We went to a butterfly farm. It was really neat. Katie HATES bugs, but we forced her to hold a butterfly. As you can see she wasn't very excited.
We were getting really wet in this picture. The waterfalls were beautiful!
On Sunday we went to visit Andy's mission president. While we were there, the young single adult males stopped by to sing us Christmas carols. When they were done singing, Katie and I were invited into the kitchen to have something to drink with them because we were single too.
Just a pretty view of the valley.
Hooters was across the street from our hotel. Mom was begging to go all week, so we finally gave in and went.
A view from the top of Volcano Poas. I have to admit, this was a little disappointing. We each paid $7 dollars to walk 1/4 mile to this spot, and then we were done. At least I can say I've been to the top of a volcano now.
To make things more exciting at the volcano, Katie and I walked backwards most of the way down the trail with Andy and Mom as our guides.
Christmas day we had the opportunity to go to a running of the bulls. Before they started the running of the bulls, they had a man from Spain come and do a bull fight. It was neat. I always wanted to go see one when I was in Spain and never got to go.
Running of the bulls CostaRican style. In Spain they let the bulls loose in the middle of a street and let them run wild. In Costa Rica whoever is dumb enough goes into the middle of the arena and waits for a bull to come out. In the above picture you can't see it very well, but on the far right side you can see a man being thrown by the bull. Most of these bull pictures are Katie's.
Just an overall view of the arena, and all the crazy people. We saw several people badly injured and taken to the hospital.
Before the whole thing started, they had a Catholic priest come and say a prayer and bless all the people involved. He sprinkled them with water and everything.
A picture of a man being trampled by the bull. He was an old man.
Katie and I were really sad after we drove four hours to go to the beach and it was storming. But we decided to at least step in the water so we could say we had been in the Caribbean Sea. The water was so warm we decided to go get in our suits and go swimming anyway.
The beach at Puerto Viejo was tons of fun. Dad didn't want to stop. He was the last one out of the water. It was raining, but it made for some awesome waves.
Our cool hair do's after playing in the waves.
Later on in the week we went to Playa Hermosa in the northern part of Costa Rica. It was beautiful weather that day.
Mom even got in the water this day. The big waves were a little scary for her at Puerto Viejo
When dad first saw the logo of this beer he thought it was the Harley sign, so it was a joke the whole vacation. Katie's dad love's harleys so she found a can of it on the beach and we had to take a picture.
Katie and I at the beach. We were crab hunting with mom .
Andy, Katie, and Running on the beach at Puerto Viejo. Katie and I brought our swimming caps and goggles for fun and to bring back memories.
Dad about to enter the ocean for his first time.
On the way home from Puerto Viejo, we stopped at a cocoa farm. This is Andy and I with a cocoa tree. Inside each of those shells is about 50 cocoa beans.
As part of the tour the guide took us through the rain forest and showed us some medicinal plants. Dad loved this part. The guide also showed us one plant that the indians used to make marks on their faces. Andy got to try it out.
Katie grinding the Cocoa beans. She got that job because her last name is Grinder.
I got the job of mixing everything together because I knew how to make brownies. The chocolate was actually pretty nasty.
We left the lights on while we went on the chocolate tour, so the natives had to push start us.
Saturday morning we got up and went to the temple. It was my first time in Spanish. Katie did baptisms.
Mom, me, and Katie squished in the back seat of our too small rental. They didn't have the car we wanted, so we made do with this smaller one. It saved us quite a bit of money too.
Mom trying to get all our tickets taken care of.
Our first night was spent sleeping in the airport...that is, until they kicked us out.
When we finally got there we went to visit a family Andy taught that had a restaurant in their living room. In my opinion it was the best meal we ate the whole time we were there. It was so YUMMY!!
They also gave us a drink called Kas. It was yummy too. I had two glasses full.
