Pura Vida! (Pure life)

Hello! Pura Vida! This is what the ticos (Costa Ricans) say all the time. It means life is good. We heard it a lot today from our guide, Warner, in the rain forest! It has been a life-long dream of Emily's to see the rain forest and it was unbelievable! We left early this morning and drove about 45 minutes through the mountains - it was foggy and so very green. We saw lots of little waterfalls as we drove. The driving was precarious with so many huge trucks and cars passing, zooming by - this is the main road that goes to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Our landlord's daughter, Stephanie, had recommended a place to see called the AerialTram. It is a ski-lift-like ride that takes you through all three parts of the rain forest. At times we were just a few feet off the ground. At most we were 120 feet up! It was so amazing! Warner was so knowledgeable about the various plants and animals. We saw a tarantula, a huge walking stick, a poisonous snake, many butterflies and other insects (including the largest ant in the Americas - it was over an inch long! - it's bite can hospitalize a person). We saw beautiful flowers and HUGE plants and one of the highlights was seeing a rare Snow-capped hummingbird, named for it's white head. We've posted some pictures here.
Tonight we talked with an English teacher who is from Tahoe and is working at the school that Wendy, our landlord, started and runs. He's sure that we fall in love with Costa Rica as he has :) We are continuously grateful for Mike and Kathy who brought us to their church yesterday. We enjoyed talking with people there and seeing the large library of English books they have created over the years. This was good news for a bookworm like Emily! We ate lunch with them and good friends of theirs and Mike took us to the equivalent of Wal-mart so we could outfit our home and buy groceries. We didn't know that we could get anything we may need there and all the brands that we are used to including Jiff peanut butter! :)
Tomorrow we plan to go to the Museum of Gold in San Jose... now that our GPS is up and working we feel like we can explore and at least get home! This is a GREAT help! We continue thinking of you. Thanks for your continued prayers!