Costa Rica Trip Recap!

I have to say that people think when I go to Costa Rica it is a vacation. But I am not a tourist when I head down there. My trips to Costa Rica involve fun stuff but mainly I go to visit my parents and sister. I do manage to sneak in some fun stuff especially when I go with Tom. He is my excuse to head to the beach or sneak away from the family for a while.

This trip was fun and I was so glad to be able to see my parents and hang out with my sister. As my parents get older, I realize that it is important to see them as much as I can. I am going to do a quickie recap on this post and share some photos and then I will highlight some of the trips and food on the trip.

I always stay with my mom and my sister lives next door so it is convenient. My dad lives further away so we always have breakfast with mom, lunch with dad and then dinner again with mom or other family members. On Wednesday, we just hung out with the parents. On Thursday we did the same thing as well. But on Thursday night, me and my sister headed out to take an Italian cooking class.

It was really fun. I am a pretty good cook so I already knew a lot of the tips she was giving. But I had never made panna cotta or fresh pasta before so it was an adventure. We made fresh ravioli as well. I will write more about the class and food we made in a later post.

Friday, we went over to the Cafe Britt. That was a lot of fun. It was one of the few touristy things I have ever done in Costa Rica. The tour was a lot of fun and it was interesting. We had some tasty coffee and learned how coffee is grown and roasted etc. I will have a post on this as well.

The weekend was low key except on Sunday we made tamales. A lot of tamales and it was grueling. We mad over 100 tamales and then my mom made more the next day. It was crazy but the tamales were delicious. I wish I could have brought some home so I could eat them here. I will post the recipe and pictures later on.

Monday we headed off to Puntaarenas with my dad, my cousin and my dad's best friend. Believe it or not, they have known each other for over 80 year. That is pretty amazing. It was a good drive and we ate at a nice beachside restaurant. Later that evening a cousin and his daughter's came to visit while we pawned off some tamales on them.

Tuesday we headed over to the beach near Manuel Antonio. We stayed there for a few days at a resort called the Clandestino Resort. It was a drive to get there but overall it was a nice place and we got in some pool time. And all I wanted was a little pool time. I will also have a post just dedicated to that trip as well.

Friday, we did our usual routine and that night we headed out for dinner and drinks with my cousin. It was nice but along the way I ate or drank something that caused my stomach to rebel. I catch everything. I was real careful about drinking bottled water although most of the water in Costa Rica is safe to drink. I didn't eat tons of food but I bet I got something at the beach and by Friday it just went nuts. I also had 2 mojitos and I usually don't drink.


Saturday was my last day there and it was the usual visiting my dad and then hanging with my mom and sister. By then, I didn't want to eat or drink anything because I wanted to be well for my flight on Sunday. Luckily, I survived the flight and the 4 hour layover in Atlanta before I came home. My luggage survived as well which was a good thing because I had tons of coffee, beans and candy all stuffed into the bag. My bag was overweight by 2 pounds but the cute airline agent in Costa Rica let it pass. And I swear, only 4-5 pounds of that 52 pounds was my clothes. The rest were goodies!

More stories and pictures to come!!