In February, Mary Anne and Charles and 3 of her siblings and spouses spent several days exploring the grand country of Costa Rica. The adventure began with a 2 night stay at the Pura Vida Hotel near Alajuela (close to the airport). Shown is our Casita and some of the surrounding gardens.
While waiting for the rest of our party to arrive, we took a tour to the Poas Volcano. Poas is an active volcano, but during quiet periods, you can actually look into the crater. From Alajuela or San Jose, it is a pleasant drive through coffee and fern plantations. Shortly after our trip, the volcano became more active and the area was closed to tourists.
After all 8 of us were assembled, we headed for Villa Encantada on the shores of Lake Arenal. It was an exciting trip at time, especially when we nearly lost the spare tire of our Toyota Hiace Van as we drove over the "Bridge of Death." We managed to avoid being swallowed by the potholes in the road and did not run over any of the friendly Coatimundis as we drove from the dam to Villa Encantada. And what a villa it was. The pictures do not really do it justice.
From the house, there were gorgeous views of Lake Arenal.
On the property there was a swimming pond stocked with fish.
On the left is the view from our bedroom window. Right, the grounds looked like a modern day garden of Eden.
On Sunday, we drove 1 1/2 hours to the nearest LDS church in Ciudad Quesada, a.k.a. San Carlos. It was election day so we saw many Costa Ricans out doing their civic duty.
Monday, Monday, I thought rainy season was over. We made the best of it by shopping and visiting the local hot spring.
Tuesday, time for a hike to La Fortuna waterfall.
The howler monkeys spent the day in the trees on the property on Wednesday so we finally got to see them close up.
On Thursday we finally saw the Arenal Volcano in its entirity on the way to whitewater rafting!
Friday, we enjoyed the grounds, did some bird watching, and kayaked at Lake Arenal.
On Sunday, we moved into cheap digs in Alajuela and attended church. Monday, we made it into San Jose for the first time--the airport is actually near Alajuela.
In San Jose, we toured the impressive National Theater (upstairs room above)
and the Gold Museum (no pictures allowed inside).
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Costa Rica!
Friday, December 29, 2006
Where did 2005 go?
No updates since December 2004?--how pitiful is that! Well let's see what happened in 2005.
Weddings, that's what happened in 2005. Eddie and Andrea Howell (from Riverton, WY by way of BYU) were married on April 23rd 2005. From left: Matt, Emily, Chris, Mary Anne, Ben (Matt's son), Charles, Jacob (Matt's son), Eddie, AndreaDan, Annabelle, Sara, and Dave.
Sara married Chris Hiltner from Baxter, MN on May 14, 2005. From left Jacob, Emily, Matt, Annabelle, Dan, Dave, Sara, Big Chris, Ben, Charles, Mary Anne, Little Chris, Eddie, Andrea.
In June of 2005, Matt and Emily took all of our grandchildren (Annabelle, Ben, and Jacob) to Minnesota where he will do a dermatology residency. Here is the motley moving crew--Dave, Emily, Matt, Ben, Mary Anne, Annabelle, Charles, Sara, Big Chris, Dan, Jacob, Little Chris.