Slideshow 1 Costa Rica

Steve and I went to Costa Rica for a week with 12 other couples, it was the trip of a lifetime! My favorite vacation so far, it will be hard to top this one! Our friend Doug Wren of Wren and Fida Int'l put this trip together for some of his friends. He does tours for large companies in other countries, so he was a great host! It was all organized, but not too much. We didn't have to worry about a thing, we just sat back and had Doug tell us were to go, he has been to Costa Rica already 4 times since January! We stayed the first night in the largest city of San Jose. Then we took a bus ride to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens nature reserve to tour and have lunch. Then onto our 2nd hotel, which was my favorite, called the Arenal Kioro Hotel, brand new, at the base of an active volcano! It was so beautiful, and the hot pots were a treat every night! We only stayed there 2 nights. While there we took a 3 mile hike thru the rainforest to the La Fortuna Waterfall, a 70 meter high waterfall with a natural pool we could swim in. I am NOT a hiker, it was hard, and hot and humid. I still have a blood blister to show for it. We then went on a Canopy tour in a tram through the rainforest and zip lined back down, soooo much fun! I don't have any pics of zip lining, but will get some soon and post them. That was a long day, so coming back to the hot pots was wonderful. The next day we took 2 small charter planes to our final hotel in Quepos called Arenas Del Mar for the last 4 nights. The plane ride was scary, but I am glad I experienced it! This hotel had little bungalos that we stayed in that led down to the beach from the middle of the rainforest. Again, so beautiful. We just took it easy and really "vacationed" for the last four days. Doug got the guys together and planned a "surprise dinner" for the girls for our last night, it was at an outdoor restaurant on the beach! When we first arrived at this hotel, without there being any plans, Doug, as awesome a host as he is, had a "schedule" slid under our door of things he had organized if interested. This was my kind of vacation, no worries, someone taking care of all the ground transfers to dinner and places, so awesome! We had to take the little plane back to the San Jose airport that last day, and this time, most of the couples felt safe enough to fly together! At the tiny Quepos airport we saw the PRESIDENT of Costa Rica! The Longson's dared to ask for a picture, body guards and all, and so everyone took pics of Bart and Juliette with him, that will be in my next slideshow. Get ready for a lot of slideshows folks, the next slideshow I post will be even better, we had a lot of good photographers in our group that got some great pics they just need to post for us. Enjoy!