Ho! Ho! Ho! Costa Rica

Off to San Jose, and another Christmas holidays spent in Costa Rica.....Pura Vida! Our first stop was a Costa Rican Boutique Hotel called Encantada Ocean Cottage in Esterillos Este between Jaco and Quepos.  It was a small resort located on a beautiful, pristine beach. 
Our days were spent walking the beach, relaxing in a hammock under a palm tree, or chilling out in the pool!  The highlight of our stay was a fishing trip out of Quepos with Ben and the boat Good Day.  It was a gorgeous day, flat seas, and a great crew.  We caught a 400 pound blue marlin, a sailfish, two Dorado, and a couple Triple Tail.  We went out about 30-35 miles offshore and spent about 7 hours fishing....boy were we tired when we got back.....but we did come home with a bunch of fish fillets to eat during out stay.  Another item checked off my bucket list! The chef at the restaurant at our resort prepared the dorado over and open fire on a grill and made the best ceviche for me.....it was all delicious!
Packed up, we then headed to Dominicalito and back to Coconut Grove Beach Cottage and our friends Richard and Diane.  This year we rented the small beach house and loved it.....perfect for just the two of us.  Christmas Eve we attended a big Christmas party at the owner's house and I made a dish called Texas Caviar that was a big hit!

During our stay we explored the nearby beaches......Hermosa, Ventanas, and the Secret Beach.  We met up with a friend, Karl at Jolly Roger one night and had fun catching up over burgers and beer!  One day we took off on a long drive up into the mountains to a town called San Vito, with plans to enjoy their famous pizza for lunch.  The drive was long, but beautiful and we did manage to get lost thanks to our GPS.  Hiking Hacienda Baru we spotted a mother sloth and her baby hanging above the cars in the parking lot.....and a group of monkeys traveling thru the jungle.  I carried my tripod and got some great photos. To celebrate my birthday we ate dinner at sunset at Cuna de Angel which was very nice and romantic!

We enjoyed our stay, met some fun folks that were staying at our resort!  We enjoyed our fresh fish, lots of wonderful fruits and veggies!  We even discovered a wonderful new restaurant in Mantapalo that Karl recommended and managed to eat there twice before we left! As usual we met some of the locals and enjoyed talking with them...even if our Spanish is terrible we communicated!
This was perhaps our best trip to Costa Rica!