Back down the river

We were joking during earlier boat rides about how skilled the drivers have to be. The river turns and they have to dodge trees and roots and all sorts of debris. I said I was glad our driver was old and not 16 but said the 16 year old's had probably been driving boats since they were 5. Our final boat trip out the boat pulls up, it has no top, no life jackets and the driver was probably 16. Awesome let the adventures continue. I said I wanted authentic Costa Rica and by golly that's what I got.

We passed lots of boats with supplies. Toilet paper, food, and bananas. We even saw a mail boat with a three wheeler roped to the front.

Crocodile, check. WHAT, crocodiles weren't on our list but we sure saw lots of them in the river. This one had his mouth opened and looked like he wanted to eat us. AJ wanted to get closer I thought we were close enough.

A big iguana on a log.

Tree sloth

Sleeping boy.

Hiking and other fun stuff

Sean and the girls playing on a plank of wood after we got off the boat. He looks like one of the locals.

There were banana trees everywhere. Steph's mom and Uncle both work for Chiquita.

How many people can you fit on a hammock.

There were people living in patched together shacks in this isolated town. It made me think about poverty. If I was going to be totally dirt poor (which I do not want to ever be) I would rather be poor in a beach front shack in a 72 degree rain forest. They can really be relatively self sufficient. There is fruit everywhere and a sea to fish in. They sure leave less of a carbon foot print than the rest of us. What defines success? Education, money a nice home or just loving your family and being happy? I love my family and I'm happy so everything else is a bonus. I just wondered if the people there want to be somewhere else or do they just want to stay there for generations. It's an interesting place for Nattie to raise her kids but she isn't from there and can always leave.

The group getting ready to venture out for a "little hike".

Steph and AJ at the top of the mountain. What a view.

This is the biggest ant I've ever seen. I got bit by the little ones and it hurt this one would feel like being bit by a dog.

Another red frog.

I didn't think that hike was "little" it was crazy. Straight up a muddy mountain. I came down on my butt. Note that I am sweating like a humid pig and look much worse than everyone else. I ended up throwing those shoes away.

If getting dirty and sweaty was the goal

I succeeded!!

 I earned a coconut.

A different river

We took another river ride. I thought the first ride was beautiful but it paled in comparison to this one. The jungle ride at Disney will never work for me again.

The water in black. It's because of the roots from the trees. Everything is mirrored.

As soon as we got to beach number three (or 4 if you count crocodile beach) Sean wrote his name in the sand. The river flows into the sea. I asked if crocodiles get in this river too but Nattie said not so much. The beach in front of her lodge is a river half of the year during the rainy season when there is more water. Right now there is a river but it runs through the beach and that is why crocodiles get in it. This beach gets an occasional confused crocodile.

Sean's love

There are coconuts everywhere

Waiting for the boat to pick us up.

And they don't take American Express

Now let the real adventure begin. I told Steph I wanted authentic Costa Rica and her mom delivered. We went to a lodge that Steph's cousin Nattie and her husband manage. It is a little off the beaten path. We took an hour and a half ride in a van. An hour of it was on dirt roads and then........

We got in a boat for a thirty minute ride down a river to the cabins where we were spending the night.

The cabins

Sean met Sylvania. Steph's cousins little girl. He was totally smitten. It's funny to watch a 4 year old flirt but he did it. He couldn't say her name so he called her "Silly." Whenever she got out of his sight he would be asking where she was. He had a hard time with the concept that she lived at the lodge. It does make for an interesting life. Howling monkeys screeching, so much wildlife and so beautiful yet so isolated. There is a school there with 80 students in kindergarten to 12th. All the food and supplies have to come in by boat. We had no cars, no Internet, no cell phone, not a single luxury...... Not really, we had clean beds and cold showers and great food.

Steph's Grandma Anna

Sean and I loved the hammocks but not a lot of time for lounging after breakfast it was back in the boat. We couldn't swim at the beach at the lodge because there were too many crocodiles. WHAT???? So we went to the beach with too many sharks. I dunno which I'd rather be eaten by. I'm thinking neither.

Our quiet day

This was our day to stay at home and chill, we didn't do much chilling. Note on weather: It was 70 degrees and beautiful but holy humid! We were here for a couple of fast rain burst but not much rain at all. Just green and beautiful. On Steph's bedroom door her mom has a wreath that says "Let it snow" that's not going to happen. I see Christmas stuff and keep wondering why people haven't taken their decorations down in the summer and then remember it's the week after Christmas and my tree is waiting for me to take it down.

We went to a restaurant way up in the mountains. It was close to what Steph calls her backyard volcano. We had dinner and then some of us rode horses.

Gordo and Giannini riding the white horse.

Steph and AJ rode the brown one.

We went to the fishing pond to try and catch our dinner for the next night. Good thing our dinner didn't really depend on our fishing skills. I'm laughing so hard because Fannie got her boot stuck in the mud then I got mine even more stuck and I couldn't get it out. The harder I pulled the harder I laughed and I almost went swimming with the fishes. It was crazy you had to go under a net and stand in the mud behind a net to fish. If you threw your hook to high it got caught on the top net, if you moved to far you got sucked in the mud. Didn't make for optimal fishing but did make for a great laugh.

Finally someone saved me and pulled me out of the mud. Don had the camera ready for if I went in.

Our only fish of the night. I pulled it in (so to speak it was a pond).

That is one giant leaf.

Pretty busy quiet day!