A couple of months ago my dad lost his father, but luckily he was able to make the trip down with my mom and they got to see him in time.  That is something we all want, to say goodbye before it’s too late.  We never know when that moment is going to happen.  Unfortunately for me, it made me realize that it had been nine years since I’ve seen parts of my dad’s family.  I knew I needed to change that sooner rather than later.    It was a last minute decision, but I decided less than a month before the trip to go down to Costa Rica because you never know where you’ll be in a month, year. etc.  I had been many times as a kid.  We would go visit every 4 years and it always fell around April vacation and my birthday.  My husband was able to come for a few days as well. This was really exciting because there was a big chance that he would have not been able to go.

We started the trip in Alajuela where my dad’s family lives.  We hung out at the house and made a few visits to family members.  In Alajuela you are in the valley and surrounded 360 degrees by mountains.  If the mountains look clear from their house there’s a good chance you’ll be able to see at the top of the nearby volcanoes, so we took a chance to visit the Poás Volcano.  During our summer it’s Costa Rica’s winter, or what they call the rainy season.  We knew it was 50/50 shot if we were going to be able to see the volcano, and of course we couldn’t after that long ride up!  We walked to the lagoon as well and couldn’t see anything but fog and clouds.  We took a break from walking and noticed blue skies were approaching.  My family was very patient and graciously left time for my husband and I walk up to the crater again.  The rest of us had seen it before, and I believe my grandfather, Abuelo, was with us because the clouds parted and we could finally get a glimpse of the volcano.  We were really lucky!

At the end of the trip my husband and I took a trip to the west coast so I could show him more of this beautiful country.  We said our goodbyes to the family and my parents, and were both really glad we could make this quick trip to see them.  It was worth it!  My husband and I then departed to spend some alone time.  We stayed at this amazing hotel called La Miraposa in Manuel Antonio.  Thank you and a shout-out to Kristen Wall for the recommendation.  If you are planning to take a trip to Costa Rica anytime soon I highly recommend you hire a driving service to take you.  They know where they are going and how to navigate the traffic patterns and we just don’t, so it was worth every penny.  We didn’t have to worry and got to enjoy the ride and amazing views.

We got to our hotel, relaxed by the infinity pool and watched the sunset.  Relaxing was all that was on the agenda for this trip.  The next day we went to the Manuel Antonio National Park and explored.  Of course as many of you know, I love the beach.  So we got a really great balance of hiking, walking around the rainforest and relaxing at the beach.  Let me just say we were drenched in sweat and it was worth every drop.  Taking turns we went into the tropic ocean which I loved, it’s nice and warm!  We had lunch and at local restaurant and of course some nice drinks.  I love a good passion fruit mojito, one of my favorites.  We went shopping at the local shops, then finished our day people watching and enjoying people run off the beach parasailing out over the water.  We took the shuttle back to the hotel and watched another amazing sunset from the infinity pool.

It was bitter sweet to leave and (I or we) wished we had more time.  It was the perfect length of time away from our busy summer.  Enjoy some photos of our trip below and at the end are some from my iphone.  Don’t forget to follow along on Instagram here to see more travels in the future #jenarayatravels

Xoxo Jen Araya