Costa Rica! We spent six days in Costa Rica for vacation and to attend a wedding. We started on the west coast at the Nicoya Peninsula and then went to the Arenal volcano. We ended the trip in Monteverde, where the cloud forests lie. On the Peninsula, we did some snorkeling and attended the wedding. The Hotel Punta Islita was a beautiful place to have a wedding. The wedding took place on the beach with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop. This was warmest part of the trip. At the Arenal volcano, we weren't lucky enough to see the lava at night. We tried to see it twice, but we were foiled by clouds. We did get to the Tabacon hot springs and took the Sky Trek canopy tour which consisted of eight zip lines. On the zip lines, you can travel at up to 70kph and the longest line was about 1/2 a mile. The zip lines take you over and through the trees. We could feel the wind and rain buffeting our faces as we screamed down the lines. We also visited the butterfly conservatory in La Castillo, a slightly more sedate activity. We actually went to the butterfly conservatory just before taking the canopy tour. We didn't realize they were very close together. Initially, we planned to return to the hotel for a pick up by Sky Trek. Yan had worn flip-flop style sandals to the butterfly conservatory, so we worried that she might lose them on the zip lines. We passed the sign for Sky Trek and decided to ask if her sandals would be a problem. The staff member assured us that we could tape the sandals to her feet. We were happy with this response so we went ahead to the butterfly conservatory. When we returned and were actually receiving our equipment, we found out that they had no tape. Fortunately, Yan didn't lose her sandals and also impressed several of the other tourists with her choice of footwear. We only had one day in Monteverde, but we packed it full. We took a day tour through the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and followed it with a night tour of Hidden Valley. After getting back from the night tour, we visited the frog pond to see some of Costa Rica's famous amphibians. Like the Hidden Valley night tour, our visit to the frog pond was conducted by flashlight. Since most of the frogs and toads are nocturnal, the frog pond was pitch black. Unfortunately, there aren't photos from a lot of our activities on this trip. Either it was too dark, too wet, or impractical to carry a camera for a number of our activities. Click on any of the photos below to see it larger. Pura vida.