The Spa at Tabacon and La Fortuna

This town, situated at the base of the Arenal Volcano, is an adventure mecca. The Hotel we arrived at, the Tabacon Grand Spa, was beautiful. But we only discovered how great the hotel was later today when we went in the hotel’s hot springs. They are the most elaborate and developed pool/springs I have ever seen in my life. They make Banff uncompelling. This is a spring river that literally flows very warm water right through the heart of the jungle. They have been modified so that the natural springs are formed into pools and waterfalls spanning hundreds of meters up the spring river. The spa also includes amazing stone tiled pools that make it exceptional. Relaxation is no chore here. They even have the spa treatments where you walk out into the jungle to private cabanas to be treated in unparalleled comfort. I sound like I’m advertising for this place but it really is that amazing and different. I’ve not encountered anything like it before in my life.

The rooms are very nice and the beds are a welcome sight for a long days adventure.

Maybe the waterslide was the best part

La Fortuna Day 1- zip lining our way to happiness

Today we partook in the quintessential Costa Rican adventure tourism activity – Zip Lining. You really can’t describe the craziness of zipping 600ft through the trees and over huge canyons yielding incredible views. We began by driving up to the base of a gondola that delivers you to the top of the zip line experience. The gondola gets your heart flowing with inspiring views that are then later eclipsed by the stunning views that you can barely focus on when zipping across the massive gullies. It is a rush that really can be done by anyone. Even Logan, at 8yrs old was ok to go (though with a guide for any of the long ones). He loved it and so did all of us. All of us think we would do it again if we came back here in the future.

We finished today wandering the town, picking up necessary tourist doo-dads and a few groceries, namely beer. And then we ate at the Tabacon’s hotel restaurant – an incredible meal that I won’t soon forget – amazing lamb chops.

To La Fortuna, the road is an adventure.

We woke up early, but it still took hours to get out of the hotel - that's what happens when you travel.....with 6 people.

We enjoyed the drive up from Alajuela, where the airport is. We briefly stopped in San Ramon to check out a neat old church. It had apparently collapsed in an earthquake and was rebuilt some time ago using German engineered steel reinforcements. Well, it's still standing!!!!

Kevin brought walkie-talkies and they turned out to be awesome to have. We could warn each other of turn offs we though we might take etc. Also, when Kevin was driving behind me and we were passing, I could tell him about what was ahead so that he could pass if needed and know how far to the next car. We stayed very close together and stopped for lunch along the way at a fantastic restaurant on the side of the road. We had our first Imperial beer here - this is the local popular brew.



A Petro-Canada????


The Chruch in San Ramon





Logan is thinking about the pool at the next place.











My first Imperial....on the road to La Fortuna


My second Imperial
The food at this place was specatular. Excellent local cuisine.

At the end of the day, we ended up at the restaurant and Logan had huge ribs.

Rescued from cold and snow - safely in the heat now!!!
We had enough of airports yesterday.

After doing all the usual airport-standing-in-line we were very, very lucky when we got off the plane in Costa Rica. Somehow when we got off the plane we were the absolute last people to get on the transfer bus to the terminal. As such, we got off the bus first and were put at the front of the customs line. We whizzed through that and, like nothing I've ever seen before, the suitcases were already on the baggage carousel. Then, right to our left as we walked out, was the car rental. They drove us immediately to the car rental offices where we picked up our cars - mostly as promised (Kevin got upgraded to a giant diesel). Then it turns out that the hotel we booked was right across the street from the car rental. We loaded our bags and drove a block!!!

Ok, so the last couple of trips didn't get blog posts but this one will. We're off to Costa Rica in a couple of days. We're still in stresfull exam mode, Brooke having one more exam tomorrow. After that it is fun time - pack, clean house, make lists, do laundry.........

We've picked our itinerary and are getting pretty excited for this huge family trip. Brooke and I will be joined by my mom, Averil, my brother, Kevin, his wife, Miranda, their son, Logan.

We're first heading to La Fortuna, where we will be enjoying the hot springs and the volcanic eruptions of the nearby Arenal Volcano.

The hotel apparently has a bar in the hot springs - can't wait for a cold one in the hot springs!!!!

We found a great website with a lot of local information http://www.travelcostaricanow.com

The guys who run this site live locally in Fortuna and seem to know a thing or two about the place, as they should.



From La Fortuna our Journey will continue by retracing our steps south and to the coast.

We are looking forward to beach time. Our friend has a wonderful house just up in the hills with an apparently wonderful view www.edenestate.net

From what I have read, Manuel Antonio is the park to visit in Costa Rica. Though it is so tiny it doesn't even show on this map. All things suggest it is totally worth seeing. I have no idea but perhaps the reason it is so attractive is that it is lush and relatively close to San Jose. Perhaps it is the first really pretty spot to encounter as you are heading south on the coast and has therefore gained in favour. We will find out more and pass along our learnings.

From Manuel Antonio, the trip continues south to Sierpe near Palmar Sur. The purpose being for us to travel by boat into a remote beach where we are staying for 5 nights. The hotel provides everything including guided walking tours and an island boat trips to the nearby Isla del Cano for snorkeling and sightseeing.

From Drake Bay, we will return north again to Quepos for a two day stay and then on to the Guanacaste region



Then, after 5 days in the sun and surf of Tamarindo, we'll drive to San Jose and board our flights home and back to the real world.......if no Costa Rican volcano's erupt!!!!!!!

Iguazu too

A fire truck we saw at Iguazu. These are beautiful old machines.


One night while in Iguazu, we ventured out to "Hito" which is known for it's fantastic view of the confluence of the Rio Parana and the Rio Iguazu. Hito refers to the point on the land. The picture shows what looks like a bend in a river but it is in fact a 'T' intersection. The left hand river, running from the far background is the Rio Parana intersecting with the Rio Iguazu in the pictures' foreground. So, from this point, you can see Brazil directly across where the building is and to the left, you can see Paraguay. Kind of a neat intersection of three countries. The interesting thing about Paraguay is that no one we talked to recommended going there. We had heard this from Brazilians and Argentinians. They said there were some safe places to visit but that all in all it wasn't worth the effort. The Brazilian people we met, while in BA suggested that the part of Brazil close to Paraguay was in fact the best part of Brazil. Brooke and I would enjoy going there and I think would consider it in the future.


On our second visit to the falls, we enjoyed the company of our favourite information girl, Maria, who was so happy to see us again. She even had a card for us to stay in contact and wondered if we would like to go for drinks while we were still there. We of course did make it out for drinks with her, her husband and their little boy. When we first spoke with her, we thought she was quite young. She had a tiny frame and youthfulness to her. Then as we conversed, we discovered that she had two children, one eleven and one five. It was difficult not to let our jaws drop. I honestly thought she was much younger than us. When we went out, they were unable to get a baby sitter for their five year old so he just came along. We met them at a park at night which was crawling with people yet it had the complexion of a rough looking area. Once again, in Argentina, people stay out so late that there is safety in numbers. We sat in this little area where there was an ice cream shop and a snacks and beer shop. Their son just played and wandered around while we talked. There were in fact many children just playing here and there while their parents socialized. We were out till 2:00am! This sort of easy going situation would never happen at home. The crazy liquor police would first arrest you for having liquor near children and out in the open air without being fenced in and secondly, no one would go out and take their kids with them. The kids were well behaved in my opinion, perhaps because they were accustomed to this. There was a lot to talk about with them. Maria and her husband Rodrigo taught English in Iguazu which they had learned when they had lived in the U.S. for quite a few years. They lived in Aurora, just north of Denver. Maria had one of her sons there. What makes this story ever more interesting is that this is the very same town where Brooke was born.

I think we will try and keep in touch with them as they were a wonderful couple and had so much spunk and enthusiasm.



Eventually, Brooke and I had to leave our wonderful little paradise and we packed our bags and waited around our hotel discussing how we had made a poor choice in flight times leaving Iguazu. We were to leave at 2:00 which left us with neither a day in BA or a day in Iguazu, just a day splintered in two by a flight aboard a cramped plane. We left the hotel with what was ample time as we wanted to make sure we had over an hour at the airport to get through security etc. You have to remember that this is a small airport though and doesn't require any time running around. When we arrived at the airport however, it was like a ghost town. How did we get so lucky that there was almost no one there? We strolled up to the check in counter and told the attendant that we were there for our flight. She looked quizically at us as if we were on drugs. She took our passports and looked at her computer for a few minutes. Then she asked if we had any paper work. Then, she broke it to us that we had been moved to the earlier flight. Aerolineas Argentinas, the truth is we wish we had left you, all of those wild flights, those wild schedule changes, you never kept your promise.
We were apparently notified via an email account that brooke had been unable to access in Argentina. In the end, she offered getting us on the next flight, at 6:00pm. Anyway, our day was shot but we enjoyed pizza and wine at the airport while watching tv shows on the laptop. It turned out to be pretty fun in a funny kind of way.