Adios Costa Rica!

To end an amazing year in Costa Rica, my parents and Conor came to visit for Christmas! I had 10 days to be their tour guide and show them the highlights of CR. We started off at Che pizza, of course, and then headed up to Mastatal where I worked for the summer. Apart from the hand sized spider found on my parents bed one night, everything worked out great. We were sleeping in a bamboo structure called the hooch, which has no walls, so the family got to experience life under mosquito nets. I also introduced them to cob building, so that they could sink their hands and feet into some fresh manure! Here we are with the finished poo log after some serious poo dancing!



We also had ample time in the afternoons to explore the plethora of waterfalls on the ranch property. We made it to 4 in 4 days! This one was the highlight, complete with a rock water slide!



After the ranch, a favorite of all three visitors :), we stopped back in CC and then spent Christmas day rafting the world famous Pacuare river. In an 18 mile stretch, there were over 40 rapids! It was amazing. Mom fell out in the biggest class IV rapid and was a little shook up, but survived the rest of the trip with flying colors!

Next we headed to Rio Celeste in the volcanic region of Costa Rica. The river water turns bright blue from the chemicals of the volcano...or something like that. We drove, or rather took a local taxi ride, up a sketchy, rocky, muddy, steep road to arrive at the entrance of our hike. In 4 hours we saw an amazing waterfall, lots of celeste blue water, and soaked in some natural hot springs. Definitely in my top 5 spots in CR!



For our last stop, we headed out to Guanacaste to Tamarindo and Playa Grande. We spent three days body surfing, boogie boarding, shell collecting (I have a small problem...), and eating avocados and fresh tortillas! We also caught this amazing sunset, moon and all, and took tons of awesome photos!





Finally we headed back to my house, packed up, cleaned up, and headed home. I managed to get everything into one massive suitcase and a backpack. 99.5 lbs together. Just made it....plus the stuff I shoved into my parents bags....but that doesn't count! Now I am challenged to repack for DC with much larger, bulkier winter clothes! Good thing, since everything I had in CR smells like mildew...yuck! It was sad to leave paradise, but I am excited for the next step! I think DC is going to be amazing this time around and I am stoked about my new roomies! (that's a shout out to you Gorky!). Despite this adventure ending, I will keep blogging, because after all, compared to the Northwest, DC is pretty close to a foreign country! Plus I have some readers eagerly awaiting inauguration footage! Coming soon!