sorry the title is so ~cheesy~

The last few weeks were filled with so much, yet never enough, family time. I think it’s easy to say we all took advantage of Costa Rican pura vida . Devin and I are now solo in La Fortuna looking forward to the next leg of our journey…flying down to Buenos Aires on Wednesday! As we plan and anticipate a curious, foreign next few months, it’s nice to take some time to reflect and write about the time in Costa Rica we were fortunate to share with family!

Nosara

After spending just two short days in Sámara, we drove north to spend time in Playa Guiones, a beach outside of Nosara. The waves are more substantial along this part of the coast, so there was a lot of surfing to be had. I finally figured out the part where you stand up in the “foamy” part of the waves, right after it breaks. SO to call it surfing might be stretch, but fun nonetheless. It was described to me as a “washing machine” to actually get beyond the breaks and surf the real waves, which Michael, Devin, and Troy did frequently.

Our accomodations in Nosara were quite unique as we stayed in one of the oldest plantation estates of Playa Guiones. The main house had few renovations and preserved its’ old-timey quirks; an additonal casita on the property was a newer build and provided the perfect space for Leslie & Dave to stay! We were lucky to spend a lovely, SUNNY day wandering around Nosara and playing putt putt (who would’ve thought?) with the de Jongs & Reeds together <3; followed by a sunset dinner at La Luna felt incredibly special to celebrate our time with Michael, Colleen, & Troy.

Sámara #2

Quick turnaround back to Sámara; this time with Leslie & Dave. Along the way, we stopped at a small, seemingly private beach se llama Playa Barrigona. Like most people, when I think of beach vacation, I picture white sand, palm trees, and sun. Playa Barrigona fit the bill better than any other beach we visited in Costa Rica, so it was worth a bumpy detour.

While we did return to the same area in Sámara and ate at many of the same restuarants, we were lucky to enjoy sunny days on the beach (slightly different than the rain and clouds from before). One of the days we spent driving to Playa San Miguel, which was an hour south along the coast. The reason being to visit San Miguel is my grandparents invested in some plots back in 2007!! They wanted us visit the area to see how their investment is doing. Well, we can say that the infrastructure to get to San Miguel was a bit rough, which might provide some insight to why there has been no development on their plots in over 17 years. However, the beach itself was gorgeous! San Miguel doesn’t have much besides a beach, very little residences and no restuarants that we could find. Perhaps in another 17 years, we will be able to tell a different story!

From the coast to the cloud forest we go! Ciao

– rachael