So, it has been nine days since Ironman Costa Rica 70.3 and I have done a lot of recovering and a lot of exploring with my family. I started this blog post on day 3 post race but we started having so much fun on vacation that I forgot to come back to it and finish it!! Now, we are back at home in Evergreen and it is time to recount the fun of our last week of adventures in Costa Rica. We are back in the “real world” now and have settled into our daily routine of Colorado life. We have a lot of pictures and videos to share once I figure out how to upload everything from our Go Pros. I’ll try to include them at the end of this post as I think I figured out the Go Pro stuff for the most part.
A week ago Sunday night, we headed back to Tamarindo to the house where we were staying and got settled back in after our exciting few days in Playa del Coco. Monday morning was a slow moving, casual time. We just took our time getting out the door after responding to e-mails and messages from the weekend. The boys were tired and happy to sleep in. I was happy to sit on a sofa with my coffee and stretch out my legs. And, Greg needed to get a little bit of work done. So, there was no hurry to jump in the car again and head out for the morning. Nice. Peaceful. Relaxing.
Eventually, we decided that we wanted to go to the beach and chose Playa Conchal which is close to Huaca and on the way to Playa Flamingo. It is a beautiful beach made out of shells and it is one of the most picturesque locations to which we have been on this trip. White shell beach with crystal blue water. Gorgeous. The boys were thrilled to jump in the waves and it became apparent immediately that the tide was rolling in with some aggression. The boys were getting knocked around a bit and I decided that I better get in the surf with them and supervise a bit more closely. So, I jumped in with them and had some fun as well. Tommy got stomped by a wave and chipped his tooth. There were a few tears but he rallied and took a little time laying on the beach with me. But, there was no keeping him down. He wanted back in the water in about 5 minutes so I went back in with him and we body surfed for a bit. It was a really nice afternoon. We swam and played for a few hours and then decided that we would head back home to take showers because we wanted to go into Tamarindo for dinner. We ended up at Nari’s Pizza and Pasta. The food was great and the town was lively. It was fun to get out to a restaurant and just enjoy each other without thinking about an upcoming race, eating specific food or thinking about race pacing. Yay, I finally felt like my vacation had started!
Tuesday was a day for further exploration and some good old Costa Rican fun. We headed back up North towards Playa del Coco and revisited my Ironman bike course on the way to Diamante Animal Sanctuary and Eco Adventure Park. Now, this is a cool place. Very scenic and a ton of fun. We headed out on the zip lines after lunch and got the chance to experience some amazing trips through the canopies on the lines. It got a bit windy mid day and sadly Tommy and Matthew could not go on the Superman zip line due to the winds and their lighter weight. They would have gotten stuck midway on the line. This was a zip line over a mile long. Obviously, I did not want our children dangling out there!! So, much to their dismay, we decided no Superman for those two and I rode back to the next line with them on the bus. In the meantime, Greg and Connor took Superman all the way across the canyon with gorgeous views of the Pacific coastline. Matthew, Tommy and I met them back at the bungee jump and crocodile bridge and we got to continue our journey there. Afterwards, we spent an hour or so in the animal sanctuary. This is especially fun since we are all animal lovers and enjoyed seeing the Costa Rican animals up close. Greg took a ton of photos which I will add to the end of this blog entry. My favorites are the baby Tortuga turtles.
I think we all agree that Wednesday was our most epic day as a family. It is the most exciting day we have had together that I can recall. Greg was so cute on the way home, “Boys, I am pretty sure this is a top ten best day in my life- behind getting married to your Mom, the days each of you were born…..well, and Mom winning her age group at the race here goes into the top ten for sure….”. Cute. We spent the entire day in Rincon National Park which is just North of Liberia and about a 90 minute drive from our house in the Tamarindo/Huaca area. We left at about 6:15 am and arrived a little before 8:00am. The day included canyoning, tubing the whitewater rapids, lunch, horseback riding and swimming in a waterfall, zip lining and visiting the El Negro Hot Springs. It was nonstop fun from 8:15am until 5pm. Greg and Matthew both used their Go Pros throughout the day and took pictures and videos. Greg uploaded the video to You Tube and you can see the entire adventure here! Just click on the link below and you will see all the excitement. I can honestly say that this is the most fun we have had in a long time. I was so proud of our boys and their bravery. Some of the canyoning and zip lining was a little bit scary. But, they just jumped right in and did it. Tommy loved his horse Pinto and now wants us to buy a horse in Colorado. Greg can’t decide which part of the day he liked the best because he was thrilled with every aspect of it. Matthew was a little cold on the tubing ride but made some great videos and had a lot of funny face moments on film documenting the trip down the rapids. And, Connor was just reserved and funny and happy all day- “Good job, Con. Way to zip line.”….. “Mom, I am just hanging here. They just clipped me in. It does not take much talent.” I love having a teenager. He pretended not to be overly impressed with the adventure but I tell you, there is no fooling your Mom. He loved every minute of it and we have him on video swinging like Tarzan through a waterfall and he is totally loving it! Greg made this cool You Tube video compilation of our entire day of exploits. Click here to check it out!!
Thursday, we headed to Playa Langosta to swim and explore. This beach is right in Tamarindo and has a cool beach club called what else? The Playa Langosta Beach Club! They had this amazing pool right on the beach for the kids to swim in and we just had a peaceful and mellow afternoon there. It was lovely and fun and mellow and relaxing. I decided to take a walk/jog on the beach to see how my body was feeling. It felt pretty good! On Friday, we headed back up towards Playa del Coco and returned to Diamante Eco Adventure since Matthew and Tommy could not ride some of the zip lines earlier in the week due to wind. The owners were nice enough to let us come back and redo the adventure. While Greg zip lined with Matthew and Tommy, Connor and I headed to the hammock beach and took a sea kayak out for an hour, I did some paddle boarding, we all snorkeled and I just laid in a hammock and read my book! It’s not often that I get to relax in this way so I wanted to take full advantage of the quiet vibe which characterizes everything about this wonderful country.
And, then Saturday arrived- the time had come for us to return home. This was an incredible trip for us as a family. I would say that it is the most exciting one we have had to date. It was low key, fun, active, relaxed, exciting and a real learning experience from a cultural perspective. I think we all came home happier for the trip- certainly more relaxed and less stressed. A few people have asked me what my favorite part of the trip was and my response came easily- I loved that my husband was so happy there and that my sons had such a terrific experience learning new things and exploring a new culture. We live in an area in Colorado which is very non-diverse economically, racially and religiously. I loved that our sons had the chance to explore a new part of the world and truly embrace that opportunity. As a teacher, I feel that some of the best education our children can get is to travel and learn through experience. This was a terrific trip for all of us to do so.
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