Waterfall Fun

We hiked down a steep mountain to see an awesome waterfall! The boys enjoyed swimming in the area just down from the waterfall. We loved seeing them play in the natural area without diving boards, slides, etc...just God's wonderful creation!

Ready to hike down to the waterfall

You can see the waterfall at the start of the trail. We took this picture on a platform.

We made it!

Beautiful

Stillman chillin' on a rock. His ankle was sore from a slight twist the day before at the springs.

Testing the waters

Fun times!

Stopping for a picture before going for a swim.

Come on in, the water's fine!

We found 2 golf tees in the sand at the bottom of the waterfall. 

Fighting the current

Silly Stillman!

Fun at the Springs

We went to a hot springs "water park" in La Fortuna. There were several pools that were warm and a few cool pools. This was a great time of fun for our group. We played in the pools. There were water slides. (We will post videos of the boys on the slides later this week.) We had a buffet dinner there then hit the pools again in the dark!

Marco Polo in the cool spring pool

Loving the down time and just having fun!

Beautiful picture of the hot springs area

Birds

After dinner fun in the hot spring pool

Mr. Norment enduring the waterfall off the rock.

More Pictures from our Chocolate Tour

Ready for the trek to the Chocolate area

Butterfly area-they were recording the different types in the rainforest

Toucan 

See the small green leaves? Those are being carried by ants! There were a ton of them doing this

Listening to our tour guide

Cocoa plant

Smelling the beans inside...we even tasted them straight from the pod!

Part of the process of making chocolate

Drying area

Roasted beans

Grinding beans in a 500 year old lava stone

Using a more modern day grinder

Still grinding

Using muscle to grind

Getting the last bit out

Watching the chocolate presentation

Tasting chocolate

Making a hot chocolate drink

Fancy way of stirring it 

Ready for our hot chocolate drink. They had different things to mix with it like chili pepper, vanilla, nutmeg and more.

Steps of making chocolate and cocoa

Fresh batch

Tasting dark chocolate on a spoon. The boys thought it was yummy once they had added brown sugar and cinnamon. 

One more taste!

Looking at how the cocoa pods grow. Notice them growing on the trunk of the tree.

We loved that our guide, Javier, had cell service in the middle of the rainforest. He was on a call with another group that is coming soon.

Mr. Norment on the suspension bridge.

Cool plant