We just got back from an amazing trip to Costa Rica with my family, and I miss it already!  Those of you who know me or my family can imagine what a feat this was… all four of us kids are the most randomly accident-prone people in existence …yeah… (injury stories to come later). I love traveling with my family!

I loved being in the jungle around all that green.  I love San Jose because of / in spite of what a huge, bustling, dirty, colorful city it is.  I loved seeing all the creepy-crawly creatures in the tidepools at dusk.  I loved the food.  I love all the sweet, wonderful people we met.  I loved all the hand-painted signs and murals.  I loved translating and trying to answer our taxi driver’s questions about what driving in the snow is like.  I love being on the road.

And, as the title of this post suggests… sorry.  I couldn’t help myself.

So, we get into San Jose in the morning after a loooong overnight flight, and first thing I do?  Explore the graveyards!

Blue Morpho butterflies – they look really exotic, but dude, they’re everywhere.

I fell in love with all the small creatures that both are so elegant and so poisonous…

All these bright yellow pit vipers made me happy… I’ve always had a thing for snakes.  So cool!

We visited a butterfly garden!  It was so cool to watch the butterflies hatching from cocoons.

On the right are pitcher plants:

My two cutie brothers at Playa Negra in Puerto Viejo.

One of my favorite walls I have ever seen:

These guys were just posing for me.  I swear.

My lovely sister.

Agapi, our little place, staffed by the best people ever.

I always wondered if they meant “snake bite specialists”… I dunno, maybe there are some super treacherous worms out there…

I suppose now’s a good time to explain how accident-prone my family is.  We went on a 2 day rafting trip, and we stopped on the shore for lunch.  My dad was trying to take a picture and slipped and fell on some rocks, cracking a few ribs and getting a nasty head wound.  I’m mostly fluent in Spanish, but on this trip I got to learn some new phrases, like, “Please wear this lead vest while you translate from inside the x-ray room”.

Next injury: my little sister crashes her rented cruiser bike riding to the bar.

Next injury: my little brother crashes his rented cruiser bike riding home from the bar.

Next injury: I get stung on the lip by a wasp. Twice.  This happened at night as I was getting ready for bed, and my lip swelled up so much I looked like a cartoon character.  I could barely talk, my lip was so big.  Regretfully, I just laughed and went to bed without taking a picture of myself in the mirror, and it was better by morning. I looked so awesome and ridiculous, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Boa constrictors: this is why you don’t wander around the jungle at night.

Best restaurant menu ever.

I look just like Tarzan.  Obviously.

My mom at the market in San Jose: