Costa Rica and Panama Revisited

Pura Vida! (This is the Costa Rican version of "Aloha")

We returned on Tuesday, November 11, from our 14-day trip to Costa Rica and Panama. We spent 5 days touring Costa Rica via bus, 3 more days touring Costa Rica via small cruise ship (78 passengers), and 6 days touring Panama via the small cruise ship.

We've not had time to get our gazillion pictures in shape to post so I'll just lift up some of the amazing things we experienced (in no order of importance or interest):

1. the tropical rain forest via aerial tram, zip line, and numerous hikes;
2. relaxing in hot springs fed by an active volcano;
3. snorkeling with sharks, and Carl saw a seahorse skittering across the sand;
4. going through the Panama Canal;
5. two indigenous peoples -- the Embera's and the Kuna's;
6. breath-taking views of little islands, reefs, mountains;
7. the best fresh pineapple in the universe;
8. planting trees with 3rd graders in Costa Rica to help them with their reforestation project;
9. a Costa Rican rodeo;
10. a tour of a coffee plantation;
11. sightings in the wild of 3 varieties of monkeys, a boa constrictor, coati mundi, many exotic birds, and 2- and 3-toed sloths;
12. learning about the project to preserve butterflies of Costa Rica;
13. touring the tropical mangrove forest of Panama via zodiac boat; and (Carl and I only)
14. experiencing the expertise of the Costa Rican medical community (I slipped in the shower of one of the hotels we stayed in and had to have 5 stitches in my head).

It was an amazing trip, we met great people on the cruise, and we met wonderful folks in both countries we visited. This is a trip we would highly recommend!