2007 proved to be the most challenging year for Manfred and myself so far. Having two kids under two has given us a new found respect for each other. In the toughest of times we always found ways to deal with the kids and not to mention each other ;-) There is much love and happiness in our family amongst the chaos and sleep deprivation as you can see from the photos.
As challenging as it has been, we never lost sight of our adventerous nature. This November our
adventure led us and the boys to Playa Guiones near
Nosara in “Pura vida” Costa Rica. It is famous among surfers as the beach with the most
consistent surf in the area. We chose Nosara for its reputation
having a more laid back and slow paced ambient.
We spent our month mainly going to the beach at least once a day to collect shells, make sand
pools for the boys to sit and swim in, boogie board and taking the boys out for a play/dip/swim
in the shore break.
Costa Rica, known for its ecofriendliness, greeted us with an abundance of wild life just outside
our rental home. There was no shortage of iguanas (Lukas calls them “dinosaur in jungle”),
coatis, other lizards of all shapes and sizes, howler monkeys, turkey vultures, humming birds,
toucans and not to mention all the blood suckers and creepy crawlies. Especially the hundreds of
centipedes that visited our holiday crashers nightly – our dear friend Dorothy, who joined us
for 12 days, and then my sister Huong for 5 days. “Thanks, girls, for keeping them downstairs.”
The highlight of our wild life experience was undoubtedly the arrivada of the Olive Ridley
turtles. The baby turtles were sooo adorable flip-flopping clumsily towards the water. The
arrival of thousands of female turtles to this small stretch of beach, Playa Ostional, for
nesting was a very touching scene. We felt that our visit there was an amazing experience, but
at the same time unnatural and had an impact on the nesting turtles.
Now that have been to Nosara we can really understand why this small paradise has not been
invaded more by tourists. The roads to get there as well as to get around in the area are
potholes galore. These vary in size to the width of the road and can be deep enough to flood a
car during the rainy season. We are sooo thankful for our Chariot CX double stroller –
the ultra terrain child carrier. The boys definitely travelled in comfort and style.
Costa Rican cuisine left us a bit disappointed. Considering the climate being comparable to
Vietnam and other sout east asian countries, the available variety of fruits and vegetables was
very limited. If your tastebuds love beans and rice, they will be in paradise in Costa Rica.
They are integral part of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Good thing I cooked at home regularly –
otherwise the ozone layer hole would be even bigger with our methane contribution ;-) One saving
grace for Costa Rica is their amazing coffee. You can not find bad coffee anywhere there.
Costa Rica was another great adventure and we look forward to having many more with our boys.
