Creed and I fell in love with Costa Rica in 2019, and when we were there in November, we decided that we needed to bring the boys, sooner rather than later. With the flexibility of homeschool, we were able to spend eight days there this April, and the boys will tell you, it's the best place ever! We had an early flight to Dallas, and then landed in Liberia before lunchtime!
April is the end of the dry season in Costa Rica, so we had perfect weather the entire week. It was sunny and hot (90s) each day, but the ocean breeze kept us comfortable. By the end of the week, we were thankful for any cloud cover!
We stopped by the grocery, checked into our hotel, and then went straight to the beach.
We had dinner on the beach and then the boys went searching for crabs.
We stayed at 10 North, a small boutique hotel near the center of town, and each morning, Laura, would bring breakfast to our patio. She spoiled us with her delicious fruit smoothies and homecooked breakfast each day!
The traditional Costa Rican breakfast, Pinto Gallo
Sunday was our first full day and we decided to just have a beach day. We picked up some boogie boards for the boys and they had a blast. They were riding the waves for hours!
That afternoon Creed caught, and was also bitten, by one of the iguanas that live on the hotel property. After googling iguana bites, we were a little nervous, but thankfully, he didn't get salmonella!
That evening Creed rented a board and did a little surfing before dinner.
The next morning the boys had their first surf lessons! Kevin, their instructor, was great, and both boys caught the hang of it. They also said that it was even more fun than they imagined and ended up getting another lesson with Kevin later in the week.
The next day we decided to have another beach day. They boys rented surf boards on their own, but quickly realized it wasn't the best idea. They both ran into some lava rocks and scraped up their legs. Luke also felt the need to escape the sun and rest for a few minutes.
Luke got really good at ordering snow cones, whether it was in dollars or colones.
We grabbed pizza from a rooftop restaurant and admired the beautiful sunset over Tamarindo.
The next day we were up and out early for a snorkeling trip. The boat went out of Marina Flamingo, so we had about a 30 minute drive north.
We had dinner that night at our favorite beach restaurant and Luke was amazed to see monkeys in the trees overhead.
On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped by the food truck park and grabbed some fresh churros for dessert. They were amazing! Tamarindo is a great place because there are so many good restaurants, all within a ten minute walk of each other.
The highlight of our week was a tour of La Leona waterfall! The hike to the waterfall was incredible and we all had a blast! Our tour guides were great and made sure we had simply the best time.
When we first told the boys about our trip, Caleb found a Youtube video about the La Selva jungle waterslide and asked it we could do it. When planning our waterfall tour, we realized that the jungle slide was only 30 minutes from the waterfall, so we went there that afternoon. We all got three trips down the slide, and it was epic.
I'd say they had a good day!
Another beach day!
On our last day, we hung around the hotel that morning for our Covid test and the boys swam in the pool. Then we decided last minute to do a sunset snorkeling cruise, and it was the perfect way to end our trip.
Luke's sensitive skin had a hard time being that close to the Equator, hence the hat and long sleeve rash guards. No matter how much sunscreen he wore and how many times we reapplied, all of his exposed skin (from the back of his knees to his lips) got burned at some point. He was a trooper (Advil and hydrocortisone cream helped!) and we promised him that we'd do better the next time we visit.
Tamarindo
We watched the sunset one last time in Costa Rica.
We can't begin to describe how much we love Costa Rica- incredible sights, the nicest people, beautiful beaches, delicious fresh food, and all the exciting things to do there...it really is paradise, and we are all looking forward to going back!
Pura Vida
