by Missie Hills | Mar 30, 2022 | Central America, International Adventures, North America, Uncategorized
As we left Monteverde with beautifully clear skies, we had a newfound hope that our beach visit would be rain free. So far, our risk of visiting Costa Rica during the rainy season hadn’t exactly panned out, but we were due for a little good luck. We had a good feeling about Tamarindo.
Playa Tamarindo is known for its laid back culture and gorgeous white sandy beaches. It’s a hot spot for surfers and hippies alike. We fit right in. Our beach bungalow at, Ocho Artisan Bungalows, reminded us more of Thailand then of Costa Rica, but we didn’t mind. We were just ready for some sunshine and relaxation. The kids were ready for some pool time.
It took a lot of convincing to pry the kids away from the pool, but we finally managed to make our way to the beach. The evening glow from the sun was just right. Our good feeling about Playa Tamarindo was becoming a reality.
The next morning, we set out early in search of breakfast. There is a local hotspot on the beach called Waffle Monkey. They have gluten free waffles for those with tummy sensitivities like me! We had a big day ahead of us… We chartered a private sailboat for the day! We spent the day under the sun spotting sea turtles, snorkeling, and enjoying the ocean water.
We capped the night off with a horseback ride through Tamarindo. I wasn’t sure how Ethan would do on his own horse, but turns out he was a pro. I was left to manage a very wiggly toddler on my horse. The ride was exciting though, and the boys loved it.
For our last adventure, we boarded a flat bottomed safari boat and set way into the winding tributaries that lead into the ocean. We were hoping to see a crocodile or two, and our guide told us we might just get lucky! As we ventured deeper and deeper into the maze, we spotted monitor lizards, many birds, and so many different types of crabs, I couldn’t keep count. It took a while, but we finally found one lonely baby crocodile hiding in the branches. We felt accomplished.
We have started a new tradition in the Baltics that we carried here to Costa Rica, a family professional photoshoot. This is a great way to ensure that I get a few amazing photos of us as a family (me included for once). We use a company called Localgraphers to find us the perfect local photographer. These photos were taken by local photographer, Shade Souc.
Our time in Costa Rica was at its end. We had spent 2 weeks travelling the northern part of the country seeing everything from dinosaurs to sloths. The country wasn’t what we had quite expected. Or maybe I should say the trip wasn’t what we quite expected… What started with food poisoning at the Blue River and torrential rain at the cloud forest, ended with a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean. We were often reminded of the number one rule when travelling with children… Be Flexible.
And also of the number 2 rule… Enjoy every moment. Because this stage of life, when our children are little like this, is incredibly special. 2020 smacked me in the face hard. It woke me up and reminded me that time is precious . The Costa Ricans know this to be true, and that is why they have gifted us with the feeling of Pura Vida.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Mar 30, 2022 | Central America, International Adventures, North America
Visiting a rainforest during the rainy season may sound interesting. Sure, you’ll avoid the tourists, but there is a reason why the tourist season is when it is… and that reason is, quite obvious to us now, to avoid the rain.
The rain tested us in a way that only parallel parking a manual vehicle on an incline in Casablanca has tested us before. Well, getting lost during the torrential downpour probably had a little more to do with it I suppose. Expert tip: if you are planning on getting rained on during your trip, make sure to allow enough cushion time in between activities for your clothes and shoes to dry out. Our hotel thankfully had portable heaters that we used to turn the bathrooms into mini saunas where our gear could dry. Even so, we still spent the entirety of our time in Monteverde damp.
Rain or no rain, we were hellbent on hiking. After checking into Koora Hotel, we decided to start with their onsite reserve, Reserva Aguti. They gave us a paper map of the trail, we put on all of our rain gear, and set off. We could handle some moderate drizzle right?
The hike started wonderfully. The giant trees covered in vines kept the drizzle at bay. Ethan had suddenly discovered his fear of ants on this trip. So, we kept on watch for leaf cutters and bullet ants along our path. We were really enjoying the beautiful walk when the rain started to pick up. Within a few minutes, the moderate drizzle turned into torrential downpour. We were hiking up a hill. So suddenly, our walking trails turned into streams. We were quickly soaked. We accidently left the paper map in the car and was relying on Jason’s phone for navigation, but we couldn’t risk getting Jason’s phone wet in the downpour and the service wasn’t working anyhow. Before we knew it, we were lost. We stumbled around in the rain for a while climbing over large broken tree branches and sliding down muddy hills all while everyone was crying and generally very miserable. By continuously moving downward, we made it out of the reserve in one piece although soaked to the core. We decided that was enough for one day. We would try again tomorrow.
Well tomorrow came and the rain didn’t leave. But we had plans, exciting ones! I had booked us a morning tour of the local coffee plantation. I love coffee, I wasn’t about to miss it. So, we leveled our expectations for the day with an understanding that we would be wet and headed out to brave the rain.
It rained a lot during the coffee plantation tour, and my camera didn’t like it. I began to worry that I ruined it forever. Everett also didn’t like it. I had to tend to a level five toddler meltdown midway through the tour. Ethan really enjoyed learning about the plantation though, and once I calmed Everett down, I did too.
We were already pretty wet, although not quite as bad as our hike from the day before. So, we decided to continue our day at the Selvatura Adventure Park. I was excited to visit this park’s hanging bridges. They also have one of the most famous ziplines in the world. While I explored the sloth and reptile exhibits with the kids, Jason had a chance to zipline in the cold rain. Our hike on the hanging bridges trail ended up being beautiful. It did downpour at the very end, but by this time we were very used to being soaking wet.
I will say I tested my camera’s waterproofing limits to the extreme on this trip. At one point, the controls started reading out random gibberish. The internal lenses were so full of steam, the autofocus was rendered useless. However, a night in our heated bathroom dried it out, and I haven’t had any problems since. As we left the parking lot of our hotel and started our road trip to the beach, the clouds cleared, the sun came out, and it was a beautiful day in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. We had missed it all by one day.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Mar 29, 2022 | Central America, International Adventures, North America
We’ve been near volcanos before, but never like this. There is something phenomenal about seeing a perfectly symmetrical cone plunging out of the ground, a little over a mile high, before you. Arenal has been dormant since 2010, but we still felt a few tremors here and there.
Our risky personalities decided to visit the area during the rainy season. We weren’t sure if we would even get a clear view of the mountain. It did rain a lot, but we had enough good periods to hike the volcano and see the lava fields up close. We didn’t get a perfect view of Arenal, but we still got a beautiful one.
The best part of the 4 mile lava field hike ended up being the coffee shop at the end. It had beautiful views of the volcano and excellent coffee of course. It was a nice resting point where we could watch the storm clouds roll around us.
Our bungalow at the Montana De Fuego Resort, had an even more beautiful view of the countryside along with a good variety of large insects and birds. The hotel’s springs weren’t quite hot, but the boys absolutely loved them. I absolutely loved the hummingbirds. Jason absolutely loved the swim-up bar.
We came for the volcano, but the La Fortuna waterfalls stole our hearts. The La Fortuna waterfalls hike isn’t that bad… that is if you ignore the 500 step staircase to get to the bottom! Every step was worth the stunning view from the bottom.
Between the light rain and the waterfall splatter, we were soaked but still happy all while channeling the Pura Vida. We had good hopes that the rain would hold out for us at our next stop in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. but we were wrong…
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Mar 29, 2022 | Central America, International Adventures, North America
It had been 2 years since we travelled internationally. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but in 2 years, a lot happened. The last international adventure we had, we were a family of 3 with a little bun in the oven. We had ideas and plans for the adventures ahead of us. We booked trips to Japan, Mexico City, and the United Kingdom. Our new family of four was itching to explore. Little did we know the world had something else in mind for us all, a whole new type of adventure called quarantine.
The year of 2020 brought a lot of new perspective for me. I started taking a closer look at how I valued myself, and I realized how tangled I had tied up my self-worth in many things that were out of my control. I started to see my privilege in a different light and suddenly my desperate need to explore seemed shallow. I dug deeper and discovered that the wanderlust I craved stemmed from my core value of curiosity. That’s when I realized that I should stop comparing my minor sufferings to the major sufferings of the world. That’s when I knew that I could live into my core value of curiosity in so many unique ways outside of travel.
So after a year of self-discovery, we boarded a plane once more and set our sights on Costa Rica to discover the Pura Vida.
We had 2 weeks of adventure planned. Just to make it fun, we decided to gamble and visit during the rainy season. The gamble didn’t pan out, it rained… a lot. However, the rain didn’t alter the beauty of the country or the time we had together as a family.
For our first stop, we decided to go deep into the northern countryside off the beaten trail to relax in The Blue River Resort. We weren’t sure what to expect as this resort seemed less popular then many others we looked at, but it quickly blew us a way. It was absolutely gorgeous with beautiful gardens everywhere. And so many birds!
Many people come here for the river rapids. We were here for the dinosaurs. Truth be told, we chose this spot specifically because they have a hiking trail with large fake dinosaurs that peaked our interest. Seeing dinosaurs in the country where Jurassic Park was filmed seemed like a no brainer. Unfortunately, my risk taking eating habits caught up to me and I came down with horrible food poisoning the first night we got to the Blue River Resort. Darn that road side ceviche! While I stayed curled up in fetal position next to the trash can, Jason and E went out to explore dino land without me.
The resort had so much more to offer than dinosaurs. It was located at the base of an active volcano, Rincon. The minerals from the volcano created a stunning shade of blue in the river. The resort turned the active hot springs into pools. And when I say hot, I mean hot tub hot!
We spent hours walking the resort gardens. There was a hummingbird garden… a butterfly garden… a sloth garden… even a crocodile garden. We couldn’t find any sloths or crocodiles, but we did find some fun mud baths!
Our first stop exceeded our expectations and set the stage for the Pura Vida we had hoped for. Even with the bumps along the way, my newfound sense of self-discovery allowed me to enjoy every minute of it. Ok, maybe not the puking parts… but the memories that stuck are vast majority wonderful.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Jul 8, 2018 | International Adventures, North America
2018 has been a pretty hectic year for us. With my mom moving to Houston to be closer to us, we finally had the opportunity to take some mini weekend sabbaticals to visit old friends and explore cool cities. We started the year with a trip to Miami and a quick stop in the Bahamas. We made our way up to Chicago to catch a Cubs game. And we had a great family reunion in Waco. Nothing ever quite compares with spending time with family and friends. But we were craving some culture shock. So, when are dear friend asked us to join him on a weekend trip to Mexico City for his 30th birthday, we didn’t think twice.
It was a city I’ve always wanted to explore. But I never knew it was so easy to get to. It’s only a short 2 hour flight from Houston. With amazing restaurants, museums, and nightlife, a weekend doesn’t really do it justice. But in typical Hills Family fashion, we packed in as much as we could using Memorial weekend to give us the extra day.
We were meeting up with a group of 10 people all ready to party for the birthday celebration. And here we show up: Jason looking like a pack mule in his tropical dad shirt with a massive baby carrier on his back and me in my floppy hat and big camera on my neck. And of course Ethan who was more excited about playing with the red velvet ropes in the valet line at the hotel then meeting new people. I worried about how this group would react and if they would be okay hanging out with a 2 year old toddler wild card. Thankfully Ethan was a champ, and we didn’t have any bad public breakdowns. The group seemed to love having him around, and he never got in the way of everyone having a good time.
We started our trip off wandering the city center and having some traditional Mexican food for lunch, a much welcomed change from our standard Tex-Mex that we are used to. The Museo Mural Diego Rivera was a good break from the heat and worth a stop. We took some time really digging into the famous mural continuously spotting something different and obscure. We stopped in a tequila and mescal museum and had a solid round of samples. Our trip was officially kicked off!
We had a great dinner that night. Mexico City really does have some amazing restaurants. Here’s the horrible part of travelling with a toddler, though. After dinner, one of us had to go back to the hotel, and I drew the short straw this time. So while I spent my night trying to convince a very sleepy 2 year old that he was in fact tired, Jason spent his night enjoying a crazy Lucha Libre wrestling match. And because I wasn’t there, there are no good photos of that to share.
On Saturday, we hired a van to take us to Teotihuacan, an archaeological site packed full of memorizing pyramids. The drive out gave us our first good view of the real Mexico City. We could see just how massive and packed it truly is.
When we arrived at the pyramids, we unfortunately got sucked in to a tourist trap from the driver. He sold us on stopping at a shop for use of clean bathrooms citing that the bathrooms in the complex were horrible. Once we got to the shop, the owners immediately dragged us into an uninteresting tour of the agave plant and obsidian carvings. Then, they tried to convince us to spend hundreds of dollars on the carvings. Needless to say, I was pretty unhappy about this. It wasted a good hour of our time. But once we finally got to the pyramids, I let all my anxiety go.
We walked through the Isle of the Dead, climbed the Temple of the Moon and the Temple and Sun, and felt our wanderlust be fulfilled immediately. It’s also important to note, that the bathrooms inside the complex were pristine. My anger towards our driver continued to bubble up with this fact. I really don’t like people taking advantage of me!
I was so impressed with Jason as he carried our 35 lb son up the Temple of the Sun with no complaints. He is such a good dad. He constantly amazes me. But I have my moments as a mom too. Specifically on this trip, I got the honor of changing a blow out poopy diaper at the very top of the Temple of the Sun and carrying the diaper in my purse all the way down. Awwww, the joys of parenthood.
After an exhausting few hours climbing pyramids and dodging aggressive sells-men with cheap trinkets, we were ready for a margarita! I had heard about a cool restaurant nestled inside a nearby cave, but our driver insisted that you needed a reservation. When I told him that I had already checked and we indeed did not need a reservation, he insisted that it would be too crowded and that we should try this much better restaurant (undoubtedly owned by a dear friend of his). I had about had it with this driver and his tricks and wasn’t going to budge from what I wanted. Therefore, we insisted on seeing the cave. Ultimately, our driver agreed to take us there.
And I’m so glad he did. The food was amazing and the atmosphere even better. We did have to wait for a table for about a half an hour. But they had a great outdoor waiting area equipped with a much needed bar. The wait was no issue at all! And for an added highlight to our trip, we added a new exotic food to our list of strange things we have tasted, worm larvae. They tasted similar to lentils, and although I didn’t find anything particularly special about them, the experience was worth having.
On Sunday, we had a full day packed of exploring the city. We started early with a bus ride to a beautiful castle, Castillo de Chapultepec. The bus ride there was interesting enough. The city closed down the main street for the morning to let bikers take over. I wish all cities did this! You could feel the energy within the community as so many citizens came out to enjoy the day together. It really added to the beauty of the city. We passed through many markets where we did a little bit of shopping before climbing to the top of the hill where the castle perched to looked over the beautiful city.
After we toured the castle, we found a great lunch spot with amazing fish tacos. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the famous landmark, Angel of Independence, before we caught Uber rides to our big event of the day, Xochimilico.
Xochimilico lies about 30 minutes outside of the city. It is referred to as the Venice of Mexico due to its tangled canals full of colorful boats. It’s a very touristy destination, but I’m pretty good at being a bit touristy. So, I didn’t mind. We loaded up on beer and micheladas before boarding our 4 hour boat ride fully equipped with load speakers and a mariachi band.
And the party started! Ok, Mommy and Daddy friends, if you are ever worried that travelling with your kids means you can’t have fun, let this inspire you otherwise! You just have to find the right type of activities that will let you let lose while the kid is still occupied enough to not be bored. I wont pretend it wasn’t a challenge, but we were mostly successful, even after Ethan threw his tablet into the water. It still worked later that night, Amazon Fires are amazing y’all!. With music blaring and the micheladas continuously being fed our way, we were the life of the party on the water. Other boats thought we were crazy. And we might be featured in a few Youtube videos as passerbys found us hilarious jumping at the opportunity to catch crazy tourists on their phones. But we didn’t care.
Mid-trip, we made a pit stop at the Island of the Dolls. Which is even more creepy then it sounds.
Even after our solemn stop to the Island of Dolls, we still felt the need to make the boat into our personal disco. The dolls just fueled our craziness to a new level.
This trip truly brought out the best in us, a group of grown-ups just wanting to let loose and have fun.
When we returned to the city, most wanted to rest before hitting the nightclubs for one more night. We relaxed in a beautiful courtyard right behind our hotel. It marked then end of my journey through Mexico City, while the others still had a night of crazy adventure ahead of them (which ultimately ended in a hospital visit, but that is another person’s story for another time).
Mexico City won my heart. I had no idea this amazing city was so close to us. And now I can’t wait until I return. Perhaps next time for an extended stay?
Until next time,
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