Costa Rica Here I Come!

La playa!

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The big church in Los Angeles (Costa Rica)!

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Time with family....

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The Farmer's Market in Heredia.. Saturday morning

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Cartago with family....

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Josh's last night in PV and then on to Heredia the next morning... A

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A DELISH Italian resto by the beach in PV- La Pecora Nera , a Tuscan restaurant, owned and run by an Italian guy.

Resto- Don Roberto's in Rio Frio on the way to Heredia. Really good resto! Thanks Josh!!

Work on the road up in the mountains.. on the way to Heredia.

Red passion flowers growing on the wall in the parking lot of Alto Mercado in Heredia! Beautiful!!

Things in the neighbourhood...

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Right outside the house... What's this??!

A perfect day at the beach!!!

The farm where we get fresh eggs and milk...

Lunch is served... Lunch with the family in town.

This was a DELISH healthy lunch...

My toe is ALL BETTER now!! YAYYY!!!!

Back in Puerto Viejo....

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This FIRST thing I did when we got back was RUNNNNN to the doctor to have my toe looked at. He confirmed my suspicion that it was infected (staph) and that I had to get it cleaned out and to start on antibiotics immediately.... So, after he anesthetized the toe and cut a portion off of the nail and cleaned the puppy out! I started on Amoxcillion that day! After about 1 1/2 days, it was already feeling a TON better! YAY!!! Thank you sooo much, Doctor!

When it rains, it POURS... torrentially speaking, of course!! That's the tropics for you!

Saw wild horses on the beach.. but this one paid a visit to the neighhood- hungry and salvaging through the trash bags!

I simply MUST find out the name of these birds because they make the COOLEST nests EVER!! They swing like pendulums.. SOOOO cool!

Leaving the mountains... back to Heridia

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Our last day at Villa Blanca....

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We went on a walk in the nearby cloud forest and saw lots of beautiful sights!

Villa Blanca Resort in the Cloud Forest

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Our SWEET room at the resort...

Oh... how nice it was to have a cappuccino by the fire....

Leaving the thermal pools and on to Villa Blanca...

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The cutest cafe along the way....

Las Thermales.. Mineral Hot Springs -- "AHHHH! That's the life!"

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At night, a whole different atmosphere!

The path down to the thermal pools...

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A YUMMY breakfast!

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More pics from around the resort...

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Arriving at Bosques de Thermales...

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En route after lunch to Bosques de Thermales...

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Lunch is served!

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One of my VERY favourite things here so far are the black beans!! I just LOVEEEE them!!!

Another favourite is the friend plantains- a very starchy banana that is eaten fried, not raw. If it's prepared when it's green, it's almost like a potato, not sweet, and very starchy.. If it's prepared when it's yellow (ripe), then it's very sweet and can be eaten as a dessert. It's usually served with a meal, not separate, as a dessert! I'd like to eat some fried bananas with vanilla ice cream, cinnamon and syrup! YUM!!!

A little tourist shop off the side of the road....

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Up in the mountains...

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Driving through the mountains...

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On our way... ROAD TRIP!!!

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The week before Alex left, we drove to Heredia, where Jurggen lives (near San Jose) and then toured around a bit in the mountains - far from the Caribbean Coast!

We visited two different places- the thermal pools at Bosques and the Cloud Forest at Villa Blanco, not far from Arenal, an active volcano. It's so different from the tropical landscape- and I was very surprised to see all the agriculture and cattle grazing so high up in altitude... I really LOVED it all!!!

Tropical flowers

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***Purple Wreath - the purple flowers you will see in the pics that look similar to wisteria.
Petrea volubilis or 'Purple Wreath' is an ideal substitute for Wisteria in the tropics and subtropics, Petrea volubilis is regarded as the best blue flowering climber for the climate. Actual flowers are small, blue blossoms surrounded by large, blue sepals. After the flower dies the sepals retain their colour for many weeks, slowly fading before falling off the vine. Leaves are rough with a sandpaper-like texture, and may be semi-deciduous during cold winter periods in cooler districts.
A great substitute for Wisteria if you live in a warm climate. Perfect for training over pergolas or climbing up walls and trellis.

Autumn in the tropics...

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Playa Negra

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A healthy lunch....

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Me n' Alex in the sunset... Playa Negra

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Shadow on the beach....

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Breakfast at Banana Azul

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Playa Negra

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Mosquitos... Oh no!!!

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I hate mosquitos and I wish they hated me, too! But no, they LOVE me!!!!

A 'typical' meal in Costa Rica

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Exotique fruits for sampling at the Botanical Gardens...

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The Botanical Gardens in Puerto Viejo...

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Howler monkeys in the trees...

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More on the beach....

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More from Manzanillo....

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Manzanillo Beach

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Sunset on Playa Negra

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Me n' Alex in the sunset... Playa Negra

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Casa Verde Lodge in Puerto Viejo...

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This is where my Dad and Merlyn stayed last year for a little while while their house was being built...

Just LOVE this tile entry.

Cool place to hang...

Doesn't this look relaxing?!

One of the very few "sidewalks" in town.. In fact, it may be the ONLY one, come to think of it!

A view of Puerto Viejo...

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Black vultures in the trees....

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Puerto Viejo...

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Dog Day Afternoon

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Soooo many dogs all over the place, they just follow you all around... esp. on the beach!

Hola de Puerto Viejo...

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A walk on the beach at sunset..

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Even horses like to stroll on the beach....

Horse on the beach at sunset...

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Pictures from the garden...

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A little birdie...

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Postcards from Costa Rica....

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A beautiful sunset...

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Click to enlarge.

A very 'typical' Costa Rican meal...

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Destruction in the forest...

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Someone or some people hacked down a coconut tree growing in the forest along the beach the other day. They used a machete to break through the truck and then knocked it down. The evidence of coconuts were all over the place- and there were about 5 coconuts that were left untouched... Makes me wonder what kind of uneducated and horrible people would cut down an entire tree for a few coconuts-seems criminal to me!

Pelicans flying ....

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Gray day in Puerto Viejo

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Walking along Playa Nega past the Banana Azul Hotel.... It's gray but still pretty warm.

Getting my toesies wet...

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Driftwood...

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Coconuts...

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The almost full moon

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Pelican in a palm tree

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Is this a flag?

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... waving in the breeze??

People on the beach? Not too many!

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Sparkling in the sunlight...

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El agua del mar

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A perfect day at the beach!

A perfect spot on the beach....

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Wouldn't you just LOVE to be laying on this hammock right about now?!!

My GREEN BAG and the sunset on the beach.

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Palms on Punta Uva

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Driftwood on the beach

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Me 'n Alex

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Alex on the Beach- Punta Uva

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A coconut hanging out on the beach...

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White sea urchins...

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Leaves on the beach...

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Punta Uva, a walk up the beach

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Five reasons to "Stay at Red Palm Villa's in Costa Rica....

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I've just learned of a wonderful get away resort in Costa Rica called Red Palm Villas. Great for honeymooners and vacationers alike! As if you needed a reason at all to get away and pamper yourself or spend time away on a romantic getaway - here they are:

Looks a bit misty...

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Caribbean food...

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Costa Rican cows...

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The Chocolate House/Factory

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We went to buy some local chocolate. I have to say that while the taste is good- the texture is sooo grainy that it's not the rich and smooth experience you get when eating French, Swiss or Belgium chocolate! haha! I'm glad these countries BUY their chocolate from Costa Rica and other chocolate producing countries... but I'll leave the chocolate making to those who do it best- EUROPEANS!

These are the actual cacao beans being ground up into a thick paste - almost the same consistency as ground up raw peanut butter... It almost tastes a bit buttery, too.. But, you definitely have the bitter, chocolaty taste when you try this. It's a little too bitter to eat by the spoonful, so don't even think about it! It looks and SMELLS delicious when you are standing right in front of it and it's also a bit warm as it's ground up freshly. It hardens very quickly, though.. and becomes so hard you can't really break it off into pieces- you have to melt it...

YUMMMMM!!! Freshly ground cacao paste

Inside the big jars are small squares and rectangles that are wrapped up in saran wrap for sale. Each one has a different mix of ingredients- for instance: pepper, nutmeg, coconut, cinnamon, coffee, plain, pure (no sugar). They are in small compressed squares or rectangles and you just eat them like that- they are all, of course, sweetened with sugar but there is no coco butter so the texture is really quite different than what you'd buy in the supermarket that's been mixed with other stuff.

In the small jars are samples- just in powder form of the bars for sale.

The work table

At the farmer's market...

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Crèpes...

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A French couple from Bretagne have their own crepe resto here and we went once for dinner..

Around my dad's neighbourbood

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You can see here all the green lushness of the tropical forest. It's all around, everywhere you look!

This is my dad's neighbourhood. All that's here are houses (maybe about 15 or 20) and the rest is forest!

Hanging vines....

An interesting plant, I have no idea what this is, though.

I LOVE these leaves!

A neighbour's house- looks like a shack.

I LOVE these hanging vines! They look like ropes and make you want to climb up!

Notice the dark coloured termites nest attached to the tree.

Another house. Lovely garden, too!

Plants growing on the dirt hill.

So lush and green- notice all the ferns!

Lots of banana leaves!

Up the mountain trail in the mud...

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After all the rain we had last week, we took a very short walk up the hill to see how good the path was to walk on... Nope!

Dad, Alex and Shadow climbing up the muddy hill!

It was a bit too muddy so we didn't go all the way up... You can see the mud and how steep it is... It's the path that leads directly into the jungle forest behind the house....

The muddy water coming down looked like caramel flavoured milk!

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Going down was a little trickier than going up!

A millipede strolling along.

Flowers, leaves and plants...

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Red ginger flowers...

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Red Bananas in the jungle

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And more coconut trees

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coconut trees on the beach

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Punta Uva beach

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Things you find on the beach in Costa Rica...

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A Bob, getting his feet wet in the warm water.

I was surprised to see Noni fruit growing here- they're native to Polynesia

A young banana

Almond trees abound on the beaches... They're EVERYWHERE!

Merlyn on the beach with driftwood

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Palm fronds..

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Palm fronds on the beach are very pretty!

Bright and colourful!

la Playa de Punta Uva

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Beans, rice and more deliciousness!

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Our first night's meal here at my dad and Mer's. Merlyn made this delicious meal- very simple but OH, so tasty! The lentils were prepared in a way that I've never tried before and they were the most delicious I have EVER had in my life! YUMMMM!!!

rhambutan- local fruit

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A LOT of rain during our first week here!

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We collected a lot of rain water in huge pots.
Good thing because the water in the sinks becomes very muddy when it rains...
So, we had fresh rain water to drink. It was very good!

A wet papaya tree

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One of the papaya trees in the garden.

Horsey...

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