Costa Rica Trip

Finally! Here are our Costa Rica pictures...better late than never, I guess.

This was the view from the house where we stayed. This was the perfect surf spot and the perfect spot to read a book, which made it the perfect spot for us.

Some light reading

Chris would tell you that reading is all I did on this trip, but really I ate, slept, and I even stood up to take pictures of him surfing at times. Okay, I did read a lot.

Surfing

And this is what Chris got to do all week. I actually took this picture from the balcony of the house we were staying at. We couldn't have asked for a better place to stay.

Fishing Trip

The second day of our trip, we chartered a small fishing boat. Our ambition was to catch enough fish to feed us for the rest of our stay. We had no idea we would be so successful. This is one of the groupers and rock fish that we caught.

Reeling in the Big One

Truth be told, after about five minutes of reeling, Chris had to step in and help me. Until we pulled it up, I was feeling a little pathetic. Catching fish is hard work!

The Big One

Ta-dah! Here is the grouper we ate pretty much all week long (until we got tired of eating grouper).

Miravalles Trip

One of the really neat things we did was to drive a couple hours away to Miravalles, which is an active volcano. We first rode horseback, then hiked up to some really beautiful waterfalls, then walked around inside the crater, and finally finished the trip with a steaming, hot mudbath. Unfortunately, Chris was behind me most of the time we were riding horses. I say "unfortunately" because my horse farted for practically the entire trip (and I'm not talking about cute little girl farts, either.) I almost fell off my horse a few times because I was laughing so hard. This is probably one of those "you had to be there" stories, but, trust me, if any of you had been there, you'd have been laughing too.

Waterfall

The picture really doesn't do it justice. This waterfall was so huge and powerful. It was truly amazing.

Man vs. Wild

Chris was my fearless leader on our hike up to see the waterfalls.

Miravalles Crater

This is the view looking out over the crater. Incidentally, Chris and I actually burned our feet a few times from the steam rising up. I would highly recommend not wearing sandals if you are ever walking around in an active volcano. (I know what some of you are thinking, but sometimes common sense is not so common.)

Chris, sticking his head in a hole of boiling volcanic mud...I'm just happy what little railing there was didn't give way.

Volcanic Mudbath

This was the natural mud bath inside the crater. We decided the only way to get the full experience was to cover ourselves from head to toe. (By the way, I really am wearing a bathing suit)

Pretty...or just plain scary?

Our skin really was glowing after this. The only downside was I couldn't seem to get the sulfur smell out of my nose...or my bathing suit. Come to think of it, that suit still smells like rotten eggs! Oh well, losing one bathing suit to sulfur seems like a small price to pay.