Monday through Wednesday

Getting to Costa Rica was surprisingly easy. The planes were on-time, and we had NO wait time at our layover in Atlanta. As expected, the Liberia airport was tiny- and open-air! It was a shack, with low fences but the front and back were open. There was one luggage carousel, and seemed as though only one plane was ever there at one time. We took a taxi to our hotel, about a 45 minute drive. Liberia itself is in the plains and is very flat, but soon we were climbing through some rolling hills.

We got checked in, and spent the afternoon relaxing and eating!

On Tuesday, we did a lot more relaxing. The hotel is all inclusive, and has a great buffet style restaurant for all meals. But, there are also 5 nice restaurants, 2 casual restaurants, a snack shack, and room service. So, lots of options for food! We checked out the beach, hung out by the pool, explored the hotel and shops, and even stopped by a party for honeymooners. The resort seems VERY empty, although the staff is not admitting it. We are both enjoying how quiet it is!!

On Wednesday, we did an ALL day tour. We left at 7:30 am and didn't get back until 10:30!! It was a trip to the Arenal Volcano and Coter Rain Forest. It was a lot of driving as this area is in Central Costa Rica, and unfortunately it was an overcast day so we didn't get great views of the Volcano. Anyway, we drove about 2 hours to Coter Lake area, where we parked at a lodge and did a hike around the rain forest. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and pointed out all of the flowers, cool plants and trees, and any wildlife he could spot. After the hike we had a great lunch at the lodge, seemed like authentic cuisine to me, but the guide said it was not. The next stop was a hot spring about an hour away. We took about 2 hours to lounge around the many pools at this site. Finally, we had dinner at an amazing hotel restaurant that was all glass, with spectacular views of the volcano. Even with the cloud cover it was an incredible view... not to mention the food was amazing! After driving around the base of the volcano looking for a better shot, we finally drove back to the hotel. It was a long day, but it was a great deal. Everything cost only $100, we were shocked. It said lunch and dinner would be provided, but we expected boxed sandwiches or something. Not a gourmet meal at the base of a volcano!

I can't figure out a good way to organize all of the photos on this blog, so check out snapfish for some photos. There are captions to let you know what is what.

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=170201227237287620/l=448340121/g=53808617/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB