The Rich Coast (Parte Una)

Costa Rica truly is the rich coast. It is blessed with wonderful, generous people, all kinds of exciting wildlife, and beautiful flowers, trees and plants. Despite the fact that our wedding was a number of months ago, it didn't take long to settle into honeymoon mode, and it honestly felt like we had recited our vows only hours before. It almost feels like a rite of passage to have a real vacation with your spouse--to pack up your beach gear, board a plane and not even think about cooking for a week. Indeed, Andrew's luggage even got lost (and still is!), thereby completing all the requirements for a real, adult vacation! But regardless of the luggage mishap, we feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to share this experience together.

Here are a few pictures from my camera (read: not the best ones), but I wanted to get some pictures posted so that you all would believe that we did, in fact, make it to Costa Rica and back. Once we go through the plethora of pictures that Andrew took, we'll post the highlights from those too. The first set of pictures are from when we took a trip to see Arenal, the only active volcano in the country. We enjoyed an afternoon in the hot springs and then viewed the lava spewing mountain after dark. The next few pictures show our daring flights through the jungle. The views were gorgeous and the zip lines fast. Perfect. The last couple pictures show the beaches around our resort. As we watched the sun sink into the ocean, we couldn't help but dive into the warm ocean water.