Farewell speech, goodbye Costa Rica, - Emma

Mana said we had to write a farewell speech, so here it is.

     Costa Rica is an amazing country. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the humidity. It was bad. My hair frizzed up. Ick. Anyway. My 3 favorite things of Costa Rica were the adventures, the scenery, and the food.

     We did so many things. We zip- lined, went on the Manual Antonio tour, went on the Mangrove tour, and went to Tortuga Island. My personal favorite was zip- lining. It was amazing! We just zipped through the tree- tops. But on Tortuga Island and the Manual Antonio tour, it was only sand, sand, and sand. Icky. My least favorite was the Manual Antonio tour. There was way too much sand.

     The scenery. It was just amazing. There was water, trees, flowers, and stores. We were at the Marina near our hotel, a little group of shops and restaurants, and near the back or it, there was a humongo mountain/hill covered in trees and there was a waterfall that ran into a creek/river.

     Bon Appetit! Yummy! There were so many different kinds of food there. We had Asian, Italian, room service, pasta bar, and menu food. My favorite night was the pasta bar. Sadly, they’re serving it on Sunday. I’ll be in Georgia by then. Alex chose the Asian place, I chose the Italian, and Mana and Jim chose the menu food tonight. I don’t think any of us tried any Costa Rican dishes, which is weird to me.

     I would totally suggest this place to anyone. But not Jaco. Do NOT, and I mean DO NOT go into Jaco. If you do, go to a store called Guacamole. Its really cute and the have good prices. Kk, that’s all. Ttyl, miss ya, luv ya.

Fairwell Costa Rica- Alex

This is my last blog of the week so Mana made me tell things that I liked on this trip so here they are - I LOVED the white faced monkeys and how they were about to take Mana’s pants, did I tell you that? Well anyways I also liked the Squirrel

Monkeys, they were really cute did you know that they are endangered? I also liked

Body surfing it was really painful and fun. I also loved zip – lining when I get back I’m going to tell you all about it.

Photos on Blog

All of the photos on this blog were taken by Emma Watkins, excepting the ones in which she appears.

Crocodiles-Alex

Today we all went to the mangrove tour and we saw three crocodiles one baby and two adults. We also saw a lot of birds I came in second place in the animal guessing

Game. I guessed we would see 20 birds and 55 animals so I came in second place.

Oh, and during lunch there were like, 6 iguanas with us today and mana was freaked out . and after lunch we all went to the pool and played foosball, mini mini golf and ping pong. That’s what we all did today in Costa Rica.

Jesus Christ! (lizard)- emma

A.k.a.- the basilisk. It’s a lizard that can walk/run on 60 ft of water. Once it’s at 61 ft it starts swimming. Let me back up a little. Today we went on the mangrove boat  tour. We saw over 20 birds and 4 crocs. 1 was a baby (2 months), 2 looked like logs, and the last 1 was a dead 1 so big, it was like an alpha croc. We saw a couple basilisks, 2 females and 1 male (and no one said Jesus Christ). But we only saw them dive, not walk on water. Thankfully, our time was changed and we could wake up at 6:45, not 6. Tomorrow is our relaxing day. Mana and I are having our spa treatments, she a facial and I a French mani-pedi, my first, and the guys are having manly games of ping- pong, foosball, and miniature mini golf. Really, it’s a tiny mini golf course. Okay, that’s all folks! Please comment to your hearts content! Ttyl, miss y

We actually all did it!

An amazing day! Some actual photos of our experience are going home with the twins. The video on Alex's blog shows the path we all took. The twins were strong adventurers, Mana

We zipped, but I don’t know about the line- Emma

Today we got to get up 2 hrs later than every other day. It also was a 10 min ride. Once we got there it was more waiting then we started zipping. They were high or long, fast or slow, and long or short. My favorite was the 2^nd to last one, because it was the longest and the fastest. We had to break (pull down on the cable) around the red roof of the house we zipped over. On some of them I spun because I wasn’t supposed to have a hand on the cable because it would slow down my already slow speed. The hand on the cable would prevent you from going in circles as you zip down the line. The lighter you are, the slower you go. Anyway, the guides were really helpful and nice. They kept calling me a pro because it was easy for me. I have a pic of my favorite guide on here. He was the nicest of them all.  I got a map of costa rica here. It’s a detailed, colorful one. Okay, ttyl, miss ya, luv ya.

P.S- we aren’t in the video shown on this post. And yesterday we had to go on the boat because there was mucho agua.

Zip - line (the best day of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!) -Alex

Today we all went zip – lining; it was awesome. One of them was so high I was freaked out because it was so high. The second to last one was really fast, I accidentally broke a little too early so I had to monkey crawl all the way to the end .

At the end my hands were red , Jim said it was because we wore gloves and the leather went into our skin. That’s what we all did at zip – lining through the canopy tour. P.s.the zip line tour had 12 cables,, 14 platforms and it was 3.5 km.    Click Here is a video of the canopy tour.

Monkeys-Alex

Today we all went to Manuel Antonio national park

And we all saw a three toed sloth, a lot of monkeys and I mean A LOT of monkeys.  We also went body surfing in the beach. Body surfing was fun. Once a wave made me go fully underwater and I skidded in on the very bottom on my butt. That’s all the stuff we did at Manuel Antonio National park.

Sand- Emma

It’s such an evil word. It gets everywhere. When I got back to the hotel, I had enough sand on me to fill a small bucket. I felt so relived to take a shower, again. Okay, so we woke up, ate, and got into the car. Then we arrived at Manuel Antonio National Park. It was awesome! We saw a bunch of animals including, but not limited to, monkeys, grasshoppers, frogs, and spiders. Then we played at the beach and in the sand. Then something bad happened. High tide came in. It rolled logs, crashed waves, and freaked me out. It seriously looked like it was going to flood or become a tsunami. But we took   a shortcut to a couple of rowboats that took us to shore. It was actually kind of weird. I mean, we could’ve walked.  Then we went to lunch and it was delish. Once we got home we took showers and got cozy. It was fun. Ttyl, miss ya, luv ya.

squeaky clean- emma

ah, how I love those two words. today we went to tortuga island and got very dirty. first off there was a hour long ride from the hotel to go on a boat for a two hour trip oversea. then we went snorkeling, if that’s what you call jumping overboard to look down in sandy, salty, dirty and stinging water where you cant see anything. then we had lunch, saw a domesticated pig, and went to the gift shop. In the time between lunch and the banana boat, jim and I made an amazing sandcastle. it had 5 moats and mana decorated it with sticks and a flower that was once in my hair. then banana boating. On the first turn we tipped. All of us. It flipped, literally! I got back on  anyway, but 3 people, including alex stayed in the boat, not the banana. as soon as we got back I took a 10 minute shower to feel okay again. then we went to dinner here at the hotel. it had a pasta bar and I had spaghetti with artichoke (daddy). i also found out mana hated her dog as a kid sooo much she stole its treats, covered them in brown sugar, and ate them. it was eventful. ttyl, miss ya, luv ya

Tortuga Island – Alex

Today the whole crew went out  to Tortuga Island, we went snorkeling and banana boating.  And on the very beginning of the boat ride  I said “this is the best” and on the very first turn, we all fell  We ALL fell! All seven people on the boat fell off after that I went back on the boat.

Spanish Lesson - Alex

Today mana and I (Alex) had a Spanish lesson and we went back to the pool and swam Emma and I met a new kid but we forgot his name we also used our new surfing shirts today so basically it was a free day tommorow  we go to the island!. We also saw a couple iguanas and a very small hermit crab.

relaxing day- emma

ok, so today we didn’t  exactly go to the  spa and get facials, that’s later in the week. what we did do was figured out the rest of the week  and made  appointments  for all the stuff  we’re going to do the rest of the week. we  also went to the beach and pool to swim. the hotel is really nice, but there are no windows on the main lobby floor. so its really humid and warm. And most of our tv channels are in spanish so we’re stuck watching  wow wow wubsy and franklin. It feels weird. And the commercials are in spanish also. I got a lot of rocks from the beach. Mana also got us surf shirts for a surfing lesson on friday J. ttyl , miss ya, luv ya J

hi dallas!- emma

hey everyone, we(me and alllie-al) arrived at dallas from utah. it was a 2 hr flight. but guess how long the flight from here 2 costa rica is? only 3 hrs! thats like from atlanta 2 utah. we got off the plane to mana and jim(grandparents) who gave up b- day presents and treated us to lunch and ice cream. its 2:40 now and our flight leaves at 4:30. im soo excited! well, ttyl, miss ya, luv ya!

entering Dallas-alex

after a two hour flight from utah to dallas we finally landed after we landed mana and jim greeted us with a birthday lunch and they let us wait in the admirals club until we board.