Costa Rica Gone Bust

From November 28-December 7 this Catholic country celebrates and observes what is called the Novena. It's basically a celebration of the Immaculate Conception of Saint Mary. Each day there is a special mass dedicated to Mary-interspersed with songs, prayers and fireworks- and followed by the giving of gifts. The gifts are mostly for the children and are food items or trinkets. It's a big deal and celebrated all over the country. The first lady, who is also the vice president, canceled school that day and handed out gifts of food to anyone who wanted to stand in line. 

Downtown there were at least a dozen of these large and beautiful altars to Mary in honor of La Purisima. I could only snap a couple of quick pictures as I stopped at a red light.

The kids school held a Purisima event too that was fun. They handed out noisemakers, rattles and whistles to the kids when we arrived. The mass was about an hour long and was an even mix of recitation, singing, firecrackers and handing out gifts of food and trinkets. 

What else would a 4 year old boy do with a whistle, a rattle and a noisemaker? A gun of course! Lol

Layne made friends with the man sitting behind us. They were tossing this orange (yes, the oranges here are green) back and forth.

One morning this week we went to the park to play. In this picture you can just see Layne in the blue striped shirt. He is surrounded by 3 grown women and a child who were all chasing him around the park trying to take selfies with him! He is a total heart throb here with his clear blue eyes and blonde hair. It was kind of hilarious and happens to us all the time!

Mitchell had the day off work on Thursday for La Purisima so we decided to take a long weekend in Costa Rica! We had some really fun things planned and we were all so excited! 

The border crossing is always a long, complicated and boring process.

Earlier in the week we got all the official paperwork we would need to cross the border with the car in order. We needed a document from a lawyer saying we are authorized to drive the car that is in the name of Mitchell's company. We also had to have a document from the police department authorizing us to leave the country in the car. Both documents were completed but unfortunately the one from the lawyer wasn't returned to us at the police station so when we got to the border crossing they didn't let us into Costa Rica. It was even more fun than that though! Nicaragua let us out of the country without the document but Costa Rica wouldn't let us in. Then when we turned around and tried to get back into Nicaragua they wouldn't let us back in without the document!! It took us 3 hours to complete the 1 mile trip out and back in the country.

Side note: Mitchell took this photo on the Panamerican Highway headed back into Nicaragua. Can you see the white cotton candy like stuff in this picture? Absolutely everything in this area is covered with that cotton stuff! Would you believe it's actually SPIDER WEBS!?!?!?? AHHHHHHH!

We were all pretty bummed that our Costa Rica plans got sacked. We decided to try and plan some last minute fun down at the south end of Nicaragua instead. Audrey and Mitchell hired a three wheeled bicycle taxi to take them to find a hotel. They found one that was clean and cheap and we said go for it!

We got Burger King for dinner and ate at a local park. About 10 minutes after we arrived a procession came down the street toward the town's Catholic church. It was the final procession of the Purisima.

Friday morning we took a rainforest zipline tour! It was 2.5 kilometers long, 17 platforms and we were zipping along for about 45 minutes!

All geared up and ready to go!

Adrenaline junkie #3 loved it from the start!

Adrenaline Junkie #2 also loved it!

She's not smiling but our first little Adrenaline Junkie loved it too!

This picture perfectly depicts Layne's feelings about the zipline. The eye roll says it all! He was NOT happy about being harnessed up and strapped to a stranger only do be flung down a long cable at break neck speed! Part of me felt like such a mean mom to make him do it anyway! He was not crying or hysterical at all (I wouldn't have gone that far) so I just let him endure the experience. Fortunately, by the end he was giving everyone high fives when they came in and once we were all done he was all smiles and said he had fun. We'll call it a win for overcoming a fear! Hah!

The kids come by their Adrenaline Junkiness honestly! I LOVE this stuff!

We didn't take any pictures later that day but we went to a new beach, Playa Coco, and it was absolutely gorgeous! After the beach we enjoyed our favorite local food restaurant in San Juan del Sur. 

Yesterday we met Santa at the mall! Audrey got overwhelmed and didn't go up but the boys enjoyed meeting him. They were thrilled when he spoke English to them too! There was a little band with a keyboard, french horn and a trombone playing the most beautiful live music!