flo-rida!

tuesday was the day we were flying out of costa rica, and just happened to be my birthday too!  yay for hitting the big 2-4!  it was an eventful morning with everyone getting to the airport for their different flights, but somehow we all left the country when we were supposed to and didn't leave anyone behind.  most of our group flew back to utah but there were 5 of us that planned to stay for a few days in a condo in st augustine, florida, owned by megan's parents.  we flew from costa rica to miami and then to orlando where we met up with this dreamboat... 

yep, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.  he has a mexi-stash.  chester the molester style.  sick.  what a great birthday present, right?  josh had flown to orlando earlier that day and met up with us when our plane finally landed around 8pm.  i was excited to see him and was even more excited to help him shave off the facial hair later that night.  we were all starving because we'd been traveling all day so we got our rental car, started driving east, took a random exit and ended up at a steak house where we celebrated my birthday with some yummy steak.  (for some reason, i didn't take any other pictures on my birthday.  lame)  at dinner, josh surprised me with a 2nd band to complete my wedding ring.  i was excited because i thought our florida trip would be my present and i definitely didn't expect to get the rest of the set so quickly!  i think it's beautiful!after dinner, we made the rest of the drive to the condo in st. augustine.  we were so tired that we pretty much crashed as soon as we got there, but only after i took a picture of the beautiful room josh and i got to stay in.  megan's mom has decorated the condo in a whole seashell/beach theme and it was fabulous.  and the next morning, we found out that those large windows overlooked the ocean.  

the next morning we got up and headed to the private beach just outside the condo.  (this is a picture taken from the balcony).  even though the weather forecast predicted thunderstorms, there wasn't a cloud in sight.  we had a great time laying out, boogie boarding, reading, swimming in the ocean and the swimming pool...
flying kites...

playing bocce ball (a new favorite of ours)...
and soaking up some rays...

we also bbq'd up some fabulous burgers and dogs

the next day we hit up some historical sites.  st augustine is actually the oldest city that has been continuously inhabited in the united states and has a lot of spanish influence (thank you wikipedia!)  we went to the historical lighthouse...

went to the harbor and saw some replicas of the pinta and nina (the ships the pilgrims sailed on)


we walked around the docks and looked at the beautiful yachts and sailboats


we saw some of the beautiful historical buildings, like this one... flagler college...
we drove to jacksonville to visit the city, to go to the budweiser factory and see how beer is made, ate some yummy bbq, and we made a pit stop at the river/fountains to get some pictures as a crazy thunderstorm was coming in.  on our way back, we hit up the outlet malls (despite the groaning from the boys) and did some shopping.  


the next morning, maria, megan, and i got up super early to go to the beach and watch the sunrise.  it was gorgeous.  

we spent the rest of the day playing in the sun, reading books, swimming, and napping.  
that afternoon we went to o'steens, a restaurant with some of the best shrimp i have ever had.  thanks megan for the recommendation!
we then headed to the old town st augustine to do some more sight seeing.  (my dad would be so proud).  we made our way to many of the little shops located on st. george street.  we also came across the oldest school in the usa and had to snap a picture of it.  

after doing more and more shopping, we stopped of at a creamery for some delicious ice cream and walked over to the castillo de san marcos fort.  it was cool to see the structure of this fort and the area where the moat would have been.  

liz and josh, holding down the fort.  (cheesy, i know.  we saw it on a postcard and decided we needed our own version of it)
saturday morning we got up semi-early, packed up the car, and headed back to orlando to catch our flights.  we were sad that our trip had ended, but we had a great time!  spending a few days in florida was just what we all needed to relax and recoup after our trip to costa rica (you'd think the cr trip was a vacation, but most of it was work!)  it was fun to spend our nights hanging out, eating treats, and watching movies and i liked that we didn't have to wake up early or be on any set schedule the whole time we were there.  thanks again megan and her parents for letting us stay there, it was perfect and beautiful and we really appreciated it!

my goodness, catching up on these vacations takes a lot of time and i'm not even done yet!  that's pretty much it from our out-of-state vacations, but we've been busy ever since we got back to utah so i'll have to catch up on those events when i get more time (and the desire to do it!)  i hope i didn't bore anyone to death with my lengthy posts, numerous pictures, and crazy details!

last day in costa rica

monday, may 11th was our last full day in costa rica.  sunday night, we made the long drive back to san jose and stayed at the same hotel we had stayed at our first few nights.  the drive was eventful- of course we had some good laughs with each other in our cars, some scary moments driving with the costa ricans up dark and windy roads, and of course, the expected mechanical problems of our lead car that caused a handful of pit stops.  this lead to an extremely late night which did not make us look forward to the early morning we had ahead of us.  

monday morning we headed up north to cartago where we worked at a school for the deaf.  many of these children had hearing aids or cochlear implants, but there were still many who needed to be tested and fit with new hearing aids.  at this site, i was assigned to do the actually hearing aid programming and fittings.  it was really fun to watch the kids' faces light up when we turned on the hearing aids and they could hear sounds they couldn't hear just minutes before.  the kids at this school were so dang cute and even gave us little thank you cards with suckers taped to them when it was time for us to go.  (i was so busy at this site that i didn't take any pictures.  i'll try to steal some from my classmates and post them later).

after working at the school for the deaf all morning, we headed out to see the irazu volcano- the tallest active volcano in costa rica.  the last eruption was in 1963-1965 and it has been dormant ever since.  when you visit the volcano now, the summit has various craters and a green crater lake at the bottom.  it was interesting to visit this volcano because it was completely different than the arenal volcano that i saw the last time i visited costa rica.  

that evening, dr mellick and the other people we worked with planned a nice dinner at a restaurant similar to tepanyaki here in utah.  it was a fabulous meal and it was a fun way to end such a great week.  while in costa rica, we were able to meet natalie- a costa rican who is actually coming to utah state this next year to join our audiology program.  it was fun talking with her and getting to know her, and giving her a little insight to life in logan, utah.  

this is a picture of our professors, those who organized our trip, and natalie's parents.  

this is carla, that crazy, fabulous lady i mentioned earlier who ran the kinder papillon school we visited earlier in the week.  
this is ruben- carla's awesome husband

and adriana... she was fabulous and we loved getting to know her!
that pretty much wraps up our fabulous costa rica humanitarian trip.  i learned so much, got to know and help some amazing people, and had a ton of fun with my classmates and professors.  just for journal purposes, i'm going to jot down a few things that stand out from our trip

*having the little children teach me how to speak spanish

*teaching adriana how to use her hearing aid equipment

*the different stages of being a fomo (fear of missing out)

*sugar and salt challenge = no bueno

*monkeys hiss at you if they want to to get away from them

*i could eat rice and beans all day every day

*no matter how many times i travel to cr, i think i will always be terrified of driving in that country

*mistaking a large rat climbing in a tree for a monkey

*drinking coconut milk for the first time

*eating pineapple and loving it

*dr munoz is deathly afraid of snakes!

*when playing jungle speed with the boys, a helmet and elbow and knee pads are strongly recommended

*pura vida means pure life and is pretty much the lifelong motto of all costa ricans

*papa johns pizza tastes differently than it does here in the states

*9 days was a long time to be away from my hubby

*my professors are hilarious and i loved getting to know them on a personal level

*dedicating a week to help those in need was one of the most rewarding experiences i've had and i'm looking forward to next year's trip!

in a nutshell, that sums up all of our costa rica adventures, but stay tuned- i still have our florida trip to blog about.  it may take me another week or so, but it's coming!

the weekend- costa rica style

after such a busy week, we were able to have a few days to let loose and hang out.  it all started with a trip to the beach right by the university we stayed at.  it was cloudy, but we were grateful for a chance to lay on the beach and play in the water.  some of the boys even decided to take a shot at climbing the coconut trees.  they were very successful.  

we ate at some fun restaurants while in morales, but one in particular was quite memorable.  while we waited for our food, someone (chris) had the great idea of doing the sugar and salt challenge.  basically, he got enough sugar packets for everyone who wanted to participate, opened them all up, poured one of them out and filled it with salt, then handed them out.  i joined in at the very last minute.  stupid mistake.  i got the salt packet and i had to swallow the entire thing.  it was absolutely terrible and my eyes were watering like crazy.  i had to order a few more drinks just to make the taste leave my mouth.  

as we drove to and from the university and the various sites we visited, we kept passing this huge, random dinosaur off the side of the road.  nikki and i kept begging dr mellick to let us stop just once so we could get a picture with it.  why you ask?  because supposedly jurassic park was filmed in costa rica... duh!  bless his little heart, he succumbed to our wishes and made everyone stop for pictures as we headed down toward jaco.  

the drive from morales to quepos was gorgeous!  of course i wasn't able to capture it well in my pictures, but it was a whole 4 hour drive down the coast with nothing but cliffs, water, beaches, and palm trees.  we drove through jaco and then continued onward another hour to quepos where the manuel antonio national park is located.  



when we arrived in quepos, we had a very difficult time finding the apartments we had arranged to stay at.  throughout the whole trip, we had a caravan of 4 cars, and it made for an interesting time driving through the town trying to follow the directions the owner lady gave us.  in the midst of all the fun, the lead car had mechanical problems and stopped working (on a hill, of course).  luckily we had plenty of strong men with us that were willing to push and some random costa rica boys jumped in to lend a hand as well.  sadly, this wouldn't be the last time this car would have some mechanical problems.  

we finally made it to our hotel and we crashed as soon as we got there.  we got up early the next morning (saturday) and headed to the manuel antonio national park.  of course, we got suckered into paying a guy $10 a piece to walk us through the park and point out "wildlife" (aka sloths and lizards).  we could have made the walk easily for free, but whatever.  we were excited however when we made our way to the beautiful private beach located in the national park.  the water was gorgeous and so was the surrounding scenery.  we spent the whole day here playing, laying out, talking, and just relaxing.  
*this is how bamboo grows... it was so tall!


*dave acting as our tour guide- i would have preferred to pay him over the other guy.  what a rip off





as we were hanging out on the beach, we heard a lady scream behind us.  we all looked back and realized that while she was laying there, a monkey came up to her bag and started rummaging through it.  we ended up chasing the little monkey group for a bit trying to get some good shots of them.  


this is where we stayed in quepos.  it was way nice- had this big commons area with a pool table and plenty of hang out room.  then it had 2 downstairs apartments and 2 upstairs apartments with beds for everyone, the nicest bathrooms we had come across the whole trip, air conditioning and cable tv!  we felt spoiled rotten!

group shot,  i love my classmates!

sunday morning half of the group got up early to go on the canopy.  i have gone ziplining many times and went while in costa rica when i was there a year ago so i decided to pass.  there were a few of us that decided to go back to the beach instead and do some shopping.  


that afternoon, a few of us decided to go kayaking.  the young guy in this picture is juan and he was our guide.  the other guy was our driver.  juan was a great guide and took us right to where he knew the monkeys would be!

as we paddled through the channels, i felt like i was on the jungle cruise at disneyland- minus al the mechanical animals.  it was absolutely gorgeous!
i'm not a fan of pineapple, but costa rican pineapple is amazing!  so sweet and juicy.
juan took us to a certain area in the channel and made some call-out to the monkeys.  all of the sudden, they came out of the trees swinging around in a group of about 20.  juan gave us some mangos that we squished in our hands and the monkeys were hopping all over us and our kayaks trying to get the food.  i have some videos that i will try to upload.  it was one of those "once in a lifetime" things that i loved!

the 2 days we spent in quepos were just what we needed to get geared up for another day of work.  i was happy to see as much wildlife as we did and get the rest and relaxation that we all needed.