By Caitlin and Jed
 It felt like we were deep in the jungle and had stepped into a movie scene. At any moment a jaguar or tapir could cross our path. It was eerily quiet except for the occasional rustle or deep yell, which made us stop with urgency and look around to catch a glimpse of some exotic animal. We kept walking further from the road hoping to find the monkeys we had been hearing since our arrival in Costa Rica. Now we were closer than ever but we didn't know it. When we turned a corner, the onslaught began, as the Howler Monkeys started warning each other of our approach. We strained our eyes, searching the top of the canopy for a sighting. They scurried as they yelled at us and their sounds were surprisingly deep for their small size. There was no creeping up on these guys but we watched and listened as we felt a million miles from humanity or civilization. The barrage of sound faded out and we made our way back to the road so we wouldn't be lost in the jungle after dark. |   |
We spent the majority of our time in Costa Rica exploring its beautifully preserved jungles and rainforests. Being one of the most popular tourist destinations in Central America, Costa Rica is on top of its game when recognizing the importance of conservation to the country's continued financial success. The extremely biodiverse rainforests are always exciting to walk through. You won't spot many large mammals, like you might see in Africa, but there are plenty of monkeys, sloths, snakes, colorful parrots and even super interesting leaf-cutter ants to keep you entertained.
 At a completely deserted beach (since it is only not filled with water for a few hours a day) But Costa Rica is more than just jungles. In one day in Costa Rica you could be at the beach, exploring a market, touring a coffee plantation or on top of a volcano, but perhaps our favorite experience in Costa Rica was traveling with the Hadas family (Jed's sister's family)! The kids were braver than us when we were zipping through the tree canopy on ziplines or spotting potentially deadly snakes at a night-time rainforest walk. With the Hadas family, we got to explore a cloud forest in the northern part of the country (which is a very high-up forest, in the clouds) and the southern and least-developed part of Costa Rica, the Osa Peninsula (which we would highly recommend). It required taking a flight on tiny, single engine propeller plane and a rough hour long drive through the jungle to get to our place in Osa, but the beautiful ecolodge in the middle of the rainforest and unbelievably tasty food made it all worth it. How do they get such fresh food out there?! The developed infrastructure, yet preserved rainforests: there is a reason Costa Rica is so high on everyone's travel list. We surely weren't disappointed! Special shout out to the Hadas family for coming out to visit us! |  Sophie ziplining  Nate feeding some cows  NIghttime Jungle Walk |
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