Costa Rica Travelogue Day 6

We never take enough photos of all of us together... but we did try to get a few!

We did it!  We left the resort!  Today was the day we ventured off grounds on a (little) adventure.

Excursions were a bit of a contentious topic amongst the members of Krinkeland, with basically two equally split sides.  The three girls wanted to go, go, go and see and experience as much of the country as possible.  Dad, Ben and I were very content to stay put at the lovely resort.  Very content.  Todd and I have had some nightmare experiences with excursions gone long and wrong.  Benjamin is just a rather cautious human.  Overall, Dreams Las Mareas was such a beautiful property that also happened to be located sooo faaar from everything else. we just didn't know if it would be worth the risk.

As must happen all the time for survival in Krinkeland, we compromised.  We all decided to go on one excursion together, one activity, for one half-day.  Todd did the research and booked through the company directly, rather than through the resort concierge, so that we would have more options for times and features and such.  We chose zip lining, through Spider Monkey Canopy Tour, and it was AMAZING!

Our guide, Jose, picked us up at the resort, along with three other people, a couple from Canada and an English man.  Jose later pulled me aside and said, "You know, my boss called me yesterday and said he just got a reservation from a family with FOUR KIDS, so I had to come into work this morning and see for myself.  I called in extra help."  His English was excellent, and I chuckled, but I figured one of us must be missing something.  "What do you mean?" I asked.  "Surely, you've guided families with four children before."  Jose said, "No," and just kept shaking his head.

I later had a similar conversation (but this time in my broken Spanish) with our transfer van driver.  Gabriel was young, maybe 25, and friendly, with a wealth of knowledge about his country.  But, he, too, counted heads and said, "Four kids."  I said, "That's right."  He smiled and shook his head.  I told him I was confused.  "Come on, this is Central America... doesn't everyone around here have a lot of kids?!"  He smiled again, "Oh, yes, many children.  My wife and I are expecting our fourth.  Everyone has a lot of kids-- but WE DON'T GO ON VACATION!"

Therein was the rub.  I got it.  I felt so fortunate, and I reminded the kids they are, too.



When we arrived at the place of our expedition, we were given the choice to ride in the van up into the hills to the start of the zip line course, or we could hike, Jose said a mile-and-a-half through the forest, and see if we could spot any wildlife.  Our group voted to hike.  I told them right away that probably would not have been my choice, but I was so glad we did.



One problem: IT WAS HOT.  It was 8:30 in the morning, we were shaded under the canopy, we were wearing very little clothing, but IT WAS HOT.  I had a bag with bottles of water and extra sunscreen and all kinds of mom stuff, but Jose told me to leave in the van, so I did.  I regretted at least not grabbing the water bottles when Ben came to me in tears about a third of the way in.  He really does not handle heat well-- reminds me of my brother as a kid-- and I knew this, I just didn't realize what a problem it would be.  Thankfully, Jose recognized the problem right off and stepped in with water and tips and cooler routes along the riverbed.



This is Jose showing us a termite nest in the tree.  We saw them everywhere and they were all enormous!



This is a howler monkey.  We saw countless howler monkeys and spider monkeys in the trees.



It's hard to tell, but in the middle of this photo is a sloth.  We saw three sloths on this hike, including one baby which Jose said was rare to see.  This variety is the two-toed sloth, identifiable by its coloring and not because we could get close enough to count toes.



At the top of the hill, near where the zip line course began, was this view!  There was also an open-air restaurant.  we enjoyed cold water and a lovely breeze, along with some amazing pictures and entertainment by iguanas.



Benjamin was the first to get suited up to zip line.  While he was apprehensive about the trip, he never wavered in his dedication to take the leap!  Dad and I were both so proud of him!



These two just got cuter and cuter as the weeks progressed.  They took bazillions of photos together and of each other.  You've probably seem them all on Amanda's Instagram.



And Baby here, well, she just ran with the adventure.  She was the first one off the platform every single time.  She never even looked back or said, "Bye, Mom!"  Madeline just got hooked, jumped, and giggled all the way down.



One of the other guests who was on the tour with us made this video with a GoPro camera strapped to his helmet: https://youtu.be/Vlne8-sbsmM.  What a wonderful visual to have of this fun time!  (He was staying at the same resort with his family, but no one else was brave enough to try the zip line, so he came alone.)



Back at Dreams for lunch, Todd ordered me una bebida del dia (drink of the day.)  We still don't know what this one was, but it was refreshing and delicious!



At night, after another relaxing afternoon by the pool and beautiful view of the sunset, we cleaned up and cooled off and headed back to The Seaside Grill for another round of steak dinners.  Beautiful memories made and another glorious day!

Costa Rica Travelogue Day 5

This is a day we had been anticipating!  The weather was, once again, beautiful, and the monkeys were, once again, visiting.  The other guests from our hometown were going home.  Not that we didn't enjoy seeing friendly faces, but we were excited about being on our "own" for at least some of this vacation.  We were all especially thrilled that it was not yet time for us to think about packing up!

Even more exciting, we knew when we woke up this morning which restaurant we would be visiting for dinner that night.  There were many options around this all-inclusive resort, and we had PLENTY of food throughout our stay, but everyone raved about Himitsu.  We had been looking forward to visiting the Japanese restaurant for hibachi, but, with only two teppanyaki grills and chefs in the whole place, reservations were hard to come by.  Todd and I waited for the concierge to open up on more than one occasion before we secured a slot.

Elisabeth (center in aqua skirt) gave zumba a try!

Who knew Krinkeland liked volleyball so much?

We spent the day relaxing in the sun, and returned to our rooms in the late afternoon to rest up for dinner and the show.  This was the only day Benjamin and Madeline actually slept, and it was in both cases under duress, but I think it made for a much more pleasant evening for all.  We arrived at our reservation time and were seated with another (small) family around the big grill.  I tried to give the kids an overview of what would happen, as only some had previously been to a teppanyaki place.

The hostess informed us all that the teppanyaki reservation came with a set menu, and we would all get four kinds of sushi, followed by miso soup, and then fried rice and hibachi chicken, beef, shrimp and vegetables.  I was like, "Bring it on!"  Not everyone was enthusiastic about sushi, but Amanda, Elisabeth and Benjamin all tried it.

Our chef Javier was amazing!  He put on quite a show, but was also friendly and patient with the kids.  We all laughed a lot and were wowed by his talent.  And dinner was delicious!

We skipped dessert-- who wants to follow hibachi with flan?!-- and headed to the main commons for the nightly show.  We didn't sit in the audience for these shows often, because we were exhausted at the end of each day, and, because, if we were interested, we had an excellent view of the action from our balconies.  But, when the kids saw flame throwers, we took seats and watched!

Once again, the day ended with gelato.  Yum!  Little One, following in her father's footsteps, asked to sample at least six flavors and then ordered what she did every other time-- Oreo.  The flavors changed daily but included: marzipan, red berry, nutella, mint chocolate chip, mango, and pina colada (which contained alcohol!)

Costa Rica Travelogue Day 4

We could get used to this...

I neglected to mention something funny from the previous day.  The children returned to their room in the evening to this!  There was a banner on the door that read "Happy Anniversary" and the sheets and towels had been artistically arranged, with flower petals on the bed.  There was a knock at the door, where a room service attendant stood with a platter of cakes and a bottle of wine.  We're still not sure what happened...  We did get reassigned rooms a couple times upon check-in, so we assume that's where the confusion was generated... Amanda told the butler that it was not her anniversary and she and her sisters were not old enough to drink wine.  In broken English, he asked, "Oh, do you still want it?"  So, she accepted and delivered it to Dad and me and we all had a good laugh.

By the fourth day, everyone was feeling pretty comfortable in their surroundings and our new (temporary) lifestyle of leisure.  We went to bed early-- because we were all somehow EXHAUSTED from doing NOTHING-- and awoke fairly early (well, Ben and Maddy were always up early)... we ate a lot... we sunscreened up and lounged in the sun... we hopped in the pool when the sun got too hot... we dedicated ourselves to snorkeling and water aerobics and pool volleyball and beach volleyball... we fed monkeys... we napped... and we made plenty of trips for snacks; the daily-made gelato and soft pretzels in the Coco Cafe were family favorites!

The resort's favorite guest was also well established by this day: Madeline.  Our little love really made her mark on Dreams Las Mareas.  Her independent streak had her lining up for a Dirty Monkey (chocolate-banana milkshake) every morning at 10:00 when the pool bar opened.  Maddy has this great smile and a loud, infectious laugh; plus, she is always up for adventure.  Madeline wanted to try all the activities the kids' Adventure Club offered.  And, she chose these neon-bright bathing suits, so she was usually pretty easy to spot.



It seems everyone got to know Madeline.    Resort staff-- the entertainment committee-- would approach the older siblings and ask, "Where Maddy?  Time to play in the pool!"  She would tease and splash and mess around until they playfully scolded, "Maddy! Why you do that?"  She made new friends of strangers from Florida and London.  She became the mascot of the older kids who were also from our hometown.  There was a large convention of underwriters and property title experts staying at the resort, and they enjoyed observing Madeline, too.  "You're Little One's mommy!" strangers would call to me poolside, and then share a story of her cantaloupe overdose at breakfast or the sneaky way she outsmarted her brother while playing pickle in the middle.



This day, there was fried chicken on the buffet, when Madeline and I went there for lunch to get out of the midday sun.  Maddy, not much of an eater up until this point (never much of an eater unless you count ketchup) ate FIVE chicken legs for lunch.  Good for the rest of the week, I'm sure.

Later in the evening, we chose to check out the Mexican restaurant for dinner.  It was fine.  Dinner at these all-inclusive resorts is typically a long, drawn-out, relaxed affair (translation: someone is probably going to get your order wrong... you might never get some things you wanted... there will still be more food that you could possibly consume... you will still always order dessert... and no one really cares because you're on vacation!)  Madeline was not ever a treat a dinner.  Though we made reservations and went early, she was typically the one taking off her shoes and curling up in her arm chair.  We love her, anyway, even more than everyone else.

Spring Blizzard

My Costa Rica travelogue posts have been interrupted by a blizzard. This weekend we've been experiencing an actual, meets-meteorological-standards blizzard-- cold, strong winds, and more than a foot of snow. It's crazy! Lots of activities have been cancelled, and school starts late again tomorrow. This has been an insane winter/spring.

Ben and Oliver scaled a drift in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.

Costa Rica Travelogue Day 3

This was a day of many firsts.  Highlights included: some of the children getting more adventurous in trying new foods and we all met the monkeys!

Before departing for Costa Rica, our kids talked at length about food.  How many restaurants would there be at the resort?  Would the food be native Costa Rican cuisine or dishes with which we were familiar?  Will there really be more fresh fruit than we could imagine?  What about the seafood-- would we have to eat things that came right out of the ocean?!  Could we always have dessert?!  Can we drink the water?  Tell us about the mini bar!

The food we had everywhere, all week was really very good.  The kids who like to try new things did some experimenting, and those who are more comfortable with the tried-and-true just ordered more ketchup.  It was fun watching each of them take in the all-inclusive experience, trying things just because they could, ordering their own drinks at the bar, letting us know when it was time to eat again!



At breakfast, which we routinely had in shifts at the buffet restaurant World Cafe, we all loved the expansive fruit layout and separate juice bar.  (I had beet juice!  I don't recommend it.)  This morning, I challenged Amanda to take one piece of each fruit she had never tried or did not recognize.  Then, I recorded her reviews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzhvOSdSS4c.

In between meals, we began to learn the importance of two routine-setting practices: regular sunscreen applications and afternoon breaks from the outdoors.  None of us had ever visited so close to the equator.  It was HOT and it was sunny.  All the time.  I am not complaining... never would... I LOVE the heat and love to soak up the sun... But it was a lot to manage.  It was warm enough at 6 a.m. that Ben and Maddy and I could stroll the paths in just our bathing suits and cover-ups and soon feel ready to take a dip. 



We started with sunscreen first thing in the morning, like, right after breakfast, and reapplied it every 90 minutes to two hours.  We had to.  Even with those rules in place, everyone in Krinkeland earned some degree of sunburn-- except for Todd.  Todd applied sunscreen thickly and religiously and enlisted all of us to also apply sunscreen to his body.  He also almost never got wet.  His habits were annoying, but wise, and he's the one who should be leading the charge, oh, husband of mine who is already a basal cell carcinoma survivor.

For this weeklong trip for the six of us, I packed:

• 4 spray cans of 50 SPF
• 4 bottles of 30 SPF lotion
• 4 bottles of 15 SPF lotion
• 2 other random sunscreens
• 2 60 SPF zinc face sticks

We came home with most of one bottle of 15.



Also sun-related, we discovered it was a good idea (Mom's not so dumb after all) to take a little break from the afternoon sun.  It coincided well with the hourlong rest the waterslide lifeguards took.  We just headed back to our rooms to relax in the cool air conditioning, maybe soak in a tepid tub on the terrace.  (Did I mention we had soaking tubs on our terraces?  I know you think it's weird, but it's the best thing.)  There was only maybe one day when I got the younger kids to actually settle themselves enough to nap, but dinner was so much more pleasant on that night.

We also had to time our breaks from the sun around the monkey visits.  This is the first day we all saw and fed the monkeys!  We had heard that our resort locale was known for having monkeys hanging around, and we had already spied all kinds of wildlife.  This day, we followed the resort gossip chain to the beach at the appointed afternoon hour, and, sure enough, the capuchins (or white-faced monkeys) came!





As an aside, all the beaches in Costa Rica are state property and are, therefore, public.  There were a few craftsmen and tour leaders roaming the beach, but no one presented a problem.  The resort was so remote, it's not the kind of place where people really could or would just drive for the day, either.  But, each day, a flock of monkeys came down the hills for visits and snacks.  There were signs up warning against feeding the monkeys and other wildlife, but everyone fed the monkeys, because WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO FEED MONKEYS?!  We were told they liked bananas, grapes and pineapple, so we kept a bit extra from our breakfast or lunch meals.  You would look up in the trees and they'd be there like squirrels.  And, then, you would hold up a chunk of banana and a monkey would creep down the tree branch and gently take it from your hand.  That's it.

 

Did I mention we fed monkeys?

Say Something Wonderful

My friend Steph likes to tease that Kwik Trip is my Cheers.  I walk in each morning for post-workout coffee, and employees and patrons alike greet me by name and I do the same.  It's called community, people.  It's a good thing.  Today was my first morning back to routine, following a nine-day travel hiatus.  I walked in, grabbed a bunch of bananas, and, before I was even back to the coffee section, a friend and fellow coffee lover called out, "Boy, am I glad to see you!" 

I'm a little bit embarrassed to say how much that impacted me.  But I am saying it, in hopes it encourages others to spread words of appreciation, share the love.  While I consider myself friendly and have no trouble following the social prescription of greetings and small talk, I am truly an introvert, and I prefer to be left to myself, with myself.  I also love my fellow humans and am truly glad to see them, too... so I need to do a better job of making sure they know that.

I hardly know this man.  I call him "friend" because we see one another most days and chat a little bit, and he is so, so kind.  I was glad to see him, too, but what came out of my mouth in response to his greeting was, "What a wonderful thing to say!"  Say something wonderful today.

Costa Rica Travelogue Day 2

The birds were singing, the critters were calling, the sun was shining, and my little chickadees were UP EARLY.  Now, I am definitely a morning person, and at home typically arise around 5:00 and get in my workout and coffee before the sun is even up.  BUT, on vacation, I would have been happy to sleep in.  Benjamin is my next-gen early riser, so it wasn't much of a shock when I heard him rustling around about 6:00.  Madeline awoke, too, so we dressed and sneaked out of our rooms to explore the resort.

While the most excellent coffee shop is open 24 hours-- love, love, love Coco Cafe!-- the breakfast buffet and other restaurants did not start service till 7:00, so we took a walk around the property.  Dreams Las Mareas is in a remote location, situated between mountains on El Jobo Beach, in a bay of the Pacific Ocean.  The property itself is large and spread out.  We loved the beautiful landscaping of lush vegetation.  Everything was well maintained.  There were lawn sprinklers going (we're told the rainy season starts in May) and that kept everything green.  The surrounding land and hills were actually very brown and dry-looking, which surprised me, but I chalked it up to the Costa Rican season, and was also later told that the Pacific side of the country was the "dry" side.

On our walk, we passed mostly other parents with young early risers and saw resort workers everywhere.  It was already HOT, as in, it was hot enough to have your bathing suit on and comfortably go for a dip or to be sweating in a tank top and shorts.  This was the case for our entire stay.  While I loooved it, the others-- Todd and Ben, in particular-- got more than a little melty, and I think this crossed off Central America from the retirement destination list.

Maddy, Ben and I made our way to the World Cafe for breakfast, and when it opened there was already a crowd.  This became the daily practice-- Todd and I would switch off getting up and out with the younger kids, while the older ones slept just a bit longer and the in-room parent would get done a bit of work, reading, or internet surfing.  We loved all the fresh fruit, the juice bar, the omelet stations, and the special selections for kids.

By 8:15, Todd and I, Amanda and Libby were off to yoga.  These resorts have a program where fitness professionals can visit at a greatly reduced rate in exchange for teaching classes.  I have met some awesome instructors and tried fun, new things this way.  The yoga teacher was from Seattle and was great with beginners.  We let Ben and Maddy roam a bit because there was a pool and also the kids' area, called Explorers Club, in close proximity to the lawn where yoga was happening.  I said, "No swimming until I get there," but, of course, they didn't listen.



I found them in the pool, practicing their snorkeling skills.  They had applied sunscreen on each other, ineffectively, and were making friends with the lifeguard at the waterslide.  Thankfully, some friends from our hometown were already comfy poolside, so they also kept an eye on the rascals.  Swimming and sunscreen became the headlines of the week.



So, an aside about the other guests:  We actually knew a bunch of people who were all staying at this same resort at the same time (or, for part of the time we were there.)  On the one hand, it's super-strange that we're from this small town in Minnesota and we all chose this same resort this year for Spring Break.  On the other hand, we share a travel agent friend, and Costa Rica appears to be a hot destination and this really is an awesome resort to stay with kids.  Either way, it ended up not being a big deal.  We saw some friendly faces, chatted when we passed in the pool or at the bar, and got on with our family vacation.





One of the families we know a bit better through church and school and the gym, and we consider them friends.  Their youngest daughter and our Ben are in the same class at school, and the kids had a blast playing with each other in the pools, on the waterslide, and at the beach.  They arrived a few days before us, so they were very helpful with tips for the best restaurants, where to watch the sunset, and who to see about excursions.



Our first full day, we mostly just enjoyed the pools, explored the ocean (and the beach at both low and high tide) and talked about what we wanted to do for the week, which was mostly more of the same!  We had our second dinner at Seaside Grill, which was known at this resort as "the steakhouse."  The steaks were excellent-- ribeyes with Roquefort butter!-- and this restaurant was the favorite of many in our family.  (Mine was the coffee shop, which also served a dozen flavors of daily-made gelato!)

Costa Rica Travelogue Day 1

  

 

All the Krinkelandians have just returned from a marvelous Spring Break vacation in Costa Rica!  (Well, that's everyone except for Jones the Wonder Dog, who had his own vacation along the shores of a still-frozen Somers Lake with Grandma and Grandpa P.)  I haven't been great about blogging consistently... and the place we stayed had spotty-at-best-wi-fi... so, I figured I would just recap the trip upon our return.  It's been nearly 24 hours since our plane landed and, I tell you, re-entry is ROUGH.

Todd and I started planning many months ago to take the kids on a vacation over their spring break from school.  We have been getting better about scheduling little getaways for just the two of us or with groups of friends, but, the kids are so busy running in so many different directions that a family trip just seemed a bit insurmountable.  We set out last fall to choose dates, a destination, and accommodations, and we used frequent-flyer miles to book the flights.  The trip was actually our Christmas gift to the kids... so the countdown was on from about 100 days out.

We didn't have a particular reason for choosing Costa Rica.  We just knew the kids (and their mother) would like a warm-weather, beach vacation.  None of us had ever been anywhere near Costa Rica.  We knew there were lots of options for things to see and do, and the kids would really love the wildlife.  Plus, it helps to have a good friend who is a travel agent and also someone with whom we have traveled, so she knows our preferences, taste, and budget, and she suggested this particular resort destination.

Because we were working around Holy Week/Easter, the kids' school schedule and spring activities, and using frequent flyer miles, the actual arrangements were a little convoluted.  Plus, the home weather was really stinky-- cold and snowy!  On departure day, we ended up leaving home just before 2:30 a.m. for a 5:20 a.m. flight.  Everyone was too excited to sleep much the night before, anyway, but I was anxious to see how they would hold up.  Takeoff was delayed in Minneapolis due to deicing and refueling (???) the airplane.  It ate up all our layover time in Atlanta, and the crew there actually held the plane to Liberia, Costa Rica; otherwise, we never would have made it.  As it was, we were literally running through the terminal to make our connecting flight.  Atlanta is an hour later than us here in the Midwest, and Costa Rica is an hour earlier than here (two hours earlier than Atlanta,) so we were playing some clock ping-pong.

We landed in Liberia around noon, made it slowly through customs and then had a bit of a delay while we waited for our van transfer to the resort.  I had been anxious about, well, everything, because I am a nervous traveler.  But, sure enough, in the days leading up to the trip, two of the kids came down with nasty colds.  Benjamin had it the worst, with this cruddy cough that sounded both sickly and annoying.  I took him to the doctor the day before we left, and she prescribed an antibiotic to be used just in case, but he did well considering he did not feel well during the first couple days.  The doc also recommended these specialized ear plugs called Earplanes to help with the pressure build-up (she could see fluid) in Ben's ears.  They were helpful and he actually asked to wear them each time the plane started to descend.  We highly recommend them.

From the airport in Liberia, it was about an hour-and-a-half ride, slowly, along winding roads, to get to the resort.  That was the worst part-- all the anticipation, and it was so hard to wait!  The lack of sleep, the sickness, and the sweat-- IT WAS SO HOT-- were all beginning to wear on us.  Ben and Maddy did nod off a little bit on the van ride.

We drove along narrow, winding roads, past interesting countryside, and saw and learned so much even on that initial drive.  Costa Rica is home to five inactive volcanoes.  The government uses geothermal and wind power to generate electricity.  Public school all the way through college is free in Costa Rica.  There are a number of immigrant/refugee camps in Costa Rica; people arrive from South America and from Africa, thinking it is a pathway to the United States.  (This is all according to one of our interested and engaged drivers.)  We saw gigantic termite nests in trees, mango trees, lots of iguanas, lots of broken-down trucks on the roadside, and plenty of scrawny livestock, including cows that caused a traffic jam.

At long last, around 2:30 p.m., we arrived at Dreams Last Mareas, on El Jobo Beach, Guanacaste, Costa Rica.  This is a very nice, all-inclusive resort geared to families.  I knew from the moment we were helped from the van and handed cool, scented towels that our children were going to be spoiled and they were going to love it!

There was a bit of wrangling to get our reservation sorted and to get us into our accommodations.  I was glad I had all the travel documents printed, and that I spoke just a bit of Spanish, so we could make sense of it all.  Check-in was the first time on this trip when we started to get the idea that traveling as a family with FOUR KIDS was maybe a bit unusual.  More on that later...

The poor porter lugged our mountain of luggage to our adjoining suites, and this was the view from our balcony.

Everyone was beat, beat, beat and I was thinking about naps all the way around... But, no, the kids wanted to go swimming, of course.  So, suits on and down to the first pool we went.  There was a waterslide!  After an hour or so, we traipsed back up, toweled off, and headed to dinner. 

We chose the Italian restaurant, Portofino, for our first dinner, partly because Todd and I have always enjoyed the Italian cuisine at all-inclusive resorts, and partly because the restaurant was located close to our rooms.  This particular restaurant was the only one on the resort property (besides the bars and nightclubs) that was designated adults only, which we obviously did not know before we chose it, but they permitted families with kids to dine there on the patio.  So, our first dinner in Costa Rica was al fresco.  By the time we got through antipasti and were on to the pasta course, Ben and Maddy were literally falling asleep in their plates, so I took them up to bed while the others held on a bit longer and ate our chicken parmesan.

I'm certain everyone was asleep before 9 p.m.  This set the stage for some early rising for all of vacation, but we didn't want to miss a minute!