Happy April everyone! I hope wherever you are reading this from, the weather is warming up for you and the days are getting longer. Today's blog post will be a recap of our Spring Break or Semana Santa (Holy Week). Since Catholicism is the most common religious affiliation in Costa Rica, our school's spring break is always the week before Easter. Many people across the country also have vacation this week. Therefore, the beaches and roads are very busy!
Day 1- San Jose
We had two more guests visiting us during Semana Santa! Dan's friends, Jack and Charlie, flew in on Saturday, April 9th. Dan and I took the bus down to San Jose and met them at the airport. Jack and Charlie have been friends with Dan since elementary school so this trip was very special. I was so happy to be apart of it and get to know them better! We spent the night in an AirBnB and woke up feeling ready for the following day's adventures.
Day 2- La Fortuna
Dan had booked us an 8:30 am shuttle a few weeks earlier to La Fortuna. Dan and I had visited La Fortuna a couple of times before and we were so excited to be going back. Once we arrived, we were all pretty hungry so we got a bite to eat and then walked around town for a bit. We even stumbled upon a parade!
Afterwards, we took a taxi to the La Fortuna Waterfall. Along the way, we spotted a sloth in a tree! The driver was kind enough to stop and let us watch it for a bit. The waterfall was stunning! This was me and Dan's first time at the waterfall and we were blown away. All of us swam at the base while it was raining. It was the most magical rainforest experience.
Later that day, we made our way to Baldi Hot Springs. La Fortuna is known for its many natural hot springs. We had been to Paradise Hot Springs but this was our first time at Baldi. And wow it did not disappoint! The Bachelor even filmed at Baldi several years ago. We will definitely be coming back. If you decide to visit, be wary of the toilet bowl slide. What appears to be a fun and kid-friendly slide, ended up leaving three of us with injuries...
Day 3 & 4- Monteverde
The following morning we took the Jeep Boat Jeep service from La Fortuna to our home, Monteverde. Dan was so excited to show two of his best friends around our home for the past 9 months! After we arrived at our house, we headed for the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve for an afternoon of hiking. We ended up hiking for a few miles and as always, had beautiful views of the cloud forest.
Afterwards, we grabbed some personal pizzas at Valle Escondido. Later that night, we had a night walk scheduled with Kinkajou. We saw several animals including a snake, tarantula, birds, scorpion, and more.
On Tuesday, April 12th, we had reservations to go zip lining at Extremo! Extremo is our favorite zip lining park in Monteverde. It's a long tour so well worth the money and it includes two superman zip lines and a Tarzan swing at the end! Charlie had only been zip lining once and Jack had never so we were so excited to take them to one of the best places in the world to go zip lining!
Days 5-7- Jaco
The following day, we made the journey down to our favorite beach town, Jaco. We were super excited to surf and chill by the beach. Our friend, Ipsi, who works as a teacher with us also met us down there for the rest of the trip. We stayed at our favorite hostel, Selina, in a dorm room. We spent our two full days surfing, enjoying the beach, hiking to El Miro, taking a Latin Dance class and exploring the night life of Jaco.
On Friday, we said our goodbyes to Jack and Charlie and they made their way to the airport. Ipsi took the bus back to Monteverde. Dan and I stayed one more night in Jaco. We checked out of the dorm room and checked into one of their unique sleeping pods! On our final day, we spent some time at the beach, took a long nap (we were exhausted!), and went to the local movie theater to see Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. The following morning we made our way back home to Monteverde and were so happy to be reunited with our sweet, Nala.
Overall, it was an amazing spring break and I'm so grateful for the week off and for being able to travel and experience these incredible places. Thank you for Charlie and Jack for visiting and for Dan for sharing two of his friends with me.
Awesome times!