David and Sharon and Alexi and Mateo's Adventures: 2025

Over Midwinter Break Sharon, David and Mateo left cold NYC and headed to tropical Costa Rica. This trip was a birthday trip in honor of Sharon and David both turning the big 5-0, and also a celebration of Sharon being named the NYS recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.	Mateo joined us on this trip to Costa Rica, while Alexi instead went down to North Carolina to visit his aunt and cousin and tour North Carolina colleges. It was strange to travel as a family of three, though everyone got to travel over break so it was a win-win.
We were supposed to visit Costa Rica in April 2020...though our plans were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. We waited five years to go on this trip. It was totally worth the wait!	Pura Vida is Costa Rica's mantra, and it translates to "pure life" and its meaning is "everything is good". We had this feeling of contentment and joy during our trip, and hope to carry it back with us to NYC.
Mateo shows off his SMS Pride on our first day in Costa Rica. This trip represented a vacation from practicing piano 2+ hours a day for Mateo.	David was our fearless driver - the roads of Costa Rica have quite the reputation for being awful. David is a phenomenal driver from years as a cyclist avoiding potholes in NYC.
Our first stop in Costa Rica was Sokko Happy Food, a vegan restaurant recommended to us by Happy Cow.	Happy Food is a one-person operation with the same person as host, cook and waiter. We definitely recommend!
We ordered these delicious fruity milkshakes, and loved the presentation in mason jars with confetti straws.	For an app the famished travelers devoured the vegan nachos.
Sharon was very happy with her berry smoothie, since the advice she got from friends who had lived in Costa Rica was to get fresh fruits at every restaurant (they are sooooo good in Costa Rica!).	David enjoyed Agua de Sopa, translating to frog water, which consists of cane sugar, lime juice and ginger - it was so delicious that Sharon ordered one also!
Whenever we travel Sharon always orders the local veggie burger. This one did not disappoint.	The vegan food at Sokko made us truly happy - fake meat abounded in our appetizers and entrees!
This veggie cheeseburger was house made and delicious.	This is the Sandwich de No Pollo, ordered by both David and Mateo.
One of the really cool things about Costa Rica is the decorations in restaurant bathrooms. Sokko had a painting of a cherry blossom branch with fabric cherry blossoms glued to the wall as mixed media art.	Also in the bathroom were living plants, as well as this cool neon circle hanging from the ceiling that framed the plant and artwork.
We stayed at this beautiful Airbandb in Costa Rica called "Las Pavitas Arenal Suites Cabana Las Estrellas," which was gorgeous illuminated at night & even more beautiful in daytime.	These weary travelers were happy to lay down together after finally arriving in Arenal. We were also super happy to all share a bedroom together.
Mateo was thrilled that he got to have a loft bed...	...which he slept in with his planet stuffies.
"Cabana Las Estrellas" in daylight...	...including outdoor seating to take in the view of Arenal Volcano.
The next morning it was off to a guided tour of North Fields chocolate and coffee plantation.	All members of our family were excited for this tour (we are HUGE chocolate fans though not coffee drinkers - tea is our thing).
Here is a picture of the cacao bean after harvesting.	Mateo samples the white cacao bean on his tongue.
Our tour guide showed us "chocolate trees" with cacao beans growing on them.	And here is the chocolate in liquid form, which we got to drink. We tried both milk and dark chocolates, and all of us liked the dark chocolate best.
Sharon only has chocolate while traveling and on special occasions. She thoroughly enjoyed this.	Mateo, as the youngest member of our tour group, got to help stir the chocolate and sample the chocolate.
Coffee was the focus of the second half of the tour. We got treated to seeing the whole process of how a cup of coffee is made. Here are the coffee beans getting rinsed.	Here our tour guide grinds the coffee beans in a traditional coffee bean grinder.
Literally they use a nylon sock to filter the coffee, and it flows drip by drip into this cute sloth cup.	All of these steps lead to a cup of perfectly blended, rich, Costa Rican coffee.
Though Sharon as an Irish and English lass usually drinks tea, she decided to try a cup o' coffee (how could she resist in this adorable sloth mug?!?!?).	Sharon is glad she tried it, and had her first ever cup of coffee in Costa Rica! We definitely wish Alexi had been there, since he is the coffee drinker in our family. Sharon plans to stick with tea, though.
Mateo poses by the coffee flavor wheel.	At the end of our tour we got to try final cups of coffee and chocolate.
North Fields had the very best gift shop of this entire trip, and here we picked up souvenirs for ourselves as well as gifts for family members. This sloth coffee filter is adorable; wish we could have taken it to NYC.	Mateo did, however, pick out this adorable sloth stuffie to accompany us on the rest of this trip and bring back to NYC.
After our tour wrapped up, we were famished and headed to Rain Forest for lunch.	Beautiful artwork of native flora and fauna adorn the walls of Rain Forest.
We had delicious mint lemonade as one beverage....	...along with some aguadulce, a traditional drink.
Rice is a very traditional Central American cuisine; here, it is served with some French fries and a salad.	David enjoyed a burrito with a salad, as well as some chips on the side.
Sharon enjoyed this simple yet satisfying lunch.	Mateo the foodie went for some quesadillas.
More beautiful artwork adorned the walls of the soda.	This painting of bamboo is so simple yet striking.
One of the reasons we were really excited to go to Costa Rica was to go hiking. Our first hike was in Arenal.	All of us bought new hiking books for this trip. David and Mateo got theirs from REI, and Sharon got these Merrill boots (which are awesome!) from Paragon. She almost went for the pink ones, though glad she got these blue ones which are waterproof.
On this hike to Arenal volcano there were some stairs to ascend through dense vegetation.	In our BC days Sharon and David embraced hiking as a result of their European backpacking adventure. We hiked the entire NY section of the Appalachian Trail, and recently we have been hiking along the Palisades in New Jersey.
Our awesome hiking boots got us to this lookout platform with the best view of Arenal Volcano.	We met some South American tourists, one of which is a photographer, who took these awesome family pics.
At the end of our hike we celebrated by raising our hiking poles.	This tradition started when Sharon and David hiked the Grand Canyon and celebrated after we completed our rim to rim hike.
After the morning C&C tour at North Fields and the afternoon hiking to Arenal Volcano, Mateo our foodie was ready for some delicious vegetarian dinner.	We headed to India Curry House, which was recommended in Happy Cow. We met the super cool owner and the story we heard about him is true - he was biking cross country in the USA, headed south, ended up in Costa Rica, had his bicycle stolen, so decided to stay and open up Costa Rica's first Indian restaurant.
Mateo adores Indian food - it is his favorite cuisine - so he was excited to eat at India Curry House.	The pooris and breads we got with our entree were simply fantastic and so delicious.
Mateo is a huge mango lassi fan, and this one did not disappoint.	Our appetizers were also scrumptious...samosas and onion fritters. When Mateo was little he wrote in his journal that onion fritters were his favorite food ever(!)
Mateo has his new sloth stuffie friend to be his bedtime companion.	This cool sloth stuffy truly hangs in there.
Mateo truly embraced relaxing in pajamas during our midwinter break vacation in the outdoor hammock.	Mateo has always been an avid reader, and probably due to Alexi's influence reads long novels and particularly loves series books.
We were excited to spend the second day of our Costa Rica vacation at Baldi Hot Springs, that came highly recommended to us by friends.	Mateo and Sharon by some sloth sculptures outside Baldi, eagerly anticipating a fun day.
Sharon adores this sculpture outside of Baldi. For once, a non-skinny woman is portrayed in a bathing suit and shown experiencing spa bliss.	Mateo, Sharon and David posed inside Baldi right beside one of the beautiful waterfalls.
Mateo first went down this kiddie frog slide...	...and created this very cool reflection in the wading pool.
Mateo also went down some big slides and was a bit dazed and confused after going down the middle slide that achieves super high speeds and flips riders over in the very end.	Sharon went down two of the slides (not the crazy middle slide after Mateo's experience), though her favorite aspect was the super hot sauna (which was highly recommended by our friend Kepfram).
Sharon loved getting doused in hot water in the sauna rooms.	Mateo gets in on the waterfall action also.
Sharon discovered these really cool plants that look like bracelets and necklaces by one of the Baldi wading pools.	She could not get over the gorgeous burgundy, pink and white colors of these plants and how the berries cascade down the branches.
At Baldi Sharon enjoyed a delicious vegetarian lunch.	David and Mateo were excited for pizza, though Costa Rican pizza does not stand up New York pizza.
Mateo takes an afternoon dip...	...and gets totally soaked!
David and Sharon looking and feeling FABULOUS at 50!!!	Mateo was oh so excited to swim up to the pool bar in order to order and drink a pina colada.
Then we went on the Arenal Volcano Night Hike.	"Here's lookin' at you kid - from my leaf perch!"
Sharon noticed this stunning pink flower during the night tour.	Our tour guide shone her powerful flashlight on this caterpillar cocoon - showing Mother Nature's artistic hand and perfect beauty.
We saw so many tree frogs during our night tour, and each one was unique and different. It's blue!!!	An unexpected delight on the tour was this humongous spider web with its creator inside.
Third day and Mateo still enjoys laying down in the hammock outside our air b&b early in the morning.	Mateo rests up before a day of Costa Rican adventure!
Mateo became very interested in sloths after the purchase of his sloth stuffie.	So David went on the internet and found us a morning tour at a sloths reserve.
Our tour guide was not only knowledgeable about sloths...	...it was incredibly apparent that he cared deeply for these creatures.
We looked through our tour guide's telescope and got this view of this beautiful and active sloth.	Sloths spend most of their time resting (sounds good to us parents!), so most sloths we saw were sleeping in trees.
The final sloth we spotted on our tour was very active in a tree, swinging around and eating leaves.	Mateo poses in his "Slow Down & Relax" sloth t-shirt from Costa Rica by a sloth sculpture.
We noticed sodas everywhere we drove around, and we wanted to check one out and eat in one. We chose "Soda Viquez" which was in town.	This soda seemed like the perfect choice since it had beautiful art decorating its walls, including this sloth, reminiscent of the sloths we saw on our tour.
In Costa Rica, "sodas" are small family run eateries that serve comida típica, which is local cuisine. They got their name from having soda fountains back in the day.	Sharon ordered the traditional Costa Rican dish "casado," though hers was the vegetarian version which contained rice, beans, a salad, lots of different vegetables and plantains. The name "casado" means married, and here the variety of foods are "married" together on one plate.
After our delicious lunch at the soda we settled in for a long drive to Monteverde. The roads were incredibly bumpy and full of potholes, though we had delightful views out of our window along the way, including this flock of dancing and frolicking lambs.	These Costa Rican horses also looked up and said hello. The brown horse appears to be a pony, so perhaps this is a mother and child. Horses were brought to Costa Rica by Spanish explorers, and the Costa Rican breed is the Criollo horse. Culturally Costa Rican horses represent liberty, strength and a connection to the land, and are protective spirits.
We arrived in Monteverde just in time for this gorgeous sunset....	...with beautiful hues of color in the sky and the sun itself a deep red-orange.
We had just enough time upon arrival in Monteverde to do a short hike called "La Raiz."	"La Raiz" took us to this really cool tree with extensive, exposed roots that look like a bridge.
In Moteverde we stayed at an Airbandb called Casa Ira Rosa, a peaceful retreat nestled in the tree canopy.	Our air b&b was so incredibly colorful and inviting, and the hostess left us delicious warm banana bread.
Our hungry family found our most favorite Costa Rican vegetarian restaurant: The Open Kitchen. It totally lives up to its name,as along one long side is the kitchen, where you can watch your food being made.	Our friends Ellie and Kepfram who lived in Costa Rica advised us to eat local fruits, since they are so good here. So we ordered a fruit bowl as an appetizer and had a delicious sweet syrup to pour over the fruits.
Mateo and David pose by a delectable vegetarian dinner under some colorful modern artwork.	Mateo ordered a giant pita sandwich which came in its own stand.
The next morning Mateo and Sharon headed to Treetopia Park for ziplining(!)	We were sooooo excited because it was our first time going ziplining.
Mateo took flight and was having such a blast that he confidently turned, looked at the camera, and waved.	Sharon, on the other hand, felt more nervous than Mateo, so she kept her eyes on where she was headed.
Here is the view from the top of the platform. You literally zipline into the clouds.	It was so amazingly cool ziplining through the forest & being above the treetops. Sharon even saw a rainbow(!)
For some of the ziplines Mateo rode on Sharon's back and it was so cool being literally together while experience gorgeous Mother Nature.	Off Mateo and Sharon go, ziplining above the treetops through the clouds.
Mateo and Sharon both flash the victory sign after successfully making it across the forest via multiple ziplines.	How did Mateo and Sharon get down? They jumped off the platform & went into free fall, which was totally awesome to experience.
Here is our AWESOME crew. We had these three gents all to ourselves because we went super early and were the very first zipliners that day.	Mateo and Sharon had an absolute blast ziplining with our incredible crew. PURA VIDA!!!
After ziplining, it was time to check out the famous Sky Walk, the most iconic puentes colgantes of Monteverde.	These gorgeous hanging bridges put you above the trees and into the clouds. There are 6 suspension bridges connected by forest trails with amazing views.
Some of the cloud bridges like this one were cloaked in fog, aka pea soup as Sharon's mom would say.	Miraculously we also had the hanging bridges all to ourselves so we got to take our time exploring.
This colorful sculpture in the middle of town caught our eye (and it is actually for sale if you have a way to get it back to your home country!!!).	Mateo poses by the fabulous yogi sloth sculpture bathed in all colors of the rainbow.
After a morning of ziplining and crossing hanging bridges for Mateo and Sharon, David joined up for an afternoon hike in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.	Here they give out numbered tags to hikers, to keep track of everyone and to know if anyone gets lost or injured. We spotted this waterfall along the Sendera Cuecha trail.
Sharon adores hikes and waterfalls, and this one did not disappoint.	Mateo is an outdoorsy kids and enjoys going hiking with Sharon and David.
Sharon was thrilled during this hike to once again cross a hanging bridge.	After a morning crossing six hanging bridges at Sky Walk, Mateo and Sharon were seasoned cloud bridge hikers.
Sharon thought she would have to convince the novice David to cross the bridge since he has a fear of heights...	...though David felt protected being surrounded by the trees and easily crossed the hanging bridge.
At the end of our hike while driving back to our Airbandb, we saw this miraculous double rainbow.	What lies at the end of the rainbow? We hope to one day find out!
Many images will remain in our minds from our Costa Rica vacation. The first are our lovely Airbandbs: Cabana Las Estrellas in Arenal...	...and Casa Ira Rosa in Moteverde.
Animals like these cows roaming free in the countryside will also reman in our memories.	Hiking over nearly a dozen bridges in the clouds is one of our best memories.
The beautiful paintings and public art adorning the walls of restaurants, shops and public bathrooms will remain entrenched in our memories.	Seeing the many different animals of Costa Rica was a huge highlight and these images of fauna will stay with us always.
Sharon is embracing the big 5-0 and loved celebrating her PAEMST Award in Costa Rica.	David is a phenomenal traveler, A+ driver and loved all the hiking and time outdoors we spent on this trip.
Mateo LOVED everything we did in Costa Rica (especially zip lining!) and will be taking sloth-o home to NYC.	While our family was in Costa Rica Alexi stayed in North Carolina and toured Duke University with his cousin Molly.
Mateo is a super well-traveled young lad who loves the outdoors.	Sharon, Mateo and David love traveling, hiking, and exploring new places (and foods!) together.
David was our Costa Rica rock-star driver.	And here is the flag of Costa Rica, as seen on our drive to Monteverde.
Costa Rica was such an incredible adventure.	It has been the adventure of a lifetime being a married couple, having children, and traveling the world together.

David and Sharon and Alexi and Mateo's Adventures

Wednesday, December 31, 2025

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Friday, February 28, 2025

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