16 Feb Traveling Costa Rica with Isa’s grandparents

In february 2017 we were honored to receive Diana’s parents in Costa Rica. Diana’s parents have been visiting us quite a bit over the past few years. The first time Diana traveled together with her parents was during a backpack trip in 2007 crossing Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Since we left the Netherlands in 2011, we traveled together from Playa del Carmen to San Cristobal de las Casas in 2013 and celebrated new year in San Cristobal while camping out of the van. They visited us when Isa was born in Mexico (2015) and again when Vesper was born (2017). It is such a great thing about this way of living: spend time together on the road and explore our beautiful world together.

In this Costa Rica trip we would drive from San José along the Pacific west coastof Costa Rica via the small coastal village of Jacó to reach Uvitá and visit the national park of Manuel Antonio. The idea was to camp out of the bus, while we together with Isa slept in our tent. In february 2017 I turned out to be a few weeks pregnant carrying Vesper, but we did not know that when roadtripping in Costa Rica. We found out Diana was pregnant the day her parents flew home from Mexico. We drove Costa Rica from the capital San José all the way to Uvitá and back. We enjoyed the beaches, driving the long stretched Costa Rican roads along the Pacific coast, visiting national parks and living out of the van together.  Isa, Steven and myself slept in a tent on the beach while Diana’s parents slept in the VW van. Mind you, there is no toilet and often times we had to bathe using just a simple tap. No easy feat! We were rewarded with the sight of monkeys trailing the canopy above the van and magnificent birds to see everywhere. Several sloths and a tucan high up the trees in Manuel Antonio, made this trip even more special.

We explored Costa Rica for two weeks to end the Costa Rican part of the trip in San José, where Diana’s parents helped out in preparing Nina the VW van for a stretch of parking at the airport. The idea is to park the van at the airport until we return to Costa Rica in september 2016 to continue our journey. After cleaning and packing the van, Steven drove her to the parking lot and checked her in. Together we flew from San José to Cancun to spend another few days together at our beloved Isla Holbox. This island has gotten a special place in our hearts and Diana’s mom lost her heart here. Everytime Diana’s mom is back in Mexico, Isla Holbox is high on the visiting list. We loved it to be back with them and Isa, who has also visited the island once before in August 2016.

It is such a privilege to share the adventure of travel with our parents and make those unforgettable memories together. For Isa it was great to have her grandparents around for almost three weeks and getting to know them better. She spends a good deal of her time traveling so it is just great to have her grandparents joining her on that journey. Thanks mom and dad for another unforgettable trip together!