Happy Birthday Violet and a very busy week

Looking back at these photos of last week, it's hard to believe we did all this in 6 days. I cut off Saturday, because there was just too much to include.  Maybe I will have to do 2 posts per week. Ha! Please know that I really don't expect that anyone is really reading these things.  This blog seems like the best venue for keeping track of our time here, and remembering what we liked and didn't like.  Our family travel journal.

My baby is 3. Violet has always seemed like a grown up person in a little body (and with a toddler's rationality).  My brother Bob said once that she has an old soul.  At the same time, it seems ridiculous that she is 3 already. We celebrated with a birthday breakfast of her choice - pancakes and bacon with juice.  Later, we invited our neighbors and their kids over for a pinata and cake and dinner... in that order.  Violet loved the attention, and her simple gifts.  Her favorite might have been the sloth stuffed animal. She also loved talking to Gma and Gpa Richards on the phone, and receiving an e card from Gma and Gpa Collins. 

Evelyn

Our neighbors Laura and Henry

Was his name Alejandro? 

I made Maryuri's chocolate cake recipe.

We are calling this a millipede... we're not really sure though.

One of the Christmas presents that we gave the kids was a horse back riding tour up to a waterfall. Michael was stoked to be on his own horse. The girls rode with Chad and me. We had such an awesome time.  It was a rainy day, so many of my photos are rain spotted, and since I was trying to take photos while also riding a horse with a 3 year old, the photos were poor to begin with. The tour company was Alberto's Horses, and it was evident that they took very good care of their well-trained horses.  The horses knew the way, but let us lead them and set the pace. We went through some beautiful pasture land, through a river, and up to the water fall, all of which took about an hour.  We let the horses rest while we walked down the steep steps to the waterfall.  It was beautiful and cold. Then we rode the horses back the way we came. The girls did a really good job, and Michael was awesome.  It was a really fantastic experience.. one of my favorite things we've done in Costa Rica.

We stayed in a hotel in La Fortuna that night so that we could get up early and go to the Arenal Volcano national park.  It was a pretty walk up to an overlook of the old lava flow.  

We decided to take the longer trail back to our car so that we could see this 400 year old Ceiba Tree.  It was amazing.  The large buttress roots were tall and deep and felt leathery like an elephant.  The tree stretched up past the canopy of nearby trees.  It was fun to touch the tree and think of all that has happened around it in the last 400 years.  

Later in the week we visited an even older Ceiba tree near Arenal.  This one was on private property, and we were able to speak to the owner for a long time about his 500 year old tree.  He said that on the winter solstice, the tree lines up perfectly with a sacred island used as a cemetery and the spot where the sun sets. He thinks the tree was planted and cared for because it is so perfectly shaped and has never had to fight for sunlight.  He was in the middle of telling us about some pottery that he had found around the base of the tree, that he felt was used for sacrifices by the natives, when Ella found a shard of pottery as well.  The owner said she could keep it!

After the Volcano hike, we went to a Butterfly Conservatory. Their main purpose is to reforest the farm land around the conservatory, but the butterflies they raise are beautiful, and the center itself is very informative.

Viable chrysalises that will eventually be released into the butterfly greenhouses.

The Blue Morpho butterflies were hard to photograph.  They close their wings when they land.

This is what the Blue Morphos look like on the outside.

Glass-wing butterfly

There was a man who's whole job was to look for butterfly eggs.  He then takes them to the "nursery" where they hatch the eggs in order to improve their natural success rate. 

After the butterfly greenhouses there was a small frog house, and then a beautiful garden trail to walk through.

This frog is "poisonous" so we were startled when it jumped onto our guide's arm.  He wasn't too worried, however. He said that it shouldn't harm him unless he had a cut on his skin, or he rubbed his eyes or mouth after touching the frog. 

Before we left the Arenal area, we wanted to go to the hot springs... again. The kids love the hot springs, and, they are free, so we visit fairly often.   Across the street from these free hot springs is the Tabacon Resort Hot Springs.  I think they are charging $60 or more per adult to enter and sit in their beautiful pools.  At the free site, you walk through a tunnel, climb over a little wall, and then find a spot to sit in the steamy river.  The kids like to slide down the tunnel like a water slide when the pressure is strong enough. We were there on New Years day, and it was mighty crowded. 

Our neighbors told us about an amazing river with sky-blue water called Rio Celeste.  It isn't in all the guide books, although we had heard of it once before.  We decided to try to find it.  We were fortunate to find a shortcut from Rio Piedras to Bijagua, which is the city nearest the Rio Celeste. It took us just under 2 hours of drive time to get there.  While in Bijagua, we stopped at a funny little fish farm for lunch.  It was really fun.  We stepped in to the restaurant, and the host walked us back to a room where we chose our own live Tilapia for him to catch with his net and then cook for us.  While we waited, he gave us a handful of fish food pellets, and we walked around the grounds, throwing food to the fishes of different sizes in multiple pools around the grounds.  After our little walk, we came back to find beautiful plates of food and fun icy drinks. The fish wasn't quite as good as the fish in the little restaurant Las Perceras, just outside of Rio Piedras.  But the whole experience was fun, and the food was beautiful.

Plantain cups with bean puree.

When we got to the Rio Celeste hike entrance, we realized we had arrived too late to hike to the waterfalls. Luckily we found a local hotel that gave us access to the river.  As we approached, and could just see the river through the tree ferns, I was amazed at how blue the water was.  It really did look like blue kool aide. We played for over an hour, even though the water was cold. The river stays blue for miles, and someday I would love to hike up to the waterfalls. (I have even heard rumors of hot springs near the waterfall.  I wonder if they are blue also?) But I am so happy we found this beautiful river.  It was yet another highlight of our Costa Rica experience. 

I really liked the area of Bijagua and Rio Celeste.  It was a beautiful peaceful valley, surrounded by volcanoes.  It seemed a lot like the picture I have in my head of what Costa Rica is supposed to be.  

And finally, Chad took kite boarding lessons this week! It was a 3 day course - 3 hours each day. We came to watch on his last day, and we were able to see him kite board on his own down the lake.  His instructor Danny was enthusiastic and thorough ("Si, same same"), and Chad loved it.  He hopes we can go to Bear Lake this summer to continue his education. 

Lots of windsurfers and kite boarders playing on the lake.