LMNOP

I'm ba-aaaack!

Costa Rica was beautiful.  I took a crapload of pictures, which I have whittled down into four Flickr sets.  The first one is the big, main photo set with all of the stuff we did; also, there are three smaller sets with people and buildings, animals, and plants and nature and whatnot.

Here are some favorite pics:

I really loved this "No Prostitution" sign hanging outside of the Denny's in San Jose--like, is that really necessary?  In all my life, I have never walked out of a Denny's thinking, "You know what would go great with that greasy sausage and bad coffee?  A hooker!"

Maybe it's a cultural thing.

We stayed one night in a town called La Fortuna, which is at the base of Arenal, an active volcano. We could see the volcano from our hotel room, and so when I woke up briefly at 5 a.m. to pee, I peeked out the curtains to see what it looked like at sunrise.  On my way back to bed I snapped a picture of the view.

When I got back into bed, all I could think was, "I wonder when in my life I will get another opportunity to truthfully and logically refer to taking a 'bathroom/volcanic photography break.'"  I hope soon.

On my trip I got to see many, many monkeys.  These two were in Manuel Antonio National Park, and it reminds me of why they are such a fascinating animal: monkeys manage to look so human--and so NOT human--at the same time, and it's really weird.  Like, if you look at it one way this momma monkey is all exotic and wild and stuff, but then you also remember that her expression is the exact same one you use when you're trying to remember where you parked your car.

We also saw a bunch of crocodiles.

One thing I made sure to buy before the trip was a disposable underwater camera, because I have always wanted to take one of those cool underwater pictures of myself. Thanks to Laura's underwater photography skills, I can now check that goal off my list:

If I had a snorkel and fins, that would have "Vacation Stock Photo" written all over it.

Some other totally vacation-y images:

Laura being pushed off the platform on our zipline tour

Laura again, with the world's most vacation-y drink

Kate and Laura on the beach

Kate in the hotel pool

Check out the rest of the collection here, if you're interested.