  They were so excited to have a "sleep-over" with their surrogate CO grandparents that they barely noticed I was leaving!  Thank God for for distraction; we'll call that blessing number one!

About 9:00, just as I was expecting my ride to show up, I got Phoebe out of bed, packed her in her carseat (why not, I had, after all, been packing endless bags all day long), and loaded up the van.  I was so grateful for a great friend to not only drive me to the airport at this ridiculous hour, but that she was also willing to accompany me to the ticket counter with aforementioned endless bags (plus now a stroller, carseat and baby!).  We'll maybe call this blessing #2!  I should have taken a picture for the record, but I think I was too distracted trying to remember all the important things (you know, passports and whatnot).

I hit the ticket counter just before 10, and let me tell you about the two Frontier agents at the counter.  That's right- two.  This night shift at the airport is a whole different ballgame than I've ever experienced.  It was such a laid back, relaxed atmosphere that really seemed to set the tone for the rest of the night. 

My next stop was a newstand store that happened to still be open (truly!) for ridiculously expensive airport priced earphones, since I hadn't managed to find mine ANYWHERE in my house before I left.  (Any guesses where they might have turned up?)  Miracle of all miracles (minor blessing, perhaps?), there was a store open and I was able to obtain some before even going through security. 

Ah, security.  Who doesn't dread the TSA experience?  Would you believe it was nothing?  A breeze.  Me, the babe, the stroller, the carseat, the diaper bag, the purse, the two 3+ oz. bottles of milk, and all.  We made it through like a cake walk.

I endured over an hour at the gate, waiting to board, although the time seemed to fly.  (Pun fully intended.)  I kept pusing the stroller back and forth, hoping Sweetest P would go back to sleep, but she never did.  We finally  boarded, and I know everyone around me was silently cursing their terrible misfortune of a seat so near a baby.  Overnight.  But would you believe my Sweetest P was so sweet that all those same people totally forgot she was there until we got off the plane?  That's right- she was perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  But that would be getting ahead of the story, since the actual flight didn't really happen until Day 2.

So, as the beginning of Day 1 of the Great Adventure drew to a close, I found myself stepping from the familiarity of DIA to the aircraft that would carry me into the unknown.  All the while praying in extreme gratitude for the peace that had engulfed me throughout the day, and in faith that Phoebe and I would have a great flight.