My family and I went to Costa Rica for Spring Break on March 14^th and we stayed for 6 days.  We stayed in three different places.  The first place we stayed was Tamarindo.  In Tamarindo it was really crowded and there were a lot of tourists.  The beach was flat and wide with large rocks in some places. The sand was a pretty shade of white and it looked beautiful at sunset.  

We stayed at Sunshine Condos and the reason I loved it was because it was very close to the beach!  My favorite thing we did in Tamarindo was surf.  I had never surfed before so this was a new experience for me.  I was very bad in the beginning but after a while I rode my first wave in all the way to the shore!  We all ended up surfing for about two hours and we were tired. We ate lunch at a burger place and then me and my mom went back to the condo and my sisters and dad stayed at the beach. 

Later that day we tried to go to dinner early.  The  restaurant  we wanted to go to was 30 minutes away in Salsalito.  But on the way we ran into some problems.  The first problem was heavy traffic on a narrow road. Then we pulled up to a huge hole in the road with a yellow construction cone in front of it so we turned around and went another way.  Next we pulled up to a road with a river running across it.  My dad wanted to cross it but the rest of us didn’t so we went the last way we could which was also blocked with a water so we headed back home and ate at Patagonia in Tamarindo for the second night in a row.  I got the grilled chicken which was delicious! 

The next day we drove three hours to Upala.  In Upala we stayed at the Origins Resort.  It was fancy .  The rooms were circular huts with grass growing on top and a sunroof.  Each of the huts deck had a jacuzzi, a fire place and a couch. The best part was the view of Nicaragua!

There was also a view of a volcano! My favorite part about Upala was the nature hike we took to see a beautiful waterfall and many different cool plants and animals!  

After our two hour hike to the waterfall, horses were waiting for us to take us back to the resort.  The ride back only took us about an hour or less.  Once we got back to the stables we drove in a golf cart back to the restaurant. We ate lunch and there was gluten free key lime pie for dessert which was yummy.  After lunch we went to go chill out in our huts.  Betsy and I went to put on our bathing suits and got in the jacuzzi.

A little later we went lagoon fishing and caught a lot of fish.  There were three different types of fish in the lagoon: Rainbow Bass, Spotted Bass, and Tilapia!  Betsy caught the most fish (six) and beat the resort record for how many fish you can catch in one hour.  I caught five fish and Leigh caught three.  

The next day we had a farm tour and we saw lots of cool things like sugar cane being pressed (which looks like green juice and tastes very sweet).  We also saw chickens and quail.  Then I was very surprised to see that the resort raised their own shrimp and prawns for the restaurant!  

After the farm tour we drove two hours to Las Catalinas and as soon as we arrived I knew this would be my favorite place.  Las Catalinas was a cute town on a hill with a grocery store and restaurants within walking distance.   The food we ate there was very good.  Once we were checked in and our bags were in our rental house we headed down to the beach.  

I was surprised when I saw black sand!  It was hot for bare feet because the beach was dark.  My dad, my sisters and I went down to swim while our mom walked on the beach.  The water was chilly at first but it got warmer and eventually it felt normal.  My dad rented a boogie board and Betsy and I shared it.

The day after we arrived we went down to the beach and we hopped on a boat that took us to the middle of the sea and we fished!  First we were looking for Blue Marlins, Mahi Mahi and Sword Fish but then after a while we started looking for Grouper.  We caught about 10 Grouper!  While we fished we spotted at least twelve sea turtles and dolphins swam next to our boat!

We headed back to shore and my parents said that they would make grouper for dinner but I had chicken from the other night instead. Our last day there was a half day. We all spent the morning catching minnows, crabs, and sea slugs!  We also found a lot of very pretty shells and brought them home. My favorite things I caught were: a huge crab, minnows, little crabs, and I even saw some sea urchins! 

I loved coming to Costa Rica and I hope to do it again next Spring Break!