The Penner Clan: Our Adventures in Costa Rica

We recently returned from a wonderful trip FULL of adventures to Costa Rica. When we began planning the trip we talked with our friends Breann and Kris Cadieux about doing one last trip before we began our families. Well, as it turns out, our families began a bit sooner then our trip but we were up for the adventures any how. We invited another couple, Andrew and Denise Feil to join us as well. The other two couples were on a missions trip in San Jose (one of the largest cities in Costa Rica). We joined them for an extra week after they had completed their trip. Jesse and I headed to Jaco, a pacific coastal town known for its touristy feel. We stayed there one night before everyone joined us. The following morning we took a boat ride to Montezuma, a "hippie" town looking out to the Gulf of Nicoya. There we had many adventures including hiking, swimmning in waterfall pools, the boys jumped off of the waterfalls, rope swings, ATV riding and beautiful walks along the beach! We stayed in "Ivan's House" (look it up if you plan on going to Costa Rica!!!). We had a kitchen, hammocks, we could hear the sound of the ocean at night and a BEAUTIFUL beach view. We were only 100ft away from the main city drag. It was so awesome!!!

Jesse jumping off of a waterfall.

Jesse climbing a big rock overlooking the beautiful ocea.n

Hiking (in dresses and flip flops!!!)

On the beach!

Our boat ride to Montezuma.

The jungle was full of roots that helped us hike very easily!!! And suprisingly, very few bugs, spiders and any other scary wild life... only beautiful butterflies, birds, monkeys, geckos and lizards.

Our perfect little house!

One morning, we decided to go for a walk down the beach. We were told that there were beautiful waterfalls where the fresh water met the ocean water. We got about 1/2 a mile down the beach when I wasn't feeling well, it was hot and I felt dehydrated. Jesse and I turned around and went back to the house, laid in the hammocks and rested. Soon, Denise runs up to the house and yells, "Jesse, Breann broke her ankle!!!" We both jumped out of our slumber and gathered some items for them, ran a mile back down the beach and found Breann with a completely dislocated and fractured her ankle. She was in extreme pain. An ambulance was on its way, however, there was no real medical care for her outside of San Jose, where our trip had began. The interesting part is that she is 6 months pregnant (although she doesn't look it!), so she was without pain medicine for 10 long hours on bumpy roads. They took an ambulance to a ferry boat onto another ambulance to a hospital in San Jose.

Once at the hospital in San Jose, they gave her a spinal and put her ankle back into place. We remained in Montezuma and arraigned to have a taxi boat take us back with their luggage the next day. When we arrived, she was in much better spirits as she was more comfortable and her ankle was straight again. We felt so blessed with the medical care we received. The doctor who took care of her had trained in Texas for 2 years on foot and ankle surgery and was very helpful and most importantly spoke perfect English!!! Her OB care was amazing (and more thorough that here!) She ended up having an external fixation device placed to hold everything back together while she traveled back to the US. She was such a trooper!

When we arrived in San Jose, the Feils and us were able to stay with a missionary couple and their two children. Andrew and Denise had stayed there during the mission trip. They were so wonderful and the kids were amazing!

Jesse is getting ready to be a dad!!! Playing with Super Sawer!!!

While in San Jose, we walked around all of the streets, got to see some amazing buildings and took time to go into the Children's Museum!!! It was a special place where they have all sorts of activities! Bubbles, space, agriculture, aviation, health, dinosaurs... you name it, they had it! It would have been even better if we could read Spanish!!!