It was time to leave our ridiculously awesome hotel (waaah) for the second part of our trip! Luckily, we woke to clear skies and got to enjoy our last breakfast here by the pool. And guess what our fresh squeezed juice was???
Never mind, you'll never guess.
Blackberry juice!!!
Whaaaaa?! I had never even HEARD of such a thing! How can you have so many blackberries that juicing them seems reasonable??!
We wanted to experience the coast and the inner part of the country so this was what we settled on. It was a 5 hour drive in our tiny, clown car and it rained a lot of the way, but we had a great time! We stopped at a souvenir place after a couple hours and did all our souvenir shopping there! We also had to stop for gas and were amused that it was a full service station! Rach and I went inside to peruse the treats and ended up with a plethora of Costa Rican chocolate and candy!
You talk about taking the "scenic" route, well our entire drive was the scenic route! And then, our gps directed us along a shorter route that was supposed to save some time, but it took us off the main highway, up into the mountains! We're talking a very steep, one lane, twisty, turny road into the depths of rural Costa Rica, past farms and huts and rogue, half dressed children running around. We were up in the clouds! Or at least it seemed like it as fog misted around us. I'll admit, this was the most nerve racking part of the trip! I HATE driving on precarious roads where cliffs drop off one side! I was literally hyperventilating and mentally going to my happy place!
Finally, we arrived!! The Springs Resort and Spa was a place that had been recommended to Rachel. The Kardashians and The Bachelor have been filmed here! In fact, the entire resort was shut down the week before we got there and it turns out it was this season of the Bachelor filming! They had left the day before we got there. Rach and I were giddy, questioning the staff about Chris Harrison and the girls! This place was crazy amazing!
CNN Travel voted our five-star property one of the seven resorts with the most spectacular views in the world. Our 165 acre property perches one thousand feet above the Arenal Valley on a mountain ridge just six kilometers north of the active volcano, but safely outside the government declared danger zone.
It has 25 pools and hot tubs spread out over the property. The water is supplied by natural hot springs, heated by the volcano and then pumped into their free form, landscaped pools. They are drained and cleaned every night. I was in complete awe of this resort! I don't think anything could begin to compare to it in the United States.
Starting out with those fresh juices at check-in!
That view though! Again, I felt like we were in a magical storybook.
Sadly, the room did not compare to the last place at all. But it was fine, because we spent almost no time in it!
It was raining, so we got some early dinner...delish! Then changed into our suits and went hot tub hopping!
You can see by the temperature bubbles where all the pools and hot tubs are. We literally started at the top and just made our way down and across the whole resort. We wanted to swim in every single one! It was dark and drizzly and misty and the place was nearly empty. We basically had all the pools to ourselves! One of them had a legit, fast, rock slide that we did for a while. They had mats that you slid down on and it was so quick it made me scream the first time down! The boys were having way too much fun going at break neck speeds and racing across the top of the water, trying to make it to the end of the pool.
Here's an example of just one pool. There were grottos and waterfalls everywhere... it was really romantic!
We woke up the next morning to clear skies! Yay!! The weather gods were seriously being kind! This was the view from our balcony.
There were so many activities to chose from, it was hard knowing what would be best. We finally settled on an ATV tour of the surrounding area. This turned out to be really fun! We did the more adventurous tour that took us on some rougher terrain and through gorges and muddy climbs. I was only nervous a couple times. ;)
The guy who took us on the tour brought us to his home after we had been riding for a while. I guess part of the experience was getting to see an authentic farm. Yep, the pigs in Costa Rica look like the pigs at home! Haha!
But this guy.... he reminded me of all the cattle in Africa! Those thick, hanging folds look so soft for some reason.
They had turned this part of their home into the dining area. His mom had cooked us lunch!
The most surprising part of Costa Rican food to me was the refried black beans. They look terrible but actually taste really good!
We could see the little town from where we ate and he pointed out different places and talked to us a lot about their traditions and way of life. It was interesting to see!
On the first part of the ride, clouds and fog surrounded and blocked our view of the volcano, but on the way back, it cleared enough for some pictures!
Back at the resort, we decided to go down to the bottom portion of the resort they call Club Rio. There is a river and lots of different things to do. We signed up for tubing down the river, but we had some time to kill first, so smooching on the hammocks in the beautiful weather it was!
Can I live here?
No seriously.
We rode a bus up the river then got to tube down it twice. It was fun.... definitely no white water rafting... but we had a good time!
There are several hot springs up in the hills by the river, so we went exploring. Here's a good pic of the pool that overlooked the river.
And here is us inside that pool!
How old must these trees be?!
We should be in magazines.
Just a few more hours of daylight left. We had been going, going, going, so we decided relaxing by the pool was the perfect way to end this trip.
WITH a strawberry pina colada of course.
Oh yeah, I also went peeking at the area where the girls on The Bachelor had stayed while they were here! It's in a part of the resort you can rent out privately.
We were still kind of full from our lunch at Club Rio, so we got a light sushi dinner at the bar nestled in the main pool! How cool is this place?!
Time to drive home. :(
It was a couple hours to drive back to the San Juan airport, and Rach and I chatted and soaked up every second.
It's extremely difficult to describe how very perfect this vacation was. It went so smoothly and effortlessly. It felt like the most supreme, heavenly gift. All throughout the week I just kept thinking, "How am I so lucky to be doing this? To be HERE. Surrounded by this beauty. Eating this amazingly delicious food. Having these experiences. Staying at these luxurious resorts. All with Travis, my most favorite person in the world! And Rachel and Doug, our dear, long time friends who we love so much!" Traveling with them worked so well. We never disagreed or got tired of each other. Quite the opposite... being with them was the icing on the cake. It made all of it that much better! Getting to share these moments with them was everything.
It was so wonderful it was almost an out of body experience. Travis once commented to me, "You seem different on this trip". And he was right! I FELT different. I felt carefree and so so happy and just GRATEFUL. I honestly don't know how any other trip could ever compare or beat this vacation. I will forever and always count it as a direct blessing and tender mercy from Heavenly Father.
In Costa Rica, everywhere you go, you hear the phrase, Pura Vida! We honestly heard it over a dozen times each day. It's how they greet you, say goodbye or even say thank you. Simply translated it means "simple life" or "pure life", but to the people here it is more than a saying, it's a way of life. We definitely caught the Pura Vida bug while here. Their love of life was contagious and I hope my memories of this blissful week carry some Pura Vida with me always!
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