What are we doing in Costa Rica?

This morning we drove to the zoo in nearby Alajuela for a dose of Costa Rican wildlife.

This monkey is nursing her baby!
 

The zoo had a lot of interesting conservationist signs, including this one:

That’s Viagra in the turtle’s hands, in case you couldn’t tell.

The afternoon was rainy and sleepy. Everyone napped and I finished a good book (The Tenderness of Wolves). Tomorrow we pack; Monday we go HOME!

More photos in the slideshow.

Zoo Ave

According to National Geographic, our home for the last few nights in the country has the best weather in the world. It is rather nice here, warm and sunny but not sweltering, low humidity, etc. It’s also nice here because we’re staying in a pretty American-style house with amenities such as a washer and dryer. I love doing my own laundry — especially after the service in Monteverde returned our load shrunken and reeking of cheap cologne. Yuck!

Monteverde was a great place to take kids. We had so much fun hiking there and visiting Insect World, the bat exhibit, and the Serepentorium. It was great to cool off from the Caribbean, too. Aside from my tummy bug, it really felt like a vacation. However, we’re happy to be here in a comfy house with a pool and a spectacular view for our last few days. Life is good!

The view going down the mountain from Monteverde.

We encountered several traffic delays on the way down. First a herd of cows…

Next some roadwork. We got to watch them scoop a lot of dirt into that dump truck…

Delays not pictured: dogs sleeping in the road and a long detour caused by lack of signage to Atenas…

View from the pool.

This is a great place to watch the storms roll in.

We leave on Monday! We’re excited to see everyone very soon.