For the holidays this year, my family and I decided to travel somewhere exciting. This year we went to Costa Rica! It was a long flight, but once we got there, it was amazing. Our first hotel in La Fortuna was right next to the Arenal volcano. It is a volcano that last erupted in 1968, and although it was obscured by clouds, we were able to occasionally see it. There were also many beautiful and exotic birds located all over the hotel grounds.

In La Fortuna, we started the first day with a chocolate tour. We learned all about chocolate and how it was made. We got to see the actual cacao pods and even taste the inside. We watched all the steps on making chocolate and got to make our own mixes at the end. It was very interesting to learn about. Then we went to a waterfall which was a 500-stair hike but had an amazing view. We even got to swim near the waterfall. At the end of the day, we went to natural hot springs where the water was 105 degrees. 

Our next destination was Monteverde, Costa Rica. On our first day there, we had a hike at night through the Monteverde cloud forest and surprisingly saw a lot of really cool bugs, including the red knee tarantula! We also saw a bat in a tree eating a fig. We learned about many animals and at the end of the tour, we saw a unique lemur-looking animal in a tree that was a part of the racoon family. On our second day of Monteverde, we had a 2-hour hike in the day through the Monteverde cloud forest and saw another red-knee tarantula. On this hike we crossed 5 very wobbly, hanging bridges and saw more amazing views. After that, we went on 7 ziplines that were over 3000 feet high in the air over forests! At the end of the ziplines, we got down by bungee jumping.

Our last destination was Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica. We had a boat ride where we saw a lot of cool birds and even crocodiles! We got to go super close to the crocodiles and watch them get fed. We even got to hold its tail! The next day we went white water rafting, where we saw more cool birds and got to raft level III rapids. On our last day, we had a boat ride through the mangroves and saw bats, snakes, frogs, crocodiles, birds, monkeys, and even an anteater! Then we had one last walk on the beach near our hotel and watched the sunset. 

Overall it was an amazing trip. We did lots of activities there and saw many cool animals. We learned many new things too. I will really miss Costa Rica and can’t wait to return again one day.