Month: February 2019

Pura Vida: Heading to Hotel Punta Islita

DeniseLeave a comment
Don’t let the map tell you otherwise–it was a long trip.  I loved our driver!  Eddy stopped by the best fruit stand and his favorite place on the route for a casado (traditional beans & rice with protein, salad, and a lovely squash succotash), and made the best of a journey that ended with more than an hour on dirt roads.  


But somehow, at the end of the earth, we made it to paradise. 

Punta Islita, if you read the fine print, is a Marriot Autograph Hotel.  But it screams tropical destination instead of hotel, and we were grateful to arrive at the last leg of our vacation–6 nights in one place.  

  

Animals, Animals, We Can’t Get Enough of Costa Rican Wildlife!

DeniseLeave a comment
Since arriving Monday afternoon, we have seen, fed, and interacted with so many animals.  Costa Rica is amazing!
Humming birds

Frogs

Butterflies 


 
Sloths

 

7 of the 8 species of native wild cats


Amazing insect–just hanging out with the flowers

Residents of the Aviary 

 (We loved this pair!)

And while there was a snake-atorium that we enjoyed, 4/5th of my fam stepped over this without appropriate care and analysis, what I call “examine sticks for potential snakeness”. Because I was busy lecturing my family on snakenicity, I forgeto to wet myself. 


With Glee: Waterfalls at Peace Lodge

DeniseLeave a comment
Forget Muggle pictures–Look at what I learned about photography at Hogwarts! 😂



Peace Lodge has over 2 miles of trails through the rain forest and most of them follow the waterfalls.  They weren’t the type you could swim in romantically with mermaids (Pax probably likes to keep it’s fatalities low for PR purposes), but they were beautiful and lush…and very popular in the middle of the day. Which is why I ran down the paths one more time after the day visitors left.  

Why was it just me, you may ask?  Here’s a hint.  The pic on the left shows us early into the trails.  The left one shows us a little further in.

Piper sometimes breaks hard.  And occasionally this kid doesn’t make sense.  The child who climbs trees, goes on any ride (the scarier, the more quickly she runs back in line), happily ziplined across the tree canopy…is scared of bridges and waterfalls??  Or is it just an excuse to justify crankiness? 
Before we ended up skipping some of the viewpoints just to get Piper off the trail, we had some fun frolicking.
Kids totally made it almost 3 minutes before getting shoes wet!  Not really a problem, though, when it’s 80∘.  

We came across this buzzard by the pools.

Regardless of Piper Drama, I enjoyed my late afternoon solo run much more. I got a shot of all three falls at once.  

With Glee: Butterfly Release

DeniseLeave a comment


At 1:30 every afternoon, the Peace Lodge did a butterfly release. We were there twice when all the butterflies that had emerged that day were let out of their netted enclosure.  And they don’t just open the lid and let them fly out when they’re ready. Nope, the butterfly-ists gently put them on the guests while the wings dry and strengthen.  I was charmed…and tickled!

Trout Fishing…With Glee!

DeniseLeave a comment
We only had one full day at the Peace Lodge, and Piper and Wesley really, really, really wanted to C-N-R (catch, name, and release) fish.  They spent a few hours in the afternoon torturing fish while I read in the sunshine.

 

 

Wesley gave up swimming (in the cold-ish) pool to join in the fishing expedition. The fishing guy baited the hooks with puppy chow pellets.  When the kids’ lines hit the water, the guide threw a handful of pellets in the water near the line so the trout would start snapping at the food and maybe accidently get hooked.  It wasn’t very sporting, and I can’t justify the pleasure I got watching my youngers get a nibble…but I took a lot of pictures!  

I liked how the trout pool and swimming pool were next to each other (and the hot tub was set into the trout pond).  It was so picturesque and Wesley was able to bounce between swimming and fishing.  Kyla had no problem just enjoying the pool and waterfalls. 
Dwayne gives you a sense of how cold it felt (when one expected bath water).

  

Costa Rica: Perfect Peace Lodge

DeniseLeave a comment
From the Monarch Villa

The only way the Peace Lodge could have been more ideal is if it had come at the end of our first destination.
After leaving our home at 4:30pm Sunday, we arrived at Peace Lodge about noon local time the next day. I haven’t heard of a flight route that isn’t awful from North America to Costa Rica. Even if it isn’t particularly far away, the two hops to get there seem to be scheduled at terrible times.  The pictures you won’t see are 1) me holding a sobbing Wes-with-a-tummy-ache in the plane aisle has a hundred people ahead of me are slowing getting off the plane. 2) Kyla barely able to sleep in the plane, even with the one window seat. 3) Me trying to cradle Piper in a way that she could repose as much as possible without losing all the feeling in all 4 limbs.  All that to say, arriving at San Jose and packing away the puffies and socks was freeing.  
And then we got to the Peace Lodge.  
This is the view from the deck outside the guest office as they were preparing our welcome drinks. 

Our room wasn’t ready for us yet, but they stored our bags for us as we used the next several hours to explore the amazing animal exhibits and grounds at what they call the Waterfall Gardens. 
When we were ready to check into our room, we walked in to this:

The master bedroom had a marvelous view over the valley to the volcano. 

The bathroom had the smallest gas fireplace, but since it was right over the waterfall bathtub, we tried not to sneer.  I’m actually embarrassed to say that we didn’t have enough time during our two nights there to use this one.  

That’s because we were too busy using the waterfall jacuzzi on the deck.  So many baths!  So little time!

 

This picture doesn’t do it justice, but the shower was cavernous, with two showerheads.  And by showerheads, I actually mean two waterfalls.  Yep, waterfalls coming out of the stone to shower under. 


This is what the Peace Lodge says about it’s Monarch Villa:

This 1,200 square foot villa leaves nothing to be desired. First there are not one, not two, but three fireplaces to set the mood for this wonderland in the Cloud Forest. The master bedroom alone invokes thoughts of romance with its king size canopy bed set before a gas fireplace. The oversized master bathroom, complete with full Jacuzzi tub, fireplace (yes, fireplace) and waterfall shower will make you wonder why you aren’t staying longer (we did wonder but then we realized it was because we couldn’t afford another night). The villa is complete with a luxurious living room with a two-story fireplace and a second floor loft with a queen size bed, a single bed and full bathroom. If that isn’t enough there is a kitchenette and dining area with refrigerator, coffee maker, microwave and room safe.

But, the villa would not be complete without a view of the La Paz River Valley and the Poás Volcano and how best to enjoy them but from the Jacuzzi tub on the balcony. But don’t worry, when you’ve had enough ‘nature’ for the day, the villa is well equipped with a stereo system with speakers in every room and satellite TV in both the living area and master bedroom.

Welcome to Costa Rica: With Glee!

DeniseLeave a comment
Kyla was the one who came up with our inaugural Family Adventure Motto (FAM).  On our first full day in Costa Rica, Dwayne and I puffed to keep up with our children as they energetically flew up stairs and down trails. I called out to them and Kyla responded, “But we’re running with childish glee!”  We shortened it, and made “With Glee!” our #FAM.  As Piper was pulled back and turned in circles before being pushed down the zipline, the rest of us would shout out an encouraging “With Glee!”  As we trotted down the billion-trillion (as counted by Wes) stairs to Punta Islita beach, passing iguana, vine snakes, and macaws, we did it “With Glee!” 
With glee, we…
caught fish,
and released them (after naming them),
milked cows,
 swam in waterfalls,

 fed hummingbirds,
 posed with toucans,
 held newly emerged butterflies,
feasted at Don Romeriz and toasted with Miguel’s special coconut toasts,
made new friends,
made ceviche and ate it,
learned about macaws,
explored waterfalls,
and other trails,
ate tropical breakfasts, 
played in the plunge pool,
played in the regular pool,
siesta-ed,
super siesta-ed,
rode horses,
boogie boarded,
boogie unboarded, 
played pick up football,
“played” more football,
and found more friends. 
Can’t wait to tell you more about it!

The Excuse

DeniseLeave a comment
(Throwing this back in the calendar so I can blog about Costa Rica.)

We have just settled down in the smaller of Costa Rica’s airports and I had thought I would be but all caught up on blogging before returning from our first international family travel adventure.  But this book has been on my shelf for a while, and when I search for books similar to my favorite fantasy authors (Patrick Rothfuss, Jim Butcher, and beloved Michael Sullivan), this Sanderson guy comes up.  In fact, just opening the cover, I found this:
“I loved this book.  What else is there to say?” –Patrick Rothfuss


If Pat liked it, who am I to forego 1252 pages of pure delight? So I packed this book and no other, but didn’t crack it until our second hotel.  I had to wade through the pre-prologue and doggy paddle through the regular prologue, but by page 20, I was hooked.  But then I set it down before literally swimming in the ocean, and Hubby picked it up.  Well, there is no waiting for me to get through this book before he gets to continue–especially since it’s about 5 regular books long.  So I got out the butcher knife and sliced it right through the spine on the way to page 200.  Then I kept an eye on how far along he was getting in his book-ella, and then cut it again to make a third book.   

Dwayne was appalled, appalled, dear Reader, that I would desecrate a book such.  However, consider this:

[my guilt over ripping a book into readable sections] <  [my guilt in hoarding an excellent story]

And now he’s less appalled and more engrossed…


{All that to say, please check back over the next few days for updates from the last 10 days.  I hit the ground running at 7:30am tomorrow after hopefully getting home by 2am, so I ask for grace…Mom}