It’s been a very, very long time since we last blogged. And it’s not because we haven’t been busy. I guess we’ve just been adjusting back to life as normal. The biggest thing that happened, for sure, was our trip to Costa Rica. These are my top 5 of the trip:

1. Venado Caverns. Hands down, the BEST thing we did in Costa Rica. At our second destination of the trip, La Fortuna, it rained torrentially for a couple of days. It wasn’t really that big of a deal, because we were mostly doing some hiking there in the national parks, and there was enough tree cover that it didn’t slow us down. But there’s only so much hiking you can do (sort of). So, one day, we planned a rainy day activity – Venado Caverns. We had to drive about 17 km to a small town outside Fortuna, and we would get a guided tour of these caves there. We started on our trip only to find the road to Venado was much more treacherous than we expected, and a 17 km trip turned into an hour and a half drive. So, we got to Venado just as the tour guides were shutting down shop. But, luckily, our guide was willing to hang around a bit longer and take us into the cave. Amazing! The cave had not a single modern amenity (like many of the cave tours in the states I’m used to). There was a river flowing through it, tons of bats, cave spiders, crabs, and even fossilized coral reefs inside. We waded, army crawled, climbed and descended for about an hour and a half. It was thrilling for me!

(Road to Venado)

(Venado Caverns)

(Petrified Coral Reef in Cave)

2. Selvatura Park. This is a close second, because this day was a blast. You see these canopy tours all around Costa Rica – basically a zip-line/walking bridge tour through the rain forest. I have to believe, though, that Selvatura was the best. Our guide books recommended it, and the park was stunning. We first did a suspension bridge tour over the rain forest, then did a 15-platform zip line tour. That was an absolute blast. It culminated in a tarzan swing, which is basically a free fall off a 30-foot platform over the rainforest valley.

3. Manuel Antonio. This was toward the end of our trip, and a much different feel than the rest of our stay in Costa Rica. Manuel Antonio is a small national park on the Pacific side of the country. It has beautiful beaches, where we spent much of the day relaxing. We also saw more wildlife in the smallest amount of time here than we did the rest of the trip: LOTS of monkeys, sloths, lizards, raccoons, and even deer!

(Sangria at Ronny's outside Manuel Antonio - mmm!)

4. Arenal National Park. This was a beautiful National Park built around an active volcano. We went hiking here one day and stayed at a lodge where our room faced the volcano. At night, the sky around the top of the volcano glowed red because of the lava. It was a really beautiful location, and we did some of the best hiking here. Everywhere throughout the park, though, were signs warning you not to wander off the trail because of the high risk of volcanic activity.

5. Food! We had some amazing food on our trip. Most mornings, we had a big breakfast, consisting of fried plaintains, eggs, cheese, fresh fruits, banana pancakes, local coffee, and a whole lot more. We ate most of our meals at roadside "sodas," which are kind of local restaurants serving typical food. A lot of rice and beans, for sure, but they were great, and a little different tasting everywhere we went. A lot of the restaurants also had some of the most beautiful views we saw on the entire trip.

(...and very good beer)