Travelling with Family

Monteverde, Costa Rica
For the last two weeks or so we've been travelling with Steve's sister Kyla and her family (the Loewens). Time has just been flying by.

Itinerary and highlights.
- 1 day in the capital to get acclimatized to the heat in Costa Rica. We wandered around and they got their first taste of a typical Costa Rican meal
- 4 days in the Caribbean town of Cahuita. We stayed in an apartment with beautiful ocean views and spent our afternoons on the beach. The boys loved playing in the waves while the adults learned how to bodysurf and boogeyboard through much trial and error.
- 4 days in Fortuna which is a town made famous by the nearby volcano which puts on a fireworks display on a nightly basis. At least that's what we're told. The weather did not cooperate. We had rain for 3 of the 4 days. The nearby hotsprings were magnificent and we spent a day wandering from pool to pool trying out the various temperatures. http://www.arenal.net/baldi-hot-springs.htm We also took our first guided tour which was a river boat through caiman (fresh water crocodiles) infested waters.
- 4 days in Monteverde. Adventure/Eco-tourism capital of Costa Rica. The zip-line and tarzan jump in the Selvatura park got the adrenaline flowing. My favorite experience was watching a butterfly emerge from its cocoon (incredible)! Other interesting things some or all of us enjoyed were, a hummingbird garden, frog pond, day and night hikes through the cloud forest, and a coffee tour.
We need a break after all this excitement so we're heading back to the beach for 4 days. This time it'll be the pacific side and the black sand beaches of Playa del Coco.

General Comments and Observations:
We've been staying in much nicer accomodations for the last two weeks and its been really interesting for us. For example when towels are provided they do not have suspect stains on them or large holes in them. When there's a private bathroom it doesn't make the whole room smell like toilet bowl cleaner. On the other hand when there is something we don't like about the accomodation we can't as easily brush it off by saying well what do expect for just a couple of dollars. Our expecations are raised and with that comes potential disappointment. Our most expensive accomodations of the last two weeks had the most cramped spaces.

Our nephews seem to be having a good time. Joel's first highlight was something as simple as riding the bus from the airport to the hotel. Everything is new and most new things are exciting (at least for a while).

Thankfully there have been no stomach troubles as the family adjusts to different food. This may be in part to the numerous servings of pizza we've enjoyed.

We have finally filled up the memory card on our camera. We thought we'd taken a lot of pictures >600 so far but were quickly surpassed as the Loewens have tallied >700 in the last two weeks.

Our e-mail inbox seems to be filling up with brand new baby pictures this week. The Milne-Epps (Joel and Andrea) and the Armstrongs (Lori and Jason) both added a boy to their families this week. Congratulations!