Lunatic Fringe: Pura Vida!

I HAVE A WONDERFUL LIFE!

Really, I do. I have three healthy, beautiful, loving children; a wonderful, hardworking husband; a caring, supportive mother who loves me and my children enough to come and babysit them for a whole week while I jaunt off to explore Costa Rica; and a mother in law who invites me to jaunt off to Costa Rica with her. What more could I possibly want?

In early March Mimi, Makenna, Melanie Stucki and I flew into San Jose, CR and took a van down to the Los Suenos Marriott, a sprawling, ritzy resort right on the western coast. From there we did some amazing ziplining, toured the Manuel Antonio national park, explored the town of Jaco, and spent plenty of time lounging poolside. I went running every day, read two books, and watched zero television. It was glorious!

The country is absolutely gorgeous! It is lush and green with crystal blue waters and abundant wildlife. The locals are amazingly friendly. I could honestly move there today if my family and I spoke Spanish. I'm sure I appreciated everything a bit more since I was on vacation sans kids with no real agenda outside of a couple of tours we had planned. I can't wait to take my family back there when the kids are a bit older and can appreciate some of the more exciting attractions.

Halfway through our trip we relocated to central Costa Rica by the Arenal volcano. We stayed at the Baldi Hot Springs Resort, which was SO COOL! It is build on the side of a mountain at the foot of the volcano, and has around 25 pools and hot tubs of varying temperatures tiered throughout its grounds. We spent several hours walking up and down scenic paths testing out different pools, which ranged in temperature from tepid to scorching. You could swim up to your choice of several bars and order food and drinks to enjoy right in the water.

From there we took a tour that included a waterfall rappelling trip followed by white water rafting on the Balsa River. We had so much fun rafting that our guide, Jose, convinced us to cancel our volcano tour and do a longer and more challenging trip on the Sarapiqui River the next day. Sarapiqui was the highlight of my trip. We stayed cool, got great exercise, and had a blast.

Trips like this make me truly appreciate the adventures I was privileged to have (or sometimes forced into) as a kid. For most people a guided rappelling tour once or twice in a lifetime is as exciting as it gets. But not so for the Ahos! I hope I can instill the same sense of adventure and love for the outdoors into my children that my parents did for me.