The Rainforest: Is No Hot There

Alright, I'm really sick of blogging about our trip.  I keep thinking of cool things to write about, and then I think, "urgh, I can't, because I have to finish writing about our trip."  I know I don't need to, but still.

So for this reason and for lack of interesting content, Sunday thru the first half of Tuesday is going to be in this post!

Sunday

It probably goes without saying that we slept in.  We woke up to partially-cloudy skies and the ability to actually see what the resort looked like for the first time (we arrived late last night).  The layout of the resort was very twisty and turny--cobblestone paths weaved between trees and jungle foliage so even by Tuesday when we left the place we were still not sure which way to turn to get where. 

After a light lunch, we changed into our swimming suits and went to go relax by the pool.  When we're on vacation, we read a lot of books.  For some reason it's the only time when Nathan feels like he can read novels and not science, and for some reason it's one of the only times I can let my mind relax enough to read a book for longer than a half-hour at a time.  I think it's because I always think of something else I should be doing instead.  On this trip I read part of Les Miserables (which for some reason I have still  not finished; maybe I'm afraid to?  I'm only 150 pages from the end) and The Fellowship of the Ring (FOR THE FIRST TIME).  Nathan read Animal Farm, Foundations, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  I was super proud of him!  He is surprisingly a faster reader than I.

So, we pretty much spent the rest of the day alternating between sitting in the hot tub and reading by the pool.  But it was wonderful.

Monday

Fun fact about the rain forest: It rains a lot.  They really don't call it a rain forest because that area might happen to maybe get more precipitation than any other area.  No.  It rains every day.  All the time.  We noticed some on-again-off-again showers on Sunday, but Monday was when the rain really hit us.  And even though it was 70 degrees warmer than Minnesota, we were feeling chilly in Costa Rica.

Monday was the day that we had scheduled our free 60 minute Swedish massages for (YAY Groupon), and the rain was quite relaxing to listen to during that glorious hour.  However, by midday, the rain had definitely overstayed its welcome.  We had reserved a three night stay in the rainforest, but were itching to experience some sunshine and warmth. 

Even though I'm complaining, we did make the best of the situation, and we were honestly only mildly annoyed.  We were, after all, on vacation, and any sort of relaxing was welcome.  We spent part of Monday out in the hot tub--Nathan for some reason really enjoyed sitting in the hot tub with the rain falling on him while I mostly just thought that it was cold.  We spent the other part of the day in the resort's "library" which contained about seven books and 5 board games, a fireplace, cooshy chairs and couches and large wool blankets.  We curled up next to the fire place, broke out the dominoes and built card houses while the staff kept bringing us complimentary coffees and hot chocolates.  Did I mention we were in Costa Rica?  What a strange situation!  It was a lot of fun, don't get me wrong.  But, you know?

Oh!  We also saw a pincer-death-bug on our balcony!  It was near my head.  We didn't take a picture of it because we were afraid.  It was about 5 inches long and had pincers...

No, but the pincers were on its head....

No, closer, but it had wings...

YES, OH MY GOSH YES THANK YOU GOOGLE THAT IS IT. THAT WAS IT.  LOOK AT THAT.



Tuesday

"I want to go someplace where it is not raining," I told the lady at the front desk Tuesday morning.  It was our last full day in the rainforest and everything was damp.  Our decks of cards, our clothes, and our spirits.  The resort has these little day trips you can go on--rafting, sight-seeing, etc.  So I told the lady, "I want to go someplace it is not raining." 

"Well, you see, there is a cold front that is covering most of this side of the country...." 

We ate a quiet complimentary breakfast together.  We still had one more day in the rainforest, and although we loved building card houses and sitting in luke-warm hot tubs, and my gosh we were in Costa Rica!  Although initially mopey, Nathan and I were like, "Screw this!" and decided to take action.  We had Wednesday reservations in the middle of the country for zip lining and jungle exploring, and were supposed to check in to our next resort Wednesday evening.  After about 6,000 phone calls, I had scheduled everything up one day, so today was the day that we would be zip lining, and by evening we would be on the beach!

"Is it warm there?" I asked the second resort on the phone. 

"Oh yes, oh, is very nice.  80 and sunny.  Where you?" the lady said.

"Rio Celeste?" 

"Ohhhhh, oh, yes, is no hot there."