Travels with the Lindberg clan


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Published: August 5th 2008
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My sister Patti and her 2 children (John, age 7 and 10 months, and Grace, age 5) arrived first. Unfortunately, my brother-in-law Scott was unable to break away from his law practice, so he missed out on this trip. After playtime with their cousins Kyle and Sam, we enjoyed a dinner in their honor with some of our new Tico and ex-pat friends and their families. The next day, they had Luis - the very friendly driver used by a B&B run by our friends Rita and Steve - take them down to Manuel Antonio, with of course a stop at the famous Tarcoles River bridge where you can look down and see huge, 15-foot long crocodiles basking in the sun. Fortunately, John did not feed his little sister to the crocs, so they proceeded on to their hotel, Si Como No - a beautiful place up on a hill overlooking the ocean, with a water slide into the pool and - to Patti's delight - a swim up bar! John declared the hotel "the most beautiful place I have ever seen, even more beautiful than the Metrodome (the indoor stadium of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings)!" This is the ultimate compliment coming from John (even if we don't think that Si Como No will include it in their website testimonials).

They toured the national park and while they managed to see many sloths at the hotel property, they never saw any monkeys during their 3 days in the area. This was a real shame, because Grace had told all her friends that "Costa Rica has monkeys but they aren't in cages!" Despite that shortcoming, they had a fantastic time and returned home the day my parents arrived. We had a family reunion and a dinner to meet the people we work with at the clinic. Then, all of them spent the night at Casa Bella Rita (the B&B run by our friends Steve and Rita) where John & Grace loved the fact that they had a little pond in their room. Since Kyle and Sam had to take their last exam the following day, the 5 of them piled into Luis' van for a day of sightseeing at Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfall Gardens. They had a wonderful day - with my Dad peppering Luis with all kinds of questions. He then transported them safely to Los Lagos resort, which sits at the base of Arenal Volcano, where we met them.

Los Lagos was perfect for our family. They have a series of swimming pools - one heated by the thermal waters of the volcano - and a couple of big water slides. The kids were in heaven. They also have a bird watching trail (everyone got to see toucans, parrots, and other interesting birds), a crocodile and iguana farm, a butterfly garden, and a cool display of leaf-cutter ants. The huge buffet breakfasts were also a hit. And of course, you are staring up at a big conical volcano all the time. In addition to hanging out at the hotel, we all took a hike out to the base of the volcano where you can look up and see huge boulders rolling down the side. And, on the final day before leaving, we went to the Arenal Hanging Bridges - a series of trails and bridges through the jungle where we saw birds, a really cool snake eating a lizard, a waterfall, and great views of the volcano. Then, Patti, John, and Grace departed to drive back to the San Jose area where they spent the night before catching their plane the next morning.

The rest of us (me, Steve, Kyle, Sam, and my parents) set off in our rented Mitsubishi Montero for a weeklong adventure. Our first stop was Monteverde. In order to reach it, we had to take a 3 hour drive that was sometimes beautiful (the road around Lake Arenal is spectacular) and sometimes brutal (the last 15 miles before reaching Monteverde are uphill, along a cliff, and very bumpy). But we made it safely and disembarked at our hotel (Arco Iris - which means rainbow in Spanish). We stayed in what used to be the owner's house - so it was quite cozy, with a full kitchen. After a dinner in town, the next morning we awoke early for our guided tour of the cloud forest. In addition to the natural beauty of the forest, the highlight was seeing several resplendent quetzals - the bird most birdwatchers hope to see when they come to Costa Rica. The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the hotel - with a side trip for Sam and Steve to the town's serpentarium.

The next morning, everyone except my dad piled into the car for the drive to Selvatura Adventure Park, where we went on a zipline canopy tour (Steve had done this the last time we came to Monteverde). Given the fear of heights that my mom and I have, we weren't quite sure how it would turn out. Well, it was a blast! Zipping through and over the trees while attached to a cable suspended 50-100 feet above the ground was amazing (and yes, a bit terrifying). The boys even got to do a few of the legs on their own (the guides worried that their low weights might not give them the momentum they needed to get to the end of some of them). And we all even did the "Tarzan Swing" where they take you to the top of a 30-foot tower, attach you to a rope and basically throw you off the tower, causing you to swing out into the jungle and back (there is a wide path through the trees so you can't smash into one). I confess that I screamed like a little girl, but hey, we did it! And the important thing is that we got photographic proof of my mom's bravery for her book club (and to hold it over my dad a little bit).

Following that excitement, it was back on the road again. Our next stop was Rincon de la Vieja volcano. We stayed at a ranch-style hotel (Buena Vista Lodge) in the high plains near the volcano (another 6 miles of bone-jarring road approaching the hotel). It had amazing views extending all the way to the Pacific Ocean about 20 miles away. The next morning, Steve and I set out on a hike to the top of the volcano while Kyle and Sam enjoyed the day with my folks. It was quite the adventure - 5 miles straight up, first through a forest and then literally scrambling over rocks as we neared the top. Unfortunately, the top was pretty clouded over so we did not get to enjoy any amazing multi-mile views. It was eery with the clouds sweeping over the desolate, rock-strewn area. We enjoyed a quick lunch of PB&J sandwiches before heading back down, getting caught in a downpour before getting back into the forest. We were the only people on the trail all day and returned to our car wet, muddy, a little scraped up, but pretty content about our accomplishment. We got back to the hotel to find the rest of the family quite relaxed from spending time on the (flat) trails and in the hot springs on the hotel grounds.

The following day was back in the car, first to see the Santa Rosa National Park which is the site of two of the few famous battles in Costa Rica history. In the 1850s they defeated the American William Walker who was trying to essentially colonize the country and then 100 years later they turned away an invasion from Nicaragua at the same spot. Because Kyle and Sam had studied all of this in their social studies classes, they enjoyed getting to see the fort and monument firsthand. Then we drove down to our final stop on our week tour, Playa Brasilito on the Pacific coast. We stayed at a wonderful hotel called Hotel Conchal (named for the nearby beach that many Ticos consider the most beautiful in Costa Rica). Given all the hustle and bustle of the past few days, everyone enjoyed just chilling out - either at the beach or by the hotel pool.

The long ride home - in which the air conditioning in the rental car gave out! - was broken up by a stop at Las Pumas cat reserve, where they take care of injured jaguars, ocelots, pumas, foxes, and other big cats from around the country. As we were unlikely to see any of these in the wild, it was cool to see them, particularly for Sam.

Back in Ciudad Colon, we gave my folks a day to just relax and hang out at Casa Bella Rita and enjoy the views and the hospitality. The next day involved spending the morning at the clinic and then touring the boys' school. It was alot of fun introducing them to Christian and Dayan as well as the boys' teachers. The next day they boarded a plane back to Minnesota.

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