Costa Rica - Part 3

Thursday, August 28: Obviously, we swam. We also decided to go on a trip to Tamarindo. This is the most developed of the towns we saw in Costa Rica. We were going to do some shopping but just after we started out it started raining. Hard. Harder than we had seen all week. And we had seen some big rain. Geoff went to get the car and Hazel and I (and the camera) huddle under some shelter. Then we went to look in a store and Hazel, despite adamantly denying the need to use the potty, peed on the floor. In the bathroom, we were so close. And then started whine-crying. Which is the absolute worse. So, we left without getting anything, after my kid peed on their floor. Luckily, it was raining a lot so maybe they just thought it was rain. Or that we were jerks. And we walked around the Tamarindo mall and got some ice cream. Then we went back to the hotel.
This is the only good picture I have of the day. It does not even begin to show how much rain there was.

Friday, August 29: Swimming. Reading books. Naps. Swimming. Books. TV. Oh, let me discuss the television situation. Remember, I love TV. It is a staple in my life. Hazel also loves TV and only knows about TiVo. We always hit a point in our vacation where she asks for this show or that show and we have to explain that we can’t always make it appear. Anyway, no TiVo. But, we did get to watch awesome television either in Spanish (dubbed) or with Spanish subtitles. Personally, I liked to watch the subtitles. But, sometimes the subtitle readers get gypped. But, it is still a fun way to learn words in another language. Also, we were watching “Anti-trust” on TV and half-way through it just cut out and was “Law and Order” because, yeah, that show is not on enough. So, I missed my beloved TiVo. But, I still got to watch some TV and read 6 books, not just Friday, the whole trip. It was a beautiful thing.
By this point in the week, Hazel was exhausted. Finally.
These birds were everywhere. We fed them pancakes at breakfast. Which I am sure contributed to the being everywhere... Anyway, I love how angry this little guy looks. Loook at his little yellow eyes. Geoff does a great job at the nature photography.

Saturday, August 30: We went on a canopy tour with the wedding group. We met at the fabulous Paradisus Playa Conchal, which made our hotel look pathetic and small until we realized it was a crazy cart ride to go anywhere on the hotel grounds and they beach was more crowded and less wave-y? And then we once again loved our hotel. But, I digress. So, we rode a bus. Hazel loved it, I wanted to barf. When we got to the starting point they strapped us in to harnesses and given the barest minimum of lessons on how to ride the zipline. Hazel had fun playing with the helmets, she especially liked this blue one.
She also enjoyed the gloves we had to wear to lessen the chance of zipline burn.
We asked if Hazel could actually go with us on the zipline and they said sure.* They got her all harnessed up (this was the worst part-only because she wanted to wear her beloved blue helmet and it was too big to be actually safe):
They did explain that someone would have to actually go with her. Because we were just going to push her really hard and hope for the best. It was great. And then it started raining. Which was less great, but we still had a great time. Hazel was super-brave.

This was our cute and shiny family in our helmets (and sunscreen and bug spray-thus the shiny), all ready to go in the canopy.

This was the very first run and I didn't quite have a good method of holding the kid. Plus, I was a wee bit nervous taking my only child on the giant zipline in the middle of a freakin' jungle. I don't know if they have safety regulations there! And, I forgot to brake. Whoops.
Geoff also took Hazel on a couple of the lines. By this point we were a little less nervous about it, and Hazel had a better idea how to hang on.

If you click and look at the bigger picture of this shot you can see how wet and dirty Hazel got. The wire had grease or dirt or something and when I applied the brake (my hand) we would get a dusting of grease or dirt. But, she did not complain and was a trooper about anything. This was near the end when we were all pretty soaked.

And we saw two monkeys in a tree, and then at the end we saw another monkey, right by the building, and he pooped and that was the highlight of Hazel’s zipline experience. This is the monkey who pooped. It is amazing to me to see monkey just out in the wild. It is not a normal thing for Utah.
Plus, in typical Hazel fashion, on the bus ride home she decided she didn't need to wear a shirt. A couple of Jim's friends weren't wearing shirts so she figured she didn't need to wear them either.

Then we went back to our hotel, went swimming, had a nap, the usual.

We went to the rehearsal dinner Saturday night. It was delicious and lovely and one of Jim’s friends was far more disruptive than Hazel, so I was pleased. And Hazel fell asleep and then we went back to our hotel. All in all, a great day in Costa Rica.

*At the top of the first platform I asked a guy if he had kids and he said one little girl. Then I asked if he would let her ride the zipline. He said, “No, way.” I was ready to get down and then he clarified that she was only two-months old. And then I felt a little better about taking my kid on the canopy tour.