July 26th: Playa GRANDE!

For our last full day in Coco, we thought we would give surfing one more go. Partly because we didn't really have anything else we felt the need to do, and partly because looking back on it, we both realized we should have gone back to Grande to surf instead of staying at the over populated Tamarindo beach. We got up extra early and hustled out the door to make the one hour trip over there to catch the morning surf. To our disappointment, we were off juuuust a bit on our timing and managed to get there just before it hit low tide (when we were in Santa Teresa, high tide was around 10-11am) Not to be deterred, we still got a surf board and a boogie board and made the trek down to the beach. Regardless of the smallish and inconsistent waves, we happily took our boards out in the completely deserted water and smiled while we jumped around and got pummeled by waves.

Since we had the boards for the entire day, we brought them back to the surf shop and figured we would go shop in Tamarindo and eat while it was low tide, and then come back for afternoon surfing. The girl at the store seemed very excited to give us recommendations for lunch.... until she realized we were wanting to go to Tamarindo and not stay in Grande. Feeling silly about driving over to shop in the most touristy place in Costa Rica, we changed our minds and took her advice and went to MarBar. A small little bar that was part of a very small hotel. We were the only people there. But the one waiter and the one cook seemed to like us. Nick had fun having another Spanish lesson with the waiter. I know we've said it alot, but the food we had there beats all. Fish tacos and a burrito and AMAZING french fries/chips. Our cheapest meal too! We definitely patted ourselves on the back for that one. It was a great pick.

As we pulled up to the surf shop again, we had a good long discussion about what to do.... We were about perfect timing to go back down and catch good waves, but both of us were salty and not hot enough to feel like jumping in the water again and staying there all afternoon. So at the last minute, we decided to say thanks and just head home. We had another plan that we had been talking about doing all week, and this was our last chance to do it... going and painting and playing guitar down by the water like street performers :)

Our plan got a little shaky when we got into town and found ourselves in the middle of a parade! Literally. People walking all around our car, floats driving in front, behind and beside us. Marching bands. People in costumes. Apparently today is the day that Guanacaste joined Costa Rica!! Yay! Happy birthday Costa Rica! Or something like that...

Determined to still do what we said we would, we headed down to the waterfront. We felt a bit uncomfortable walking around with our stuff past all the booths and food and dancing going on. Curious as to whether or not the cops standing next to me were going to yell at me for trying to sell a painting, it took awhile for me to break out all my gear. But I finally did. I laid out the painting I already had, and set up my paints to work on another picture. Sitting on my rock painting, I attracted the attention of a little boy who just sat and watched. Nick finally started talking to him and asked if he liked to play the guitar. When he said yes, Nick handed him the guitar and let him play.

As the night went on, people stopped and watched me paint and commented on how much they liked it. Easily the coolest art experience I have ever had. Also one of the most nerve-racking. To paint and try and keep painting when you know people are watching you. And trying to communicate when they are talking to you in Spanish. But Nick was my translator. He is also now hired as my manager and publicist. He was good at it. One guy came up and was really excited about my sunset painting, and really wanted to buy it. He didn't seem bothered by the price that I asked for it. In fact, he seemed urgent to set up a time a little later to come get it. He was with his girlfriend (who had long walked away since we started talking about prices), and he seemed like he may not have had the money on him. I was just excited that anyone was seriously interested! And excited about all the people that stopped by and watched and commented before. It took Nick awhile to start playing the guitar, but having 3 random teenagers come up to him all excited and asking to see his guitar and excited to show him their own, he finally kept it out and started playing. He played along with the live music they had going on at the beach. It was perfect for where we were sitting.

When it started to get a little too dark to see, we packed up and headed home to eat our leftover pasta from last night, before heading back out down to the beach to dance! (We had to drop off all our stuff, it is made clear all the time that you don't want to leave anything in your car). We got in about 4 or 5 salsa-ish dances, wondering the whole time whether or not we were supposed to be on the dance floor or if we were supposed to be doing a specific kind of dance. We are 90% sure that we were the only tourists down at the beach at this time, or at least out on the dance floor (aka the basketball court).

At 8pm we went back to the little shopping center near our hotel, because that is where the guy said he would meet us to possibly buy the painting. Skeptical all along whether or not he would actually show, we thought we would try. We sat out on the patio of a restaurant and ordered pina coladas as we waited. Surprise, surprise, the guy didn't show. Wa wa. But now it was time for more dancing!!

Friday night! We were ready all day to go out dancing! and now it would be that much cooler considering the occasion! One pina colada down, and close to our hotel, we dropped the car off so we could walk downtown. But! Before we go, we might as well finish off the beer and wine coolers we had left in our fridge right? And just to make it fun, lets play caps! And so we did!

and then we sat on the bed to discuss our game plan... annnd fell asleep.

Great night out! :)

July 25th: Rainy Day

Good morning rain! That was my thought this morning. We ran away from it when we left the rainforest, and it has finally caught up with us again. Proud of our grocery shop from last night, I happily put together a delicious little breakfast this morning. Complete with a cute little arrangement of fruit in a cup :)

To be quite honest, a lot of ridiculousness has gone on today. We have both been in stupid silly moods. Between saying “AMUNKEY!”, singing “we are siamese”, dancing, singing "dumb ways to die" (I told you it was catchy), watching Drumline in Spanish and other random side comments that made us chuckle, there has been a lot of laughing and not a whole lot of accomplishing today. But it was raining, so it’s ok. We did end up going out and shopping some more (because Nick wanted to buy a shirt) and we stumbled across a little coffee shop that actually sold paintings! Real paintings! (which we haven’t seen any of until now).... except they were reaaaally good... so not ones that we could afford. But it was fun looking around at something different from the standard stuff that is sold at every.single.store. From there, we went off in search of somewhere to eat lunch. We said that we wanted to go find a local Tico place and get real food (as opposed to tourist food). During our hunt, we found ourselves accidentally on the way to Playa Ocotal, the REAL one... (aka the beach that we were looking for the other day). Excited to see what the beach looked like, we continued on. As we were driving, we passed a sign for “Father Roosters” which reminded us, that was the restaurant Tom had recommended to us if we were going to Ocotal. Onward to Father Roosters we went! What a fantastic decision! I was sold when we pulled up in front of the brightly colored beach front restaurant that had a rooster coop treehouse up in the tree out front. A tico wrap and steak. Our favorite meal yet. And our favorite place. Sorry Coconutz, the rooster food was WAY better.

Back home with some time to kill before happy hour and designated blogging time, we were feeling rather artsy. I had made up my mind to paint the lizard.... Nick decided to draw one too.... or a gremlin... he said it was me, but I’m not so sure. It definitely got some more giggles out of us. 

He also drew AMUNKEY! Before abandoning the pen for a guitar. We spent a good hour or two both doing our own thing. It’s a nice little duo we got going with that. Or at least I think so. I get free entertainment while I paint. (ps. that is an action shot of Nick saying AMUNKEY! But to better understand how that goes.... 

We managed to juuuuust catch the sunset on our way to Coconutz for happy hour. I literally jumped out of the car to take a few pictures. So here we are, currently at the bar,  drinks in hand, specifically so we could use the internet to post blog stuff from the past 4 days... and there is no internet.  (don't worry, we eventually found internet at a bar down the street ;)

  

July 24th: Tamarindo

I woke up to breakfast made and happy music playing this morning. We tried to get up early and watch the sunrise but that didnt happen at all. We woke up to rain and didn't get up. But we headed out to Tamarindo where we would try some more surfing. Like most places in Costa Rica, it's a liiiiiiittle tricky to get to Tamarindo. First we went to Playa Grande on accident. Which had a pretty cool surf shop with ridiculous prices. They gave us directions.....aka turn right three times. And we were off. We will probably head back there for a surf another day though. Tamarindo is way different than I remember. There is a ROAD now!! So exciting. Still the tourist trap I remember with crowded but awesome surfing. We relaxed on the beach for awhile in our own secluded area before going to scope out the waves.

Often Jennifer and I will exchange verbal joking blows. Often Jen says something good and funny that I have absolutely NO response to. I don't remember what she said exactly but it was a good one. I was a little stunned and could only muster up the joking, heavily stuttered response, well... I will roundhouse kick you to the toothjaw. Yeah that was it. That's my killer comeback. "To the toothjaw". I'm not good at trading zingers. Shaking my head.

Then we shopped. After shopping a bit we rented a board and I went out surfing........

One version of me surfing goes like this: it was crowded. Lots of locals at the point. Monster waves crashing making perfect tubes in sets of three. After paddling out I muscled myself into a huge barrel, 6 feet over head. I instantly popped up as though my Mexico training was yesterday. Making the drop and the turn effortlessly riding with style all the way to the beach and impressing the lovely miss Jennifer.......

Another version goes like this.....ahem: I took the water and paddled out slowly but made it. I sat in a crowded group of local bros with absolutely no hope of catching the wave of my choice. Like 27 other guys and 1 chick who were much better than me. I waited and waited. Got frustrated by watching the same three dudes riding whatever they wanted. Tail between my legs, I went back to the beach and wined to Jennifer (who had been patiently waiting in the hot sun, guarding our stuff for over a half hour, camera in hand trying to get a picture of me surfing) who was NOT amused. "Okay okay I'm done complaining. Round 2! Sorry :/" was the mas o menos of that convo. I went back out. Completely missed my one in a hundred chance at a good wave with no one already on it. And serendipitously/successfully caught the next one. It was actually a good ride!! The one and only of the trip so far!! So excited!! Lets go see the pictures. I ran to the spot on the beach where I left Jen. Smiling profusely, I proudly walked back to my lady. "Jen, Jen, did you see it?!! I surfed!!" Jen turned with a "kill me now" look because of the old tour guide who had been talking her ear off for the last 5 minutes. She didn't see. She didn't get a picture. I am so sad. :( I surfed. I swear. 

After the surfing we headed back to Coco. Tired of all the buying mediocre tourist food we went to the store and bought food to cook. We were given bandanas in exchange for a picture with an imperial (beer) model. After the pic I decided two things. 1) Up close the "model" kiiiiiinda looked like a dude. Annnnnnnd 2) Jen had a large black ominous dot on her front tooth. Yikes. What a great picture. 

We cooked a glooooooorious meal of mashed potatoes, chicken, and salad. I watched Puss in Boots in Spanish as Jen fell asleep. I like cartoons in Spanish. They make me giggle. :)

July 23rd: Playa Hermosa

Not having really discussed the night before what our plan was for today, we decided to make it one more relaxing day and to figure out our plan for the rest of the week. We already knew that we wanted to make a day trip down to Tamarindo to go surfing, but we needed to wake up early for that, so that is where we are planning to go tomorrow. Curious about the best way to get there and wanting to know if he had any other suggestions of what to do, we decided to consult with Tom again on our way back from our morning run. He told us about a waterfall and swimming hole that we could drive to one of the days and he also said he would check on fishing for us (Nick met someone in Santa Teresa that went kayak fishing and loved it... Nick wanted to go more than he let on... and I didn’t pick up on just how badly... and now we feel bad that we didn’t go there). All that aside, we decided to go to Playa Ocotal today. It was the other snorkeling beach we meant to go to yesterday, but we never wanted to leave Penka. 

We drove all the way out of town to find that the road to Ocotal was right in town. We followed the road all the way to the bitter end, only to find that we were still at Playas Del Coco, just down at the other end. Confused as to whether or not the same beach had two names or if we never found Ocotal, there were no signs to direct us anywhere else. We didn’t want to sit at the fishy smelling part of the beach, so we decided to head over to Playa Hermosa, which we saw signs for on the way to Penka yesterday. 

This beach was very calm, with not too many people. We found our own little space across the inlet and layed there for the rest of the afternoon. We shooed away people trying to sell things on the beach, but when the same kid approached us twice, Nick started talking to him. His name was Eduardo. Nick let him run through his whole sales pitch and then continued chatting, using the kid for Spanish practice. We inevitably ended up buying stuff from him, mostly because we just liked him at this point. Souvenirs for free Spanish lessons. 

Feeling salty, we decided to jump in our pool when we got home. We swam around a bit and laid out on the comfy lawn chairs for an afternoon nap. We made some tea and sat up on our terrace to "watch" the sunset. In other words, we took turns watching as we went back and forth playing "dumb ways to die" on Nick's phone and trying to beat each others score.... It sounds terrible, but it's a fun game, and it has an obnoxiously catchy theme song! It gets stuck in your head super easy!

We ended up going to Coconutz for dinner for I believe, the 3rd night in a row. I was pretty excited about it this time, because it just so happened to be karaoke night. I’m still not sure if Nick sang because he wanted to or because I not so secretly wanted him to, but he bravely got up and started the night off with Jumping Jack Flash. It was a good spot to just hangout and people watch. We stayed until the point that it got weird to stay any longer if we weren't going to be drinking as much as everyone else. 

And then I had to make a protective mask to go into the bathroom before bed.... no comment :) haha

July 22nd: Penka!

You know you are really on vacation when you go to sign the rental agreement for your snorkel equipment and debate whether or not the date is the 19th or 20th, so you ask, and in fact it is the 22nd. 

9am with snorkel gear in hand, we headed off in search of Penka, a more secluded, awesome snorkeling beach recommended to us by Tom. Tom is our friend that works at the resort. He is from Spokane. We like him. We will probably be going back to him for more advice on what to do, because he did not lead us astray on this one.

Penka is literally not on the map. There is no way you would know about this place unless someone told you. As we turned off onto a little dirt road, we were greeted by a guard (we weren’t quite sure why we had to check in with the guard... until we kept driving). The worst of the worst roads we have seen yet. I don’t think I can even describe the dips in the road as potholes... ditches, maybe. Whatever you would describe knee deep holes alternating with big sharp rocks and dirt mounds. The road was so bad that we passed a car that someone had ditched on the side of the road (and on the way back later in the day, we passed by a car with a popped tire). Twice we had to stop the car, get out and go scope it out to see whether or not we should brave it or park where we were at. But both times we went for it, and we came out alive. Jimmy did well. When we got all the way down to the end of the road, we had to park the car and hike down to the water. We weren’t sure what to think about the fact that our car was the only one there. 

All I can say at this point, is ohhhh my... so BEAUTIFUL!! A whole secluded white sand gorgeous beach! 

There was one other family there when we arrived, but after about 30min they left and we literally had the entire beach to ourselves. We hopped right in the water and went out snorkeling. It wasn’t the clearest water for snorkeling once you got out there, but we still saw tons of fish. I finally braved taking my camera out in its waterproof case (yes mom, it survived ;) but it was too cloudy to get good photos of what I wanted.... annnnd I was a little preoccupied trying to take pictures of my friend. I just have to mention this, because it was certainly one of my highlights! I was adopted as the parent of an adorable little yellow fish. Very little. At some point when we first went out, I just happened to look down and found the little guy attached to my tummy. I was very entertained by him as he swam circles around me and in and out between my legs.  When I put my hand out, he would come float in the palm of my hand. He followed me EVERYWHERE. It didn’t matter how deep or shallow I went, he never left my side for about 30min. When I would swim faster, he would come up and swim right in front of my mask, with his little tail fin wiggling right in front of me. I wanted to keep him. Nick didn’t seem quite as amused by my strategies to try and sneak him home. But like I said, Most of my time was spent trying to capture him on camera. I at least got one photo of him :)

Nick and I spent the next couple of hours in and out of the water, tanning on the beach, and just staring in amazement at the paradise we had found. We had our snack that we packed for the beach. Note to self, next time I need to clarify that we are bringing already made bagels... not bringing the entire container of cream cheese to melt in the sun :) Sorry Nick, it’s just a funny little detail that I don’t want to forget about.

The entire day we were only joined by two other families that both came and left. A snorkeling tour stopped by in their boat for a few minutes. They found an octopus and pulled it out of the water and let us come see and feel it. 

After a long, full morning and afternoon out in the sun, we headed back home to get ready for an early dinner. Nick fell into a nap not long after we walked in the door, so I let him sleep and went up onto the terrace to finish my painting. For dinner, we went back to Coconutz. I think it is going to be hard to get away from this place because they just have a really cool atmosphere that nobody else on the main street can seem to compete with. 

July 21st: Shopping Day

Breakfast!! But it's not free!! Crepes!! Where are the crepes?!! We found them......but they weren't nearly as good as the ones at Otro lado. In fact they were kinda blah, and kind of expensive, which prompted Jen to suggest that we immediately go to the grocery store to stock up on food since we have a kitchen. What's up with this breakfast not included business? After stocking our fridge, we went to shop on the strip. It's not quite as busy as Vegas, but same idea. Everything on one street. We popped in and out of shops looking for arts, crafts, and souvenirs. After we had looked in almost every store we both finally started to pull the trigger and buy some stuff. I got to barter a little in Spanish and got some good prices on some little souvenirs. We came back and had a mini concert in the room. I serenaded Jen as she blogged and cleaned. We discovered a friend who lives in our room. He is a baby gecko about the size of a thumb nail. He keeps us safe from giant ugly spiders. We ate dinner at a place called Coconutz. This is a place that some old timer expats bought while drunk in Costa Rica. Really. It says that on the menu. But we like this place. It has a fun atmosphere and a reeeeeeaaaalllly long happy hour. Nachos. Check. Then back to the hotel where Jen finally painted the sunset. Like, as it was happening. It was way cool to watch. As it changed in the sky it changed on canvas. Turned out really good too!! We eventually went inside and I watched the movie Rio in Spanish while she finished painting. I loved it. Such a good movie. :)

July 20th: Drive to Playas Del Coco

One last morning for a beach run and getting delicious crepes for breakfast! We said our goodbyes to Otro Lado and packed up our stuff. Before we headed out of town, we took one last stroll down the street. Mostly because Nick really wanted to buy a T-shirt from the surf shop where we rented our boards (a shirt that he didn’t try on first and now may very well become my shirt - I’m wearing it at the moment and I quite like it :). We walked a bit further down the street and wandered into a few other shops. Shop owners here can be really chatty once you get them going. 

Before we got back to the car, I couldn’t help but stop and play with the little stray puppies. There are stray dogs everywhere! But these two were especially cute! Although Nick may argue that I try and say that about most of them...

Asking for directions to Coco from multiple different people, we got about that many different opinions about how to get there. Following the advice of the majority, we drove back around to Paquera and made our way North from there. This is the part where we get to really appreciate Jimmy. Sooooooo bumpy! Dirt (or rock) roads. HUGE potholes. Honestly, parts of the drive looked more like a cliff face than any kind of intentional road.  But after Nick’s absolutely heartbreaking accidental drive past Burger King without stopping and about 6+ hours of driving (even though we were told the trip was about 3.5hours), we made it to Playa Del Coco!

 Some pictures from the drive.

Jimmy had a little hiccup.... Nick fixed him :)

After a very long drive and both of us in need of food, we were a little upset with the check in process at the condo. We were greeted all friendly and then shooed to a restaurant for a “welcome drink” where we sat for a half hour before anyone bothered with us. Something must have been going on. Even when they did bring us over to check us in, we were shooed away by the next person for a “free cocktail” (aka the same thing we just got) because our room wasn’t ready. This is at like 6pm. Tired from the drive and just frustrated, we weren’t really in the mood to say anything positive about our new accomodations. But once we unloaded our stuff, we walked up to the terrace above our room and caught the last little bit of the sunset. The view and the sunset brought our spirits back up a bit. 

We kept telling ourselves all week that we were going to go out tonight because it was Saturday, so despite being tired, we got ourselves ready (and by we I mean me... Nick prepared by taking a nap) and we headed out to dinner. We took one walk up and down the main road scoping out the place. Both of us having our hearts set on pasta, we returned to the same restaurant where we were served drinks earlier. From there, we mustered up the strength and energy to go out dancing. We were referred to two different places for dancing, one of them being The Lizard, which was just on the corner of the street. Nick ordered his Pilsen and the bartender made me a fruit drink that I was very pleased with.

 We sat and people watched for awhile listening to their very dancey and Pitbull dominant music choice (again, I was pretty happy :). It didn’t take long for us to notice a distinct age group starting to fill the place. Apparently nobody informed us that from the hours of 9-11pm, all bars are completely overrun by teenagers between the ages of 13-18. The staff must have realized our mistake, which would explain the free shots that they brought out to entice us to stick around. One of the staff took a liking to us and kept offering to go grab us drinks from the bar and coming back to chat. He also asked to buy Nick’s Seattle hat right off of his head. Between the music and the entertainment of watching the teenagers running back and forth across the street between the bars we did manage to stay long enough to see them clear out and people our age fill the bar. This also cleared up some space on the dance floor, so we could get a little dancing in before we left. Ears ringing, we left the bar feeling accomplished for doing what we said we would :)