Rainmaker Hanging Bridges

After a morning of working/schooling, we headed out to Rainmaker. Rainmaker is another trail with hanging bridges close to Quepos/Manuel Antonio. We almost skipped it, because we had already done Mistico. I’m so glad we didn’t!

We got there midafternoon and had the trails virtually to ourselves. It was quite the uphill hike at first, and then we got to a series of sweet hanging bridges. They were considerably more…um…rustic ;) than Mistico’s. We quickly realized that these bridges were literally hanging and weren’t attached on each side to the platforms. It added to the experience, though, for sure. 

No people. Just my fam in middle of the rainforest, walking from platform to platform across multiple hanging bridges. So amazing!

After the bridges, we hiked alongside a river with five or six waterfalls along the way. Each waterfall had the most perfect little swimming hole beneath it. My sister-in-law Jessie found a rope on the first one and quickly scaled it up! The next waterfall pool had a perfect sitting spot for all of us beneath the waterfall. Lainey kept wanting to touch the waterfall and giggled each time.

It was quite a hike, but Rainmaker was definitely a highlight for our whole group!

Rainmaker is definitely not accessible for strollers/wheelchairs. Lainey and I almost hung back because of that, but then we maneuvered my nephew’s child-carrier to make a piggyback work for Lainey and me. It worked awesome, and I’m so glad we were able to partake in the experience with everybody. We’ll be researching some more carrier options in the future for trails like this that aren’t quite stroller accessible.

We headed to Jaco the next afternoon to do an aerial tram through some more rainforest. 

The day after was the last day for Scotty/Jessie/Lincoln, so we spent the day relaxing by the pool in the morning and our perfect Bejuco Beach. It’s been so great to share this experience with so many!

Nauyaca Waterfalls & Dominical

We got more visitors a few days ago! Our siblings Scotty and Jessie (and our nephew Lincoln) arrived on Saturday, and then my in-laws Chris and Candi joined the fun on Sunday!

Weekends are for adventures, so we headed out to Manuel Antonio National Park again. The beach there remains my favorite. It just reeks of paradise. We didn't see as much wildlife this time, but the monkeys were out in full force. We also earned our first matching family sunburns (womp womp).

Sara lost her Apple Watch here on the beach. We searched everywhere for it, and she was super bummed about losing it. But then, when we were at lunch, Sara got an email that somebody had found it! They used her emergency contact info on the watch to send us a message. Frequent theft is one of the few negatives of Costa Rica. That's what they say, anyways. We haven't experienced that at all thankfully, and even experienced the opposite here with Sara's watch. Super thankful for the helpfulness of a stranger!

The hike is just long enough, and the heat is just hot enough, that by the time we were ready for the hike back from the beach, we had some tired kiddos. If you visit Manuel Antonio, go as early as possible to avoid the heat.  

We started the next morning with a trek to Nauyaca Waterfalls. We drove as far as we could in our trusty van (Senor Coco), and then hopped in the back of a 4x4 truck to drive the rest of the way. Oh man, another CRAZY road! Straight up alongside the twisty dirt road of the mountain. 

When we arrived to the falls, it was breathtaking! Easily a highlight of our whole trip here! We explored the upper falls and then headed down to the lower falls that had the most refreshing swimming spot beneath it. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

After about an hour of hanging out, we noticed a Tico scaling up the falls. We noticed he had a rope with him and was attaching it to a few spots. Another Tico then joined him, and they both started scrubbing a few spots on the falls. We realized that they were prepping spots for people to climb UP the falls, so they could dive off the top. After scrubbing for a while, they both looked out to all of us and beckoned to us all to come climb and jump! Chris and I took off for the rock platform at the bottom of the falls. They then instructed us where to place our feet (where they had just spent time scrubbing), and we hoisted ourselves up the waterfall, with water gushing in our face! We reached the jumping spot halfway up the falls (about 35-40 feet) and launched ourselves into the pool below. KILLER.

There are two entrances to Nauyaca. Make sure to do the one labeled "Nauyaca Waterfalls/Cataratas Nauyaca" and not "Nauyaca Waterfall Nature Park", unless of course you want the more challenging hike at the Nature Park. The hike in is hard, and if you hike, by the time you get there, it will be crowded. Take the truck ride instead. It was half the fun for our group! It takes you right to a walkway and then a set of steps down to the falls. Lainey has been having new aversions to steps and different walkways, so she ended up riding piggyback most of the way. She also totally hates colder water too, so she had no interest of getting in the water.

If you're already in the Nauyaca area, do yourself a favor and head down to Dominical. It's an earthy beach town that has some great beach and eating spots. It's worth a morning or an afternoon for sure. We stumbled on Fuego Brewery and all just absolutely loved our meals (along with the killer views).

La Iguana Chocolate Farm

Owen and I gave surfing a go this week! It was harder than I thought it would be! He was able to get up on his board most of his tries. I wasn't as lucky haha, but still enjoyed getting up a few times. We are going to give it another try next week.

Our school/work routine is flowing nicely. We've even all gone and worked together at our local bakery (Val Halla) close by. They have the most delicious chocolate croissants and cream cheese danishes!

It's pretty dreamy most days, but even in dreams, there can be challenges. Turns out our lovelies can still be turds sometimes, even when we are in paradise. :) But then they can be the sweetest angels too lol (solidarity to all the parents out there!). I find that we just go at a slower pace than we normally do back home. That Pura Vida lifestyle is kicking in. ;)

We are loving our Bejuco Beach and visit every day. It's just down the street from our AirBnB. We are always soooo sandy after. We had to try a Costa Rican snow-cone on our last beach visit. Interestingly, it's got powdered and condensed milk mixed in with the shaved ice flavors. Tasty!
All three kids love playing in the ocean. It's a special joy, though, watching Lainey cackle as the waves crash into her. 

I start most days with a run to and alongside Bejuco Beach. I'm training for a marathon (Detroit Free Press Marathon) this year and have to say, it is WAYYYY easier to get up early to run when it's hot. The cold mornings in Michigan were becoming challenging before we left on this adventure. 

We drove to a chocolate farm today! Ok, first, the road to get there was CRAZY. Easily the worst road we've driven on so far. It started with a road that had so many crater-sized potholes. It then transitioned to a gravelly dirt road that went straight up with tight curves through the mountain. Our trusty van (Señor Coco) had some trouble getting up some of the inclines. We ended up rolling back down twice, so we could get a better running start. Sara legit thought today might be our final day here on earth. 

But then we arrived to La Iguana Chocolate, and had a super interesting lesson on how chocolate is made. We cut some cacao fruit off their trees, and tasted the slimy beans inside. It has a super fruity taste, that is not so chocolatey. After we learned about several of the steps to making chocolate, we were able to make some of our own chocolate truffles! Oh man! Just incredible. We finished the tour with a delicious Tico lunch afterward. 

This one was tougher with Lainey. We forgot her stroller this morning, but it turned out it wouldn't have really worked for the terrain anyways. She was not quite as interested as everyone else in the makings of chocolate (especially since it doesn't fit into her strict keto diet). It's tough in this situation, because generally the only solution is to have her watch a phone, so that's what we did. Sara especially hates when we have to do this, but it's a coping mechanism for the whole family to be able to do an activity sometimes. It helps center some of Lainey's anxieties, and it allows Mom/Dad to partake in an activity that we wouldn't otherwise be able to. So, when you're judging a family who has a kiddo in front of a screen (even on a beautiful chocolate farm on a Costa Rican mountain), know that there just might be more to the story than what you are seeing.

We are so thankful to get to share this adventure with some more visitors this weekend! Some of Sara's side of the family arrived this evening (Scotty, Jessie, & Lincoln), and two more arrive tomorrow (Mom & Dad Spitters)! We grilled out at Bejuco Beach tonight, but eventually got rained out. Tomorrow we head back to Manuel Antonio National Park! Adventures are better shared.