Part 1 of my Costa Rican Adventure

Well here they are...Part 1 pics of my trip! Just some quick background. My uncle (mom's brother) owns a coffee company in CR called Cafe Britt . It is amazing coffee and I encourage you to check out the website! My aunt (who is French) and my uncle raised their 5 kids in CR, so my family and I grew up going there and visiting all different parts of the country! You could call this a destination wedding in a sense because it is for many of the guests, but for my cousins and family there, it is simply a wedding!

Day 1 and 2

a

Arrival at The Tabacon Grand Springs Resort which is located at the base of one of the 3 active volcanos in CR, called Arenal. This hotel or 'resort' was INSANE. after the flight we had a 3 hour drive to reach this destination. It is so serene. There is another part of the resort with over 10 natural hot springs

my dad at one of the natural hot springs.

More hot springs

We were greeted with these fruity drinks!

some sort of passionfruit combonation. Very sweet but delicious!

we also munched on these on the bus ride up to the resort

Mine and Jason's BIG bed

we were greeted with this fresh fruit, as for being part of the wedding! DO you see that wierd looking fruit? That is called a granadilla . They have a very sweet-tart fresh flavor and are known worldwide being a dessert on their own! The fruit is usually cracked open and the pulp and seeds are consumed out-of-hand. When used at the table the fruit is cut in half and the contents are eaten with a spoon. The Granadilla is well known for its digestive properties.

The inside pulp of a granadilla

We also had these chocolate covered coffee beans from my Uncle's company waiting for us in our rooms

The next morning we woke up and took a nice walk before breakfast. 

my artistic side :)

Hot tub part of the pool area

Sign at the hot springs!

By the time it we reached the breakfast area we were so hungry! The breakfast buffet was INSANE

beautiful Breakfast area

I made an eggwhite omelet with spinach, tomatoes, peppers and cheese at the omelet station

A natural yogurt with sliced banana's, amazing granola, raisins and peanuts(those were in the granola)

French Pressed Cafe Britt

I was so proud of my brother plate! he made it so blog worthy for me! this is Rice and Beans (traditional Costa Rican dish) with fresh pinapple

That is the water I lugged around in my bag! 

After we ate, we got ready to go on a hanging bridge, mini hike! This was a hike through parts of the rainforest with many hanging bridges

such as these

and this

view from the top

Fun pic in one of the tunnels of me and my brothers GF

some of us at the top

I had a chance to munch on this during my hike. It was my first time with this flavor and AMAZING. I loved this! The Luna White Chocolate Macadamia Nut bar. By far one of my top 3 Luna bar flavors ! It had a nutty and sweet flavor that complemented each other in the most perfect way. I really think Luna has done a great job improving their bars! It also has 9g protein and 3g of fiber so it did the perfect job of curbing my hunger until lunch time

It had a layer of white chocolate on the outside as well, that in this picture was a bit melty but it was delicious!

Along the path we saw these crazy ants carrying leaves...hundreds and hundreds of them! it reminded me of the movie ANTZ. They were so organized, making one line bringing leaves and on the other side were the ants who had just dropped off their 'goods'

Lunch was much needed to refuel us! We ate at the onsite hike restaurant. I got grilled chicken with rice and beans (obviously!) and a green salad with hearts of palm and a great dressing that tasted like salsa!

My brothers Lunch. THis was a traditional Costa Rican Dish...hey, when in Rome, Right? It had a grilled plantain (on the left) white rice and beans, homemade cheese, macaroni salad (thought this was a bit random) chicken with peppers and onions and a green salad.

Look familiar? I saw these on the table!! It was stevia...in spanish of course

That night was dinner at another hot springs resort where we spent about 5 hours splashing around and then having an amazing dinner. My camera did not take part in these festivities. 

Day 3 (Friday)

Dinner was at my uncle and aunts house and it was amazing! it was so nice to be with my family and also meet the brides family. She is originally from Massachusetts as well so LOTS of Boston folks were there which was nice!

Shot of the tables set up in my Uncle and Aunt's house

Place cards

Sample of what was for dinner! And in english terms..I took pics!

First up was a lobster patte. This was interesting. It was served with a spinach pesto and roasted red pepper jelly. The lobster patte itself was delicious! for someone who doesn't like lobster I enjoyed this very much. It was quite rich so I could not finish the whole thing, but LOVED the pesto and red pepper jelly!

Next up was carrot and squash soup. The presentation was amazing. This soup was delicious. It was warm and buttery and had a peppery flavor. I finished the entire thing! This beat out the patte by FAR!

Stuffed chicken breast, spinach infused rice and i don;t really know what the yellow tower was but it was called "timbale de zanahorias" Zanahorias=carrot...so tower of carrot? whatever it was-- it was creamy and delicious!

Looks wierd, but it was amazing! it was stuffed with roasted red pepper and a light cheese.

Dessert was a trio of mousse's. Pineapple, one with a berry sauce and one with a passion fruit sauce

This was my favorite-I loved the local flavor of the passion fruit sauce. The mousse itself was quite rich, so again I just had a few bites of all 3, but this one took the cake (HA, I crack myself up!)

Dinner ended with a beautiful poured cappuccino (my favorite coffee beverage) I have the most beautiful picture of a cappuccino from the next day when we went on the Cafe Britt Coffee Tour 

I was also obsessed with the flower arrangements in the middle of the table!

PIc of the happy couple. Thats my cousin (Jeremy) and his wife (Liza)

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Alrightly Bloggies. This would be part 1 of my trip! I have broken it up into 2 parts so Part 2 will be showing tomorrow! then back to my Everyday Eats!

I just enjoyed a delicious wrap for lunch and I am off to the gym!

XOXO

Naomi

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is your favorite part of traveling to another country? Is it trying the local food, or shopping at the local stores or sight seeing?? I want to know!

WIn this awesome waterbottle at eatcleanlivegreen