Weekends are for adventures, but we decided to spend Saturday relaxing instead. On Sunday, we headed over to Kids Saving the Rainforest near Quepos/Manuel Antonio. KSTR is a super cool organization that was originally started by two 9-year old girls and has since grown significantly. They take in hurt or abused animals and try to rehabilitate them to release them back into the wild. We toured their facilities in the morning and learned all about their monkeys, sloths, birds, and numerous other super cool animals.
Then Owen and Sara were able to have the unique experience to spend the rest of the day volunteering at KSTR. As our time here in Costa Rica winds down, this felt like the perfect way to give back to this beautiful country. They spent most of the time prepping and feeding the animals. Owen was quite taken by the experience, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up back here on his own when he’s older.
On Monday, we journeyed back to the same area to do a tour of a beautiful spice farm called Villa Vanilla. Mom and Dad Spitters came with, and we were all thoroughly impressed with the experience. One of the reasons pure vanilla is so expensive is that all of the vanilla flowers (that eventually turn into vanilla beans) have to be HAND POLLINATED. I guess the only bee that can pollinate these flowers is virtually extinct. Also, fun fact, imitation vanilla comes from BEAVER pheromones. Ew.
We ended up on one of the best overlooks. It was this beautiful hut overlooking the mountains where they served us delicious treats and drinks made from the farm. Pura vida indeed!
Owen and Grammy spent the afternoon zip lining, while the rest of us hung out in Jaco one last time. I got my first tattoo too! (More on that later!)
Owen LOVES sushi, so we ended up at Tsunami Sushi in Jaco Walk. Ok, we’ve had a fair amount of sushi, but these rolls were out of this world! Owen and I both said it was probably the best sushi we had ever eaten! So good!!
Packing day Tuesday! :(:(:(:(:(
