Most expensive but awesome driver's license renewal ever

A few weeks ago we completed 3 months of being in Costa Rica.  This is significant for a few reasons...one it is a long time to be away from family and friends.  Luckily we had some visitors at the 10 week mark. Mike's aunt, uncle and Gram came down for an awesome 10 day trip.  It was great to see them and their visit really gave us a much needed boost.

The other reason that 3 months is significant is that after 3 months the tourist visa expires in Costa Rica.  We are in process to get our work permit so we were still legal after 3 months, the problem was that our driver's license also expired after 3 months.  We could either stay and drive under the threat of a $1000 fine or we could leave Costa Rica for a few days.  We choose the later and it worked out great with a school holiday.

We went to the Bocas del Toro in northeast Panama.  Bocas is a group of islands which many of our colleagues consider their favorite part of Costa Rica:).

The lunchroom

We flew down Saturday morning and had the mission of getting Bec to snorkel.  We swam a bunch at the hotel pool and in the ocean and then went snorkeling the next day.  The mask worked eventually but the snorkel was way too big.  After many tears, Andrea and I decided to let Rebecca sit on the beach while we went snorkeling.  She eventually gave in and agreed to put her face in the water with the mask on.  As soon as she saw one fish, she was hooked.  She really was so precious in her excitement at seeing the fish and coral in the ocean.  It was so cool.

As a nice side benefit she finally started wearing goggles for swimming which has helped her become a better swimmer.

We also had a great adventure on some ATVs.  We rented the machines and were able to ride through the muddy rain forest right next to the beach.  Pretty awesome.  We ended up at a place called "La Piscina".  Apparently, Noreiga had the little bay created for his yachts.  It was a huge calm and beautiful pool in the ocean.  The land that we were on was once Noreiga's, there was even a set of ruins from an old house.

This was the most expensive but awesome way to renew a driver's license.  Now we have 3 more months but hopefully we will be legal by then...