Last week I spent the entire week in Guanacaste with Cody. We stayed in the Gulf of Papagayo, at an all inclusive resort, Allegro Papagayo. Anyone who is planning on visiting Costa Rica one day, I HIGHLY recommend this place!! It has a beautiful view, the staff is absolutely amazing, and it was both kid and adult friendly! It is located on a black sand beach, which makes it even cooler. The first few days we were there we just relaxed by the beach and at the pool, it was nice to get to spend quality time together. On Thursday we took a trip to Arenal, a volcano that is about 3 hours away. We got to ride a boat on Lake Arenal, and then we did a rainforest hike near the volcano. Arenal is one of the more active volcanoes here in Costa Rica, so we weren't able to get too close, plus it was cloudy so we never got to see the top. The hike was really nice though, we got to see a lot of wildlife, and the best part were these little ants that were EVERYWHERE carrying pieces of leaves back to their hill. On Friday we did some more relaxing at the hotel. It was a national holiday (The Annexation of Guanacaste) so the hotel was sooo crowded, but they had so many Costa Rican activities, and of course delicious traditional Costa Rican food! Saturday we took a boat to Coco Beach to do some souvenir shopping. Our guide was awesome, he was from Coco beach and he was so proud of his town he wanted to show us everything! Sunday was our last day, and by far the best day! We did an Aqua Combo with the hotel which included snorkeling, fishing, and a bbq on the beach. While snorkeling we got to see quite a few starfish, and a bunch of puffer fish. Our guide picked up a puffer fish and let us hold it, it was the neatest thing ever! Fishing was a lot of fun as well because it was "Costa Rican style" with just a spool of line, no fishing rod or anything! Cody and I didn't catch anything, but the other couple that was with us caught a little fish, and the guide caught a larger one (not sure of the name, but I'll post a picture below). The bbq on the beach was nice, minus the Coatimundis that were everywhere (remember the animals from the Volcano Irazu?…these were the same ones) After we ate we got to go into a little cave, it was so cool to stand there and wait for the water to rush in and out from the other side! Having to say bye on Monday was a sad day…Coming home to depressing, rainy San Jose was not something I wanted to do, at all!
First day, first picture
The view from our room.
1023, our room number. My cousin's and goddaughter's birthday day, and the day that I took, and passed my first teacher cert. test!
Our first night there.
A cool looking bridge we found one day while exploring
Butterflies were everywhere! We saw a glass winged butterfly on our hike, but didn't get a picture.
Iguanas were everywhere too! Cody wants one now.
Every night the hotel put on a show, they were nice :)
another iguana, near our hotel room.
Such a beautiful view!
I held a monkeys hand! They also crawled all over us one day, but we didn't have our cameras with us so we didn't get pictures.
A monkey holding Cody's hand
Feeding the monkeys that were outside out hotel
A sloth!! We saw him on our way home from Arenal, probably the best part of the day!
Going to dinner and the show one night.
During the traditional Costa Rican show
A bright green iguana in Coco Beach, all the other ones were brown.
A Costa Rican squirrel
A view from the top of the cave.
On top of the cave!
Terrible picture, but this was the Costa Rican fishing!
Coco Beach behind us
Monkey Face Island
The fish that the guide caught.
inside the cave, the water was so strong!
On lake Arenal
Arenal Volcano (it was way too cloudy)
About to hike at Arenal
In the hot springs after hiking
