La Palmera

In our research of Costa Rica, one unique thing that came up was to spend a night or two in a tree house.  We thought that was a good idea and found one located in the volcanic region of Costa Rica on a hot springs property.  It was rainy both days we were there, but we still enjoyed the time in the tree house as well as the hot springs.

The tree house itself was pretty cool and included a bedroom loft, a kitchen, and a bathroom with hot water!  It swung a bit in the wind and when people moved around which was an interesting sensation when making dinner, taking a shower, or laying in bed. 

Everything in this region is so lush and full of colours.

Each pool was a different temperature.  One was fed from a hot spring, one was from the cool creek, and the third was a mixing of the two.

Coco

After just over 100 days in South America, we flew to Costa Rica in Central America.  Our first stop was an AirBnB in Coco on the Northern Pacific coast.  Many moons ago, Julia and I had gone to Costa Rica and stayed at a resort at Playa Hermosa which is one beach north of Coco.  It was fun to return to somewhat familiar area (much has changed in 18 years!) and share this experience with the girls.  It was also a chance to slow down a bit.

Our AirBnB ended up being an apartment complex with a really nice pool.  I must say that this has been one of the nice settings for doing school!

Our closest beach was Playas del Coco but it was our least favourite of the ones we visited during this stay.  It did have some cool tidal rock pools and the beach was quite long, but the beach sand was mixed with more mud than other beaches.  Also, to get to the far end, we had to cross a few creeks, the deepest of which involved some piggy back rides to clear.  The creeks themselves were really muddy which is probably why the beach was a bit muddy.

The trip does occasionally provide science lessons on the fly.  Here we found an old washed up sneaker sole that was covered in shells, most still moving.

If you went far enough across the rock tidal pools on the south side of Coco beach, there was a gap in the rocks that let you get to a smaller beach in the next bay over.   There was no road access so the only way in was via this rock pass when the tide was out or by boat.  This made it much more private and it was a clearer beach though a bit rocky in the water.

We spent a nice afternoon on this small beach, reading, watching the pelicans diving for fish, and finding sea treasures in the tidal pools. We discovered this beach was called Playa Tinoco.

We took a half day trip to Playa Hermosa for a swim and explored the same tidal pools Julia and I had explored years before.

We were also able to find back the “treehouse” restaurant that Julia and I had gone to last time we were in Costa Rica.  It was as good as we remembered and the girls loved the food as well.