PURA VIDA Costa Rica-my first trip out of the country!!!

Chris and I had the wonderful chance to take a couple of our students on an ecological tour of Costa Rica. It was the best thing I've ever done besides getting married and having three wonderful children. I loved every minute of it. I loved hanging out with girls for a change with Emily and Amy Heath (Chris really enjoyed them as well). I fell in love with the country and the people, especially our guide Mario. I loved all of the wonderful plants, and animals that we saw. My two favorite places were Manuel Antonio (white sand beaches on the pacific side with white faced monkeys, crystal turqouise warm water, and beautiful blue skies) and Tortugero (a small little river town that is also known as the Venice of Costa Rica on the Caribbean side). Here's a small sample of the 600 pics we took. ENJOY!!!

Yes, this really is a three-toed sloth in Manuel Antonio. Just sleeping upside down.
One of 6 iguanas living around the city of Tortugero-we saw howler monkeys, spider monkeys, kaimans, crocodiles, toucans, and all sorts of great wildlife.












Mario (0ur tour guide)-one of the sweetest people I've ever met. A white faced monkey in Manuel Antonio.

This was a rhinoceros beetle that this young boy caught for me during our rainforest tour. I loved that he did the entire tour with bare-feet, notice that we had huge boots on. Chris made friends with everybody. The picture below is Manuel Antonio-officially my favorite place on Earth.

The Ecalono boys love their soccer. Chris is the number 1 soccer coach. Here's a small sample of Connor on the Rangers team.