Costa Rica! Dec 11, 22

On November 30th we flew from Malaga to San Jose, Costa Rica via a long layover in Madrid. In a few hours we felt like we had gotten a good flavor of Madrid sans museums.

Enjoying world cup with friends in Spain

Names in the sand one last time

Christmas festival of lights and music in Malaga.

Early morning train to the airport

Madrid!

We enjoyed the "las meninas de Valequez"

street art around the city.

Madrid's Plaza Mayor had a Christmas market - selling mostly silly toys and other ornaments things.

Came upon this amazing indoor tapas market with dozens of vendors. Get what you want and eat it there with a drink! We'll have to try the lobster tacos next time.

Look at those olives. Look at em.

Has got to be the largest cathedral in Spain.

After a taxi ride back to the airport, we sat on a plane for over 11 hours. It's cold out there!

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Welcome to our new temporary home in Costa Rica. We are in the pool daily, with the occasional macaws and other tropical birds flying nearby and overhead.

Monkeys at the beach.

Costa Rican pacific coast is warmer and much more humid than we're used to. The near-equitorial sun is too hot to be in for long. It's taken several days to get used to.

Playa Herradura down the street from our Costa Rican home.

We were lucky to catch a mommy sloth climbing a tree with her baby!

Making ornaments at our new local chruch in Jaco.

A day trip to Manuel Antonio park was well worth it.

Gorgeous beaches and swimming.

So much wildlife of deer, monkeys, iguana, caiman, sloth and more right near the beach.

Dinner at el Avion was a unique experience.

And a fantastic sunset with a late rain.

Parker started playing soccer with a local group.

Boys were excited to decorate our Costa Rican christmas tree with their new ornaments.

Who knew this is what a star fruit tree looks like.

We like Costa Rica and are navigating our way in a more humid/hot and rural environment than we're used to. We're connecting with the community and living life outside of the normal resorts and tours that vacationers experience. Not sure how long we'll be here but still have a ton of natural beauty, activities, and wildlife to discover.

Trying homeschooling for the first time, but with a connection to their teachers in Spain. We're together most of the day and are making our own path.