On our way home

We'll be leaving tomorrow. The last few weeks have flown by. We've had a great time.
We're currently in the city of Alejuela, just outside of San Jose, beside the airport. We got here yesterday and are staying at La Familia ByB.

On Saturday night, we stayed in the port city of Puntareneas. It is a popular destination for vacationing Costa Ricans. Our trip there took much longer than it was supposed to, as I made a wrong turn while Bethany and Aiden were asleep. We ended up having to wait several hours for a car ferry to Puntareneas instead of driving directly there. My bad.

This morning we went on a coffee tour at the Doka family coffee plantation. The tour was interesting, but they had no positive environmental or social aspects.

The Leatherback Sea Turtle

Last night we witnessed a becoming rare and natural event. Around 10 pm we heading down to the Las Baulas National Marine Park office to sign up for a turtle tour. We were advised to wear dark clothing, sandals, and not to bring cameras or flashlights. We waiting for 3 hours until a local tour guide found a turtle for us to observe. They are not many for they are quickly becoming endangered for the development in the area. We are so glad we waited. Our guide led us in the dark, close to the waters edge until we came upon the site. He turned on his flashlight...covered with red cellophane (so not to disturb the mother turtle). We huddled around to see this huge sea turtle, the oldest and largest reptile on the planet. It was easily the same length as Bethany, weighing even more. She was digging a hole with her hind flippers. One leg at a time removing sand to make a hole to lay her eggs out of danger. We watched the entire process taking another 2 hours. After she got the depth she wanted we watched her lay the eggs, which numbered a couple dozen. She carefully replaced the sand covering the eggs, this time using both front and back flippers. With each pile of sand, she then patted it down to secure the eggs. Unfortunetly we didn't get to see the end. We left right before she was finished so that she could return to the ocean in peace.
What an amazing event! We could only think of Chauncie and how much she would love it here. They do have a volunteer service during September - March, the time when the females come to Playa Grande to nest!
We had a great end to our four days in Playa Grande. We are now off to Santa Cruz, to go on a coffee tour, see a tortilla factory, and see a wonderful pottery district.

Playa Grande

We are now in Playa Grande. It is on the Central Pacific coast. It is the top 4 spots to see the leatherback turtle nesting sites! We hope to take the tour this evening. We're staying at the Hotel La Tortuga, a beautiful resort that is ecoconscious and respectful of their relationship with the turtles. We will be here for the next four nights and then make our way back to San Jose.

The last few days have been hectic and we've covered quite a bit of Costa Rica. After San Ramon, we drove to Volcan Arenas, an active volcanoe - the smoke can be seen bellowing out of the top. Near Volcan Arenas, we went to the La Catarata (waterfall) of La Fortuna, a 70 m waterfall. It was absolutely beautiful. The night we stayed in the small mountain town of Tilaran at the Hotel Gaudalupe.

The next day we drove to Canas and then north to Upala, passing between Volcan Miravalles and Volcan Tenorio. Volcan Miravelles is active. We then drove west near the Nicaraguan border to La Cruz. The road was gravel and bumpy most of the way, so the trip took a while. Along the way we passed mile after mile of citrus trees, Del Oro. Bethany decided to lay her chair down to rest while driving, but she couldn't get it to come back up. So she has had to lay down while driving for the last two days, until we got to Liberia today, when they fixed it at Thrifty.

Yesterday we went swimming in the Bahia Salinas, we had the entire beach to ourselves. Aiden had a great time. We were going to spend the night at a resort on the Bahia last night, but decided instead to stay in La Cruz. The resort wasn't open yet and just wasn't very convenient for us. But before we decided not to stay there, we had already taken all of our stuff in the room. So when we decided to stay in La Cruz on the spur of the moment, I forgot to grab the dirty clothes. So we'll be coming back to the U.S. minus a few items of clothes.

Anyway today we headed south to Liberia and then west to Playa Grande, where we will rest and enjoy ourselves the next few days.

San Ramon

We are in San Ramon, just northwest of San Jose by an hour. We have rented a car. Technically babies do not need a car seat, but we wanted one for Aiden just to be safe and so he can sleep. The only one they had was for an older toddler, at least 30lbs. We strapped Aiden in and drove to the next location to see if they had any car seats. They did! But only one...and it was an infant seat. haha! Poor Aiden...we chose the infant seat, because it tilts and looked the most comfortable. Aiden actually fell asleep in it, although he is getting used to not being in a seat and wanted to be held for majority of time he was awake!
Today we saw Poas Volcano. On the way we saw the famous plantation of Coffee Brit, as well as tons of other coffee and strawberry plantations.
We are staying in Hotel La Posada, small, but cheap, beautiful, FREE breakfast, and the internet works!