Hi all,
So this summer, we took a long anticipated trip to Costa Rica and
it
was
AMAZING.
Waking Rin up at 4:45 to tell him it was time to go to Costa Rica put a huge smile on his face and was the perfect start to an incredible trip. He was immediately wide-awake and he was so excited that he wanted to go wake up Bek. So we let him hug his little brother awake. So sweet this little kid excitement. I am hoping we get to do lots of gigs like this over the years while they are young enough to want to actually be around us. It’s worth every penny we scraped up.
At takeoff I could feel the excitement emanating off Rin- he was practically buzzing with it. He was excited about the plane and about Costa Rica and about what we were going to see and do and where we were going to go and who we were going to meet… He just couldn’t talk fast enough. Bek's comment as we took off was " It just like Star Wars!" I don’t think that kid really got where we were going, he thought the plane WAS the adventure. Little did he know.
We got to our gorgeous room set into the side of the hill and didn’t even stop to unpack but just ran straight down to the beach to get the lay of the land. There was sand so black it looked straight from the volcano that made it. And it was soft too. The bay where the hotel is located is just flat out stunning with gorgeous mountains dropping down to quiet lapping waves and clear clear, amazingly clear, water. We explored and did some swimming and checked out the pool (and the daiquiris) and had dinner but after our early wakeup call it was off to bed exhausted, and snuggling with my boy all night right after.
Almost too excited to eat the next morning, the boys were off exploring the rocks in the a.m. Aibek was sort of excited about he hermit crabs- that is until I let out a small yelp and dropped one because it came out of its shell while I was holding it. Then he was a little less into them. He wanted to stay far far away from them after that as a matter of fact. Rinat though was 100 percent into the rocks and trying to figure out what lived in each little crevice. The tiny little crabs, fish, and other things were very exciting for these two little boys to see.
And then thank goodness we finally saw some real wildlife. On the way to breakfast the following day we spied a family of spider monkeys up in the trees. There were two small ones and two that were bigger. It was what I'd been hoping for. Not animals in a zoo, safely behind glass but out in the open the way they really live. And it was marvelous to see. Aibek in particular was enamored with them and it wasn’t until a hungry Rinat dragged us away that we headed down to get something to eat.
They have great juice here which I had remembered from our last trip and it is just heaven for Rin who is our big fruit lover. Every mango strawberry passion fruit agua fresca thing he tries, he takes a sip and declares it "very tropical" just like he was tasting a good Bordeaux. He’s so darn cute. One of the things that I love about travel is that it takes you out of your everyday routine and opens people up to new experiences. For instance, Rin has developed a taste for calamari in CR.
I don’t know if I even need to tell you this but everywhere we go our boys make friends. People just love Aibek for his goofball personality and then Rinat comes into the mix and they are wowed by the depth of his knowledge. We met a family today and Rinat was right on the level of their 20 something year old and his love of the TV show River Monsters. They talked for a while about it and discussed their favorite sharks, which fish is the best. All of it. But the best are the shuttle drivers. The hotel is scattered around the hillside and so there are these guys that just drive around picking people up and dropping them off wherever they want to go. These guys are just so nice to our boys. They all are somehow able to make this bird sound using their hands and the boys have been trying to imitate it but with no luck. But they keep on trying. And there are no grumpy guys in the bunch. Every time they stop for us, they call out “Hola!” and as we get off, instead of adios, Aibek will say “HolaHola!” and so the guys have started saying the same. Adorbs.
Then in the afternoon, we took a little hike around the grounds and saw (well, heard) what I had been hoping to and I had told the kids about. The very impressive call of Howlers. These animals let out a call that could rival the roar of a lion in its ability to strike fear in anyone who can hear it. To say it’s impressive is an understatement. The sound just travels far and all of us where frozen in place, silent, while this group moved thought the trees. No one said a word (not even Rinat the talker, not even Aibek the active 3 year old) until they had moved off into the distance and the spell was broken. It was amazing. And we also saw these cool wasp nests. I’m not sure if they are dangerous but I am glad I have a big zoom lens I didn’t have to find out.
The following day, we hopped on a big bus and drove to the river to take a “cruise”- and I mean in the most rudimentary way- and it was amazing. We drove through the small town of Filadelphia (hey two different Philly’s in just a couple of weeks!), and then on to farmland, and kept driving into the forest, to a quick stop at the banos. Even the bathroom was exciting. There were hundreds of mangos lying under the trees and iguanas noshing on them like it was no big deal. The kids loved it. Then we hopped back on and drove another ten minutes down to the river to get on a boat that was the movie version of what a Central American riverboat should look like- the rickety dock, the covered top, the water up the sides of the boat close enough that a snake could climb right in if it wanted to. The water swirled under it so opaque that I would not have been able to see my hand in front of my face had I been in there. But of course we didn't go in there or ever stick our hands over the side of the boat because of the horror stories the guide had told us in the hour long drive there- children getting their hands bitten off, men getting dragged to their deaths. All kinds of fun stuff. But who had time to worry about that when there was so much to see? Rinat had insisted on bringing a whole backpack full of ‘supplies’ and I didn’t fight it but once we got on the boat, he busted out his journal and pencil to record everything he saw (I LOVE that!). But he could barely keep up there were so many. There were bats, both green and black iguanas, Nicaraguan birds, howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys, basilisk (Jesus Christ) lizards, herons, and Rin's favorite- a croc. A cornucopia of wildlife. To my disappointment no toucans but I wasn’t disappointed- how could I be with all that? On the bus on the way home, I asked Aibek his favorite part to which he replied " the boat" and then he sacked out cradling a bag full of Costa Rican BBQ Fritos chips while Rinat happily munched his way through some very sour lime ones and informed me that it was all great. All in all a fabulous experience.
And the next day it was more of the same. There were coati and a giant black iguana on the way to breakfast. Then Peter took the boys off for a morning of fishing. They were promised dorado, mahi-mahi, tuna, snapper, maybe even a sailfish.
Since I get motion sickness, I had time to myself to relax and I didn't really know what to do. Now when I have time away from the kids, it passes so slowly and I don't remember how to sit still and relax. Will I ever remember how again? I used to be really good at it. But now I find myself getting bored after reading for an hour. I miss the action of having little ones around. I miss the constant barrage of thought that they just have to share out loud with whoever will listen. What will I do when they turn into big kids who don't need that so much anymore? Maybe I’ll have to discover a hobby.
But back to the here and now.
The fish that they caught on their trip? Well the chef cooked that tuna and mackerel right up for us all and we had it for dinner. And I wouldn’t have cared if it was terrible (it wasn’t, it was good) but the look on my son eating the fish that he had caught with his very own hands was pretty amazing. Bek, however, was a little bit less enthusiastic about the whole fishing thing in general they tell me. He didn’t like the boat so much and the fish freaked him out. Especially when it started jumping around in the cooler. He wasn’t a fan. But he had no trouble eating it once it was all cooked up.
The next day- our last- was a day of just relaxing and hanging out. We saw several iguanas around the pool and Rinat very bravely fed them bananas. At lunch we had a wonderful Costa Rican meal of squirrelfish, rice and beans (gallo pinto), chayote, plantain and it was the best of the entire time we were there. We fed some to the iguana who was begging like a dog at the table once he saw his friend was back. At lunch I asked, “So Rinat do you like Costa Rica?” and his response was the best part of the entire whole week.
“It's everything I dreamed of.”
Sha-BAM. Now THAT’S what vacation is all about. A little boy’s dreams come true.
And then it was back home and the kids were less than stellar at the airport and not great for our long day of travel but who could blame them? It was time to get home. Aibek asked on our layover in Miami, "Mama, my sleep mine Piduh Man sheets tonight at mine new house?" Yes honey we will be back in our comfy cozy house soon. And we will all sleep the sleep of relaxed vacationed satisfied people tonight. And tomorrow it's back to the trenches. And back to washing lots of black-sand covered clothes for Mama.
Oh…and apparently a giant scorpion too. Yup, that’s right. That was in my laundry basket. Yikes.
Love to all, -m
