Wednesday August 29, 2007

Pura Vida my amigos y familias,

Life in Costa Rica is definitely Pura Vida. We awoke to a beautiful day again this morning, a bit on the humid side however beautiful none the less. After a delicious French toast breakfast (that I made for everyone minus Storm and Amy since they were still away on their “date”), we got everyone dressed and ready for the day. Just about the time we were ready to go on our adventure walk, the Zbel’s arrived back home. The day before, the Zbel’s car blew it’s engine and proved to be a very stressful for them so today was spent trying to figure out what to do and how to take care of the situation. We left Storm to handling that while the rest of us headed out to Hacienda Baru to check out the local gift shop and rain forest. Since this trip was more about relaxation and helping out the Zbel’s to get ready for the baby and less about exploration, it was fairly low key and going to the gift shop was what Xander wanted to do since he wanted to pick up tiki masks made by the Baru Indians. These masks are made out of local tree bark and are carved, painted and decorated in the most extravagant fashion. Here are a few pictures of our favorites. They are beautiful.

Xander picked up his mask, Christian got a teak Tortuga so that he could have his very own souvenir and I picked up the book “Monkeys are made of Chocolate” by Jack ?. When you buy them at Hacienda Baru, he autographs every copy since the rain forest reservation is owned by him. Here you can explore the tree canopies, fly on the zip lines and take nature walks to see the Sloths, White-faced Monkeys, Tucans and other rain forest animals up close and personal. Next time we come, and yes, we will definitely return, we will take the tours, snorkel, whale watch, surf and so much more. We know all the things we want to do on the next trip so it won’t be one of those “I wish I would have…” trips. I am actually glad we did it this way the first time around here since it can be almost overwhelming with all there is to do and see. Costa Rica is truly one of the most beautiful places I have been. I would love to tour other Central American countries as I have heard a great deal about the beauty they also hold within their borders,

And since I haven’t written in this daily as I should have, I have totally forgotten about what we did this day.