On Thursday we woke up early to go to the Manuel Antonio National Park for a guided tour. It had rained hard the night before, and in a possibly related turn of fortune, we got very lucky with animal sightings. We saw several sloths, a couple of which were moving; fantastically camouflaged helmet lizards; a…

On Tuesday, Emilie, Ally, Jason and I went zip lining. We were picked up at our resort and driven to the zip line company, which was a major operation. Buses of people seemed to be arriving constantly, and we were shuttled through to get helmets and harnesses. One of the employees even helped me strap…

On Monday, Ally, Emilie, Jason, and I went on a hiking tour. Along with the people picked up from four other resorts, we stuffed a 15-person bus and went to a hiking trail beside the Cerro Chato and Arenal volcanoes, where we put the provided lunches in our backpacks and started our big loop for…

On Monday, Ally, Emilie, Jason, and I went on a hiking tour. Along with the people picked up from four other resorts, we stuffed a 15-person bus and went to a hiking trail beside the Cerro Chato and Arenal volcanoes, where we put the provided lunches in our backpacks and started our big loop for…

In April, we (Jason, me, Emilie, Ally, Marc, and Anne) went on a trip to Costa Rica to celebrate Anne’s 65th birthday. None of us had been to Costa Rica before, and with the help of a local travel company, we had planned a week full of typical Costa Rican activities. We all arrived in…