On se gate!!!

On se gate n'est meme pas a la hauteur!!! Mais quelle semaine maginfique. Premierement, la villa etait encore mieux que ce a quoi je m'attendais. Et Manuel Antonio, malgre le developpement immobilier des dernieres annees, etait l'endroit parfait pour vivre cette semaine entre amis. Du surf, des vagues, du soleil, des amis, de l'alcool, des chefs, de la bonne bouffe... du fun!!! Je pourrais en parler longtemps mais je ne ferais que tourner en rond. Alors je vais resumer en un mot: Priceless!!! Ceci dit, toute bonne chose a une fin!
Nous avons ensuite pris la direction de la cote Caraibe pour le dernier segment de notre voyage en amerique centrale. Nous avons passer 2 jours dans le petit village de Cahuita ou on a ete introduit au "vibe" caraibe des rastaman! C'est la saison des pluies de ce cote ci du pays alors il pleut un peu plus que desirer. Alors nous avons decider de ne pas perdre de temps et d'aller a Bocas Del toro, au Panama. Une archipelle d'iles tres tres relax. Un bon matin, Brigitte s'en allait faire de la plongee et moi du snorkeling. Dans un elan de folie, je me suis retrouver a faire de la plongee avec elle. Meme elle n'y croyais plus. Depuis le temps qu'elle me demandais d'essayer! Alors voila, c'est fait. Je nous ai surpris tout les 2! Le lendemain, recompenser par du beau temps, nous sommes aller au large aux iles Zapatillas. 2 superbe iles deserte dans un parc national marin. J'y etais aller il y a 10 ans et deja la, c'etais un de mes plus beau souvenir. Ca le resteras car c'est tout simplement merveilleux comme endroit. Apres de si beaux moments, nous sommes de retour au Costa Rica a Puerto Viejo, afin de relaxer un dernier coup avant d'aller rejoindre mes parents en Floride la semaine prochaine. Un retour plutot facile vers le monde nord americain avant d'aller braver le froid du nord de l'Ontario!!!



Ok, so I know it's been a while but as you can see from the photos, we've had a lot of beach time and not a lot of internet time! When I last left off, we were on our way to meet our friends from Montreal in Manuel Antonio. What awaited us was a completely different world than we were used to on our travels. The villa was absolutely spectacular! There were 9 rooms, 2 small pools, a rooftop terrasse, a breathtaking view of the ocean and lots of monkeys and sloths to entertain us! We spent a luxurious week with our friends (if you're curious, or have an upcoming event where you'd like to spoil yourselves in Costa Rica...check out http://www.villascostarica.com/ma1/index.html Casa Las Brisas'). Maxime and I tried surfing (and of course Maxime was a natural! he rocked! i also managed to get up and ride some waves, which was quite thrilling!), went on a hike to this stunning waterfall, checked out the national park, did a bit of snorkelling and lots of beach time fun. After a magical week with our friends at the villa, we were back on our own again, back to the buses and small $20 rooms. We thought it would be difficult to get back in the groove but we were surprisingly pleased to be back on the road again...and even back to our simple little rooms. We realized that we didn't need much to be content...we had each other, love - and of course the sun and sea - so we were perfectly happy! It's those simple little pleasures...a smile, a hug, a howling monkey, a weaving tree, a ray of sunshine, a walk in the sand, a singing bird,...a moment... that make life so beautiful and rewarding. It has been wonderful getting in touch with nature again and I'm grateful for the gift that Mother Nature gives us so willingly and selflessly each day.
Speaking of which, lately Mother Nature has been giving us a lot of rain on the Caribbean coast of CR. At times it's nice, but at times it just won't give up! We've still managed to take in the beautiful nature around (saw tons of toucans, very cool) and today we watched the gigantic waves crashing on the beach.

Oh I almost forgot about our little trip to ' Bocas Del Toro', a stunning archipelago in Panama's Caribbean. Maxime even tried scuba diving for the first time! I'd been bugging him for a long time so I was happy to finally share this passion of mine with him. The visibility wasn't great since it's rainy season but we still managed to have some pretty good dives. The next day we took a boat across the islands, to a secluded island called Zapatillas. Wow...I mean...wow...I felt like I was part of the show 'Survivor'. No words can justify the sheer beauty and the emotions I felt upon arriving on this island.

I leave you with this my friends and family. We will enjoy another day in the Caribbean and then off to San Jose where we fly to Florida December 16th.

Hope you're staying warm (i hear it's chilly in canada right now!). I'll send you some Caribbean heat!

love,
Brigitte et Maxime xoxo