Day 2 – 28 March 2011

We had the alarm clock set for 6:00 to get ready for our all day trip to Palo Verde National Park. However, it seems Alexis is still on Central Daylight Time and woke us up at 5:00. She was hungry and all alone in her crib with no chance of falling back asleep. We warmed her up a bottle and tried to put her down between us in the bed again. With not too much time before 6:00, she fell back asleep. We did as much getting ready before she woke back up as we could. We needed to wake her up in order to eat breakfast before leaving on the tour bus.

The bags were packed and we went to breakfast. It was pretty much the same foods as yesterday, so we were able to pick out our food a little quicker. Alexis didn't eat as much for breakfast, but she was still tired. We had some snacks packed for her on the bus ride, if needed. We were a bit rushed to catch our bus and it was packed full. The tour company, however, was aware that we had an infant and they placed a car seat in one of the bus seats for us. That was a pleasant surprise, but we had already brought ours along anyway. There was a little confusion on where to fit her car seat and where we were going to sit because infant car seats are not made specially for buses. After only one seat change, we strapped her in the front seat behind the driver (where the guide usually sits) using a seat belt for the first time since elementary school, and I sat next to her.

The guide proceeded to let us know that we would be bussing everyone to the central tour office and then splitting off into our individual tours from there, while he sat on the floor of the bus next to the driver. Alexis was fairly good for the first leg, which was only 30 minutes long. We then toted all of our stuff along with her to another tour bus which would take us to the National Park. This bus was much less crowded and we were able to find Alexis the perfect seat in which her seat and the seat in front of here were properly reclined, and the tray table was missing off the seat in front of her – best case scenario.

This is where we met our guide for Palo Verde, Alvaro (Al for short because we're lazy). He gave quite a bit of background about Costa Rica in general and the tour we would be going on in the park. He asked Alexis's name probably three times and still insisted on calling her Alex….eh, close enough. She fell asleep for most of the beginning of the ninety minute bus ride, but woke up probably a half hour too early. I learned quite a few things from Al, including why Alexis keeps wanting to get in the bed with us at night. Apparently she has learned of the Costa Rican tradition where the youngest child in the family sleeps with their parents until the next child is born, or until they are about five years old. Alexis knows her time is limited and doing everything she can to get her time in now.

At the park, they had fresh fruit waiting for us. There wasn't much time for eating as we had to use the restroom, change "Alex" and cover ourselves in sunscreen. Just a few yards away was the bank to where we get on the boat for the river cruise. The tour consisted of approximately two hours of slowly and methodically boating down the river as the boat driver and Al would point out Costa Rican wildlife. The ride was very accommodating in such that they would slow down (and even back up) and point out the animals using a mirror that reflected the sunlight toward the animal – I probably wouldn't have seen half the stuff without that. We took hundreds of pictures of birds, alligators, lizards, iguanas, monkeys, and of course Alexis. She was not as excited because there were only a few things that she could actually see; she did like seeing the big birds that could fly. One of us would be mostly occupied by trying to entertain her and keep her from crying, probably due to hunger, sleepiness, and/or boredom. After the two hours, we were ready to get back to shore.

The staff at the park was preparing lunch for us, which was included in the tour. I quickly got Alexis in her stroller and started making laps around the pavilion. Lesson Learned: The stroller is already becoming the lifesaver (aka "The Napmobile") on this trip. The passed out our plates full of authentic Costa Rican cuisine. We ate fish or chicken, salad, rice, beans, and tasty unknown vegetables. We also had our first taste of Costa Rican salsa which is a brown sauce consisting of a lot of flavors, which I would describe as a cross between Mexican and Jamaican. With lunch they served a juice which looked like lemonade, but was actually some sort of pear concoction (complete with pear-shaped ice cubes). They then came around with some sort of pineapple flan for dessert. The entire spread for lunch was extremely tasty and was probably some of the healthiest food you could eat. Alexis slept through most of lunch, but it was a well-needed nap.

The schedule for the rest of the day was to bus back to the historic Liberia district and walk around there, and then shopping at a few souvenir shops until the other tours were scheduled to arrive back at the main touring office. It was interesting to see how small many of the houses were and the way that people lived in Liberia. Alexis was awake for most of the ride to Liberia and feel asleep right at the end again. Al did a great job helping to entertain her for the rest of the afternoon. She made a new friend who she could play peek-a-boo with and would smile almost every time she saw him. We got off the bus and saw a supermarket – this was a good chance to stock up on some more milk for when it's not as readily available at the resort. We browsed through the aisles and noticed a few brand-name items that we have in the United States, but mostly brands we've never heard of and everything was in Spanish. Walking around the block with not much else to do around there, we got some fresh ice cream and Alexis was a big fan of that. I think it was about this point we were realizing that those teeth coming in are bothering her a bit from time to time. The souvenir shops were filled with knick knacks made of wood, along with coffees and cocoas. Those are there three biggest sellers coming from Costa Rica. Plus, it's hard for me to pass up free samples of coffee.

Now back at the central office, we had to wait fifteen minutes of so for the rest of the tours to return so we could all get back to our resorts. Since Alexis had been cooped up all day, we let her crawl around on the tile floor outside and of course she heads straight for the rocks to start throwing them, and what would it be without her actually putting one in her mouth? As some of the buses get back and there's a rush for the bathroom, who do we see but Alexis's new friend from Albany, GA. We don't even stay at the same hotel, but have run into her three times in less than forty-eight hours.

Boarding the bus and now down the home stretch along the winding and bumpy roads. We got back to the hotel and were exhausted from the day's events. Dinner started in half an hour which was almost perfect time for us to get cleaned up and head down. We had a feeling this would be an early night. The theme for dinner was international cuisine, but I didn't notice too much different from the usual fare. Shortly after dinner, we gave Alexis a bath and got her ready for bed. A few laps around the resort in the stroller did the trick once again and she was asleep while we signed on the internet for a bit. Nicole went to bed early as I transported Alexis to her crib and caught up on the blog. Sure wasn't a late night for me, either – I was exhausted as well.