Hot and Steamy

It's our belated 20th anniversary gift to each other, a trip to Costa Rica. It's going to be hot. So I'll be packing light. A string bikini, a halter top or two, a pair of short, a skirt and some thongs. I'm talking about the kind that go on your feet. While I want to keep things steamy, I'm extremely partial to comfort. When I'm done, then, I pack for our 4 kids. Yeah, they're coming with us. Since we'd be terrible parents if we ditched them over the holidays. We got a guilt trip for Christmas.

We started in the rain forest. A rustic farm far from civilization. Unless the mosquitoes count as a kind of prehistoric civilization of their own. Because, the rooms had no windows. Only screens. And I packed so light, I didn't think to include mosquito repellent.

People in these parts ride horses to get around the rough terrain, wielding machetes to combat the lush vegetation. Which also serves to defend them against the predators that also live in these parts. Like the puma tracks we saw hiking to swim in this waterfall. Not that the puma wasn't there. I just didn't look for it. Or the venomous jungle snakes. Denial has not failed me yet.

It was on the island of Tortuga on the Atlantic side where I found diarios. I had no need for a sanitary napkin, so I didn't buy them. I just thought it was hilarious, so I took a picture. A couple days later one of the kids had diarrhea. Then it didn't seem so funny, just really convenient. And I had non-buyers remorse.

We left the rain forest and headed for the volcano near the center of the country. It's an active volcano. Brimming with warning signs and danger.

But it didn't erupt. Only we did that when the kids wouldn't stop their incessant whining. If you study the above two pictures and the kids body language you can easily identify the culprits.

We took a long winding road trip to the beach to the Pacific coast. While it sounds quaint, with 4 exhausted kids it positively sucked. Not only was it hot in the car, but the kids were packed in like sardines with the luggage. But, they weren't nearly as exhausted as Craig and I were driving and navigating our way through a country without a map or street signs for their intensely potholed roads. When we finally did arrive at our destination. Alive. We hiked and traversed the rope bridges. But, we couldn't get them to stop arguing.

We needed the ocean. You can't talk under water. Or I guess you could, but no one would hear you. Or my subsequent yelling. Thank god.

So we surfed.

Paddle boarded.

Swam.

And snorkeled while we slowly unintentionally roasted ourselves to a crisp.

(We also canopied through the tree tops on a zip line, but I didn't capture that on film because I left my camera battery recharger in the rain forest.)

By the end of the trip things were really hot and steamy between us, as you can tell from this picture. We were completely hot tempered with the kids, particularly the kid who took this photo. If you look closely maybe you can even see the steam coming out of our ears.