The Family

In December 2010 and January 2011 I had my family visit me in Costa Rica. At first only my mom and Olaf (her boyfriend) wanted to come, but then my sister decided to join as well. Since I only had a small apartment at that time, that extra person made me worry a bit. But at least we had one dog less because Nala was at a dog school getting an education! :-P
Before they came, I had made a plan. At first we wanted to spend a few days in San José, then go to Puerto Viejo (the Caribbean coast), come back to San José for 2 days and then go to Playa del Coco (the Pacific coast) and stop by La Fortuna (to see an active volcano) for a day.
After picking them up at the airport late at night and me being surprised that I actually found the way back to the house, we had a quick beer and went to bed. However, the next day it became clear that our apartment was definitely to small to host all of my family, so they decided to spend the rest of the time in a hotel close by.
However, the first day we took a trip to the waterfall La Paz (The Peace). The road to there was terrible and the weather wasn't much better. December is the end of the rainy season and it tends to get fairly cold as well. But my mom and Olaf liked it anyway. My sister didn't because she always finds something to complain about.

The next day we spent in San José. It is not pretty at all, but if you are in Costa Rica, you should at least see it. (By the way, the weather still hadn't improved and it was very windy.)

After that we went to Puerto Viejo in my car. Not surprisingly for me, it was also rainy at the coast. So, we did the best out of the situation and bought some beers.

Fortunately, the next day it brighten up a little and we went to the National Park Cahuita where we saw some racoons and monkeys threw sticks at my sister. And since I had a cold and had worn tennis shoes, Olaf had to carry me over the little creeks.

The second day in Puerto Viejo we rented some bikes and rode along the coast. Finally the sun made it appeareance and I immediately got sunburned. (By the way, the streets in Puerto Viejo all look like that or worse. But they are lined with lots of little animals.)

And here the negative side of Costa Rica: Crime absolutely everwhere!

The day we left Puerto Viejo, we finally had blue sky and endless sun! *lol*
Back in San José, we visited the local zoo and then prepared for New Years Eve. However, my family already left my apartment at 10 pm and I went to bed with my dogs. Surprisingly they did not wake up from the fireworks and slept soundly.

Then we rented a car and went to Playa del Coco. (On the way back from Puerto Viejo, my old car was giving trouble again. It was getting very hot and the clutch didn't work part of the time. So, the safer option was a rental car.)
At the Pacific we had sunshine and endless beaches. So, guess what we did all day!?

However, the next destination was La Fortuna which is situated high in the mountains and again it got rainy and windy.

But we were super lucky and the next morning, it cleared up a little bit and we actually got to see the volcano. (Not everybody who has been there can say that. Because 70% of the days of a year the volcano is covered in clouds.)
And after a nice long walk we spend the rest of the day at a hot spring. (The water was really heated by the lava of the volcano.)
On the way back from La Fortuna I dropped my parents of at a hotel close to the airport and spend the rest of the day there. The hotel had given my parents some voucher to play at the casino and I managed to win around 40$. It wasn't the checkpot, but better than nothing!
I know that my parents enjoyed the trip a lot, but I don't think that my sister did. Because she had been to Costa Rica before, seemed to be bored all the time and the continous criticism of my lifestyle didn't seem a good sign.