Mother's Day Costa Rica

Even though we celebrate Mother's Day on the 2nd Sunday n May, my husband decided to surprise me. We got up early, had to get dressed comfortably and got in the car. Since it was a public holiday the traffic was very calm. We drove towards Limon for about 45 minutes.

There we stopped at a local restaurant for breakfast, Rancho Roberto's in Guapiles. It was a really nice typical buffet breakfast, with options like rice and beans, chorizos, grilled white cheese and local fruit juices. Nothing fancy bur delicious and filling. At 9:30 they already closed the buffet so be sure to be there nice and early.

The restaurant has friendly service and is very clean and tidy. It is on the corner opposite a gas station, with a big grass roof.

Then we made a U-turn and drove back for 5 minutes till we reached Rainforest Adventures. And here we got tickets to go on the Aerial Tram! Since I am 6 months pregnant, this is the only safe option of adventure for now...

It was great!! Before, when I saw advertisements, I always thought of it as slightly boring. Especially compared to canopy. But what a nice surprise. Since you travel slowly through the top of the jungle, you get to see the most amazing creatures!! Insects, birds, animals. Things you never see when you race by doing canopy, neither when walking on the ground, since the creatures up there and down below are so different.

Before we started on the Aerial Tram we watched a short movie on the history of the area. We had an extremely friendly guide, called Alan, and he was very nice with our 2 year old. It was a little long for the little one, since she couldn't always find what we were looking at and sitting still for 45 minutes is a bit much for her.

Afterwards we walked a trail of 800m. Nice and easy, with toddler inher stroller at times, since the trail was built with wheelchair access in mind. Again I saw some crazy insects, including a giant wolf spider running past my foot with a big purple egg stuck to it's behind. As well as a tarantula the size of my face, with her babies in their tunnel, right next to the pathway!!

It was a lovely outing and i would recommend it to anyone, especially families with young children.

http://www.rainforestadventure.com/costa_rica_atlantic_tours_excursions/

Here are just a few of the things we saw

 

Easter in Guatemala

We went to Guatemala for easter 2009 to visit some Guatemalan friends. It was lovely. The perfect time of year with nice weather and Guatemala being known to have nice events during Semana Santa.

We went with our own car, taking a roudtrip from Honduras. The traffic in Guatemala city is crazy and you can easily get lost. Using cabs or transport from your hotel might not be the cheapest, but the safest.Since we stayed with our friends in the city and didn't have a lot of time, we chose to do things close to the city.

We had crepes in at a lovely place called Cafe Saul. They have a really nice menu with sweet and savoury crepes and delicious hot beveregas. I just had to have one with chocolate and strawberries!!

We then went on to have a 1m long pizza!!! at Pizzaria Vesuvio. What kid would not love it?

We did a canopy tour at Jalapa. Very different to the jungle ones in Costa Rica and Roatan, but a lot of fun!! At the end there were even some rope swings over the pond where the kids can have endless fun.

www.cascadasdetatasirire.com/


Next we headed to a water park, Xocomil. It is the largest and most visited in Guatemala and designed around the recreation of a Mayan pyramid. Right next to it is also a theme park, Xetulul.
It is very well taken care of as it is privately run by a group of businesses.

There are 4 different pools, 2 wave pools (one for kids and one for adults) as well as seven different water rides. My favourite was El Caracol!! Whenever we needed a break we would float around the park in the river Tumala.

El Caracol

Make sure to wear proper swimming outfits, as the staff there is rather strict. No T-shirts or loose clothing. You have to wear swimming shoes as well. Everything and more is available right there as they have a few shops. Also places that sell food. I strongly advise you to rent a locker, so you have nothing to carry around while you have fun.
We had an absolute blast and was exhausted by the end of the day. The park is open Thursdays to Sundays from 9am to 4 pm.
On the way home we had to stop for a giant coconut!