Pura Vida Costa Rica

 A much needed vacation back to Costa Rica for our 5-year anniversary.

Marit touching Bob the toucan

Bob, the chestnut toucan, on Theo's shoulder

Pura Vida is a local Costa Rican phrase that means, "Pure life," but it defines their culture and way of life. Simply put, pura vida means to simply enjoying life, live well, and be happy. A synonym of "Hakuna matata" from the Lion King or "Don't worry be happy" sang by Bobby McFerrin. It is a greeting, a farewell, or a way to express gratitude. We heard it many times over the past 10 days as we relaxed in the sun in Tamarindo and in the rainforest near La Paz. There were three big occasions that we celebrated last week - Grandma JoJo turned 60, Seth turned 29 (for the 10th time), and Seth and I celebrated our five year anniversary (and we got married in Tamarindo at El Diria and wanted to go back and relive some of our wonderful memories)!

As with any vacation with the Pastorius clan, if something doesn't quite go as planned, we call it an adventure. Everything was going well until we left Tamarindo and had ourselves a little adventure (more on this later). 

We flew into Liberia via a red-eye flight from Seattle to Minneapolis. The jet stream was cruising so we made it in record-setting 2.5 hours, which is great when you're trying to get there fast, but not so great when you have two kids who need to get some sleep and by the time they fell asleep the plane had started its decent. This meant we had an extra hour to kill at the airport at 5AM. It was only the second time I can remember hanging out at the MSP airport (the first was when my premier soccer team got stranded there for nearly 12 hours on our way to Indiana). The kids took the tram back and forth and played at the indoor playground before meeting up with Uncle Dan and Uncle Eric who were joining us to go to Costa Rica. Theo ran up to Uncle Dan and gave him a big hug when he saw him (I think he missed having him live with us as he moved out about a month ago). We had first class seats for the flight that we a bargain with miles but ended up costing us over $200 for a one-way ticket for Marit to be an infant-in-arms due to having to pay the $84 tax and 10% of the ticketed class fee! I was livid! She didn't even have her own seat! Anyway, Delta will be hearing more about that later. We finally made it to Liberia after over 12 hours of traveling and we were welcomed by Grandma JoJo, Grandpa John, Auntie Annie and Cousin Evie, as well as Aunties Rita and Colleen, who had all arrived earlier in the week. It was great to have everyone reunited again!

Family pic on the beach

We spent every morning out by the giant pool with the swim-up bar and every afternoon by the beach building sandcastles and going boogie boarding. Theo was terrified of the big waves and cried any time Seth or I got too deep so we decided not to go surfing and just play on the shore. Marit loves the feel of the sand between her fingers and also enjoyed the tasting it too. Theo warmed up to the water by the end of the week but still refused to do more than get his feet wet and would run away every time the waves rolled up the sand. Seth and Theo would search for small treasures in the tide pools, like hermit crabs and little fish. The sunsets were spectacular and we didn't miss a single one! We even had our professional photographer, Sylvia Guardia, from our wedding come take some shots of the family too! 

Beautiful sunsets on Tamarindo beach

We had a few excursions, like on a wooden boat up the estuary into Las Baulas National Park. The estuary is a river that is a mix of salt and fresh water and is lined with mangrove trees that drop roots through the water like long skinny legs. Birds perch on these roots and fish for along the banks. We rode up the river until it was almost too narrow to continue and we climbed out and went for a short walk to find a family of at least a dozen howler monkeys. Theo enjoyed using his new binoculars that Grandma and Grandpa Benziger gave him for Christmas! 

Theo looking at the monkeys through his binoculars

More howler monkeys resting in the Guanacaste trees

Seth and I enjoyed 24 glorious hours in peace at the Los Altos De Eros resort high on a mountain over Tamarindo. This six bedroom luxury hotel and spa was the perfect escape from the two munchkins for our anniversary. Besides enjoying 90-minute massages, we read books for leisure (!!), had the chef prepare meals that we enjoyed alone on our patio outside our room, relaxed by the pool, and went for a long walk where we saw monkeys and parakeets. It was very rejuvenating but a little too short IMHO. However, it was fun to return to the condo and see how excited the kids were when we came back (except the February winds were particularly strong and the whole town had lost power for over 12 hours which meant no AC). We had picked a good night to escape!

Our lovely little romantic getaway almost all to ourselves

After delicious meals of seafood, more seafood, and more seafood, we ate at a popular restaurant, called Patagonia, on our last night in Tamarindo. The Argentinians are known for their meat and so we all enjoyed prime rib and delicious sangria to drink.

On Saturday, we started our adventure. What started off as a 4-5 hour trip from Tamarindo, on the Pacific coast, to an inland town of La Paz around 5000 ft up in the cloud rainforest near the Poas Volcano. It was a slow start and turned into a 7-hour ordeal. First, Theo, Marit and I were sitting in the back of the 12 passenger van and Theo told me, "Mommy, I want to go back home. I want to go to Seattle. My tummy hurts." Thinking this was because Uncle Dan and Uncle Eric had just left us to go to the airport, I didn't take his concerns too seriously. Then about 20 minutes later, he started puking, everywhere. We promptly pulled over and cleaned up the seats, ground, his car seat, and changed his clothes and moved him to the front row, next to Grandpa. He did fine but after we stopped to get gas and a few beverages, he promptly spilled his ginger ale all over Grandma and Grandpa's bag. While on the side of the road, Seth and Grandpa hurried to clean him up once again, as well as the bag and the floor, and get back in the van so we could continue our trip. Only after another 45 minutes or more, Grandma realized that her bag wasn't in the car and we pulled over again and turned around to go back to find the "lost" bag. The bag had not only Grandma's purse with her credit cards and driver's license, but two iPads and Grandma and Grandpa's passports, which are critical for leaving the country and getting back to Minnesota on Monday AM. Needless to say, the bag wasn't there and we turned back around and continued on our journey, this time with a little more tension and stress in the air. We skipped lunch as we were snacking in the car and wanted to get to our destination and finally we arrived around 4:30 PM.

A nice touch outside our room - a personalized sign!

A view up the hill of the amazing hotel rooms at Peace Lodge

Our destination -  the stunning and rather unassuming but unbelievable hotel, the Peace Lodge. Words cannot describe how amazing this place is! The hotel was built in 2000 by an architect who planned everything perfectly. There are waterfalls in each bathroom that cascade behind the jacuzzi tubs, the showers have two settings - normal and waterfall. There are jacuzzi tubs on each balcony and a hammock to sit out and enjoy the luscious green views of Poas volcano or star gaze at night. They had chocolate covered strawberries and champagne for us in each room to celebrate our special occasions. The food and customer service were spectacular. I cannot recommend this place enough (however it isn't cheap)! 

Checking out the toucans

Marit watching a beautiful purple and green hummingbird feed from the handheld feeders

While we didn't get there early enough on Saturday to enjoy the grounds before sunset, we were able to go on a guided tour of the frog house after dinner and spend some time in the pool. On Sunday, we had a private guided tour of the La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park. It is a privately owned wildlife rescue preserve with over 100 species of animals. The grounds are extensive and are include a large aviary with toucan house, butterfly garden, hummingbird garden, orchid garden, traditional casita (Costa Rican house), monkey houses, large cats houses, snake house and frog house. We enjoyed fresh caught lunch at the Big Trout bar after Grandpa and Theo caught a rainbow trout from their trout pond. Words can't describe this place, you must experience it for yourself and here are some pictures to get a taste:

Grandpa and the tree frog

Tree frog

Tree frog

How many tree frogs can you find on Theo? (Hint there are cinco)

Now how many frogs are there? (Tres)

Hammock on the porch with an amazing view

Happy toddler!

The indoor and outdoor pool and hot tub at the resort

Nature park directions

Rainbow toucan

Kissing a toucan

Where's my toucan?

feeding the toucans

Theo watching the hummingbirds

Feeding the hummingbirds

Dozens of hummingbirds

One of over 20 venemous snakes on display 

beautiful blue bird

Holding a butterfly

Beautiful blue butterfly

Butterflies hatching from cocoons

Grandma and Grandpa by the oxen

Traditional ox and cart

Carrying the kiddos and showing them the monkeys

Ocelot babies

Jaguar babies

Cougar feeding time, chicken anyone?

Part of the animal houses and aviary

One of the 5 waterfalls, this one was over 80 ft

Waterfall #4 and #5

The steps down to the waterfalls

Theo and his rainbow trout!

Theo and Grandpa catching our lunch!

The kids playing in the pond

Tamarindo

Seth, Grandma and Aunie Annie with Evie at Dragonfly

Grandma celebrating her 60th birthday (again)

Theo and Daddy hanging out

Marit liked the cake!

Grandma and Grandpa celebrating her 60th birthday at Pangas

Grandma and her babies

Celebrating Dad's 39th birthday

Babysitting Evie and the kiddos while everyone went out on the catamaran

Burying Marit in the sand

Marit practicing her surf stance

Building a sandcastle

Our third sandcastle of the week (strategically built away from the waves so it wouldn't get destroyed with the high tide)

Theo and Grandpa's sandcastle getting ruined by the waves

Marit lounging on the beach

The Weber family

Carrying water for the big hole we dug

Theo burried in the sand 

Horses and surf boards on the beach

Sunsets on the beach

5 years ago we were all dressed up on this beach having just said our "I dos"!

Marit on the beach at sunset

Theo running from the waves

Theo grabbing the sand

Playing in a hole on the beach

Uncle Dan and Marit

Jumping over the waves

Daddy jumping over Theo

Animals of Costa Rica

Monkey climbing down to eat some berries

A whole family of monkeys

Momma and baby howler

Monkey sleeping in the tree

Howler on the move!

Dozens of geckos 

Howler monkey resting outside our condo

The estuary

Family pic on the estuary tour

One of a dozen birds we saw on the tour

Heron

Estuary tour and mangrove forest

A big iguana

 

 Los Altos De Eros resort and spa

Mommy relaxing in the infinity pool at Los Altos de Eros
 

Enjoying a private meal on our patio