Costa Rica Highlights: Hot Springs

I’m happy to report that we’re feeling much better today.  Wildman actually went to school today for a few hours…  The school nurse called me to report that Wildman had a stomach ache after lunch.  Wildman sounded so pathetic on the phone that I immediately went to pick him up.  Of course, he was perfectly fine after about 10 minutes on the couch.  I’m sending him back to school tomorrow and will tell the nurse to let him wait it out if I get a call tomorrow.

But that is not what this post is about!  Let’s talk about the hot springs!

We stayed four nights at the Tabacon Grand Spa and Thermal Resort.  It is a magical place.  The property is divided into the hotel and the hot springs and spa half a block away.  We could either walk to the hot springs or take the hotel’s shuttle.  The foot path was so well lit and well-landscaped (with plenty of leaf cutter ants) that we were happy to walk over each night.

We mainly visited the hot springs at night because it was too darn hot during the day to immerse ourselves in such warm water (but we did stop by one day to take pictures).  The water temperature is 122 degrees!  That doesn’t feel so great when it’s 87 degrees outside.  But at night, the hot water feels heavenly!  You can read more about the water supply to the resort here.

I loved how natural the hot springs were.  It was as if we just stumbled across these little hot pools and waterfalls in the middle of the rain forest.  Of course, it’s a great illusion since many of the pools have underwater lighting  and concrete steps leading down into the springs.  But I have to give high praise to the designer because this place looks so unforced.

Even the bottom of the pools and rivers are sand and pebbles.

Here’s a photo of me in a waterfall to prove that I was actually there 🙂  Don’t laugh.

J loved this big waterfall.  The pressure of the falling water gave a really great massage but I didn’t care for it too much because I don’t like getting water in my eyes/contacts.  I was happy to either sit behind the waterfall or take pictures of J in it.

The plant life was amazing too.  There were so many different and unique things to see.  A lot of them I’d never seen before but would love to have in our backyard landscape.   I’m not sure that they would survive here but they would look lovely!

On our last night at the hot springs I got out of the water and stretched out on a deck chair near the waterfall to drip dry.  The evening air was just the right temperature where one could lay there without a towel and feel completely comfortable.  I remember lying there looking up at the clear night sky thinking that I wanted to remember that moment forever.  I could make out several stars winking through the huge plumes of mist coming off of the hot springs.   A gentle breeze would sway the large palm trees overhead every now and then.  The only sound I could hear was the roaring waterfall.   I felt so peaceful and so relaxed.

It was one of those moments that I will try to recall in stressful situations to calm myself down.  My happy place, if you will.

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I’m Back!

Well, folks, J and I are back from beautiful Costa Rica!  It was such an amazing trip and I have so many things to share with you but I’m overwhelmed when I think of all the posts that I could write.  It’s remarkable how much you can see and do in 10 days.  I’ll try to tackle one topic a day until I get all of our stories told.

It’s back-to-school week here so you can imagine how we had to hit the ground running when we arrived home on Saturday night!  Our first stop on the way home from the airport was to Publix to buy some essentials.  I didn’t do any shopping before we left because I didn’t want food sitting around for the 10 days that we were gone.  As a result, the cupboards were quite bare when we returned.

Cutie Pie’s preschool Open House was on Monday.  He has the same teacher that Wildman had when he was in the three-year-old “grade”.  She’s wonderful and will have her hands full this year with 5 boys and 2 girls.  I love the small class size though.  Cutie Pie is so excited to be in the “big kid” classrooms.  His first full day was today and he did not want to leave when I picked him up for lunch.

Wildman’s first day of Kindergarten is tomorrow.  Our school district does Kindergarten skills assessments by appointment during the first three days of the new school year.  Wildman’s appointment was today at 10 AM.  I’m happy to report that he passed with flying colors and could even read 20 out of the 40 sight words that they should know by the end of the school year!  I gotta brag when I can 🙂  He’s such a good little reader.  His teacher is going to give me the 1st grade sight words list soon so we can practice.

J is sick, sick, sick with some kind of funk that he most likely picked up on the flight home.  He doesn’t have a fever or headache so we don’t think he’s got dengue fever or malaria, thank goodness!  He’s got a sweet cold sweat thing going, no appetite, congestion, a cough, fatigue, etc.  The good news is that he’s feeling better today.  Monday and Tuesday were miserable for him.  Poor guy!  Now I’m praying that I don’t get it.  J will be out of town for work next week and the last thing I need is to be half dead with the flu.

That’s all for today!  Dinner is not going to make itself.