Costa Rica!

Costa Rica is spanish for the delicious coast (at least according to google translate via someone on our flight). We took a red eye flight from Seattle and arrived in Liberia at 2 pm. We were too excited to take naps, so we found a nice restaurant on the beach. DeA forgot her sunglasses, but I was a gentleman and let her borrow mine.

 The sunset was spectacular, but was weirdly early at 6pm.

 When we returned to our room I heard some splashing in the toilet. A frog was not what I expected to see when I lifted the lid, but a frog was definitely better than the snake I expected to see.

 We attended the Liberia Ward on Sunday morning and then stopped at a place right off of the highway. We enjoyed a typical meal of rice, beans, and meat.

 Breakfast at the hotel was great, to the point that we started talking about it the night before. They always had great fresh fruit, fried plantains, gallo pinto (rice and beans), scrambled eggs, and some kind of meat. Here you can barbecue chicken wings.

 As we walked off of the plane I started talking to the shuttle driver in Spanish. He hooked us up with some inside information, like where to eat lunch. Here we are at Soda Teresitas where we enjoyed a delicious meal of rice, beans, and meat.

 We took a trip into Liberia for supplies at Wal Mart and on the way home stopped by a restaurant that specializes in plantains. Here we enjoyed a great meal of rice, beans, meat, and plantains!

 Wanting a break from the rice, beans, and meat we drove about 20 minutes to an Argentine restaurant. DeA made sure her hair looked its best.

  So far this looks like our trip consisted of only going out to eat. The truth was we spent most of the time at the pool or taking naps. Since DeA won't let me post pictures of her in her swimsuit you only get pictures of us going out to eat. But, here is our view at the beach:

By Thursday we were ready for an adventure, even a Safari Adventure. While we were at church on Sunday we met a gringo family that owned an adventure park with animals, zip lining, and other fun stuff. It was about an hour away, but the smile on the camel's face made it worth it.

 There was a 45-minute tour that included eight different animals, six of which you got to feed by hand. The giraffes were hungry little buggers.

 I could stare at zebras all day, they are so cool.

The ostriches were mean little cusses, their beaks were not pleasant to deal with while feeding them.

After the safari I talked DeA into going zip lining. Her level of anxiety was amplified when she realized that the guides didn't speak English, but she was a trooper and went despite her fears.

We had a group of around 10 people, and she was the only one that didn't speak Spanish. Anyone that knows her knows that she is naturally shy and a little hesitant to try new things, so it was a big deal that she followed through. After the first line she was so proud and proclaimed "I did it!". Then the guide said in broken English "only eight more". If she could have figured out the carabiner she would have unhooked herself and climbed down the tree. Instead, she looked her fear right in the eye, threatened to kill her husband, and pressed forward courageously. If I wasn't so scared for my life, I'd say that is a smile on her face.

Even more surprising is the guide hooked her up a special way and let her fly like Superman!

Duh, Duhdundunduh, dun dun DUN!

Nine lines and a rope bridge later, she still looked fantastic.

To celebrate we went back to the Argentino restaurant and bought out their alfajores. I told the lady I wanted all her alfajores, and she said okay. I called her back and explained that I was afraid what she heard was I wanted a lot of alfajores, but I emphasized that I wanted all the aflajores.

The trip was the most relaxing trip I've taken in a long time. It was so relaxing that DeA had to ask me if she had fallen asleep or not.

The view was pretty great.

The SeaTac airport and waiting for the shuttle was a rude awakening. Someone was not happy.