As Seen On TV

I want to write up an exciting travelogue about Costa Rica but even though vacation technically ended 4 days ago, my brain did not get that memo and hasn't been heard from in quite some time.

In place of the exciting travelogue, please enjoy these vacation photos. I know, I know...but be happy that I didn't trick you into a 500+ photo slideshow under the guise of a dinner party or some such thing. Not that I'd do that. Probably.

So anyway, pictures!

We saw mucho wildlife. See how I did that, there, with the Espanol? Pretty impressive, I know.

From the top: Three-toed sloth (with baby), crocodile, two-toed sloth, HOWLER MONKEY!, iguana, caiman, poison dart frog, dragonfly, butterfly, bird, turtle, Jesus Christ lizard.

I also saw way more monkeys but I just enjoyed them with my eyes and didn't take photos. Sorry, but just use your imagination about monkeys and that's exactly what it was like. 

We went to the beach. The riptides are strong and there are (allegedly) sharks so we didn't go into the water. This was on the Caribbean side, in the town of Tortuguero.

Beach near Tortuguero town.

We stayed at a hotel that could only be reached via boat- about a 1.5 hour ride on the canals from the dock. It also had a turtle-shaped swimming pool but I didn't get a picture of that.

Turtle Beach Lodge driveway

The canal:

Tortuguero canals

We visited Arenal Volcano, which was actively spewing lava daily until 2 years ago when it quit.

View of Arenal Volcano from our hotel room patio. Amazing, no?

Wait, this is the volcano.

Hooray! The clouds lifted just before we left and we finally got to see it. Those super white clouds at the top are actually steam- kind of hard to see in the photo.

We took a horseback ride to a nearby waterfall. Horseback riding, as it turns out, is not my cup of tea. So much pain! The experience was worth it but not one I need to repeat any time soon.

La Fortuna waterfall

The waterfall is big. The boys played in the water. I didn't want to ride back soaking wet.

Boys in the water.

 We also went white water rafting on the Balsa river. I did not perish.

For some reason our guide told us he moonlights as a table dancer. This turned out to be an untruth.

Then we left the volcano and went to Monteverde which is on the mountain and very rainforesty. Actually it's a cloud forest. I think that means a forest, with clouds, but I'm no scientist.

View from our hotel room in Monteverde. In the distance is the Nicoya Peninsula and beyond that, the Pacific Ocean.

We hiked in the rainforest.

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve

We toured the canopy.

Us on a very high tree platform at the zipline tour.

 We hiked in a different rainforest.

View of the Continental Divide. I had to look it up.

More rainforest stuff at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.

And we toured a coffee/sugarcane/cocoa plantation.

So much coffee at the Don Juan Coffee Plantation.

And that is the story of the time I went to Costa Rica.

The End.

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