Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 8

With happy hearts and tummies full of great food, we started the journey back to Colorado.  Little did we know that this would turn into its own separate saga a few hours later.  As we were in the air flying from Liberia to Dallas for our first leg of the journey back, we had heard that there were some potential issues with the computer systems for Southwest.  Apparently, all US domestic flights had been grounded though the international flights were still able to come in.  The issue was that the computer system that Southwest used had had some critical issues and basically the planes and the crews to staff them were all mixed up.  Because of the way they do their scheduling, small upstream issues caused a catastrophic failure to be able to have any of their flights go.  

When we landed in Dallas, it was already around 7 pm and we walked into a line of several hundred people waiting to try to reschedule flights.  After about 30 minutes of waiting in a never-ending-line, they walked through and said they were shutting down the desks and everyone was being shuttled to local hotels.  So, blindly we just boarded a random bus, not even knowing where it was taking us or what was happening.  In the meantime, I wasn't going to wait around and see how bad this was going to get so I booked a one-way car rental from Dallas to Denver as an insurance policy.  We finally arrived at a hotel about 20 minutes away from the airport and the actually put us up in a fairly nice hotel with one room for the boys and one room for Tara and me (though theirs smelled funky so we ended up sharing the single room).  After making a food run from the hotel, we talked to a human at Southwest, and they said it would be at least four days until they could reschedule us on a flight because literally tens of thousands of people were all stranded!

That certainly wasn't going to work, so bright and early (~5 am) the next morning we jumped in one of the last rental cars on the lot and we started the 12-hour drive from Texas to Colorado.  Here was the first stop for breakfast burritos along the way once everyone had woken up.  I actually love a good road trip, so I wasn't that unhappy about this, and it also gave me an opportunity to have tacos at least two more times along the way while in Texas.  It was quite the crazy trip, but we did make it home and I will say that in the end Southwest really made this right.  They paid for our hotel, the rental car, the food along the way and refunded us for the leg back on the flight.  That is in addition to the flight credit they gave everyone that was impacted by the meltdown.  Certainly not ideal, but it was almost like a full extra day of vacation (excluding the three or four work calls I had to dial into from the plains of Texas).  Hopefully we can make it back again some time and until then, Pura Vida!

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 7 (Part 4 of 4)

 

After an epic fishing morning complete, and the last full day of our trip quickly coming to a close, the guys wanted to take one last trip to the beach in the late afternoon.  Between a few last waves, Gavin convinced Tara to buy a coconut from one of the local salesmen that are constantly walking the beach.

They guys were pretty tired at this point and were happy to just dig some holes in the sand and look out over the ocean for the last sunset.

Costa Rica has been great to us and the calm and peacefulness of sunset of the beach has been a great break for us as a family.

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 7 (Part 3 of 4)

Towards the early afternoon, it was time to come back into Tamarindo and back to shore.  We met Tara and showed her the spoils of our efforts from the day's fishing.  In the end, we brought back two Tunas and a Mahi Mahi to eat which was about 5-10 lbs. of meat.  What is also amazing is that you can just take your fresh fish to one of the local restaurants (I think we ended up at Nogui's Restaurant) and they will cook it up for you and set you up to eat on their beach tables.

They also hooked us up with some fresh rice and black beans with lime and a small side salad.  Gavin could literally not believe what he was eating, it was so good!  They hard part was figuring out how we would consume this much fish and store or take it home.  Needless to say, we had leftovers for days.

One of the many local iguanas seemed to be interested in our meal, but we fought him off as we gorged ourselves.  I am thankful that we chose to spend the money on the fishing trip as it was really such a cool adventure.  Fishing is also always better when you are catching things and, in this category, we weren't disappointed.

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 7 (Part 2 of 4)

Over the next few hours, we really had an amazing time and caught tons of fish.  Here is Gavin with a great sized tuna that we kept to eat for dinner.

A bit later Gavin reeled in our only Mahi Mahi or "El Dorado" of the day.  This thing put up a pretty good fight for him and obviously we had to keep that one for eating, as well.

This is Gage getting in on the action with another good-sized tuna.  I would say that we were catching something about every 10-15 minutes or something for several hours straight.  We slowly travelled South down the coast towards Playa Negra and Los Pargos and then back again.

Here is another little bait fish we caught.  They are really cool looking!  We had the gear to head out to some deeper water to try to catch some fish that were even bigger than what we were catching, but it was a somewhat windy day and the farther out you go the choppier it gets and less favorable for fishing.  The guys were having a blast, so we didn't really worry about it too much and stayed closer in.

Towards the end of the day, we were using some of the bigger bait fish and actually hooked something a bit bigger (perhaps even a shark), but it ultimately got away.  This was all that was left when we got the line back to the boat!

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 7 (Part 1 of 4)

 

We had one last surprise excursion for the boys, and it turned out to be possibly the highlight of the trip.  I wanted to take the boys deep sea fishing, but the problem was that we weren't really able to plan ahead without knowing any locals or the situation on the ground.  What we found out was that, in the end we were able to arrange for a trip, but it was 1) through some locals we met that arranged something for us last minute and 2) turned out to be really expensive.  We figured that it would be worth it, so we pulled the trigger and went for it.  We anxiously waited on the beach for a stranger to come find us and take us to his boat first thing in the morning.  They picked us up in this small boat to ferry us to the larger fishing boat and the guys were already loving this.

We transferred over to the actual fishing boat that was anchored out in the cove with a collection of other fishing and sailing boats.  You can see all of the fishing rods behind us as we get set to roll out into the sea.

Once free from the protection of the cove we picked up the pace and one of our two fishing guides started working on prepping bait and the lines.  This guy was amazing.  He had a quiet and chill personality but also a pretty classic look to him.

After about a 20-minute ride, we slowed down and dropped three or four trolling lines into the water behind the boat and slowly started working around.  Gage was the first to strip with this small tuna.

Gavin's first fish wasn't as impressive, but he was psyched, nevertheless.  We actually ended up saving this guy to be used as bait for some bigger fish later in the day.

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 6 (Part 3 of 3)

 

After spending 15 or 20 minutes up at the waterfall, we made the trek back to the truck to pick us up.  The truck was running a bit behind to pick us up on the way back, so we walked a bit of the road where Tara found these beautiful flowers.  She is obviously in shock!

Eventually we did make it back to our car.  We took this selfie with the two tour guides which we had gotten to know pretty well over the day.  They were awesome people, and we couldn't have asked for a better crew and experience with the trip up to the La Leona Waterfall.

Fresh off returning back to Tamarindo, the guys grabbed something quick for dinner and Tara and I found this amazing Mediterranean restaurant called the Falafel Bar.  Once again, the food did not disappoint!  Everything was so fresh and tasty there.

Here is one last selfie before we turned it in towards home after (once again) a stop at the local gelato place.  We are just really loving Costa Rica and this small town.  It has the best vibe, and the food scene is awesome.

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 6 (Part 2 of 3)

As we ascended upstream to seek out the waterfall, we stopped at a bunch of different places to cross the water, swim in deeper pool areas, and of course apply some clay mud to our faces!

Here is another family picture along the journey.  It was really cool learning about the area, the history, and of course Tara was in heaven talking the guides up in Spanish.

The last little bit to get to the actual waterfall was quite challenging.  We were half wading/half swimming and holding onto this rope as we fought against the current through this slot canyon.  It was a bit nerve wracking, and I am not sure if the water was flowing a bit stronger that we could have made it.  I think I went first, and this was Tara coming through.

At last, we finally all made it, and the waterfall was definitely worth it!  This thing was ripping behind us and just drenching us in the mist.  It was beautiful with the sun peeking through the canyon walls.  The guys were loving every minute of it!

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 6 (Part 1 of 3)

On the 6th day of our trip, we found and arranged for an excursion to some waterfalls in the in the hills near some volcanos on the other side of Liberia.  Tamarindo (where we were staying) is more of a dry climate, but we wanted the kids to see something a bit different, so we made the hour and a half drive back past the Liberia airport, through the city of Liberia, and over to Curubande de Liberia where the La Leona Waterfall hike/trip begins.  Funny enough they asked us when we got there if we wanted to take a ride (for a small fee) to the trail head or hike from the parking lot, as it would have been about a 20 minute hike with some steep climbs.  We opted for the ride and jumped in the back of this old pickup truck after meeting our two guides.

Some of the first things we ran across on the trip were tons of wild bananas and plantains.  They talked us through all the different kids and apparently there are still a lot of active farms for these around in the area.

The trail slowly wound down into the Rio Blanco and we stopped to take some pictures along the way of all of us.  We were geared for hiking but also a lot of river crossings.

This was the first river crossing that we encountered, and you can see why it was called Rio Blanco.  I was just trying not to fall in and drop all the electronics into the water.

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 5 (Part 2 of 2)

 

After a fairly relaxing day around the beach and then back the Airbnb's pool, Tara and I cooked an early dinner for the guys, and we headed out for a date night on the town. As we were heading to our destination, we saw the monkey crew traversing the urban scene in downtown Tamarindo.  These guys apparently make a fairly standard trek from one end of town to the other at just before sunset most days.

Back to the date night, we made reservations at a place called the Dragonfly Bar and Grill which had a bunch of really good reviews.  We did some scouting earlier in the day to make sure the "vibe" looked good for what Tara was looking for and it passed!

The place was packed, and we had this great table in the center of the restaurant.  Once again it was mostly open air, and they had some music being played in the background by some live musicians.

I believe this is a picture of Tara's dish, but I can't remember what exactly she ordered.  It was pretty crazy good, though.

Here is the steak dish that I ordered above.  It had these potato string things on the bottom and an amazing sauce.

One last picture of Tara sending up a cheers for another great meal and night on the town together!  It is always good to get some time away while on vacation to just be with each other and not have to always be on parent duty.  At least by now the guys are getting old enough (and get along well enough) where we can leave them while we go out for a bit.

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 5 (Part 1 of 2)

After packing most of the days up to this point full of different adventures, we decided to have more of a recovery day in the middle of the trip.  Tara signed up for a beach yoga class in the mid-morning.  You can see here above amongst the other attendees with their towels on the beach.  I think she said that it was a decent class, but not the best she has ever been to.  

While we waited for her to finish up, Gavin was in full exploration mode and found whatever this thing is.  It looked like a sea urchin of some kind.

After some exploration, our guys found some friends playing soccer on the beach.  This eventually turned into a full six on six game at one point with kids coming out of the woodwork to get in on the action.  It was great to see these guys just jump in with some locals and just try to keep up, as playing on sand was quite the new experience.

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 4 (Part 4 of 4)

 

One last picture of the sunset before we headed back to town to try a new restaurant for the evening.  Gavin joined Gage just enjoying the peaceful sounds of the ocean and the dwindling sunlight.  Actually, not too long after this it was starting to get dark enough that we had to navigate the rocks and sand back using our cell phones as flashlights.

Tonight's dinner destination (Green Papaya) turned out to be a true gem in so many different ways.  Tara is big on first impressions when strolling up to a place and this place did not disappoint.  They had indoor seating and then some crazy, unique outdoor seating where the chairs are all suspended by ropes and you are open air with the trees, monkeys, and whatever else is going on along this dirt side road in front of the restaurant.  So, we were immediately hooked and elected to sit outside.  Here is a picture of the crew waiting for food.

We started conversing some with the waiter (and apparently the guy who owns the place) and it turns out he and his whole family used to live in Colorado (Highlands Ranch) of all places and got tired of the grind and just decided to sell everything and move down here to run this place and surf every day.  You can bet that Tara was fully invested in this story and full of questions!  Anyways, the people were amazing that ran the place, and it turns out the food was exceptional as well.  This is a picture of my enchiladas which were crazy good.  Everything was made scratch the day of and the flavors were awesome.  This was probably one of the top two places we ate the whole trip and I think we could have eaten here almost every night without objection.

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 4 (Part 3 of 4)

After a long day at the beach, we headed back to our Airbnb to shower up and change for a nice dinner out on the town.  That was of course, after we headed out to Punta San Francisco which is just between the Playa Tamarindo and Playa Langosta to catch the sunset.  We had to hustle but arrived just in time to get some epic pictures!  Here is a nice picture of the four of us together on the way.  You can actually see our destination in the top left of the above picture.

We finally arrived just before sunset.  Here is Tara and I enjoying the amazing view.

A picture of Tara and the boys.  Note that Gavin is rocking is nice sunglasses!

This was a panoramic picture of the entire area.  As you can see, there were definitely several other families and couplies that had similar ideas.

I love this picture of Gage just taking it all in.  I am so thankful that we can afford to travel internationally and experience things just like this.  I find that our family is the closest when we are able to slow down, travel, and live life to its fullest together.  This was truly a special experience and night.

Costa Rica Family Trip - Day 4 (Part 2 of 4)

The main plan for the day was to get these two some surfing lessons.  This was the first time these guys have had ever had surfing lessons and there was a big surfing shop (Iguana Surf) right off the beach about a block from our Airbnb.

We got sorted for a half day lesson with a personal instructor.  He first took them across to the beach and walked them through everything.

Then it was some time for some dry land training.  They would practice paddling on the sand and then popping up on the surf boards.  Gavin was a lefty so he naturally would be facing the opposite way as Gage.  This instructor was awesome, though, as he was hamming it up with the guys all morning long.

Now was the time to put all these lessons into action.  They instructor waded out in the water with them and then helped launch them onto some great sized waves for learning.  The first to get up was Gage in the picture above.  He seemed to be a natural at this!

Gavin took a bit more practice to finally get up, as seen above with his first wave of the day!  They both eventually got the hang of it and spent several hours just catching wave after wave.  It was awesome to watch.

Toward the end of the morning, these guys were pretty wiped and retreated to the comfort of our towels and shade umbrella.  Tara also got convinced by some beach salesguy to buy a virgin pina colada in an actual pineapple husk.  The kicker was that she bargained this guy to give her free refills on it for the day while we were at the beach...something apparently that wasn't so kosher with his coworkers when we tried later to redeem the free refill.  In the end they honored the guarantee but weren't too please about it!