Liberia

It has been a few days since I have been able to get onto a computer to update my friends on my trip to Costa Rica. For that I apologize. However, I have been busy relaxing and having fun! So get over it!

After our trip to Monteverde, we returned "home" for one night. Rather than take the "chicken bus" which stops at every town between Monteverde and Puntarenas, making the rather bumpy and slow ride  even longer and painful, I opted for a private tour bus to return us. It made a world of difference in time, and Apryl didn't get motion sickness as bad. We returned to Puntarenas and enjoyed a lazy day before going to our "family's house" and spending the evening on Gabby's front patio drinking and gossiping until the early morning! Apryl slept with her new best cousin Maria Fernanda and Gabby and I crashed after talking to our friend Angel in Spain at 3:00 in the morning!

Apryl and I left for Liberia on the chicken bus at 12:30 and were lucky enough to be able to sit in seats with lots of wind for most of the ride! It only took 3 hours to get there (in car 2 hrs if you drive the speed limit). When we got to Liberia it was sunny and HOT! We got to our hotel, jumped into our bathing suits because we were sticky and hot from the bus ride, and ran down to the pool. The minute we get outside to the pool, don't you know it began to rain?!?! Well, it didn't matter, we needed the refreshing cool down! After we played in the pool, in the rain, we went to our American dinner that I had promised Apryl - at Burger King across the street. There a boy about the same age, chased her for about 30 minutes in the children's play area. He clearly was obsessed with the "American girl"!

The next day we walked around Liberia and saw typical dancing in celebration of the Annexation of Guanacaste. They celebrate this day when Guanacaste (a region of Costa Rica) became independent from Nicaragua. Just before we left we saw the parade of horses with children riding. The bigger parade  was on Saturday, but we cut our trip short and would be missing it. It was so cute, and the horses we so fancy in they way they dance! Next year I will arrange to come on the weekend to experience more of the festival and see the bull riding and running. That was the only thing we missed this time in addition to the huge horse parade that was so impressive when I first saw it!

We returned after the parade on a direct bus and were able to get back to Pumtarenas in much better time (2.5 hrs - with a short stop for bathroom/snacks for those going to San Jose which was a 4 hr ride for them).

Since we returned from Liberia we have essentially been on what I call real vacation finally. We have settled into the cabina more and are living the "Pura Vida"!

Pictures and more coming later today!