1) It’s important to have a routine with youngsters. When they are accustomed to a certain schedule, everything goes so much smoother and they don’t misbehave (as much).

2) If a kid is acting up, instead of punishing them, first try to see if something is actually wrong or is frustrating the kid. So many times at Casa Luz I simply watched the kids, to try to understand what was going through their heads, and realized that a lot of the times it was something simple that they were mad about but didn’t know how to communicate it other than crying and screaming. The mother’s didn’t realize this and would get mad at the kid for screaming, which would frustrate the kid more, cause more screaming, and the cycle continues.

3) Kids are so much smarter than you think.

4) They  love to learn and are super curious. The more you incorporate knowledge into your time with them, the more interested they will be.

5) Kids absolutely love love LOVE music and dancing. We as human innately love rhythm. If you need to get a room of children to pay attention, put on a song or just sounds in general (like a cd of noises-water running, glass breaking, a dog barking, a phone ringing), they love it.

6) Instead of just saying no- explain why you are saying no.

7) You are their example. They are constantly observing you. What you do and say, they WILL repeat.

.8) Remember, if they are 3 and under, that toy you are giving them, will inevitably end up in their mouth and the mouths of every other kid in the vicinity.

9) Life is beautiful

10) Bubbles are awesome

Wanting a little bit more happiness in your life? Ooh yay, me too. Please do read on.

In my last blog post, The One Thing That Really Matters, I use what I’ve experienced in the US and Costa Rica to explain my take on the priorities in life—matters that will ultimately provide a happier life. And, sorry money. Although you’ve seduced the US, you’re flirtations are just not cutting it in other countries.

This morning, my mom sent me the link to John de Graaf’s article, The Progressive Politics of Happiness, featured in Gary Null’s Guide to Natural Living. This article is the more spruced up, wordy, fact friendly, snazzy and verifiable version of my recent blog post.

Please take 5 minutes to read the article—perhaps accompanied by an aromatic cup ‘o joe or jazzy cup of tea…mmmm…

Don’t believe Mr. de Graff? Well, considering Costa Rica follows these guidelines and is the happiest country in the world by several happiness-measuring scales (for more specifics, read here), I think his article may have some truth to it.

Pura Vida = Happiness

Tonight was very interesting for me. My host mom’s family that lives in the states, in Florida, is here visiting for the week. They are very nice people, but they embody the “American Stereotype” ie: only like to eat fast food—and a lot of it— like to have a lot of money, and enjoy quantity over quality.

I was talking with the dad, who used to live in Costa Rica, about if he would ever move back here or what his thoughts were about the two countries. His answer was very interesting. He immediately started talking about money. And his job. And more about money. And how he does not like his job at all, but it’s good money. And how life would be better if he didn’t have to work as much. But at least he can go to nice restaurants and has a big house and can buy a lot of stuff right?

It was in that moment, when our conversation straddled my two worlds, that I realized the main thing that I love about Costa Rica.

People here, at least where I live, don’t have a lot of money. I mean they have money, but not in grandiose amounts by any means. They have simple houses, enjoy simple but, delicious, fresh food, if they buy something they take care of it so that it lasts, they reuse most things (ie: almost all the soap in bathrooms here is in old water bottles instead of buying a new bottle of soap every time), they appreciate their health, and they don’t have a lot, but what they do have is plenty. Not once, here, have I heard someone talking about their job as though it is the worst thing ever, as though it encompasses their lives, as though it is the primary reason for living. Not once. Ever. Coming from the states where almost everyone complains about their job on a daily basis, and often center their lives around their career, it’s pretty remarkable. Here they just seem to have their priorities in line, ya know? It’s like, yeah, maybe I don’t earn crazy amounts of money, but that’s not the most important thing in life.

In fact, the other day, my host sister’s husband was talking about this exact thing. He said, “The only that really matters in life is your health. If you are healthy and happy that’s all you need. If you have a lot of money, but have some terrible disease, the money doesn’t matter. Taking care of yourself is what matters”

But why are we so disconnected from this in the states? I mean, it’s not like I have traveled the world or anything, but I have been to a decent number of places and this seems to be the consensus everywhere but the US.

QUALITY over quantity.

The basics of life come first, and are the priority.

It’s an understanding about what really matters in life.

For that, Costa Rica, I am grateful for you.

Muchas Gracias

There aren’t words for my volunteer experience in Costa Rica. I guess that’s why I haven’t written much on my blog about Casa Luz. It’s an experience. Something I feel like a blog can’t really capture.

• It’s the hugs and “Kelsey!” screams I am greeted with by the little kids everyday.
• It’s the craziness that is Fanny who I work with in the kitchen.
• It’s the moments when the moms actually open up and talk to me after months of being guarded.
• It’s the feeling of being completely out of my comfort zone when I walked into Casa Luz the first day, and now walking in feeling confident and relaxed.
• It’s the ability to be able to carry on a conversation with the workers when I couldn’t even understand them at first.
• It’s connecting with the girls.
• It’s having a terror-child actually calm down and listen to you when you talk to them (or at least pretend to).
• It’s the skills I have learned when it comes to dealing with children.
• It’s dancing with the kids at the end of the day, and seeing their faces light up with the first note of the “Hi-Five” song.
• It’s the feeling of feeling needed.
• It’s the smiles.
• It’s the tears.
• It’s the daily “hola’s” and “hasta luego’s.”
• It’s a moment when you feel like what you are doing is worth while.

Although my experience at Casa Luz is completely different from anything I thought it would be, I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to work there for the last 4 months. It’s these moments that I am going to remember forever.

Like I said in my post about my mom’s visit to Costa Rica, and the trip to Puerto Viejo, my experience in Costa Rica has been magical. I can’t believe how everything manages to perfectly fall into place. Whenever I’m feeling down, a random event happens to occur that same day that relates to exactly how I was feeling and enlightens my perspective. In addition, I can’t believe how lucky I am, or how Kelsey-tailored my experience continues to be.

A perfect example of this is my host dad. He is fantastic, and it’s remarkable how similar he is to my real dad, which would explain the fantastic-ness. It really is eerie how similar they are (for example, as I’m writing this my host dad fell asleep at the kitchen table and when we woke him up said, “I was just resting my eyes”). This is what I mean by Kelsey-tailored. What are the odds that I would find a Costa Rican replica of my dad thousands of miles away?

And like my real dad, although my host dad is usually goofy and making some kind of joke, when he is serious or does offer up life advice it is just a random simple phrase here or there that happens to be exactly what I needed to hear in that moment.

For example, recently I have been having a bit of a quarter-life-crisis (as I like to call it) about the future, my career, life, etc. and have been distracted but my life-crisis when I know that I should be living in the moment here in Costa Rica. Well, the other day I walk into the house and Manuel (my host dad whose fast and slurred-spanish I have made a mission to understand because, to do so, would be to do the impossible) greets me with a determined fist in the air, stops me and says, “Para adelante, nada para atrás.” Which doesn’t exactly translate, but means more or less “Only continue forward, and leave the past behind.” He then continues on, talking about how life is about living in the moment and we shouldn’t worry about the past, to which he states another brilliant line, “Hoy es la película de la vida” roughly translating to “Today, is the movie of your life.” And then goes on his way laughing to himself and asking me if I would like some whiskey (mind you it’s 10am).

These are the moments to remember.

Saw this poster in the restaurant, “Bread and Chocolate,” in Puerto Viejo and loved it.

The Poster says:

*Stand tall and proud * Sink your roots into the Earth  * Be content with your natural beauty * Go out on a limb * Drink plenty of water * Remember your roots * Enjoy the view!

Enjoy.

As if I haven’t been lucky enough to be in Costa Rica, have gone to the beach for the week during Semana Santa, travel for a week with my mom, and have a weekend back in the states, I also spent a week (a few weeks ago) in Puerto Viejo with Ray, Jen, and Jen’s two friends from college.

We had been planning this trip for what seemed like forever, actually before I even left for Costa Rica. In fact, Puerto Viejo was the only vacation I intended on taking while here, which just makes it even more awesome that I had the opportunity to go on the other trips.

What is so awesome about having these different trips is that I have been able to experience so much of Costa Rica (who knows when I’m going to be here next, so I might as well see as much as I can right?). Because the country is small (the size of New Hampshire and Vermont put together), you would think that by visiting one part of the country you would have a good understanding of most of CR, but that is not the case at all. Every part of Costa Rica is so different from the next, and I have loved been able to experience the extreme differences.

Most different from them all is Puerto Viejo. From what I have seen, Puerto Viejo is nothing like anything else I have encountered in Costa Rica—and I am absolutely in love with it. When I think about my other trips, the things that really stand out to me are the events: the snorkeling, the hikes, the waterfalls, just the activities in general. But, when I think of Puerto Viejo, the thing that stands out is the feel of the Caribbean. The vibe of Puerto Viejo is very relaxing, earth friendly, bohemian, quirky, and laid-back. I could absolutely live there.

Our trip to Puerto Viejo started out with some bad luck. A passport was missing, I was recovering from my sickness and such from the States, and the day before everyone was suppose to come to Costa Rica the road to get to Puerto Viejo was closed because of flooding. I mean, it is the rainy season here, but Puerto Viejo is supposed to be dryer than the rest of the country. A flood? Really?

Luckily, everything worked out, everyone made it to Costa Rica, AND we got to the road just in time before it was going to close again. Seriously, Costa Rica is magical. On top of it all, our shuttle driver was amazing and so nice (although we all believe he definitely got lost trying to find our place in Puerto Viejo as the drive there took waay longer than the drive back with other people). After a nice ride with him, a stop for some local food, driving up to the wrong place, and reversing, we had made it. We, thanks to Ray’s research, found an awesome and cheap place to stay for the week right outside the main town of Puerto Viejo on Playa Negra. Although the lady that we were renting it from was really nice, she definitely needs to work on her welcome speeches.

“Hey Everyone! Welcome! So, what can I tell you? Well, theft is rampant here. It can be dangerous, which is why we put the new bars on the windows…”

Umm what?

I mean my host family had told me to be careful at night in Puerto Viejo, not walk alone, especially if you’re a girl, to lock the doors, ya know basically just use common sense. But this lady was making it seem like we were living right next to an unsecured prison. However, everything turned out all right and we didn’t have any problems, so no worries there. In fact, that night we even walked into town (about a 10 min walk that we first made on a sidewalk-less street, dodging cars, and from then on out, walked to and from town on the beach—much safer and prettier) to get some essentials, ie: Imperial beer and snacks, and returned back home to celebrate our first night in Puerto Viejo.

[I am realizing that this blog is becoming absurdly long, so from here on out, I will do my best to summarize the week.]

The next day was absolutely beautiful, nice and sunny (which could explain why everyone woke up freakishly early for a vacation, ie: 5am) and we spent that day lounging on the beach, busting out the Kan Jam game Ray somehow managed to stuff into his suitcase (if you’ve never heard of Kan Jam, you’re missing out), and exploring around town. That night we went to our first of the many excellent restaurants for some Costa Rican food with a Caribbean flare. It was absolutely delicious. At that restaurant we saw a perfect example of the kind of hospitality and attitude people have in Costa Rica. We were the only people at the restaurant and after taking our orders the owner made a special trip out on her bike to pick up ingredients for our food and the type of beers we ordered (instead of just saying they were out). Gotta love Costa Rica.

Oh geez, I feel like I have so much to say about Puerto Viejo, but this is going to take forever. So… basically

Every single restaurant that we went to in Puerto Viejo was amazing. Everyone seemed to have their favorites too. Whether it was Pan Pay with the good atmosphere and delicious Tortilla Espanola, Ali Baba’s for some A-MAZ-ING tasting falafel, pita’s and Mediterranean food, Bread and Chocolate for some all natural, homemade (including the bread and jams) food, delicious french press coffee, and veggie friendly breakfast, or Salsa Brava for great Tapa’s, drinks, and sitting right next to the ocean, we were all happily satisfied with the Puerto Viejo’s food.

The group at Ali Baba's

Delicious french press coffee at "Bread and Chocolate"

AWESOME cinnamon and oatmeal pancakes in the shape of a sun at Bread and Chocolate- yum

The amazing tapas at Salsa Brava restaurant

We were also able to go on two awesome tours while we were in Puerto Viejo. The first was a combination tour of an animal sanctuary, indigenous chocolate making, and a waterfall hike and the second one was a fantastic zip-lining tour. I think pictures explain better than words for these so, please note the photos below.

At the animal sanctuary : Here's lookin' at you monkey

Ray with one of the monkeys at the animal sanctuary - cute!

Baby sloth!

The cutest two-toed baby sloth ever

Baby three-toed sloth...how can you not love that face?!

At the animal sanctuary with the littlest of the monkeys : Brad Pitt

The girls at the indigenous chocolate-making tour with "lipstick" put on directly from a berry

Beautiful waterfall that we hiked to and swam under after the animal reserve and chocolate tour

On the way to the ziplining, our transportation broke down and we were told to walk to "the zipline place right up the road." Well, about 30 min later and one never-ending incline climb, we made it.

The girls and our ziplining gear

The beautiful view of the rainforest

We did it!

Along with the tours, another moment that stood out specifically for me was one night when we were walking home from town. Not only was it already beautiful because, I mean, our entire walk home is along the beach, but this night was especially beautiful. As I was walking with Ray, we looked up to notice that the stars were exceptionally bright. EXCEPTIONALLY bright. I have never seen anything like it before. I felt like I was in a movie or like Jen said, on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at DisneyLand where there are fake stars above you. The stars were not only remarkably bright but actually twinkling. TWINKLING. Every single one. We all stopped just to stare up at the stars. It was something so simple, but it’s the simple moments that matter the most.

And really I think that is what I loved the most about Puerto Viejo. The simplicity. Life is relaxed. Life is good. Quality is more important than quantity. The priorities are all that they need to be: good food, good company, happiness, awareness of the world that we live in, love, peace… it sounds very hippy-ish, but hey maybe the flower children had it right.

There is so much more that happened in Puerto Viejo, but I’m not going to bore you all with it. Basically to sum it up. Puerto Viejo = Happiness. I was so so so happy to see my friends and see Ray (but that definitely is making these last few weeks without them very difficult). I was so happy to be on the beach. I was so happy that I was lucky enough to be in Costa Rica, I was so happy with the food. I was so happy with people. I was so happy with the activities. I was, simply, so happy. And am still so happy.

Big thanks to everyone that helped me or encouraged me to come out to Costa Rica. Seriously. It’s thanks to you that I am surrounded by such happiness.

Muchas Gracias
Pura Vida

[continue on to see more photos!]

Our fantastic place next to the Playa Negra beach in Puerto Viejo

Our beautiful view walking every day

I just loved this house in Puerto Viejo

Love Puerto Viejo

Typical Puerto Viejo

Please note the third line down

Attempting to make local food for breakfast

Beautiful sunrise on Playa Negra

Suck.

My first morning back in Costa Rica I wake up to a not-so-happy Kelsey. Let’s just say that every part of me, my skin, my stomach, my head, my face…everything was angry. Yup. My body had floundered after being in the states for less than a week. I had no idea how healthy and happy my body was in Costa Rica until I introduced it to life outside of Costa Rica, specifically the synthetic, sugar-filled, over-processed life of the USA.

Now granted, I had probably experienced a lot of mental stress in leaving CR and coming back, and the climate of CR is very different from dry Colorado, which would definitely affect my body, but my transformation was a little extreme for that.

One of the big things I have learned during my time in Costa Rica is the importance of home-made, natural food. The food here is one of my favorite parts of the culture. And although I already knew this, the more time I spend in CR, the more I realize just how much our food affects our daily health. When almost all of your meals are made of freshly picked fruits and vegetables paired with other unprocessed and natural food, you just feel so much better.

In Costa Rica, I feel healthier. It’s like a glowing feeling. A lighter feeling. And I was so used to it that I didn’t even realize how great I felt until I experienced the States and my body freaked out. This was made even more apparent during this last week when Ray and Jen came and visited (which I still have to write about-it’s in the works). I mean, I came back from the states and over the 5 days that I was back before they came and visited I finally started feeling better and back to my normal self. However, when we were in Puerto Viejo we were eating junk food or really not junk food, it wasn’t anything that is super bad for you, and we actually ate at some awesome, all-natural restaurants, but we just had a lot of pre-packaged things that, again, I don’t normally eat here and I felt my body start to wig-out. Sure enough, everything started acting up again in Puerto Viejo (definitely not as extreme but there was a noticeable difference). And now, after being back to my usual Costa Rican life and food my body feels awesome, my skin is glowing, and I’m feeling good.

Definitely something I intend on keeping up when I come back.

On May 5th I boarded a plane in Costa Rica bound for Denver, Colorado. I was coming home for a long weekend to surprise Ray for his graduation.

Now, although the idea of coming to states and seeing everyone sounds great, it definitely took some heavy-thinking beforehand. See, when my mom came and visited me, she had the brilliant idea that I should come back to the states to surprise Ray for his graduation. Although I really wanted to surprise him, my first reaction was to say no. I just felt like coming back to the states 3 months into my time in Costa Rica, with a month left to go, would be too much for my brain to handle. I thought that coming back to the states and being re-introduced to my old way of living, my family, Colorado, Ray and my friends, would take away from my experience abroad. I thought it would be too much to handle or maybe I wouldn’t want to come back.

But, after talking more about it with both my mom and my host mom in Costa Rica, I decided that surprising Ray would just be too awesome of an opportunity to pass up. (And actually the timing worked out perfectly, because for my Visa in Costa Rica, after 90 days in the country, I have to leave Costa Rica for 72 hours, and when I come back I have another 90 days. Well, I was hitting my 90 day limit, and had to leave anyway.) So, instead of exploring Panama like I originally planned, I headed back to Colorful Colorado.

Coming back was definitely a weird experience. I totally had the reverse culture-shock that everyone talks about. I mean everything was just…so…. easy, there was air-conditioning everywhere, everyone spoke english, time was something that mattered, there were fast-food places everywhere, people worried about material things like it was their job, and I could throw my toilet paper into the toilet instead of the trash!

Besides just feeling weird to be back in the states, the other strange thing was, that at the same time, it didn’t feel weird at all. It was like my brain did a 180 and flipped back into US mode. I felt like I had never been in Costa Rica, which was insane since it had been my life for the last 3 months. It definitely made me realize that during my last month in Costa Rica, I needed to truly live it up and enjoy every moment because when I came back for real, it would all just feel like a happy, sun-filled dream.

The first night back, only my immediate family knew I was in Colorado. I really wanted to surprise Ray, so I made sure not to tell his family or any of my friends just in case someone accidentally blurted it out. It worked like a charm. The next day, my parents and I headed to Boulder to meet Ray’s family at the graduation (of course his family only thought that my parents were coming rather than the 3 of us). As I drove us into campus, and we were stuck in campus traffic, who would happen to walk right next to my window and directly in front of my car, but RAY! What are the odds?? I frantically ducked, hoping he wouldn’t see me—luckily he didn’t. Whew! So, after the almost-run-in, we went into the graduation building and first surprised Ray’s family as they saw me walking down the stairs. Their reactions alone were amazing which made me even more excited to see Ray.

So, after surprising them, Ray’s dad called Ray to come over and see his “family and my parents” before heading down to the main area for graduation. Ray’s dad stood in front of me to block my seated self from Ray’s view. As luck would have it, he walked down the stairs to us at the perfect angle so that I would be blocked and just as he came up to his dad, I popped out, holding a present in my hands saying, “I brought a present for you” (the present of course being myself). His jaw dropped, and stayed like that for a good 30 seconds before he was able to say anything. It was such an awesome moment. We hugged and hugged as he kept saying that he couldn’t believe I was there, and I knew I had made the right decision to come back. I think we were both on Cloud 9 all weekend, not even being able to believe that we were with each other in-person, after 3 months of only talking via Skype. Definitely one of those unforgettable life moments. (To see his fantastic reaction, look at the pictures below)

Not only was it awesome to see Ray graduate, but I was also able to see all of my friends who live in Boulder and were either graduating or at the graduation party the next day. We developed a pretty solid group during our 4 years of college, and this was the last of the people that still had to graduate. Now, we are all going to be going our separate ways, and who knows if we will all ever be in the same place again. Being there to experience that and see everyone was again unforgettable.

After a whirl-wind of a weekend in Boulder, I came home for one night before I was supposed to leave for Costa Rica. That night was really hard as everything was hitting me all at once. I mean, I really hadn’t been home the whole time I was back, and had been so busy that I really couldn’t even take it all in. My brain was just overwhelmed by it all—leaving Costa Rica, coming back to the states, seeing Ray, being home. I had had no time to process it all, and just needed a day or two to figure out how I was feeling before coming back to CR. So, I actually ended up changing my ticket to stay in the states a couple more days, which was definitely needed, as I did finally feel ready to return after those couple of days.

Plus, I knew that I was lucky enough to be seeing Ray and Jen and her two friends from college only 5 days after, as they were coming to Costa Rica, and we were headed to Puerto Viejo for a week Another amazing adventure.

The moment when Ray saw me—check out the jaw drop

Happiness

Reunited

(This is a long one)

Keeping with the trend of attempting to update everyone on my adventures in the last two months, last week, I finally wrote about my time at the beach during Semana Santa, and am now onto the absolutely WONDERFUL week I spent with my mom in Costa Rica. During her entire week here, my mom and I kept saying how dream-like everything was, and truly, looking back on the trip now, it all seems like a dream.

The dream started as we left the airport and headed to the La Fortuna area of Costa Rica which is famous for the Arenal Volcano. We absolutely loved our hotel, Casa Luna Lodge, as it was the perfect mix of natural and modern comforts. As soon as you stepped inside the hotel grounds you felt like you were in another world. It was so peaceful and beautiful, and the perfect start to the vacation. We spent the first night enjoying a delicious dinner and drinks and just taking it all in. The next morning we hiked to the La Fortuna waterfall [see images below], which was amazing. We actually were able to swim in the water below the waterfall, which was freezing, but absolutely worth it—There is something unexplainable about the feeling you get when you are surrounded by such beauty and wonder that is nature. After our refreshing dip, we hiked back to our hotel and enjoyed hour-long massages! This was my first professional massage ever, and I could not have asked for more. The massage was in a room that opened to the trees and river below, which was already beautiful but was topped off with a rainstorm which provided the perfect calming ambiance to my relaxation. After our lovely massages, we went on a guided-hike in the rain forest at the base of the Arenal Volcano. Even though I had already been so amazed by the beauty of Costa Rica, during this hike I really realized just how awesome our world is, and how important it is that we remember how much our daily choices affect our precious environment that is becoming more invaluable as it is dwindling away.

Our inspiring hike through the rainforest ended at the Arenal Volcano. Now, this is an active volcano so when it is not hidden by it’s usual cloud-cover, you can see lava rocks flowing out. When we got to the volcano, it was cloudy as could be, but our guide had hope. He made us wait at the volcano, just in case, by some miracle, the clouds parted. And wouldn’t you know it, the clouds parted and we were part of the 30% of tourist groups that are lucky enough to see the lava rock (one of the first of many magical moments of the trip). Incredible. And even after all of that loveliness, we got to go to the local hot springs to enjoy the naturally healing waters….ahhh.

The next day was off to Manuel Antonio (a famous beach on the Pacific side of CR) for some beachy-fun. The first day we didn’t do much more than eat and enjoy the ocean view from our enormous balcony at the Costa Verde hotel—which would become a favorite location for the rest of the trip (think costa rican coffee, beautiful views, relaxation, and monkeys galore). After a missed sunset, a longer-than-expected trek to the beach, and the steep hill/insane amount of stairs that you have to climb to get back to our hotel room from the beach, on our first day at Manuel Antonio, I was thinking that we should have stayed at Arenal, but the Universe proved me wrong yet again (as it does daily during my time here in CR).

The next day, we woke up to the pattering of paws running across our balcony roof. We went outside to see what all the commotion was and were greeted by monkeys in the trees right next to our balcony! The mix of the monkey show and fresh coffee was a great start to our first full day at Manuel Antonio. After the monkey-madness, we spent a lovely morning on the beach, followed by a spontaneous dolphin/snorkeling tour. One word: AMAZING. Between the fresh breeze from the front of the boat to the endless supply of Imperial beer, we knew we were in paradise. I had another first here, and went snorkeling for the first time, which was remarkable. So happy. And our daily afternoon rain storm held off just long enough for us to return to shore from the water (another magical moment of the trip).

The next day, we went to Manuel Antonio National Park—enjoyed the beautiful beach inside (1 of 3), saw and stood right next to white-faced monkeys (the beach thieves), stalked a potential celebrity, sweated a lot, and enjoyed more beauty. Afterwards, we went on our other spontaneously-chosen ATV tour—which, like everything else, turned out to be surprisingly magical. Although my mom looked a little nervous to get on the ATV’s, we went and had an experience we will never forget. After a slightly painful, rain-filled, double-seated, palm-oil informative, puddle-dodging ATV ride, we arrived at the Rainmaker’s forest (one of the last remnants of primary rainforest in the Central Pacific. It is home to 60% of all the flora and fauna species found in Costa Rica). Here we had a really informative guided-tour through the rainforest (seeing the plants that make up many of our commonly used products like: Bengay) and finally arrived at a river/waterfall. Our guide informed us, that if we wanted to see a truly amazing waterfall we would have to jump into the water, climb up the little waterfall before us, and hike until we arrived at the “hidden” waterfall about 10min away. At first, only me and one other guy were up for it. But, slowly, everyone agreed and one-by-one we jumped into the chest-high water wondering how the f$@! we were supposed to climb up waterfall before us. Our crazy guide went first, and used the handy rope that was secured into a rock to get up. I went next, slipped and fell at the top, almost sliding back down, but made it. My mom came right after and I was so proud of her. Being taught to avoid slippery rocks as a child, she was definitely not excited about climbing up the very slippery rocks to the top, but she did it! From there we walked through water to finally get to the hidden waterfall. This is a moment I will never-ever-ever-ever forget. The waterfall was in a kind of bowl-shaped rock formation, with a big pool beneath it, so it was like we were in our own private-chilly jacuzzi in the middle of the rainforest. Another magical moment. Suffice it to say, that day was amazing.

Unfortunately, we had to leave the beautiful Manuel Antonio the next day for my home town La Guacima (which is wonderful itself, but doesn’t have the lovely beach life), and although we debated staying an extra day, decided that going back to La Guacima would be the best choice. It was nice because my mom was able to see my home town and meet my wonderful host family and experience the awesomeness of my host mom’s cooking. The next day, after a tearful goodbye on both parts, my mom left for the states and it was on to more magical adventures in Costa Rica for me.

Like I said many times above, my trip with my mom was absolutely amazing and is definitely one of those life experiences that I will cherish forever.

Our room at Casa Luna Lodge (our's is the top balcony)

La Fortuna Waterfall

Me and my mom in front of the Arenal Volcano

Arenal Volcano (it's hard to see the lava here, but it was awesome in-person)

View of the Pacific from our hotel balcony in Manuel Antonio

Monkeys outside our balcony in Manuel Antonio

Monkey carrying its baby outside our balcony in Manuel Antonio

In Manuel Antonio, probably the best sign I've ever seen

Looks like an ad for Imperial, this was me on the boat before snorkeling in Manuel Antonio

My mom loving life in Manuel Antonio

My mom standing next to a white-faced monkey in Manuel Antonio National Park

Monkey foot : Human foot

My mom and I on the ATV about to start our crazy adventure to the waterfall

In the beautiful Rainmaker's forest

In the background is the waterfall we had to climb up to get to the other waterfall (if you look to the right side of the waterfall you can see the rope hanging)

My mom and I with our guide after using the waterfall as a natural slide to come back down after we had to climb up in the beginning.