Costa Rican Adventures

So here are the fun pics... a travel-log of our adventures in Costa Rica. Enjoy!

Thursday 6/26 Hiking & suspension bridges at the Santa Elena Reserve.

Okay... this doesnt look crazy from the picture, but the bridge is seriously about 300 feet off the ground. Crazy Domi!

Wednesday 6/25 Zip Line Canopy Tour in Santa Elena/Monteverde area.

On the last platform of the zip lines, we got to strap together & ride tandem. Here we are hanging through the air, literally hundreds of feet off the ground.

And here is the view from our tandem ride over the valley in the Santa Elena mountains. Amazing, huh?

At the end of the zip line. I am pointing to the "emergency brake" system. Yikes!

Wednesday 6/25 Trip from La Fortuna/Arenal to Santa Elena/Monteverde. Here are the stinky British boys on the boat ride with us.

Tuesday 6/24 La Fortuna/Arenal. Here we are at the Natural Hot Springs. I couldn't take pics at the water because there was so much steam that the pics come out as all fog. This was also the location of Domi's Water Slide Enema!!

Monday 6/23 Beach Day in Quepos/Manuel Antonio... in the rain! Here are the 2 of us in 1 poncho. :)

Sunday 6/22. Horseback ride thru the rainforest to these waterfalls at Manuel Antonio.

Jumping into the water....

Fun in the waterfall...

Maren & Domi - the High School Reunion Trip

I went on this trip with my close friend from High School... Dominique Colell. And just a little piece of history for all of you, we went on a trip to Paris, France over spring break of our junior year. So here we are, 11 years later, on another fabulous trip. I'll try to scan some pics from the archives & post a "now & then" later.

But anyway - we had a great time together. We're a good balance - she's fun & adventuresome (& a little crazy) & likes to break the rules and I'm rational & responsible & can speak Spanish to get us out of the trouble she gets us in. :) Kidding. But truly, we are actually quite similar & we had an awesome time. And since this year is our 10-year HS Reunion, we are affectionately calling this our "HS Reunion Trip".

Domi making friends with the locals.




All geared up for rain with our superpacks.

All smiles.... And silly faces...

My side of the room... And her side of the room...

Linda Costa Rica

Here's a little fact for everyone - Costa Rica is only .1% of the world's landmass, but contains 5% of the worlds biodiversity. There are great beaches, rainforests, tropical dry forests, cloudforests, volcanos, rivers. It was truly spectactular! And with only 1 week to visit, there is definitely much more left to explore on a second or third visit in the future...

We spent most of our time in the mountains & rainforest. It happens to be winter in Costa Rica (which means hot & wet, as opposed to hot & dry), and we got rained out on our only beach day. So most of our pics are from the jungle, not the beach. Here are a few scenic ones to enjoy...

Note - the above pic is early morning on Lake Arenal.

View of the beach at Manuel Antonio - where the lush rainforest meets the ocean. As you can see, it wasnt super sunny, but it was still so beautiful (and the water was warm!).

View along the trail as we rode horses thru the rainforest in Manuel Antonio National Park.

View of the little villages as we pass on a narrow, rocky, windy road in between La Fortuna/Arenal and Santa Elena/Monteverde (the journey is a 1 hr bus ride, 1 hr boat ride, then another 1.5 hr bus ride). Monteverde is a Cloudforest where much of the ecosystem is sustained by the moisture and nutrients from the clouds.

Early morning view of the canopy. This was taken at the Santa Elena Reserve where we hiked; this particular picture taken from a suspension bridge that had us about 500 ft off the ground. Spectacular, huh?

Rain, stinky boys & swingin´ thru the trees...

Hi friends...



So the sad news is that none of the internet places have a spot to upload pics. Bummer! So I will post this weekend once I´m back in town.



The last few days have been awesome. Here are a few highlights...

1. Monday´s beach day in Manuel Antonio turned into a beach monsoon. And we were the talk of the town when we went running through the streets during the downpour under 1 poncho (yes, two people in one plastic see-thru poncho). Watch for the pics on this one.

2. Tuesday we traveled by bus up to La Fortuna-Arenal area. We swam in the natural hot springs & Dominique had her Costa-Rican water slide/enema experience. (yep... should have learned from last year in Guatemala never to trust a foreign water slide!).

3. We´ve been staying in hostels. Tuesday night we were in a dorm room that slept 8 - the two of us plus 6 19-year old guys from England... make that... 6 STINKY guys from England. They´ve been traveling for 3 weeks & the stench is unbelievable. Both Domi & I slept with shirts over our faces as an odor filter. :)

4. Wednesday we took a bus then boat to Santa Elena-Monteverde area (and we were stuffed in a 9-person micro-bus with the stinky Brits! Although it made for an entertaining ride). It is so beautiful here. Best part of the trip! We did a zip line canopy tour. It was amazing! And at the end there was a terrifying tarzan swing thru the trees (with a huge drop). Watch for video on this one.

5. And this morning we hiked through the Santa Elena Reserve, which included 8 hanging suspension bridges, the highest being over 500 ft off the ground. It was spectacular.

So we´ll be back on the bus shortly for the 5 hour ride to return to San Jose. We fly home tomorrow. Why does vacation always go so fast?

The Tropical Horseback Ride...

So picture this... galloping through the rainforest on a narrow trail... huge tropical trees everywhere... native Costa Rican (aka Tico) guides... native widelife... cascading waterfalls... swimming in the waterfalls...wind in my hair & rain on my face... what could be more picturesque??

Well, truly it was a day out of a movie. But let me add a little more to the equation. 4 hours on horseback through the rainforest equals:
1. SADDLE SORE!!
2. Chaffing (wet swimsuit + trotting horse = ouch!). I know.. too much info!
3. Riding a horse in sandals & shorts = cut up/bruised legs
4. It rained the whole way back so we were drenched. But it was actually really awesome & I felt like a little tropical explorer.

So, that was today. It was awesome! Both the spectacular & the soreness. I loved it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat (or after my bootie is a little less sore.).
Maren

PS. Sorry there are no pics yet. There's no spot for a camera memory card or USB cable or anything. Maybe the next place... or I can post pics after. Until next time..

Llegamos!

Buenas tardes de Costa Rica! Hi everyone. We made it. The flight down was a little crazy - 1st the laptop crisis (yeah - took the laptop with me to finish up some work & then FedEx´d it back to the parentals from the Houston airport. It was all a little crazy.). And 2nd - Continental Airlines sucks! Not a fan. But we made it.

Stayed in San Jose last night & have been checking out the town this morning. We´re leaving momentarily for Quepos & Manuel Antonio National Park for 2 days. Unfortunatley this computer doesnt have a place for my camera memory card, so no pictures now. But hopefully the next place will...

Okay. Hope everyone is well. Will check in again in a few days... :)
Besos,
Maren

The reason for the blog...

So the main reason I busted out the blog (finally), is that I'm off for Costa Rica on Friday. Woohoo! A little r&r in the sun. I can't wait. So in lieu of emailing everyone (with limited time at an internet cafe), I'll be posting updates & hopefully pics to the blog from CR. So stay tuned...

2008 So Far...

Well, as most of you all know, 2008 has been quite a whirlwind. But does it ever really slow down? I'm beginning to think no. And I'd much rather be busy than otherwise. So here are just a few of the great things so far from 2008...

Auntie Maren... so far this year I've had over 6 "nieces & nephews" born, with several more on the way. This is me with little Jack Johnson (Heather & Christian's first) on his birthday 2/2/08. Congrats to Heather & Christian Johnson, Melissa & Dan McKendrick, Kim & Joey Heinrich, Lindsi & Mark Stevens, Lindsay & Keir Jones, Mark & Kelly Jensen, Lisa & Shane Pierson and all the rest of you who are still prego (Amanda, Kendall, Kara, Jaime).

My little bro Jake got home from his mission in South Chicago at the beginning of April. He was an awesome missionary! And it's so great to have him home!

Jake & the parentals.

Me & my bro.

Then on April 14th, my last grandparent, Helen June Phelps, passed away at age 89. Unfortunately my older brother Derek couldn't get off work for the funeral in Utah. But here is the rest of the famiy - Jake, Kelly, Dad, Mom & Me.

This was my 2nd year as coach of our ward men's basketball team. What a motley crew, huh? But we weren't too bad this year. And I love it. Go Peaches! :)

Biking - this was my first road race. It was a charity ride in May. And I loved it. I think I still prefer mountain biking, but the road was pretty awesome too. (Clearly I'm the one in the pink).

It's About Time...

Hi Friends! So I know I'm a little slow to jump on the blogger bandwagon. I've actually wanted to for a long time, but have always felt lame doing one for just my single self. But after several (very cool) friends have sent me their blogs, I figured it was socially-acceptable, even for a singleton like myself. And besides... we all know that I stink at responding to email (and even phone calls sometimes)! So hopefully this can keep everyone posted on my life & travels... :)