Costa Rica 2015: Days 6 and 7

We were up early again on Day 6. Something about Costa Rica made me wake up at 6am every day. It was rainy, and we were excited to see another rainbow from the balcony outside our door. 

After getting dressed and driving down to the main hotel lobby, there was no parking, so Bean had to leave the car across the street. I liked this sign that pointed the way to different destinations within Monteverde, and I could see it from the front steps of our hotel. 

Breakfast was included, and we had plenty of time to eat before the bus to  Selvatura Park picked us up. I've been hankering for some delicious french toast for a couple of months now, but I discovered that both of our local breakfast places have the same style of gross french toast- covered in thick egg and greasy. Lucky for me, this place had it- delicious light fluffy french toast! We filled up since we didn't know when we would eat again.

The bus ride was maybe 10 minutes up the road. Bean didn't want to drive because he was worried we would get lost. We were planning to head straight back to the resort after this hike because we wanted to rest a little bit before the farewell dinner that night.

The rain continued. We paid $10 each for ponchos at the gift shop when we arrived. We had already purchased our tickets from the lady at the tourist place in town, so we were able to start our hike right away. I was having a great mascara day but the rain had me worried that would end, so I made sure to keep the poncho's miniature hood out as far as it would go!

I was scared of this hike all along, but the rain made it a little more uncomfortable. It made me think of this book we read to Abby called, "And The Rain Came Down". The first half of it is different scenarios of people being upset about different things, "and still, the rain came down". At the end a rainbow comes out and everyone's mood changes.

Let's jump into some of these pictures. The hike should take 1.5-2 hours, depending on your speed and there are 8 bridges suspended along the trail that go through the jungle. Suspended does indeed mean that they sway side to side as you walk.

There's Bean in his poncho showing me his sure- footedness he practiced when we were in Peru. Clearly I was so freaked out by this bridge that I got across it as quickly as possible and had time to wait for him to finish viewing the stunning scenery.

I remember being able to feel his steps behind me and scolding him for walking too heavily- thus making the bridge sway. I made the bridge sway with my own footsteps but something about someone else doing it behind me was extra scary. It's still raining so hard that water droplets are dripping off of the tip of my nose and eyelashes. I much preferred the garden paths although it was clear that this park was constructed for tourists because it wasn't just forged through the jungle, they laid out the path and put it together nicely.

I kept the camera under my poncho and whipped it out quickly a couple of times. Bean suggested that he carry the camera because he was more comfortable on the bridges and could take better pictures since I was still getting across them, head down, focused on every step, as fast as possible.

There's me, scared out of my mind. I wondered if it would be a funny TV show to watch someone do something that really freaked them out. I bet I had some funny faces going on. With Bean in control of the camera, I focused on trying to calm down, to try and look up sometimes, and to enjoy being in the rain. Soon enough we would be dry, but I wanted to try and enjoy being in the moment.

Bean did an awesome job getting the bridges looking creepy in the fog. Please notice the multiple patches right in the middle of the walking area. I kept picturing my foot falling through and cutting my leg on the metal, then being stuck there while the whole bridge collapsed and took me down with it.

We hiked silently through the jungle, both wishing we were dry but not wanting to complain. I had water up to my knees, even with my hiking boots on. My mascara smeared without me touching it. I was so glad we were doing something adventurous and scary but I also imagined myself in the warm sun with a book in my hand.

At some point, we transferred the camera back and I took a few shots of the last bridge.

There was a young couple up ahead of us, and scaredy cat AEB (me) was gingerly trying to cross the bridge while not looking at anything, and up ahead of me, the young guy was purposely stomping wide from side to side, making the entire bridge quake. I was so freaked out, faced with driving rain and clinging to the side of the bridge, hoping he would stop. I didn't mention I was also out in the middle of it, no way out. The trees had cleared so the rain was coming at me full force. They were clearly having fun, and I was clearly trying not to die.

See that figure in the distance with his poncho billowing out behind him while he gazes serenely over the edge of this death bridge? That's Bean.

We finished the hike and had about an hour to waste in the small gift shop before the bus came to take us back into town. So we waited, walked around, and bought a couple of souvenirs, including a T-shirt for Abby with a monkey riding a scooter with the slogan "Pura Vida".

The morning was so high-anxiety, I just wanted to be back in our car- dry- with plenty of time to shower and relax at the resort. The buses finally pulled up, and there was a waiting room full of people just like us ready to get back to their hotels. We got on the first bus (the number of people waiting filled two more buses behind us), and it still took us 45 minutes to get back to our hotel. We had checked out that morning, so we were ready to hit the road but I was so agitated and wishing we had just driven ourselves there because we could have had that big chunk of time on the back end of the day. I can see why it was very convenient though, not having to worry about how to get around in that confusing town.

As we got further from town, the rain faded away and we had more gorgeous views for the drive back.

We stopped at a small place by the side of the road for some snacks since we wouldn't be eating lunch. Bean says the lady made up the prices, but I didn't care. I felt like we got a little piece of authentic local culture. The store was dusty with mostly empty shelves and one small cooler of drinks.

We made it back much faster than on the way there because it was downhill and Bean was used to driving the car by then. Check out the mud on the door!

With a couple of hours to go before the dinner, we changed clothes and relaxed for a bit, and I started in on my 4th book, 'A House in the Sky' by Amanda Lindhout. It's the true story of her kidnapping in Somalia, where she was kept for over a year, tried to escape once, and finally a deal was negotiated for her freedom. Very interesting and hard to put down!

We had heard of a place called The Monkey Bar up the beach from the hotel (not affiliated) where you can get snacks and drinks and monkeys come up close enough to see easily. We decided to take a walk on the beach and see if we could find it, since we heard the best time to go is around 4:30-5:30 when the monkeys are most active- and that was just what time it was!

There it is! When we arrived it was packed, so we got the last free table under the awning.

I needed a snack and I hadn't had any guacamole this whole week!

A strawberry beergarita with their local beer- Imperial. The first picture makes me think of Liz! And please disregard the smeared/no mascara look! I needed to shower before the dinner that night.

So for some reason, we didn't bring much cash with us and a place like this didn't have a credit card machine. We overheard several tables of people talking about getting back for the dinner, so the place cleared out almost all at the same time. The couple we met a few days earlier from San Antonio were there too. Our bill was higher than we had enough cash for, so poor Bean had to race back to the hotel, all the way up to our room on the 4th floor, get cash, and race back, while I waited so they knew we weren't skipping out on the bill. It was a 15-minute walk each way and we didn't have much time to get ready!

It was good news though because I got to see a monkey up close and personal while I was waiting!

The only other people there was a group that sounded Canadian and Bean said they were the people that were making the ATV tour go so slow earlier in the week. We thought that was funny since they were the slowest drinkers too. We paid, and booked it down a 'shortcut' path to get cleaned up for the dinner.

Good news was the dinner was on the gorgeous patio right outside our room so we were able to walk out the door on time and we were already there! 

We sat with the young couple from our Mega Combo trip, and learned about how they got engaged in Venice on a surprise trip and are having Aaron Watson play at their wedding. Then we drifted into conversation with the couple from Houston (the husband is in corporate for Goodman), and next thing we know, we are crammed into an elevator with 15 other bigwigs headed for the dance club.

And then, the elevator stops because it is so overloaded! We were all so tipsy, we didn't have a chance to panic. Bean was in front so he pried the doors open and we all jumped out, laughing. 

One guy was probably more than tipsy and he was telling the other people in the elevator with us, "One of our customers was opening the door to get us out and his wife was saying, 'no! don't do that!'" and then he laughed as if the people he was talking to had not, in fact, been in the elevator with us and heard all of our dialogue. Pretty funny!

I was excited to dance, but when we got there, you had to pay for drinks (I didn't want anymore anyway), and all the couples were dancing together. I kept telling Bean that I would have been tearing up the dance floor if I'd been there with my friends, or if some of the other ladies liked to dance in groups instead of coupled up. The music was great. We finally made it back to our room around 1am.

The next morning- Day 7- we were wondering what we were thinking! We woke up so early, as usual, and needed a lot of water. Clearly we are not 21 years old anymore. Luckily, our flight was that afternoon, and we weren't even leaving the hotel until noon, so we had plenty of time to sleep, drink watermelon juice, eat one last small pink donut, drink more water, and read.

We took the bus to the airport, ate lunch in a very crowded and extremely loud restaurant (not good for our sorry selves that morning), and waited around for our flight. I read the whole way home, Mike picked us up from the airport and we went back to their house to spend the night so we could be there when Abby woke up in the morning. We sat and talked for a little while but we were exhausted and finally went to bed.

First thing in the morning, we heard Abby and went to get her. Terri was so fast she had her in the living room before I could even get my glasses on and open the door! 

She saw me and screamed, "Mommy!!" and ran to me. She was so excited and I felt the same way! She gave Bean a huge hug too, and we talked to her about her fun week of vacation with Gigi and Pop. She made us a heart box painted cream and covered in red glitter stickers for Valentine's Day with Gigi's help and was very excited to give us the 'pretty' box.

She was in the best mood for a week after that, and so were we! We were so grateful for the break from each other, our chance to have couple time, and then to be back together again that we didn't even get on each other's nerves.

What I learned from this trip is that it's ok to let things go. It's hard to push yourself to do things that are scary, like leaving your kid for a week or walking across swinging metal bridges with holes in them, but in the end, it's worth it to grow as a person.

I can see us taking more short trips as a family and I can see Bean and I taking more trips alone, even just for a long weekend. Most importantly, we want to spend quality time together every day, instead of just zoning out, which is so easy to do when you're tired.

We absolutely loved Costa Rica, and of course want to go back, but I've caught another bug: to go backpacking in South America for a couple of weeks. I may have to wait until Abby is old enough to go with us, but in the meantime, I can brush up on my Spanish to get ready. I'm starting Rosetta Stone within the next month!