every year Garrett's company does an incredible trip for all the sales people who meet their goals for the past year. Garrett is an officer of the company, but every few years we're invited to tag along. I have been looking forward to this trip all year and can't believe that it's already over. Getting the kids' schedules organized for grandparents, my sister and friends who helped with the kids was a full time job the few weeks before we left. It consumed my every thought and I seriously think every scenario ran through my mind of what the kids might need or want while we were out of the country - luckily family and friends were always there to help out and take care of everything! We thought of the kids often, but never once worried about them - it was a great feeling.
Everything was about us just being together...from the plane to the beach. Just the two of us in Costa Rica! 
Saturday night, Sunday and Monday we spent in the tropical rain forests of La Fortuna, at the Tabacon Resort, which is located at the base of a live, active volcano with hot pools naturally flowing through their resort. We loved messing around with the underwater camera...it really is harder than you think get a good underwater portrait picture - opening your eyes, smiling and looking half decent is hard, but it's also hard to capture a picture without being able to look through the lens. Garrett's a lot better at that than I am, we spent so much time laughing at our funny underwater shots. Some, like the one with bubbles coming from my nose were so hilarious.
Saturday night, Sunday and Monday we spent in the tropical rain forests of La Fortuna, at the Tabacon Resort, which is located at the base of a live, active volcano with hot pools naturally flowing through their resort. We loved messing around with the underwater camera...it really is harder than you think get a good underwater portrait picture - opening your eyes, smiling and looking half decent is hard, but it's also hard to capture a picture without being able to look through the lens. Garrett's a lot better at that than I am, we spent so much time laughing at our funny underwater shots. Some, like the one with bubbles coming from my nose were so hilarious.Tabacon was truly amazing and so, so relaxing...just what we needed.Our first morning there, we woke early to fish nearby Lake Aranal. Garrett had been looking forward to this for the past month. His dream was to catch an 8lb Guapote. We met Captain Ron, yep, that's really his name, and jumped in his boat for a day of fishing. For the first hour, as Garrett fished, we could hear Howler Monkey's in the trees - Garrett was familiar with them from serving his mission in Guatemala, but it was something I had never experienced. It was eerie and beautiful at the same time. We also saw graceful Egrits flying from island to island - they are now my favorite bird.
It rained like crazy, that warm tropical rain, but it made the whole experience that much more memorable and exciting. We felt like little kids out in that rain. I could spend hours watching Garrett fly fish...and this trip I did just that! While he fished, I took pictures and just enjoyed the ride. Garrett was a champ - he fly fished for 4 hours with lots of bites, but nothing he could reel in. After a sore shoulder and a desperate desire to bring just one fish in he switched over to lure fishing - something he doesn't love, but it did the job. He immediately brought in 3 guapote and 1 machaka. That made his day (and mine, too)!
We were so focused on catching fish that we didn't make time to eat the breakfast or lunch Captain Ron had made for us, so we took it back to our room and ate on the lanai. Captain Ron reminded me a lot of my Uncle Robert, my dad's older brother, and I mentioned that to Garrett as we walked back up the road to meet our taxi. Later that night, we got an email from my sister telling us that just that morning my Uncle Robert had passed away...my Uncle Robert has lived in California my whole life and we don't see him that often, but he was always someone I loved. He was easy to be around and lived a life so different than that of my dad. How grateful I am for the life my dad led and continues to lead. When my Uncle Robert was younger he worked in construction with asbestos. About 15 years ago, he had a lung transplant because of his lung damage from the asbestos. He is considered a medical miracle for living as long as he did with a lung transplant - he now holds the record. I loved that Captain Ron looked enough like him for him to be on my thoughts that morning. Fishing on Lake Aranal was an experience we will never forget. I don't think Captain Ron will soon forget either - he was so impressed with Garrett's fly fishing ability. For Garrett, fly fishing is like breathing...it's second nature to him.Sunday evening we enjoyed a company dinner at the resort...
and then Monday afternoon we traveled by bus for 5 hours, stopping midway in a little town called Sarchi to shop and enjoy lunch. We arrived at our next resort destination, Los Suenos (the dream), along the coast line of Coast Rica...two totally different resort experiences.
I loved, loved the bus ride - mostly because we traveled through the countryside and really saw how the people in Costa Rica live. We saw kids playing in the streets, kids in uniforms going to and from school (education is something they truly value)...we were told about a river that the children cross every day to get to school - there is a basket on a cable that the children get into to cross this river, then walk about an hour to school - amazing! We saw chickens and dogs running everywhere and cute little grandma's sitting on their porches rocking their grandchildren...such a simple, beautiful life.
Everywhere the people were so friendly and happy. The highlight of the trip for me was getting to hear Garrett speak Spanish every day to every 'tico' we met - for the last 6 months, he has been diligently studying and relearning Spanish just for this trip and he did not disappoint. Every native we met was so impressed with his Spanish - one of our servers became such good friends with him, that by the end of the night he wanted to buy Garrett a beer...Garrett had to politely decline the offer, which our server couldn't understand. Later as G told me the whole conversation we smiled - we truly are a 'peculiar' people and it's great!
Everything we ate reminded Garrett of Guatemala...beans, rice, eggs and a coke with every meal. He was truly in heaven.
Our second destination...Los Suenos.
The view from our room and the marina...Tuesday we took a catamaran cruise out to Tortuga Island, where we snorkeled and had more fun with our underwater camera, ate lunch under a beautiful canopy, relaxed with good friends and just had an amazing day. Garrett works with some great people and hanging out with them and their wives was so easy and so fun...in fact, the first day home I kind of had withdrawal from not seeing everyone. This night we ordered in...good old fashioned Pizza Hut and it was sooo good!Wednesday the whole company got together and took gondola's to the top of a mountain, then we zip-lined down over acres of jungle. Flying through the air, high above the tree tops was incredible...Garrett got some great footage of us zooming down the line. Again, something we will never forget. Ashlyn couldn't wait to hear about our zip-line adventure...she is our little dare-devil. Gotta love the hats... That night we took a taxi into Jaco...a nearby beach town. We ate and walked the streets looking for treasures for the kids and everyone who helped with the kids.
Again, Garrett immediately became our servers new best friend...and they spent lots of time conversing in Spanish. I loved it! While in Jaco, Garrett really wanted to get a silver band to replace his gold wedding band - no luck here, but we did eventually find him one and I love it! I had a hat on most of the time we were in Costa Rica because the humidity made my hair crazy curly afro-like. Not pretty...good thing for cute hats!
