Costa Rica 2014

Hey guys!  As some of you may know, we just spent a fun-filled week in beautiful Costa Rica!  It was such a beautiful country, and we were able to enjoy lots that it has to offer. I thought I would share with you photos of some of the things we enjoyed!  Be sure to check out my other blog post featuring our couples-photography. In those you can really appreciate the gorgeous beaches, sunsets, and scenery this tropical locale houses. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!

We stayed at the Riu Palace, which is an all-inclusive resort. It's clean and beautiful and ritzy and I loved it!  Riu has hotels everywhere (Punta Cana, Aruba, Mexico, etc) and I would definitely have no reservations about staying with them again. Everything was so easy and the vacation was a total success. No hiccups during any part of our stay. The people there are extremely helpful and friendly, I really can't complain about a single aspect. It was a really great vacation. Anyways, let's get to it.

On our way! We had just landed in the country. 

At the hotel, The Riu Palace, getting ready to go for our first swim. 

The Riu Palace sits next to the Riu Guanacaste. Guests at the Palace are free to enjoy the pools and restaurants next door as well. Although, guests at the Riu Guanacaste cannot come to the Palace.  We found that the grounds at the Guanacaste were really crowded, while the Palace was much quieter and exclusive. Both are absolutely gorgeous, but we preferred just hanging at the Palace.  While a bit pricier, I think the Palace is just lovely, but if you are watching your budget I would say the Riu Guanacaste is almost just as nice. Either would be a great place to stay.

Always some kind of activity going on.  In this shot there is water volleyball, the staff grilling out, music, dancing (HEY Macarena!!)  Other activities at the hotel:  aerobics, yoga, Spanish lessons, scuba lessons, etc.

Swim-up wet bar

On the beach in my DIY kimono.  Keep an eye out for that post as well!

Horseback riding!

It was a tense ride at times, you had to go up and down really steep mountainside.

As someone with an extremeeeee fear of heights, I am proud to say I went zip lining in the rain forest. I passed when we were in Honduras, but I went this time. Glad to say I did it, probably wouldn't do it again, lol.  We were up where the monkeys hang, so lots of beautiful scenery, etc.

We had just stepped out of a 106 degree sauna, came out and slathered ourselves in a volcanic mud bath. After we rinsed off we relaxed in several hot springs. At the end of all the pampering, your skin really feels amazing. 

What a typical night at dinner looked like for me:  no heavy makeup (CC Cream was all I ever wore), side braids, and comfy maxi dresses. 

We had a casino, discotheque, and lots of shops right there on the grounds of the resort. My guy can sniff out a casino anywhere within a hundred mile radius, lol.

Live shows at the hotel every night. 

Pools so beautiful and welcoming even the wildlife enjoys.

Lots of iguanas in Costa Rica!

They are heavily populated with crocodiles too. Eek.

See the shrimp on the tour guide?

If you stand still and look close, most of the trees in Costa Rica have monkeys hanging around the tops of them. There are different kinds, here is the Howler Monkey. They are small, solid black vegetarian monkeys. Really sweet, they stay up high in the trees and don't really come down. To be so little they have really big/deep voices. 'Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo', when people are around they start a hollarin and you'd swear it was a big ape, not a little bitty guy swinging by his tail eating flowers.

Short video clip of us at the Monkey Bar looking at the monkeys a swingin!

And the white-face monkey. Much more daring and not so afraid of humans, these frisky guys are known for being a tad meaner.  Our tour guide told us the week before we were there, that one hopped on the boat and picked up a ladies wallet and made off with over $500.  Hilarity!

We had such a great time!  Thanks for stopping by to share my photos!  I'm happy to say I'm all unpacked and all the laundry is washed/dried/and put away. Yay!  #beproductive #getitdone

Adios!