Costa Rica, La Pura Vida

From Costa Rica January 2009

Flying to Costa Rica went well, except that security confiscated my shaving cream. At the Los Angeles Airport, Jerolyn and I transferred airlines and made it to the gate for Costa Rica with hours to spare. We worried a little rather mom, dad, and Drew’s family would make the transfer, since the snow was delaying flights from Salt Lake City. We all made it on the plane and left just before midnight to arrive in Liberia, Costa Rica the next morning.

We picked up our rental cars, a Corolla and a Yaris, and followed Drew in a 3 hour trek to their second home in the American Surf community of Nosara. It is a remote village on the Pacific Coast on the Nicoya Peninsula,. Jerolyn and I decided to relax and enjoy the beach, the village, and the jungle getaway, since everywhere else was too far away on rough dirt roads. We felt fortunate we only had one flat tire and no damages to the rental cars all week.

The village logo is, “No Shirt, No Shoes, Nosara.” The hosts of the Vista Del Mar B&B, http://www.lodgevistadelmar.com, are very friendly. Gale is the owner. He was always very helpful. He knows a lot about the jungle trees, plants and animals. I spent time with him talking about the seasons, the trees, the monkeys, the turtles and more. Marina is our other host. She cleaned our rooms, washed the laundry, and prepared us breakfast every morning. Marina and I spoke Spanish a lot together. We all got to know her well, since her English is improving. Drew’s home is next door. We really were surrounded by jungle. Most of my pictures were taken from the deck outside our room.

From Costa Rica January 2009

OK! Enough said on history and setting. What did we do? We never wore socks and shoes, and were rarely indoors. That was great! Each morning it is light before 6:00 am, so we get up taking pictures, lap swimming, or down at Playa Guiones walking the beach or swimming in the surf. We always made sure we were back at the lodge before 8:30 am for breakfast. We didn’t want to miss the fresh cut papaya, mango, cantaloupe, watermelon and the sweetest bananas. Marina also made fresh squeezed orange juice, whole grain toast, and garden herbal tea. The Sun was too strong to be out in the middle of the day, so we usually played cards (Canasta), read books, or swam in the pool. The pool was well protected from the sun and wind. This made the pool water too cold for some. The Ocean water was much warmer. Paislee and I did yoga at 10:30 at the beautiful tree top studio. At 4:00 in the evening, everyone would jump in the car and go down the bumpy road to the beach. We played, swam and surfed until sunset.

Our 4 year old niece, Bella, is very active. We hope she would warm up to us and call us by name. It didn’t take long and she was calling for Uncle Bruce or Aunt Jerolyn all the time. She was in the pool constantly and always wanted someone to swim with her. She had a special cast for her broken arm that could get wet. The cast did not slow her in any way. Guess who Bella could rely on to go in the pool with her? Me. Jerolyn swam with Bella in the ocean, played crazy eights and war, and video games. She is so active it is hard for Bella to stop a second to take a bite to eat. Paislee and Bella’s favorite restaurant and bakery has a pool. Whenever we had lunch or dinner there, we had a poolside table and Bella would be in the pool swimming. Bella was clever and pretty funny. Once I was standing by the pool at the lodge when she said, “Do you want a realization?” I said,” What?” She said, “A REALIZATION!” and then she pushed me in the pool.

There is a famous beach about 10 miles up the coast. It is a sea turtle refuge where they come to lay their eggs. The beach is called Playa Ostional. There were not any turtles at the beach this week but I wanted to explore it anyway. Glen, Drew, and I drove the corolla toward Playa Ostional hoping we could reach it. It was questionable, because there are two rivers we must drive though. We forged the first river OK. Drove through a dry riverbed, thinking we were lucky, but surprisingly we came to the second river and water was still flowing. We sat in the rental car for 30 minutes, watching four-wheel drive forge the river until we decided to turn back. We turned back from that adventure. Although another day Glen, Drew and I explored a biological reserve along the Nosara River.

Costa Rica January 2009