After our first Christmas in the tropics didn't work out quite as planned due to 6 inches of rain during our week in Roatan, we had much higher hopes for our second trip this year to Costa Rica. These hopes were bolstered for we learned that December is the start of the dry season. It also had a certain sense of triumph for due to poor planning on our part, the trip felt for some time as if it wasn't going to happen. In the end it was a marvelous relaxing vacation well balanced between activities and intersperced periods of downtime for relaxation. Costa Rica known for it biodiversity did not dissapoint with our visits to Manuel Antonio and Carara National Parks as well as a crocodile encounter on the Tarcoles River. Add the bits of action with a canopy Zip Line and an afternoon at Surf School. Our home for the week was a condo at Diamante del Sol in Jaco Beach in the Central Pacific Coast. There was plenty of sun around the pool for reading and chilling with the ocean at our door step.