Costa Rica (still cruisin . . .)

Before we travel to Costa Rica, let's stop and reflect on the hugeness that is the ship we were on.



The one thing that kinda stinks about vacations is that you plan them and plan them and plan them, then they come, you have a lot of fun and then they are over. And now I am back at work. But let's not dwelling on that.

Let's instead think on Sloths.



In Costa Rica, we traveled to the Sloth Sanctuary, which was beautiful and lush. Even though Costa Rica is probably as poor as Panama, it's not dirty. Once you leave the port, it is all green trees and tropical plants. Even though the houses were still small, they looked more simple not desolate.



Look at these babies! How could you not want one for your very own? Sloths are my kind of animals. They nap on and off throughout the day and everything is done. in. slow. motion. The family who started the santuary really love these beautiful creatures and have led the way in researching the sloth so that we know more about them.



While we were there, we took a canoe ride through the marshland. There were about 6 canoes total and the four of us were on the last one. The first 5 went one way down the river and we went another. It was a bit scary. Larry and I kept looking at each other and headlines were racing through my head "American Family of Four Lost in the Costa Rican Marshland!" The boys kept saying, "we're going the wrong way! Why are we going the wrong way?" Larry was planning our escape route and kept asking our guide about the water to gauge how safe it would be to swim. I just thought, well, if we are going to go, at least we will be together!

Obviously nothing happened and we met up with the rest of our group soon after. Once we got over our inital freak-out, the ride was pretty cool. There were two sloths in the trees that Larry was able to spot, but I couldn't see, as well as some monkeys, birds and a couple of lizards.



This is a banana tree and those little yellow buds will become bananas! Cool, huh.



So pretty. I uploaded this pic to a website and I'm having some note cards made up. We'll see how they turn out.



We brought an elephant home with us.

Just ahead, ANOTHER DAY AT SEA. Whoot!

The Cruise (cont. again) - Panama

After two and a half days at sea, we finally docked at Colon, Panama. Colon is a relatively new port and as such, there was really no touristy things to do in the immediate area.



Because of this, we had to take a charter bus about an hour out for our excursion.



We chose to explore the city of Portobelo or Beautiful port as dubbed by Christopher Columbus way back when. There was also options for seeing the canal and the lockes and while I'm disappointed we didn't get to see the canal, we were trying to pick activities that the boys would enjoy as well.



Panama is an extremely poor country, and it's also very dirty. One of the campaign promises of the man running for President was to add more garbage trucks. The week before we arrived, there was a strike and trash littered the streets. The average wage is $300-$500 a month. On our way to Portobelo, we saw many, many small houses that they call matchbook houses and appropriately so. These houses sell for $20-$30k and the owners are given 30 years with no interest to pay them off.

We are so very blessed.



This is the fort on Portobelo. Real live Pirates fought in this fort. We thought it would be exciting for the boys, but not so much.

While learning about Panama was interesting, it was not our favorite stop and I don't think I would think about going there again.













This is inside the church where the Black Christ is kept. The Black Christ was meant to be somewhere else, but every time they went to move it, strange things happened. On October 21, thousands travel from all over Panama to worship the Black Christ or El Cristo Negro.

Tomorrow Costa Rica and the Sloth Sanctuary.

The Cruise (cont.)

and . . . we're still on the boat. . .



There's just something about being on a big ship in the middle of the ocean without seeing land for two straight days. Not sure exactly what it is, but it's something.



If I posted all the photos of Shey's hamming it up, it would take a long, long time.



This giant chess set kept the boys occupied many a time. Especially when Larry and I would sit on the deck with his iPod and a bottle of wine.



Peyton's favorite part? All the free Sprite I could drink!



and the free ice cream!



The first formal night. Peyton has so much fun dressing up. He even wore this the next night too.



Following this photo on the Flickr group is a few of Shey entertaining again. I think I am going to do a whole scrapbook page of his poses.





Tomorrow, Panama!

For Rebecca :)

Yes, we're finally back from our trip. :) We had a great time and I have a ton of photos, but have pretty much been exhausted since we got back. Why is that? Why do you need a vacation from your vacation?

I thought our laptop had contracted that virus that is going around, but I turned it on last night on a fluke and it appears to be working now, so I ran a scan and think I cleaned it out some, so hopefully, it will work better. I said all that to let you know that now I can upload my photos and write a proper blog entry about our trip.

Coming soon . . .