Friday-Costa Rica!

 

Monkeys, Crocodiles, Iguanas....OH MY!!!

 

We were very lucky to have met Jack and his wife (the ones originally from the Netherlands) because they referred us to a private guide who offered similar excursions that the hotel sold.  Instead of being carted around on a bus with 30 of your newly formed tourist friends, we were in our private SUV with our own personal guide, Noelberto! 

 

Costa Rica is known for its volcanoes, rain forests and adventurous excursions like zip lining, hanging bridges, challenging hikes, white water rafting, etc.  We realized well before we booked the trip that we would not be able to do any excursions and we were content with enjoying the resort.  We were pleasantly surprised to find out that we could take Wesley to the Palo Verde National Park (with guide) and take a trip on the river boat to see some really awesome wildlife!  Noelberto picked us up at 8am from the hotel, just me, Chris and Wesley!  We drove for about 45 minutes through Costa Rica.  Wesley was happy to fall asleep for a quick morning nap-perfect!  Chris and I learned quite a bit of Costa Rican culture, customs and history from Noelberto.  A large part of their economy is Sugar Cane...sadly the people that work in the sugar cane fields have a very demanding, horribly physical job which we witnessed.  The Nicaraguan border is about an hour away and they come in daily on busses arriving by 5am to beat the heat and work for about 5 hours each day non stop to clear one parcel of sugar cane.  We saw them finishing for the day and they were just pitiful looking; filthy dirty, sweaty, sunburned, etc.  It is very taxing manual labor and apparently it pays very poorly as well but the Nicaraguans are not typically educated and don't have many other means for work.  It was really sad to see the workers in the fields, cutting the cane by hand.  A different world!  It was also strange to meet Noelberto, one of five children who all still lived in the same village in Costa Rica yet seem so privileged.  He was educated, had actually spent time studying in the US and Canada and was very successful with his business being a private guide.  I can't say it was any more expensive than if we had taken a group tour but yet it was so much more enjoyable and very interesting hearing a true Costa Rican's perspective.

 

Noelberto was very knowledgeable about the Palo Verde park as well...here he is giving the passengers on our boat a lesson in the ecosystem.  We saw so many species of birds: tiger herons, blue herons, other types of herons...crocodiles (huge 16 foot crocodile in the mud!), gorgeous iguanas sunning in the trees, cows (they don't look like American cows), and lastly and most importantly...MONKEYS!!!!!  There are two prevalent types of monkeys, howler monkeys and white faced monkeys.  The howler monkeys tend to sleep during the day so while we saw them, the weren't very active and usually asleep in a tree.  The white faced monkeys on the other hand were so cool...Noelberto has had enough experience with them to coax them on board.  They jumped on the boat several times right from the trees and while very skittish, got close enough for Wesley to giggle about and point to.  He is a big pointer these days letting us know exactly what he wants!  While we couldn't bring home a monkey...we did bring home a "gecko" (stuffed!). 

 

 

Our guide, Noelberto, giving us the run down on the wildlife.

The "river boat" that we rode on.



The "cows" of Costa Rica.

The "white faced monkey" hanging on the boat!

Monkey Business!

More Monkey Business---right on the bow of the boat!

After the boat ride we had about an hour ride back to the hotel.  We had the option to stop for lunch but little W fell asleep very soon after hitting the A/C in Noelberto's SUV.  We decided to skip the lunch out and head back to the hotel instead so Wesley would enjoy a good nap in the car.  That was the beauty of having our private guide...we could do whatever we wanted and Noelberto was great with Wesley.  While he didn't have children of his own, he had many nieces and nephews (sound familiar) and enjoyed having Wesley on board.  Most of the roads in  CR are not paved so while it was bumpy, Wesley didn't seem to mind.  It was very surprising to see how poor Costa Rica is...the homes were open air and seemed dusty/diryt.  It was the dry season so I can only imagine how muddy it gets in the rainy season.  We only saw one part of CR as they have varying elevations/mountains and terrains as well as varying climates.  We really loved everything about it and would go back in a skinny minute!  Maybe when Wesley is older we can go back and enjoy the canopy tours/zip lines---assuming we aren't too old! 

Once we got back to the hotel, we headed straight for the pool!  Wesley's favorite spot!  Here he is being a total goof...

Later that evening, we headed out for our last dinner.  We had yet to take one photo of the family so here it is...not great but at least we have it.  Wesley didn't part with his snack cup much of the week...I was okay with that because he truly never embraced the food.  He had pancakes every day and would graze on other items but that was the same for lunch and breakfast.  I am certain that we/he abused the snack cup but we were on vacation! 

Our last dinner we were lucky to have our favorite waiter of the week, Allan.  He also was a father of a 2 year old and LOVED Wesley.  He would go out of his way to come by our table and play with him.  We traded stories and laughed a bit but it was nice to have someone serving us that understood why we had trucks, pipe cleaners (by the way, best $1 purchase ever) and dinosaurs at the dinner table!  The staff was overly helpful and understanding yet appreciative.  Nicest staff I have encountered at a hotel chain!  While Hilton may not have the best locations, they have a top notch staff.
Our last evening....



The sunscreen worked!  No burns (or tans for that matter)!  One HAPPY, HAPPY family!!!