Quepos, Costa Rica

Our first stop after arriving in Costa Rica was the town on Quepos on the Pacific Coast. We caught a bus from San Jose at the ungodly hour of 6AM, and arrived there just after 9AM after a nice ride. After dropping off our luggage and our first breakfast of Gallo Pinto (rice and beans, very nice), we set off to explore a bit, visiting the local fishing port and wandering around the town. We spent the rest of the day recovering from our two days of travel, and trying to adjust to the heat and humidity, which frankly I welcomed, hoping to erase memories of those -20C nights in Utah.

Over the next three days we checked out some of the local attrations. The beaches and national Park at nearby Manuel Antonio were a big hit. Plenty of people but also plenty of scenery and wildlife. Tana and Zane took a surfing lesson and were quite successful in gettting up on their boards and riding the waves. We visited the park and saw Howler and White-Faced Monkeys, as well as Sloths, Racoons, Iguanas and other lizards. The beach there was also very nice, we parked ourselves in the shade under a tree. Above us in the canopy was a mother sloth with a young baby. Luckily there was no falling sloth poop to report.

On our last day here we engaged in some of the more adventurous activities. The ladies went Horse Riding through the rainforest, and the boys did a "canopy tour" which involved riding ziplines through and above the forest canopy. Some of the lines were about 500 meters long and 100 meters off the ground. It was quite fun and really not too scary. We also saw more monkeys and a hummingbird nest with 2 baby hummingbirds in it, among other things.

We have been practising our Spanish. Sometimes we can even make ourselves understood.

This morning we catch the bus back towards San Jose, where we will begin our two weeks of Spanish Language school tomorrow. Wish us luck!