Month: June 2017

By Parker

First we went to the cacao farm. It was boring the first part. Mark kept me entertained and my mother, mommy. Mommy and me, and all the other people tried white pineapple. It was SO GOOD.

We tried the water apple. It tasted like it was fermented. Then we tried the cacao seeds. They were so good. We sucked on it and then we spit it out. It tasted milky. We got to see that the inside of the seed was purple. It was dried and roasted to turn it brown.

Then we went into this building and had liquid chocolate, pie-like chocolate, white pineapple (the outside looks the same as a yellow pineapple), bananas, and watermelon. It was so sweet.

After the cacao farm, we went to this restaurant and ate food. Then we went back in the car to drive to our house. It was a very looooooooooooooong. Then we got back to our house and went in the pool. Not exactly everybody joined. After that, we took showers. After showers, Dude went to tell a story to us about Teeny Taylor and Pinky Parker. He told the story. It was sad, funny, and scary. After we did that, mother stopped us to write our blogs and that’s where I am now. Goodbye.

By Taylor

In the morning we learned that we were going to a cocoa farm. We drove for a long time, more than 40 minutes. Maybe more than an hour. Finally we got there. We walked down a little pathway and got to this place where a map was, and a guy was standing next to it. He said, “Are you here for the tour?” We said, “Yes.” He replied, “Welcome, welcome, welcome, I am your guide, Juan Luis.”

Juan got us seated and we had some water. When my mom and my sister went to the bathroom, some other ladies came in. They were there for the tour too. They were from Germany. When everybody was together, we started off on the tour. First, he showed us the root beer plant, because the leaves smelled like root beer. Its scent drove away pests, like my sister.

Next we saw the cashew tree. The cashew was in a little pod, and the outside was poisonous. But it grew on it like an apple, hanging off of it like a leaf. Next we saw the white pineapple. He showed us how to make sure all pineapples are ripe. If you try to pick the leaves, and hold it by them, and they fall, it is ripe. I loved the white pineapple, even though I don’t like the yellow one. He let us try the white pineapple. It was much sweeter than yellow ones, and less grimey.

Then we saw the cacao trees. The cacao pods grow right off the trunk of the trees and branches. He showed us how they dried the beans, and grind them. Then we got to sit down and dip fruit in chocolate. Yum!

Then we went to a restaurant. The food took a long time, it seemed. Probably about five minutes. We saw an iguana while we were driving in, and it was still there when we came back.

Then we came home. We swam in the pool because we were so hot. Me and my sister, my grandma, and my dad and my mom. We stayed there for 10 minutes. Next, mom said we had to have a shower, and Dude said after the shower, he would tell us a Teeny Taylor and Pinky Parker story.

Next, when he was telling us the story, Parker wiggled around a lot in the hammock. Sometimes Dude had to stop because she was so wiggly. She was as wiggly as a worm when you’re picking it up, and that slimey too. We went and dipped our feet in the pool, and then I think we are going to have a delicious dinner and go to bed.

By Taylor

We were going on a hike in the morning with Juan, which means “John” in English. We started out at 6 AM. We went to this place called “Lady’s Bun.” We hiked down there. Juan collected some berries. He said if you eat these, for an hour afterwards, everything would taste sweet.

Then, we saw some trees with tons of squirrel monkeys. They are very pretty. They have some orange in them. Bright, shiny orange. We saw a mama monkey with a baby on her back, also. Then we went down to the river. Juan had his boots on so he made a rock bridge. He lifted me and Parker over the river. But the grown ups had to step on the rocks. Poor grown ups. I’m actually not very sorry for them…

We went down a trail for a long walk. It was hot, and kind of hard, but not at first. We saw a snake. Juan said it was poisonous. He was so tiny. About 5 inches long, and curled up about 2 inches. We saw a monkey ladder which is a vine with divots in it. It looks like a crumpled up pea pod, with holes, and is brown. He said it was so sturdy we could climb up one. We saw some giant trees. I climbed up some.

It was a giant loop back to the car. But before then, there was another little stream crossing and we heard a spider monkey howling that sounded like a baby throwing a tantrum. I joked that it was an opera singer. Finally, we got to the car. We drove home. We had a delicious lunch.

And we tried the berries. I did it wrong twice, so I never really got to test it. My grandmother, Babe, told us that it worked.

Then, me and Parker went into the pool. We played on our boogie boards for a while. It was fun. We got out. After that, I thought a lot about tying knots. So, Dude showed me how to tie some knots. He showed me a video about how to tie a lanyard. Then he showed me how to make a “monkey’s fist.” Me and Dude thought I could make that a business.

I started tying some knots in ropes and sitting on them. Then, I saw a frog in a divot in one of the poles that my rope was tied to. I ran to Parker, because she was known to catch frogs. She got it. Then, me and my sister ate some watermelon and played a game. We had a fun game.

We were stopped playing to write this blog. We’re about to have dinner and after that, Juan and his brother, he calls crazy, get to play some music for us. And that’s what I know for today.

By Parker

First I woke up in the morning, it was hot. Then we got some watermelon and went in the car to go on a hike in the jungle. It was only 6:30 in the morning.

The hike was hot, long, and exhausting. I took a ton of pictures. The place where we went was called “lady’s bun.” I took a picture of a monkey with a baby on its back in mid air. If you were wondering, it was a monkey baby. Then we saw a poisonous snake, it was creepy.

After we got back from the hike, we ate brunch. Then we went swimming in the pool with our boogie boards. After we swam, mom said it was quiet time. During quiet time I read a book with mom in the hammock. Mom said she was going to move a mosquito net onto Taylor’s bed, and she said I had to put away my bathing suit. I dropped my bathing suit and discovered a frog. It was dry. It didn’t look so happy. Me and my grandmother put the frog and a little bit of water in a lid and set it out so it could get moist and maybe survive. After that I went to dip my feet in the pool and I saw a baby frog floating. I scooped it out and fed it to the chickens because it was dead.

After we did that and went back in the hammock and read more books but mom was doing other things. My sister, Taylor, ran in and said there was another frog. I picked it up and went to put it in the garden, and I noticed that it was the one I put in the water to get moist.

After that, I went in the pool, then I played a different game out of the pool when I got out. After we played that game, we played a different game, then mom had to stop us early to write our blogs because we are going to have music after dinner with Juan and his brother.

Good night. 💤

By Parker

It was at 4 am that I got up. I heard “red, red, red, red”. I did not know what it was. So I went downstairs to check in. I felt really scared so I checked in with my mom. She said it was just a frog. I explained it sounded like a robot and fire alarm. She said, climb into my bed and cuddle with me until 5 am.

At 5 am, I went to go look for frogs in the pool. But I noticed I didn’t have my headlamp so I went up to get it. And I came back down, looked for frogs, but there was none. So, I played with my sister, and it was very fun.

We both looked for frog eggs in the pool. There were more than 29, I thought. Then we went swimming with our boogie boards in the pool. We stayed in the shade because mom said don’t go in the sun, because we would get a sunburn.

Then mom and dad got us out of the pool to drive to a beach where they said we might be able to catch a wave on our boogie boards. We saw white faced capuchins on the way there. They are a monkey and if you show your teeth it is a sign of disrespect and they will grit their teeth back at you. And that is a sign of bad luck.

Me and my sissy were playing in the car. We got out when we got to the beach. I went into the water and jumped the waves with my mom. And once we did that, I got out my boogie board, I boogied the waves. I got drenched and sandy, I had to wash off.

When we got home, they were cleaning out the pool and before they cleaned we saw baby tadpoles and I caught some and they are still out. They are so cute. They were really tricky to catch.

After that, I took a nap in the hammock. I napped for 30 minutes actually. When I got up, me and my sister went to play with stuffies. Then we went down to the beach to see the turtles be released.

First, we went in this little thing that was protecting so the birds couldn’t get in. After we went in, we got to a spot where we started digging. We were trying to dig for baby turtles and the eggs that they came from. We dug them up, we found two baby sea turtles that had hatched but hadn’t been able to get out to be released. They were adorable.

After we saw them, we brought the eggs and separated them into ones that were already cracked and ones that weren’t cracked. We cracked ones that weren’t already cracked and some had this yolk stuff that meant they hadn’t been fertilized. The other baby sea turtles didn’t have the time, and they were still in the shell, and they were already dead.

Then, we got to release the baby turtles. After we released the turtles, I was playing in the waves and a big wave came to get me and I got drenched and very sandy. Then we went to an oasis to wash me off. It was cool and warm at the same time.

Then we saw the sunset. It was boring for us. We went back to the house, had dinner, typed up our blog, and that is where we are now.

By Taylor

In the early morning, thunder and lightening were at my window, and the waves sounded like a hurricane when they reached the shore. There was a sound like an alarm that kept saying “red, red, red.” I learned later that it was a frog. It had laid a ton of eggs in the swimming pool. Ugh!

We had a really nice breakfast, then my sister and I took our boogie boards into the pool. We stayed there for an hour playing, but then we had to drain out the pool, and we found tadpoles! Then we got ready to go to the town and the beach. There were a few river crossings. When we were driving along, we saw monkeys right beside the road. They were white faced capuchins.

Then we drove to the beach. At first I was scared of the waves. Then Dude (my grandfather) helped me learn that the roller waves are not so bad and you can just glide over the top. The water was so warm it wasn’t relaxing. It was as warm as a tub after it has been sitting for 10 minutes. The bottom was sandy and comfortable. The top of the water was the blue you see as a crayon in a coloring set.

We went to town and got some groceries, then we drove home. I saw a squirrel monkey on the side of the road. We have now seen all four types of monkeys in Costa Rica.

When we got home, we had a delicious lunch and a siesta. Then we went down to the beach to help release some green sea turtles. First we went into a cool little shelter that had netting all around it. There was sand inside with turtle eggs buried inside. Our guide came to a particular spot and started digging the sand up. He found two baby sea turtles and a lot of unhatched eggs. Then we went outside to a particular spot and we separated the loose shells from the untracked eggs. We counted both, I don’t know why. Then we had to crack open the uncracked eggs. My sister didn’t like this process. A lot of the eggs were just yoke. But three of them were going to hatch. One was in stage one, one was in stage three, and one was in stage four. Stages are how much growth the turtle had inside the egg.

Then we went back and dug up another nest. This time there were no baby turtles, only cracked eggs and whole eggs. We went to the same spot, and separated the cracked eggs and the uncracked eggs. There were three uncracked eggs. Two were as small as pills. And one only had a turtle at stage five inside. We counted them all again.

We took the baby turtles and each person got to put one out and watch it race to the surf. They were so cute. Then Parker was playing in a wave, and boom, she went under. She was OK, but pretty sandy. We washed off in the oasis on the beach and headed home. My parents decided to stop and watch the sunset.

Finally we went up, and when we got to the top, Parker and I were out of breath and wanted water. We asked Grace for some water, and she gave it to us. We had a delicious dinner, and fell asleep.

By Parker

After breakfast, we had to pack a lunch for the tour. We were going to see dolphins and other things. We drove out to the dock. It felt very crowded. Not like shoulders are bumping crowded, but eventually, we got on our boat and saw the other family there. There was a mom, there was a brother, and there was a little girl named Taiga. It was a nice name.

Once we got on board, me and Taiga were talking on the top deck. She told me that her dad had died when she was 6, three years ago. Her dad died from diabetes. He had it for one day and then died in the night. I thought it was a really sad story. I was barely crying by then. She told me her favorite color, her favorite animal. Her favorite animal was dolphins. And then, we saw a dolphin pod! I was already on the deck so I took the most famous spot. Then we saw the dolphins swimming under our boat, around our boat, and then they were gone.

Two minutes later, they were back. Swimming and jumping all around us. Twenty minutes later, we got off the boat to see the animal sanctuary. The people said you can take pictures and stuff, blah blah blah like that. Then they let us in to see the Scarlett Macaws. The keeper fed them grapes. They didn’t come out of their hiding. They had three eggs. One was not going to survive they thought.

So we went to the next animal. Then we saw the cute, little, adorable Tayra. It was so cute that I could barely resist myself. I wanted to feed it, so they let us feed it raw meat. The story of the Tayra was… I totally forgot by now. Anyway, after the Tayra, we went to see the Kinkajous. It was very tired, so it didn’t want to eat the food. But there was another one who was awake and she ate the cantaloupe beautifully.

After that, we went to see the parrots. The parrots said “there’s a monkey in the kitchen, help, help!” It was very weird. Then we went to see the Ocelot. It was sleeping at first. It was so cute. But then it woke up and started making this weird sound. They said it was because their mate was ready to be released back into the wild. But she was not. And she let off the smell that let him know that she was ready to make babies with him. She was really excited. When she saw that he wasn’t there, she started getting angry and anxious.

After that, we went to see the Peccary. It was weird. It looked a lot like a pig. It went “snort” mostly. After them, we went to see the white faced capuchins. You couldn’t show your teeth, it was a sign of aggression. After we saw the capuchins, we went to see the last thing — a sloth, which I hated because they didn’t really do anything.

Then we went back to our boat. Which went to take us snorkeling. Everybody went to snorkel, but Taylor and Dude. I got bored of snorkeling, so I stopped. I went to play with Taylor and Dude. Taiga joined us. We played and played until we got tired. We got back on the boat and ate a snack. Then we sailed back to the dock and got out, got in our car, and drived and drived and drived back to our house.

It was pouring rain, so we took a shower in the rain. Then I went upstairs and water was leaking into our bedroom. Dude and mama cleaned it up. Then we went downstairs and typed up on our blog.

By Taylor

Most of the morning we played games while grown ups went on hikes. We had breakfast. We got in the pool. It was too cold for me, so I got out. Parker was lonely so she got out. My dad and my mom went out to the beach. Me and my sister and my grandparents stayed here. We played a new game and me and my sister played it again. We came over and cuddled with Dude, then we went out to play in the hammocks.

After a while, we got bored of it, so we played the card game “Five Crowns”. Our mom and dad got back. They had found macaw feathers and turtle eggs on their walk at the beach. We had lunch, it was delicious. Then it was siesta time.

First we learned a new game called Hanabi. It was fun. Then me and Parker got bored. Really bored. My sister went swimming…again! We watched her until Babe came back. She brought news that people invited her to a turtle release. A turtle release is where they release the turtles onto the sand and they waddle out into the water.

We started driving to it, and then there was a river in the middle of the road. We drove right through it. We couldn’t find out where the turtle release was happening. Until we came to this soccer place to ask for help. Then we saw tons and tons of leaf cutter ants in rows on the ground.

And up in the trees, monkeys! Tons of them! We watched them for a lot, but then we heard deep rumbling noise. It went on, but we walked and found a girl who played against my dad in a soccer game, named Rachel. She was very fun and told us the deep grumbling noise was the howler monkeys.

She invited to text us so we could go to another turtle release. She thinks the eggs are leatherback turtles. They haven’t hatched here for 10 years! Then we went back to the car. We drove for a while and then we stopped. There were howler monkeys right over the top of our car. We watched them for a while and then we went to the house where we were staying. It was dinner time when we came back.

We ate dinner and we went upstairs to brush our teeth and everything. We came back down and wrote this blog.

By Parker

After breakfast today, we played “Five Crowns” for three rounds. After we got bored of playing that game, we played “Oregon Trail” card game. It’s where you die and stay alive, but there are cards that say “snake bite — you die.” After we got bored of that, we went in the pool. After that, we got very bored and were asking our grandparents to play Oregon Trail with us. No one died. My name was Rambling Rose. Taylor’s name was Kasha. Mom’s name was Break Apart Girl. That’s a funny name, isn’t it? Well, anyway…

After the card game, we went in the pool again. I was still in my bathing suit, from when we last went in the pool. Then we played more card games and more and more. Until it was lunch time. Before lunch, mom and dad had gone on a walk in the beach and found Macaw feathers. I put them on my walking stick. They looked pretty.

Anyway, we had lunch then. After lunch, we played “Hanabi” — it was very fun. While mom and dad took naps we played with cute, new stuffy owl dolls. They were adorable. Then I went in the pool AGAIN.

Babe and dad got back from their hike at the beach and they had news to share. There were turtle eggs hatching and going to be released into the ocean in 20 minutes. We had to get there fast, but we didn’t know where to go, so we had to get help. We weren’t going to make it. So we went to this place and we saw monkeys in the trees. Mom said there were lots of ants so she put me on her back.

Then, we heard howler monkeys and we went to talk to a person who dad played soccer with. Her name was Rachel. I thought it was a pretty name. We saw a trail of leaf cutter ants. Then we went back to the car. On the drive back, we saw howler monkeys, and we heard them first. They made a terrible screeching sound like a backwards burp. We call them the BB monkeys.

Then we drove back and had dinner. Then we went up stairs, got ready, put our PJs on, and came downstairs to write our blog. And that’s where we are now.

By Parker

First, I woke up. I felt drowsy. It was 5 AM. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t. Macaws were screaming outside and it felt warm. Me and my sister were going to play, and eventually we decided to play. Our game was romantic, scary, and a little bit sad. After that, we went downstairs seeing that we could have breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, toast and a bit of bacon. I liked the toast most.

Then we got ready for our hike to the beach with the waterfall. But Juan, our guide, said there was a boa constrictor in his trash can. So we walked over and looked in his trash can. The boa was making a hissing sound. After we saw the snake, which was creepy to me and I didn’t want to touch it at all, I went to go on the hike.
We walked down the path, which was long, exhausting and weird. I was talking with Taylor, we were talking about our fears. My fear was hermit crabs. Once we got down to the beach, I saw a hermit crab and I picked it up and named it Kermit and dropped him in my hat. I thought that Kermit would feel very hot in the hat so I put my hand over him. But after a while, I got tired and let him go. But then, I saw TONS of hermit crabs and picked up exactly 20. They were crawling in my hat.

Once we got to a little oasis, mom, dad, and Juan jumped in and got drenched. I stuck my feet in. The water was coldish-warm and it was very very hot outside. We did a lot of walking, we came to a little stream that Juan said to walk up (in Spanish). It sounded weird. My feet felt so good in the little stream. Once we did some walking, we saw a monkey up in a tree near the waterfall.

Then, dude accidentally tripped, but not all the way, like stubbed toe tripped. We kept on walking until we came to this part where we had to walk up. Juan went up first to help us up. I didn’t trip at all. Juan carried me over the hard parts. And then, I was absolutely astonished once we got to the waterfall. First, my mom did it. She took a shower in the waterfall. Then, Juan did. Then Babe, then dad. I was a little bit nervous so I stuck my foot in it. So I held mom’s hand when i went in, it felt cold, a bit warm, and it felt like hail a lot. I went in the waterfall five times. It felt good on the walk back.

Once we hiked up to our house I was terribly hot. I immediately got on my bathing suit and jumped in the pool. It felt refreshing and nice on your feet. I threw a rock into the pool. It made a kerplunk. Then I dived in after it, catching it in mid-fall, three times. Then I got out. I was now ready, and I dried off for lunch. For lunch, we had chicken, tortillas, and avocado. I had my tortilla with butter. It tasted sweet, but not too sweet.

After lunch it was quiet time. Me and my sissy went out to play. It was hot on the walk out. The stones to walk out to where we were going to play were hot. We ran. But the place was too hot where we were going to play. We played in a different place. It was cool and in the shade.

After a long time of playing, we got tired and asked Dad if we could go in the swimming pool. He said, “all right” and we went in. Once I did a lot of swimming, Dude came in and taught me how to swim a little bit. He said, put half of your head under water with your eyes closed, then the other side. But after that, he taught me that after you go underwater, he taught me to come up and blow out of your mouth and nose and you won’t get water in them. That was a good lesson for the day.

Then my mom said we had to go in for showers. We cooperated. The shower felt warm on my skin. It almost felt like it tingling almost. Then we went to have dinner with our friends. They spoke Spanish. I couldn’t know what they were saying. So I just listened anyways.

After dinner, I sat on the couch to type my blog with my mother. And that’s where I am now. If you want to know more, I’ll tell you tomorrow what we’re doing. Goodbye.