On the last day of the Costa Rica trip, only me, San and Padma decided to stick to the original plan of going to Manuel Antonio park. The rest of the folks stayed back at Coco Mar to enjoy the waves some more.
We went on a guided tour of the park to see the sloth and were treated to see a baby sloth!
The sloth mom is on top and the baby is facing the right.. Using a 200mm at 400mm with an extender still got me only this clarity. Was happy to see it live! There are lots of pictures in the Photo Galleries which did not make it to the posts.. you can check them out on the Photo Galleries tab for Fauna, Flora, and their landscape folders..
There was also a lot of animals, birds, insect sightings again.
At the end of the guided part, we ended up in a beautiful lagoon which was crowded with swimmers. We were not planning to get into the water. There was no chance for more wet clothes in our bags. We were leaving later the same evening.
We took some photos on the beach and hiked all around the edge of the park for a strenous 45 minute hike to Cathedral point. It was beautiful. On the way back we came past the other side of the land facing the other beach.
Once back at Coco Mar, we had a quick bite to eat, said our byes to the private beach and drove towards the airport.
On the way we were talking about how it would be great to come to Costa Rica and retire.. and maybe start a resort like this with a private beach.. and we crossed this building..
When asked, the driver explained in his broken English that a family from US had started building a resort and the USD slid in value after the sub-prime crisis and they could not come up with money to finish the project. Costa Rica is so good that it sets you straight before you leave the country! It is full of prompt lessons..
The driver was nice enough to give us two stops at beaches on the way. The Jaco one was beautiful..
They have artists paint everyting.. this was a bus stop that was just amazing..
We had Desafio accomodate us with a dinner stop at San Jose in Taste of India, which was in the 2nd floor of a high rise residential/commercial building!
After a sumptuous meal and one last masala Chai for 2019, we were at the airport.
We had 5 hours to spend before the flight. Ended up playing a board game for couple of hours.
The Juan Santa Maria airport is on high ground and you can see the valley below. We got to see at least 8 fireworks light up the sky from the gate area at midnight.
A video of the day's events here..
We had a lot of fun on this trip. This is going to be the baseline for trips going foward. No driving on our own. The entire trip planned ahead and rides showing up on time everywhere. Vegetarian food options that work for me. San has set the bar high on this one.
Strongly recommend this place for a visit at this time of the year!
There is one last post on Costa Rica.. that is not part of the series, but something that I kept seeing everywhere.. will post it tomorrow.
The 2000's turned 18. That was a big deal.. When it turns 21, we might subconsciously associate it with another "big year".. Turning 16 was a good thing.. in an American context..
19.. seems to be something we skip through! Don't exactly remember going through my 19th year. Hopefully 2019 goes by like that!
2018 was a monotonous year for us with the exception of four things..
1. A visit to India for my nephews Poonal ceremony and being with my parents, brother and sister under one roof even if for two days
2. A two week magical trip to Europe in Summer
3. Jr.'s dance Arangetram
4. A wrap up of the year in Belize for a week
The rest was a routine. Did manage to do yoga 224 times in 2018. As most of you know, the goal is at least 200. So checking that one off.
The time outside of yoga was mostly spent in picking up and dropping off kids from classes.
Did 10 trips to Asia this year instead of 12 but had three international personal trips to make up for that.
There was no major sickness this year and that was a big plus. The only negative or scary thing that happened was my father slipping and falling down in October and my mother insisting that I not visit till he is walking again. He is improving slowly but steadily and that is a good thing.
One regret we did have was not being able to attend my sisters kids Poonal as it crossed with the pre planned Europe trip. We have moved on from that given both the Europe trip and the Poonal went very well.
The job continues to be interesting and challenging and we are quietly ploughing through challenges one at a time. The hard part of working in a startup is to get a group of folks who don't waste time questioning the problems but just go tackle it. From that stand point, glad to have a bunch of folks who are all in that mindset. Feel the the time at work is being well spent.
2018 was good on retrospect. 2019 is being welcomed with hopes of the kids doing well in school and work reaching significant milestones.. but what matters is to keep San smiling next to me and have good health throughout the year and cherish friendships old and new! One has to be really fortunate to have good friends and we are blessed in that department!
and yes.. resolutions.. now that yoga 200 times a year is not a resolution anymore (it is a habit), the wish and hope for 2019 is to learn to swim properly. Went for 10 classes in 2005 when Jr. was 3 years old as part of a parents and tots swim class. Could float and swim the length of the pool with two three stops. We went snorkeling in Belize and I stayed 5 feet from the boat at all times because of fear. The ATM trip was also scary going against the river in darkness.
2019, overcome fear of deep water and waves.. Let's see if I can get that done..
2017 is done and we are moving on. The last 8 days saw us visit local places with the BIL's family. My two nieces made photography fun again for me!
They would randomly come ask me to take pictures in the studio and make funny face poses!
Our plan was to go to the Golden Gate Bridge vista point. However we were not allowed to enter. It was buses only. So we decided to see the bridge from the other side. There also parking was impossible. So we ended up getting flagged to go further and further away from the bridge and next thing we know, we are at a visitor center and there is a beautiful lagoon and a beach with was within eye sight. It said 0.8 miles one way and a mild hike, so off we went. There was a distinct possibility that the little ones might ask to be "lifted" and carried on the way back, but that did not happen. They walked the entire trail and back.
We spent a good 2 hours there and took pictures!
I should have dressed better though. Caught some virus. The rest of 30th and 31st has been spent drinking cough syrup and sleeping. Finally managed to edit the pictures now..
We also had the studio set up in the house.. that meant pictures and pictures and more pictures anytime the kids wanted..
we even switched to a black background to test out some shots..
2018 is going to be a busy year for us. My hope is that we all be in better health next year.
I had the best year health wise for 2017 but managed to mess it up in the last two days! While it is easy to bias an entire year based on the last few days, I did thoroughly enjoy 2017.
Thankful to my BIL and family for visiting us over the break. When you have little kids running around the house, it lights up the place!
This year Tamil New Year day came and went before we could blink. This in spite of my moving a biz trip off by a week to spend the day with family. We both got super busy at work that week. So we decided to dress up over the weekend and take pictures to celebrate!
Jr. with her signature pose (apparently is is the new posing standard)
She finally obliged me with a normal smile
The little one looked her happy self but refused to put a "pottu" after repeated begging from me.
The little one said "you get two tries and that is IT! I won't stand for more photos". So two tries it was.
They might not realize the value of these photos or blog posts now.. someday when they are my age they might look back at this and smile!
Last year was a good year for us. Nothing spectacular happened but nothing really disastrous either. Life moved on at a steady pace with things moving on without too much drama in the house.
This post was to go online last Sunday.. a belated Happy Tamil New Year to all of you! May this year bring peace and happiness to one and all!
Thursday, December 31, 2020 at 7:40PM ;)
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