Beach Baby Johnson: Tuesday-Costa Rica!

Gecko...Iguana...It's About the Same!

This resort was an all-inclusive. Not something that Chris and I would typically look for in a vacation; we would prefer to go off of the beaten path and find the hidden/local spots. But when planning our trip we realized that Hilton does not have properties in the greatest of locations and so when we found this one, we thought it might actually work out well with the baby. And boy did it!!! You will see on Friday's entry that we did a really awesome excursion but other than that, we chose to stay put at the resort for the whole week.

The resort was actually very big. The majority of the rooms were set up cottage style. Two "hotel rooms" were placed into one cottage with an adjoining door if you chose-just like any hotel. We only had one side of our "cottage" and it was very much like a hotel room which was great for us. I admit, it would have been great to have an extra room for Wesley so we didn't have to worry about waking him during naps but we managed just fine and Wesley kept to his schedule with 2 naps every day!

The vastness of the resort enabled us to venture around without feeling we were stuck at a resort the whole time. The resort had open air trams/mini-buses that transported guests all over the property all during the day and evening because it was so large. We were very lucky to have a cottage literally 30 yards from the main pool and restaurant so we rarely rode the tram. Our location was so convenient and we noticed they purposely put the families in our area. The far side of the resort had another pool and Spa but was "adults only". We were happy to be in the middle of the fun! There were 4 restaurants on the property and one required the tram but that was mostly because it was so hilly, not because it was really far. We actually would take a long walk every morning (or hike as you will see later) as Wesley still woke very early and because we were always looking for wildlife. Costa Rica is known for their birds, monkeys and iguanas! We saw all three by just milling around the grounds! Howler monkeys reside in the trees and make a lot of noise but there are also other types that live in Costa Rica. The birds are amazing...types you would normally see in a cage or pet store were plentiful in the wild-the cockatoos were awesome. One of the greatest things we saw were the IGUANAS! Wesley LOVED seeing them but decided on his own name. He recently learned the word "gecko" after visiting Mimi and Pop's house. They have many geckos in sculpture form all over their house and Wesley was quick to point at them and learn the name, "gecko". So when he saw his first iguana in Costa Rica, he quickly decided it was a gecko. We loved it and certainly didn't want to correct him so for the rest of the week, we saw geckos although they were really iguanas! There is a special iguana, "Dino", that the dive company on-site would feed everyday. He would come around lunchtime everyday for his banana! Those simple little distractions were so great for Wesley and he thoroughly loved seeing the nature, the animals and boy did he win over some staff!!! By Monday, Julio was way on board with our family but other staff and even other guests were calling Wesley by name--the little blonde boy from Virginia had quite a reputation!

The photos below are actually from the first full day...look on the hedges to the right and you will see a fairly large iguana enjoying his lunch on the flowers. Wesley and I were in the pool watching the show! Daddy was still a tad injured so he was behind the camera.