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Morning. I had agreta idea about what I was supposed to writ today, but it slipped my mind. This trip is teaching me alot about life in general. Making me appreciate certain things in life, such as a hot shower with pressure, quiet (although I do not remember the last time I had that), my family, a vehicle (can't believe that), a working bank machine, and lots of other things. On the other hand I realise there are still lots of things that I have that I really do not need. Such as, lots of clothes, a bank card (the first bank machine I used ate it anyways), a vehicle (can't believe that), quiet, and so on and so forth. A ral eye opener. I love the jungle and the smell. I love the hills and the constant green of the country. The tico homes have a real charm to them, although I do not know if could ever live in one. But heck it's only day three, i think. Days have really lost meaning in this life. we came one day early to a hotel we reserved, and just laughed cause it was pretty ridiculous. One thing about travelling in a small hilly country is that to appreciate the landscape of cities, towns, 'country' and then more towns and villages is they do not come across like anything we are used to in a Canadian setting. I am getting better at it after two trips thru the countryside, and can tell you that everythign is closer here. Your neighbours are attached to your fence and wall. Your town is on the highway. The highway for that matter reminds me of the road that you take to Stych's house after you take that right over the train tracks, but it is narrower and has more turns. And that is a main highway! But once you get past that you realise the closeness of it all. I also see how time gets affected here with all the rain. As Tamara wrote, it can rain many times in a day. Lots of people use that to sit and wait,and that to me is fantastic. They can do it I suppose you are saying, but so can you. We were sitting at a RostiPollos and I watched the rain as I was eating. I noticed an old man that came in and just sat on a bench that was inside the door. He sat and waited for the rain to quit. I felt myself doing the same, and if I did not have to take two little guys to the bathroom three times I would have actually had a chance to unwind a bit more. Oh well, life is great out here. And although we have had a few disappointments so early, we will perservere and see wherre we can get. If the boys let us that is. By far, keeping two boys entertained while trying to plan and book things is the greatest challenge so far. We'll keep going and see what happens. So far no revelations. Heredia was nice but not so early in the trip. It was just like Edmonton. Car alarms, sirens, a rooster (... well not that part), and city noise in general. We did not want to stay in a place where you are supposed to go shopping for somethign to do, so we had tomove on. We are now in Puntarenas for a couple days, adb then off to the Nicoya Peninsula. The pool was great and it is so great to hear waves again. I'll go listen again. Unfortunately, rooms do not have internet (oh poor me and my convenience mindset yet) and so i am in the bar (oh woe is me having a free bar) typing away with minimal spelling mistakes. Talk to you soon. Rum is great. Thanks Paul. Vida.

Las Pas Waterfall Tour

Our tour started with a super nice guy named Olman picking us up early at 10:30 am. We picked up another couple at the Marriott, and headed North West. Olman was so cool to point out many interesting things on the way up. We first went through many many tiny villages (towns). They all seemed run down and poor, but this is the way. The people aren't poor, but have much less when compared to our standards. The homes are made either with whatever they could find (it seemed) or are block homes covered with bars and gates. The bars and gates are both for security (although the crime here is very very low) and also part of the Spanish heritage. Anyone who has been to Spain (or Italy) will know about the bars and gates. Very beautiful actually.

After a few small and quaint towns, we started the climb up. Narrow NARROW roads, potholes, and fast driving. Needless to say, the boys loved it. They thought they were in a HotWheels Race Van! Once we hit the elevation of 1000 feet, the Coffee Plantations were everywhere. It was so incredible. One of the roads we needed to get to was closed because of all the rain they have been getting here, but Olman knew of a short-cut. This would usually worry me a little, but we are on an adventure of a lifetime, so I let it pass. And am I ever glad I did. This short-cut was through the oldest Coffee Plantation in Costa Rica. 3rd Generation Coffee is what it was called. We needed permission to come onto the property, but that was easily granted. The boys needed to use the bano (please see the pictures if you're interested) and so we were able to get out and look around. This coffee plantation actually gives tours, so we headed to the gift shop for some free samples! So good. Better than good. And the boys loved the chocolate covered coffee beans. (was this a mistake?)

Did you know........The Plantation was over 450 hectares, and it implyed over 1000 workers. They exported 90% of their crop to Europe and the USA. Most good workers can pick 30 baskets of ripe beans per day, and they recieve 1$ per basket. A good wage according to Olman. Also, coffee bean plants take 3 years to mature so that they are ready to be harvested, and they only ripen in October, November and December. When they cut the tree's back for better growing, they use the cut branches to roast the beans.

Once we hit 1700 Feet, Coffee could not be grown anymore, so the area was now filled with Dairy farms. Cows Cows Cows everywhere. On the road, in the fields, Everywhere. Here again the villages looked poor, but don't tell the Costa Ricans, this is the way they live. Honestly, I have yet to meet a sad Costa Rican. Everyone here is happy all the time.

In around this time the cloud forests appeared. I have never been inside a cloud, but this was very very cool. It wasn't actually raining, but the mist was so thick it was very hard to see in front and behind you. Glad Olman knew how to drive! A little later we hit the Continental divide. This is where the rivers start flowing in different directions. The same as in the mountains in B.C., here the water either goes to the Pacific or Caribbean side. Cool

Las Pas Waterfalls was soon after this, and were we glad to get out of the van. We had been travelling for around 2 hours now. I thought the boys would be hungry, but they were eager to get on with the tour. We started with the birds. Scarlet Macaws, Blue Macaws, Toucans and more. We were inside the enclosure, so the birds actually came right up to us. Callym was about 2 feet from one, and it was the coolest thing ever. During the walk we passed by a huge display of bettles, ants, and other many HUGE bugs. These can be seen on our photo site. From there we headed into the butterfly area. This too was enclosed. They were everywhere. There were butterflies flying around, caterpillars under every leaf, eggs on the leaves, and cocoons all around. We saw some of the most interesting cocoons. Please see the pictures, but I will tell you know, some looked like pure solid shiny gold!

From here we saw the frogs. There weren't many to be seen (all hiding) but the few that we saw were very cool. Red-eyed tree frogs, Blue Jean frogs (because they are red with Blue legs that makes it look like they are wearing jeans) the HummingBird exhibit was in the open air, and was incredible. There were about a hundred of them. I tried my best to get pictures, but they are fast. Really fast. Amazing though. The whole day was.

After this we started the walk to the waterfalls. This included many, many, many steps. All steep and all slipery. Here everything is so damp that they stairs, trees, and everything in between is covered in moss. Makes for slippery stepping. The waterfalls, and the entire park is in the Jungle (rainforest it's called too) Oscar loved this so much. Callym was keeping his eyes open for Jaguars. (none here tho). They were smilling the entire day. It was fantastic. These boys didn't complain the entire trip, not even when we climbed both up and down more than 300 steps!

I can't describe the waterfalls. They were breathtaking, and powerful and amazing and magnificent, and, oh. Just take a look at the pictures. Actually, pictures can never really be the same as being there. But truly, it was BEAUTIFUL!


Instead of walking back up (which I don't think the boys could do, nor could Chris carry them up all thouse stairs, seeing as he carried at least one, sometimes both down most of them), we took a shuttle back up to the main part. Here we had a fantastic Costa Rican lunch and hit the guest shop. The boys found some cute frog toys (they really ribbit!) and we headed back home. Olman took a different way, just to show up more of Costa Rica, and the boys had a great siesta along the bumpy roads.
Once we got back we had a nice dinner, and started packing. We are going to Puntarenas tomorrow. More to come. Promise.

Our picture site, if you don't already have it.