We also took a trip to the beach in Jaco. It was so hot that day. If you'll look in the picture with Carlos and his family you'll see how red I got. We spent the whole day there. The sand was really really hot and so to get to the water you had to sprint. Your running ability was only slightly impaired by the 10 foot wide line of rocks and shells between you and the water.
These next two pictures are also at the beach (as if you couldn't tell). Berk's yelp of pain is proof that we are starting to get a bit toasted. We all liberally applied the sunscreen that Berk is holding about every 20-30 minutes. I'd hate to see what would have happened had we not used it (We would have had a charred look). The picture after that shows the three guys on the trip in various stages of flexing. It kinda progresses from right to left.
We also visited the ruins of an ancient society. They weren't Mayan, Aztec, or Incan but were an entirely separate culture. Although it looks as if we're staring at our shoes we're actually looking at some impressions in the rock. I don't remember what the guide said they were but it was interesting at the time.
We then packed our bags to spend 3 days in the rain forest at Selva Verde lodge. It was really neat there and I even got to celebrate my birthday at the lodge (New Year's Day). They have some interesting insects and animals there. For instance, this bullet ant is between a half inch and an inch long. When it bites you it also injects formic acid into the wound to make it hurt even worse. Don't mess with these guys.
Look at this monster cricket. He's even got some sizable drumsticks.
Costa Rica has several varieties of poison dart frogs. We saw both the red with blue legs and the black with neon green spots kind. Although their poison is deadly to humans, you can hold them in your hand if you're careful because the poison only comes out on their backs.
All I have to say about the next picture is that this is one of the most aptly named plants I've ever seen. Its called a "Naked Man Tree."
We ate all of our meals in the second story of one of the lodge buildings. The food was always interesting and the view was awesome. Sarah seems to be trying to figure out what exactly is growing in Berk's hat, Kris is taking aim at something with his banana, and Berk is being normal. In the background you can sorta make out Ivan with the white beard.
Sadly our trip had to come to an end due to school. Our flight left at some awful time in the morning and so we got there very early. Berk and Chris found some chairs and made themselves comfortable. Very comfortable.
We flew into Ft. Lauderdale and then had to take a shuttle to the Orlando airport. After we got there, we had something like a 6-8 hour wait before our flight was to leave. This was partly due to the fact that we had to take two separate flights out of Costa Rica because there weren't enough seats on the first plane for all of us. We passed the time by playing capture the flag, hide-n-seek, and our personal favorite "annoy the adults." Ivan was extremely tired (probably from having to deal with all the arrangements and our craziness) so when he got to the airport he promptly fell asleep on his Karen's, his wife, shoulder.
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