Two Excursions to Enjoy near Playa del Coco.

Wet towels. 

Possibly one of my top pet hates. 

No wait: wet towels dropped on the floor. Or, even worse, wet towels left abandoned on the bed. Eughh.

With four extra people staying with us at the moment, I seem to have an awful lot of wet towels lying around the house and pool area!

Now, honestly, I'm not complaining (honest guv), but why is it the male of the species can make towels wetter than anyone else? Especially teenage boys? I mean, does the water cling to their bodies more than it does to us women? Does the water get trapped in their hairy legs and armpits, only to be released when a dry towel is wrapped around them? I just don't understand!

Wet towels aside, its great having 4 extra kids staying with us. The long anticipated vacation both by ES and his friends from the UK. The boys have only been here five days so far and have spent a great deal of time at the beach, snorkeling and playing football, or just lazing around, poolside. As I write, they are enjoying some time together in Tamarindo as they are spending the weekend surfing there, sleeping at the Blue Trailz hostel In fact I had a call earlier to see if they could stay an extra night. What a life hey?

Thermal Waters and River At Rincon

But what about more organised excursions around the area? Where would teenage boys, and other holiday makers, like to visit when they come to Guanacaste, Costa Rica? In December 2012, we visited the thermal waters near Lake Arenal which was heavenly. Cold water cascades and warm thermal pools to relax in. Absolutely fantastic. We visited in the early evening and it was so magical being surrounded by the pitch dark sky and twinkling stars, whilst unwinding in natural spring pools heated by the nearby volcano. We thought the boys might appreciate a similar experience and decided to take them to Rincon de la Vieja, a nature reserve and volcano. DH acted as chauffeur and drove all six kids to Liberia the other afternoon, and after a short drive through the National Park they reached the thermal waters and mud baths. A soothing and relaxing activity which they all thoroughly enjoyed - especially the mud painting! Naturally not wanting to ruin their street-cred, they prefer to remain anonymous and refused to let me post any photos, sorry!

Of course there are plenty of zip-lining and canopy trails to chose from too. Yesterday, I took the boys to The Congo Trail Canopy Tour, about 10km away from us, near Sardinal. We booked a 9am session, which in hindsight was perhaps a little to early for the lads - they were all slightly sluggish to begin with, but the adrenalin soon kicked in and after an hour or so of whizzing through the trees on a cable, the boys all looked fit to drop. Unfortunately no Howler Monkeys were spotted, but nevertheless it was $25 (per person) well spent.

Flying through the air.

Next week, we have booked an ATV excursion for the kids ... if they survive their surfing trip!

A Long Overdue Update!

Oh dear, I've been a bit lapse with the old blog for the last couple of months or so! My apologies for those that follow me.

Life kind of got in the way!

Dilemma's in the UK along with palavers at home

So what's been happening over here in Coco, I hear you say?

Well.

Amongst other things ...

DH walked into a glass door and sliced half of his forehead off! 

Blood everywhere, panic ensues (mostly by me), followed by: regular ambulance x 2; air ambulance x 1; 2 night stay in a private hospital in San Jose; nice bit of plastic surgery (by a boob surgeon - still waiting for a nipple to appear!!); yet more scars on his head and of course a huge bill (yet to be paid by the insurance company). 

YS turned 12 (I can't believe it either!!). Where does the time go? More to the point where has my curly-haired baby gone? He is so grown-up now that he decided to have some 'tram-lines' added to his now straight hair when he last went to the barbers - NOT a happy mummy!!!


The family have enjoyed fun outings to the wetlands and wildlife areas nearby, where an array of fabulous creatures were spotted! Quite a few on my 'not so favourite' list.

 

A Sunbathing Croc.

Bats Asleep on a Tree Trunk

A HUGE snake!!! A Boa perhaps!

And there have been day trips to the thermal waters, treks along rope bridges, boat trips and zip-lining. 

YS Enjoying the Zip-line

All very active!!

Then there is the weather: May is supposed to herald the start of green season. Well, the rain in the Coco area appeared for just a few days, and has not been seen again! To be honest, it feels a little similar to England in summer - humid - although about 10 degrees hotter! Some beautiful new shrubs and trees have blossomed though.

The newly built outdoor kitchen area
with new tiled and stone flooring

La Casita has all been finished so the work has started on our house now, or rather the pool area of our house: an outdoor 'kitchen' area has been constructed; the outdoor shower has been smartened up and we have constructed a 'ranchero' to provide some much-needed shade around the pool area. 

Emptied of water and the old tiles chipped off. 

The swimming pool itself is also under reconstruction and has been emptied of water and re-tiled with small blue mosaic tiles. The flooring area around the pool is being tiled too, as most of the previous tiles were broken. 


Work on that should be finished next week - hooray!!!!! 

Pictures to follow ... shortly, I promise!