Day 7: Way down here in Costa Rica, Left my troubles there by the sea

Saturday Sunrise

Well it's travel day.  But before we start our 15-hour travel day back home, like most other days I rose up with the sun.  Caleb and Bridget were still asleep.  Rather than sleep in or go for a run, I head for a few quiet oceanic moments.

So it's about 5:30 AM. There are only a few people out and about this early.  A few surfers catching waves.  A runner here and there.  A couple of ladies walking their dogs.  A local asleep in a hammock by the Pacific.  Just a smattering of a few folks.




I found a peaceful spot on the rocks, exposed by the low tide, to dip my toes into the water and just listen to the waves for some moments of zen.  It doesn't get much more relaxing. These are the same rocks that created mini-pools, during low tide, receiving "new water" that Caleb loved playing in. 

Waves washing up on the rocks

Rock Formations by the Beach

I head back to the condo and find Bridget and Caleb relaxing on the hammock.  We had gone to Waffle Monkey the previous 2 mornings, so we had to go back to Breakfast Grinds for our final breakfast in Tamarindo.  We all got our Breakfast Grinds favorites.  Bridget, the egg sandwich.  Caleb, yogurt with fruit and mango smoothie.  I had burrito with red chiles (I actually learned from the waitress this morning that I was previously mistaken, these were hotter than the green!) and mango smoothie.

The Last Breakfast

We all then head to the beach to say our final goodbyes to the ocean.  We spend a few minutes walking parallel to the shoreline watching the oceans and surfers.  We did not have any proper pictures of the 3 of us so Bridget recruited someone to take a family picture.  From there, like so many times in the past week, we rinsed off our feet, walked through the resort, crossed the street via the crosswalk, with the help of a cross-guard, and walked back to our condo.  Except this time we did not take a dip into the pool.  We cleaned up and did our final packing. 

Caleb playing "The Drums"

The only Picture of all 3 of us.  A tad dark.

We were happy to see that Junior, our most excellent tourguide from the Palo Verde adventure, would be chauffeuring us back to the airport.  We  had fun learning more about Costa Rica, his upbringing and his future travel plans.  The folks at the Liberia airport were extremely friendly and helpful; such a contrast to the typical interactions at other airports.  It's evident they make a conscientious effort to send off the tourists wanting to come back and visit.

We had a couple of hours before we board.  As a bonus to me, the NC State-Louisville football game just so happened to be on the TV at the sports bar in the airport; certainly a pleasant surprise.  I don't seek out American sports when I'm traveling internationally but yes I'll watch the Wolfpack for sure while waiting to board a flight.  So I caught 1 minute of actual football time; but hey the Pack scored a TD before halftime.  It was about 12:30.  Bridget, Caleb and I shared an appetizer, which unbeknownst to us would be our last meal until the next day.  Bridget and I ordered Bloody Marys.

Caleb watching us take flight in Liberia

The 5-hour flight from Liberia to Costa Rica was not fun by any stretch of the imagination.  Caleb was extremely restless on the flight.  We compromised our no screen time policy and ordered a TV plan hoping to keep him entertained with the hopes that we keep our sanity and that the other passengers were not too bothered by our toddler.  Turns out we only had 10 or so TV channels and the 2 animated movies were way too violent (there was a baby on fire) and full of action.  Not an enjoyable flight for the 3 of us and certainly not for the gentleman sitting in front of us with Caleb kicking the seat periodically.  But what can you expect for a 2 year old on a 5 hour flight.  We offered the row of passengers in front of us a cocktail on our behalf but they politely declined. 

Our flight landed 45 minutes early to Chicago O'Hare and we needed every one of those minutes.  Based on various difficulties, we got to the gate just as they it was boarding.  I had the gate agent move my seat closer to Bridget and Caleb for backup reinforcements.  Caleb told the person sitting in the window seat of their row that he was in Caleb's seat.  I missed this but Bridget said it was hilarious. 

All and all this was a fantastic vacation!  I very much needed something like this.  Work had consumed way way way too much of my life the past several months and I'm grateful to Bridget for planning this getaway.  I completely disconnected.   Not worried about the news.  Not worried about my wallet.  Not worried about my work.  Not worried about my cold/sinus infection because it went away the first day down.

I'm proud of Bridget and I for stepping a bit out of our comfort zone and taking Caleb on such an adventure.  We know now that there will be more fun family adventures like this for us.  I'm happy for the family memories that were made.  I'm happy for Caleb that he was able to venture out in the world and will have the photos and videos to relive his adventures as a kid. 

Looking back on this trip, here are some random ruminations, thoughts, musings, reflections and so on about about our experiences in this sleepy Costa Rican surf town:

• Surfing, Soccer, Spanish.  It's rare I covet what other people excel at but man being in Tamarindo, I wish I had these 3 skills.
• There were a ton of Toronto Blue Jays hats.  Tourists, locals, vendors on the beach.  It was quite uncanny.  
• Caleb sure loves kitty cats.  
• Tamarindo Sunsets are not to be missed.  The sky and its reflections onto the water made for pure magic.
• What kind of business enterprise are these beach vendors?  Do they work for folks?  Do they buy the inventory and try to resell?  Are they indebted to someone else?  Is it a "scheme" like those door-to-door magazine sellers back in the States?  
• What does Guanacaste look like when it is in dry season and the plants look yellow?  It's hard to even imagine with how green and lush the landscape was.  
• The song "The Way" by Fastball, a song I may not have heard since the 90s, was in my head for several days after seeing the duo at the beach bar perform it; I had to queue it up on Spotify.  In a serendipitous moment a few days after we got back home, I jammed with someone whom just happened to start playing this song.  I knew how to play along with the song because of the trip.
• How great it is to be somewhere so laid back.  Seemed like such a judgment free zone.  Within the first few minutes of walking around our condo I saw someone wearing a T-shirt of the band "The Motet".  I was so excited I had to share my story of seeing them when I was in college. After seeing this obscure T-Shirt, I figured this place had to be okay.  Shortly thereafter we saw someone wearing a "Dead" shirt. 
• Caleb liked acting like animals a lot on this trip.  He took it to the extreme a few times.
• The beach looked different everyday.  With the varying tides and the difference of colors in the sunset; it was almost as if we were treated to a different beach everyday.  
• Coca Cola is better in Latin America.  I'm pretty sure this is a fact.  
• A little Canadian girl at the pool told Bridget that her that "Trump was going to kill you".  Boy I hope she's wrong.  
• We really lucked out with the weather.  Prior to the trip, weather forecasts showed dark clouds with raindrops.  However weather cooperated every single day.  We saw a few dark clouds above us and even could see that rain falling down from clouds off at a distance.  But no rain for us.  I think I felt 2 or 3 raindrops one day but that was it. 
• Caleb had several mantras or rather phrases, things that he repeated a lot during the trip.  "Benji has a baby brother".  "Where'd my friend go?" (in reference the little boy staying next door) "No gracias".  Some sort of singing gibberish that he repeated; I think imitating the Spanish speakers.  "I play my drums; you play guitar".  "That happened."
• For the month leading up to the trip and even after the trip, anytime there is an airplane in the sky or talk of an airplane Caleb tells us that the "airplane is going to Costa Rica." 
• Besides the Fastball song, tunes from Bob Marley, Antibalas, and Derek Trucks Band Songlines were the soundtrack of our Tamarindo adventure.  However the song of the trip was Emmitt-Nershi Band's "Costa Rica".  I cannot think of a better way to encapsulate this trip than to share this song which resonated so much during the trip. 

Spotify link to "Costa Rica"

"Costa Rica" by the Emmitt-Nershi Band

​

Way down here in Costa Rica

Let the water wash over me

Took a walk down on the shoreline

Left my troubles there by the sea

Left my troubles there by the sea

Pura vida, Costa Rica

The sun is shining on the sandy beach

Hammock swaying, music playing

Far away and out of reach

Far away and out of reach

Nighttime down in Costa Rica

Now the jungle is surrounding me

With my friends at the cantina

Nowhere else I'd rather be

Nowhere else I'd rather be

As the sun sets down on the ocean waves

And the nighttime sounds carry me away

Carry me away

(Won't you) carry me away

Carry me away

Way down here in Costa Rica

Let the water wash over me

Took a walk down on the shoreline

Left my troubles there by the sea

Left my troubles there by the sea

Left my troubles there by the sea

Day 6: Our Last Day in Tamarindo

5:30 AM Sunrise from the Condo

Friday Jog Route

It's Friday.  It's also our last full day in Tamarindo.

Like all the mornings in Tamarindo, I woke with the sunrise.  Like many many of the mornings in Tamarindo, I went for a sunrise jog along the beach.  I also explored some of the streets on Tamarindo looking for new places and new restaurants to check out for our final day.

Caleb's Favorite Restaurant - Waffle Monkey!

Bridget said the first thing out of Caleb's mouth when he woke up was something related to waffles.  So Caleb and I headed to Waffle Monkey, Caleb's favorite restaurant in the world!  Or at least favorite restaurant in the US or Costa Rica.  The folks gave Caleb a Waffle Monkey sticker; which Caleb was a huge fan.

Caleb and I split a vegan (no eggs!) waffle with bananas and coconut.  We also split a strawberry smoothie.  This waffle was way better than the peanut butter/Nutella waffle I had yesterday.  Caleb knew what was up!  From having quite a few delicious Nutella crepes in Paris, I have a weak spot for Nutella anytime it pops up on any menu.  Waffle Monkey, and monkeys for that matter, had been good to us on this trip and had great merchandise so we bought Caleb an awesome blue Waffle Monkey Tamarindo t-shirt so he could tell his friends back home about these awesome waffles in Costa Rica.  Speaking of Caleb's friends from back home, from time to time he'd mention how best friends from school, Jace and Benji, came over to the house on Halloween.  He told us several times a day that "Benji has a baby brother".

Waffle Monkey at the Beach

Bridget met us at Waffle Monkey as we were finishing up breakfast and we all proceeded to head to the beach.  We scoped out a shaded place by the beach to make homebase for our beach morning.  Caleb kept running to a nearby restaurant, that hadn't opened yet, to play and sit on the swings.  He had a ton of fun running back from us to the restaurant to explore the area.

Friday Beach Morning

After an hour and half or so at the beach, we headed back to the Condo pool.  We hadn't used the GoPro at all on the trip so I headed to the condo and took a ton of video swimming footage of the pool area which will make good footage for a future Costa Rica movie!  Caleb also had some nice camera work!

The concierge was picking up the guitar at 1:30, so we headed back to the condo.  I played a few last songs (who knew "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" sounded so good on nylon strings) and gave back my Costa Rica guitar.

A little "Blue Bossa" rendition before guitar is returned

Our plan for the afternoon was eat, souvenir shop, rest, sunset.  We put Caleb in the stroller and sought out the Green Papaya Taco Bar, a restaurant highly recommended by our new friends from Portland.  We looked for it last night but couldn't find it.  Not ever using any of our international cellular data plans on any day, we were mostly at the mercy of what we found on the street walking.  

After consulting the map back at the condo, today we found the Green Papaya.  The decor was very impressive (pics on TripAdvisor).  Outside seating consisted of swinging seats on rope aligning the perimeter of the exterior seating area.  As inviting as it was outside, we decided to eat inside to cool off from the heat. The interior consisted of tables and seats constructed of beautifully carved wood.  Cactus and other succulents lined the floors of the restaurant.  The walls adorned with Picasso influenced paintings of surfers in the water.  

Green Papaya

We were greeted by a friendly American waiter.  His first questions was if there were any allergies.  We certainly appreciated his attentiveness to this matter considering Caleb's egg allergy.  We ordered Caleb quesadillas, Bridget ordered a burrito, I ordered tacos.  The food was very delicious but Caleb was having some toddler meltdown moments.  I ate all my tacos, we boxed up Bridget and Caleb's leftovers and we headed off to go souvenir shopping.  At a t-shirt store, Caleb was going into super meltdown mode so Bridget rolled Caleb off in the stroller back to the condo.  I tried to pick out some shirts in a hurry.  Being in a rush, I think in retrospect the shirts are a bit smaller than ideal.  While I was still at the T-Shirt shop, Bridget and Caleb were struggling with the stroller.  Our travel stroller is ideal for travel as it is extremely compact when folded; however with its very small wheels it is not ideal for maneuvering any rocky terrain or any steps or any terrain that is not flat.  Luckily for Bridget, our friendly waiter from Green Papaya happened to be going down the road and helped Bridget with the stroller.  Meanwhile I left the store.  Bridget had said they were going back to the condo but in the midst of the toddler breakdown I didn't hear her correctly, I thought they were just walking outside for a bit.  I headed outside and didn't know where they were.  After a few minutes of pacing around I walked back to our condo; not knowing which way they would have walked.  Luckily I picked the same route as them and was able to help Bridget maneuver the stroller up to the sidewalk from the very rocky road.  

View from the Hotel Resort Pool & Bar

Once back at the condo we tried to put Caleb down for a nap.  He certainly fought it for awhile.  After about an hour and half nap, Bridget carried him, still half asleep, to the beach for our last sunset.  It was a magnificent sunset but Caleb having just woke up was a bit cranky.  Caleb needed milk.  I headed to the hotel resort bar to get (hopefully cold) milk.  After waiting several minutes, the bartender came by and said he didn't have milk.  I asked if there was somewhere that served coffee. He said that this bar served coffee.  I guess we had a miscommunication at first and then it clicked.  He gave me a milk and 2 cups for our wine free of charge.  Unfortunately the best part of the sunset occurred when I was at the bar.  Luckily I did get to see it albeit from the bar and not from the beach.

Following sunset, we headed back to the condo for our final Costa Rica dinner and to start packing up for tomorrow's travel day.  Bridget and I split the leftover burrito from Green Papaya, which was a very delicious burrito!  We also picked at some of the leftover rice and other meals that Bridget had made.

Here are a few pictures of our last sunset in Costa Rica:

Caleb & Dadda

Horses in the Tamarindo Sunset

The Ocean in the Tamarindo Sunset

The Shoreline in the Tamarindo Sunset

Day 5. Day Drinking and Making Friends.

It occurred to me that up to this point, we haven't introduced a very important character in our Costa Rica trip, Caleb's friend Lars.  There is a family next door from California that has two boys, one maybe around 12 and the other is Lars who is about 3 or 4ish.  Every morning around 6:30 Lars walks over to our little yard through the gap between bushes and comes and plays on the patio.  Sometimes Caleb gets up first, sometimes Lars gets up first, and sometimes the howler monkeys wake up first, but either way, these boys get so excited to see each other every morning and to start driving their cars all other the chairs.  Every single time we leave the condo to go somewhere, Caleb looks at me with this hilarious look and says, "where did my friend go?".  Lars is obsessed with Star Wars and there were multiple times on this trip that I looked out of the back sliding glass door and saw a little blonde boy in a chewbacca mask with a light saber marching into the yard.  Very, very funny.

Day Five in Tamarindo started out like many of the others, howler monkeys jumping in the trees, me reading in the hammock, Brandon jogging on the beach, Caleb asking me "where did my friend go?", and Lars marching through the bushes.  Mellow mornings, happy kids, gorgeous weather...it doesn't get any better.  Eventually our hunger took over and we had to rip these boys a part and go get some breakfast.  You are probably thinking, Breakfast Grinds
again you predictable bores?  Nope, new place!  We went to Waffle Monkey, and you know with a name like Waffle Monkey, it's got to be amazing.  For my little egg allergy kid, we were able to order him a vegan waffle covered in bananas and coconut.  Brandon's choice was smothered in Nutella and peanut butter, this was one hell of a breakfast waffle.  We paired our waffles with smoothies and sat out on the beach under the palm trees and laughed on how obsessed Caleb was with his breakfast.  This was actually his first waffle.  I have mastered the art of egg free pancakes, but haven't really gotten into the waffle game.  Poor kid is going to be disappointed at some point in his life to find out that not all waffles are this fabulous.  I have literally never seen him put down this much food before.

After breakfast we took our full bellies out to do some morning swimming to work off our breakfast.  We found a great shady spot to set up camp and spent a couple hours watching the surfers, swimming, and digging in the sand.  Caleb and I have developed our favorite beach game which consists on sitting in the little tide pools between the black rocks, picking up handfuls of wet sand, and then saying "dump, dump!" and throwing it into the water.  Sounds simple enough, but this game entertains Caleb and I until we need a break from the sun.  Every time the next set of waves come in to refill our pools, Caleb will yell "NEW WATER!".  When we get bored, we move to another little pool.  It's a very excellent game.  The only downside is that we both get covered head to toe in wet sand.

After some time at the beach, we had gotten as much sun as we could handle and were ready to move it over to the pool.  This is where things start to escalate quickly.  Brandon swam over to the bar to grab a cocktail and started talking with a couple from Philadelphia.  Caleb was splashing around with me and he is always a good way to start up conversations with new people.  We were having fun talking with them and were watching a giant iguana that was perched on one of the bridges in the pool.  This iguana was HUGE and just a couple of feet from us.  Everyone was in great spirits so we kept the Imperials (Costa Rican beers) flowing.  The iguana eventually jumped into the pool and actually swam across the pool and crawled out on the other side, it was wild.  You could see it's little body shimmying in the water and the spikes down it's back were above the water...so weird.  We met another family that actually also had a little boy named Kaleb.  He had a K, we had a C, but we really hit it off with them.  They were from Portland and had been traveling the past few years all through Central America with their Kaleb.  They had some great advice about traveling with a little boy to remote places and we had a blast exchanging travel stories.  All the while we were chatting, we were floating in the water and drinking cold beers.

Before we knew it, it was around 2:30 and we all needed to go to take a solid siesta.  We slept hard.  It is safe to say that we are fully in vacation mode and fully relaxed.  I woke up with dried drool on my face and saw all the pink outside in the sky.  I looked at the time and shit, it was 5:07.  I told you  that Tamarindo sunsets are not to be missed, but that they are early and fast and welp...we missed this one.  We watched the rest of it from our hammock rather than the beach as we have been all of the other nights.  We got ourselves together and eventually made our way out to dinner.  We followed our ears and our tummies and found Walter's Place.  There was a drum and guitar duo playing all sorts of nice crowd pleasers and we got a table in the sand and enjoyed a couple of margaritas and tacos.  We walked back home along the beach with our toes in the sand and enjoyed the fire dancers that were performing on the the beach.  The beach at night is so gorgeous, there are so many stars.  Caleb in fact said that he could count eight. I think there were a lot more than eight, but you catch the drift.  Another fun and gorgeous day in paradise.

Day 4: Staying Low Key in Tamarindo

Crocodiles!

Had the best night of sleep I've gotten in weeks.  Bridget...well not so much.  Caleb was asleep on her on the couch in the living room.

Feeling recharged, I queued up Antibalas on the iPhone, plugged in headphones and went for a 3 mile morning jog just after sunrise.  I ran down the shoreline until I saw a warning sign for crocodiles.  I turned around and ran the other way down the beach until I saw another sign for crocodiles.  Then I turned around and ran on the street and back to the condo.

Grinds Breakfast #3

We headed back to Grinds for breakfast.  Caleb had a mango-banana smoothie.  Bridget and I both had breakfast burritos.  I opted for the red chiles inside my burrito. Our waitress was impressed that this gringo would go for the spicy stuff!  I learned that you down the hot beverage first...cappuccino for me...then you save the smoothie for the burrito.

We headed to the beach, but just for maybe an hour or so.  We tossed around a tiny basketball.  Caleb was not interested in walking on the beach, he wanted to be carried.  I got him moving down the beach by taking the basketball and just running alongside with him with the ball just barely out of reach.  The old carrot on a stick trick.  Caleb was also not interested in sunscreen.  The beach thing wasn't quite going to plan so we decided to spend the majority of our swim time at our pool at the condo.  We tossed around the basketball in the pool.  Caleb enjoyed his pool time. I had a Coco Loco to start off the swim-bar drinks.  The Coco Loco was nearly identical to the Dirty Monkey.  From there we made it easier on the bartenders.  Bridget enjoyed a Latin American Coca Cola.  I then finished her Coke with a rum.  From there we just enjoyed the Imperials.  

Howler Monkeys swinging from the branches next to our porch!

We headed back to the condo to each home cooked leftovers for lunch.  Lucky for us the howler monkeys were climbing the trees next to our porch.  We had seen them in the mornings throughout the trip but I believe this is the only time we saw them hanging out in the middle of the day.

Sunset Time-Lapse video from our table at Latitude Blue

Sunset from Latitude Blue

After some napping and hammock time, we headed to the beach to check out the sunset.  We took a left out of the condo area instead of a right to check out some new places to hang out.  We settled in at a very scenic table for happy hour at a beachfront bar called Latitude Blue.  Bridget ordered 2 for 1 sangrias; I had 2 for 1 mojitos.  The view was incredible.  Tamarindo Sunsets are not to be missed.  We were treated to another fire dancer show at Latitude Blue.  

For dinner we returned to the outdoor (roof covered) food court and had Caribbean food - chicken fingers and chicken curry and rum & cokes.  There was even a playset for Caleb to play while we ate.  He wanted to play with the bigger kids.  He went down the slide a few times but most of the time he hid in the basement house; especially when the much bigger kids were running around.  He even got mama to crawl in a few times.

Caleb & Mama in the Playhouse

Day 3: Adventure Day to Palo Verde

I think you can all tell from the previous entry that it was written by Brandon since he mentions running.  This girl is getting enough exercise hauling a little boy up and down the stairs from the pool to the condo.  After two days of soaking in the sun, bouncing back and forth from the pool to the beach, our hot skin needed a break and we decided to leave our sleepy surfing town behind and go on a little adventure.  We met our driver and one other couple at 7:30 a.m. and loaded onto a little bus to head off on a day of searching for animals in the Palo Verde National Park.  The drive was about an hour and a half, winding through tiny towns with gorgeous mountain views.  Junior, our guide, told us about each little town we drove through, saying in Costa Rica you only need four things to be considered a town, and they have to be in this order of importance: A soccer field, a bar, a school, and a church.

The last half of our drive was on dirt roads, I am so glad we did not rent a car on this trip because it seems to take expert skill to wind and weave around and dip in and out of the massive holes in the roads.  The roads were lined with watermelons and cantaloupe fields, and then by sugarcane fields as far as the eye can see.  The sugar cane grows about 14 feet tall so it is almost like being in a tunnel of the tall crops.  Even though we were on our way to look for exotic jungle animals, Caleb was thrilled to see all the cows and horses that wandered on the side of the road.

We made it to the Palo Verde National Park and parked the bus along the Tempisque River and loaded onto our little river boat.  Caleb was pumped to be on the boat and we were ready to see some animals!  Our first animal spotting was a giant iguana perched up in the tree.  We learned all about how they change colors for mating season and that the males were turning orange to attract the green ladies.  Then we heard our new favorite sound, the sound of the howler monkeys!  There were about ten of them up in the trees making their loud guttural calls.  A big splash came down into the water next to us and we realize that the monkey pooped into the water from the tree.  Now when I ask Caleb, "what noise do monkeys make?", instead of saying "eee eee ooo ooo" he just looks at me seriously and says, "monkeys go poo poo".  So, there's that.


We really wanted to see some big crocodiles.  Jorge, our boat captain, slowly navigated around the river looking to spot animals for us.  We saw tons of beautiful birds, lots of herons.  We saw more monkeys and iguanas, and even a couple of crocs!  One opened it's mouth up wide and chomped on a fish.  Jorge tried to let Caleb drive the boat, but he wanted nothing to do with it and just continued to pretend to drive behind him.  This was a great way to keep him entertained and although it wasn't as thrilling as I am sure the zip lining and hanging bridge excursions were, it was great to see another part of the country and check some wild life.

After the boat ride, we drove just about fifteen minutes to the tiny town of Ortega for lunch.  As I always seem to be on this trip, I am so hungry and am so ready for what is promised to be a more authentic Costa Rican cooking experience.  We drove down some crazy steep roads and arrived at a tiny house overlooking some farms and the mountains, it was beautiful.  We were greeted by two ladies and about eight of the smallest cats I have ever seen in my

The kitchen.

Our favorite meal, cooked on a fire, overlooking the mountains.

life.  The air smelled delicious because they were cooking outside on an open fire.  We sat around a big farm table and feasted on corn tortillas, rice, beans, pico de gallo, roasted chicken, fresh pineapple.  It was incredible!  This was exactly the meal Brandon and I have been craving the whole time we were here, something that tasted more like what we were served in the sleepy towns we visited on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica when we came on our honeymoon.  Don't get me wrong, the food has been good on this trip too, but just a little lacking on the exotic feel since there is so much tourism in this area.  Caleb did some good eating as well, but he mostly just wanted to chase the little gatos.  Y'all these cats were so small, they looked like little adorable, rats...if that's possible.  In typical "buy a kid a toy and watch then play with the box" fashion: Pay to be driven to a remote location to see jungle animals and your child will only be interested in the cats.

After lunch, we loaded back into our little van and started the trek back to Tamarindo.  We tried to keep Caleb entertained and eventually Caleb and I both fell asleep for a much needed siesta.  

Caleb only got about an hour nap on the bus so we were hoping he would keep sleeping once we got home, but little Caleb had another plan in mind.  No sleep for Caleb.  He was ready to play!  Brandon strummed guitar, I was attempting to read in the hammock, but Caleb was melting down a bit.  We needed to mobilize and get out of the house because Caleb was starting to climb the walls and drive me crazy.  If we were at home, I would say "go play on your train table" (and leave me alone), but no train table here, so we must keep this boy busy.   There is a brewery down the street we were wanting to check out called Volcano Brewing.  Some dudes from San Diego that came down here in the 90s and found paradise but hated the beer so they opened up their own brewery and stayed.  Sounds like a solid plan to me.  The Pale Ale is called Witches Brew and it's pretty tasty.  We sat at a picnic table on the sand and drank beers and ate some super tasty shrimp cheviche as the sun began to set.

The horses that were giving people sunset rides walked back and forth, so Caleb was always excited to see them, but he was still driving me a little nuts.  If there are any stay at home moms reading this, stop now, you won't like this next part.  Being with your kid 24/7 is hard, right? haha!  He has been a serious momma's boy on this trip and only wants me to hold him, carry him, and on and on.  Give me a little space, little dude!  This is the first day where he has been a little mischievous and really started pushing my buttons.  He still is able to flirt with the waitress and win over her heart, so when we order our last round of Witches Brew to go so we can watch the sunset in the sand, she gives us giant beers.  Alright!

We enjoy another breathtaking sunset.  You just can't get enough of these sunsets, they are insane.  Each one different from the others.


Another day was coming to a close, but we weren't quite ready to throw in the towel.  On the way back from the beach, we decided to do a little night swimming in our beloved pool.  Caleb loved that he didn't have to wear sunscreen, or even a rash guard top.  Night swimming is fun!  Dinner tonight was cooked at home, just some yellow rice, roasted pork, and white wine.  It had been a long day and we were all exhausted so we crawled into bed and slept hard.

Day 2: Correr. Comer. Playa. Piscina. Monos sucios Siesta. Puesta de sol. Comer. Dormir.

Post Sunrise View from the Condo

Day 2 began a bit more relaxed than the precursor to Day 1.  We were much more well rested.  Well...As well rested as two can be with a tossing and turning toddler in the bed.  

I woke up early and tried to sneak out of the bed...however Caleb sat up and said "Where is daddy going?"  We all rose up out of bed.  Just after sunrise.  

It'd been a few days since I'd gotten any exercise.  So I queued up some Bob Marley and ventured out for a run along the beach.  The view was of course absolutely amazing.

Morning Jog

Papaya/Mango Smoothie

The three of us went back to Breakfast Grinds.  Day 1 this became our breakfast go-to.  Great food...excellent service...play area for Caleb.  Bridget had coffee and an omelette with avocado and tomato.  I ordered huevos rancheros with the red chiles (not quite as spicy as the green chiles from yesterday), cappuccino, and a papaya/mango smoothie.

Caleb had some of his smoothie and decided he didn't want to eat right away. We relaxed.  Got caffeine coursing through our veins.  Got food in our bellies.  And we were all happy planning our day of relaxation.  Which part of the beach do we hang out on.  The spot from yesterday...or the spot 100 feet down the shoreline?  Choices..

Checking out the Morning Surf Action

We finished breakfast and sauntered towards the beach.  We decided to plop down in an area in front of a lot of surfers...perhaps a football field length away from where we hung out yesterday.  I got some excellent swim time in the Pacific Ocean while Caleb and Bridget played in the sand.  For me this was the perfect reconnect with nature moment and completely decompress from the work and obligations back home.  A coastal trip doesn't start for me until I have this moment with the ocean.



We then went looking for a new land spot with more shade.  We ended up back in the area back to the area we hung out the day before.  We all played in the 'ocean pools'.  Caleb dug all sorts of sand with his bulldozers and excavators.  All was well.

One Giant Sandbox!

After a few hours of ocean and beach time, we headed back to the condo pool.  I ordered us up 4 Dirty Monkeys.  I'm sure the bartenders just loved getting the blender out and decorating the interior of these plastic cups with chocolate syrup.  Regardless, they were delicious!  There aren't any swim up bars I'm ordering Pina Coladas or Dirty Monkeys in Raleigh.

Swim Up Bar and 1 Dirty Monkey

La Guitarra 

We headed back to the condo for lunch and for the 1:30 arrival of la guitarra.  Bridget arranged a rental, through our concierge, for an acoustic guitar.  I was hopeful for a steel string guitar but was expecting a nylon string classical style guitar.  Regardless I was going to be happy with whatever I got.

Guitar arrived at our condo exactly at 1:30 PM.  Caleb was getting a shower and decided to come out and greet our concierge completely naked.  The guitar ended up being a nylon string guitar, about 3/4 the size of a regular guitar; probably mostly for beginners and younger students.  But it serves me well since traditional nylon string guitars have much wider string spacing than the acoustic and electric guitars I'm much more accustomed to.  I was more than happy to have something in my hands that will play music.




Eventually we took afternoon naps and woke up in time to catch the Tamarindo sunset.  These are not to be missed!  Not quite as vivid as the prior sunset....but the night before was one of the best sunsets, if not the best, sunset I had ever seen.  Still quite a spectacular sunset!!!  From there we headed home and enjoyed a home cooked meal of shrimp pasta paired with an Argentine Sauvignon Blanc.

 

Silhouette of Horses in the Tamarindo Sunset

Day 1: Eat. Ocean. Pool. Sleep. Ocean. Eat.

Saturday night was rough, not going to lie about that.  I woke up Sunday morning at about 5 a.m. and Caleb was nose to nose with me breathing stinky breath in my face and then he gave me a huge, sweet smile and I knew everything was fine.  It was still crazy early to be awake, but such is the life with little ones.  Caleb and I slipped into the living room to read books and hopefully to let Brandon sleep a little longer.  As the sun came up we rocked outside in the hammock and in typical Caleb fashion, he said, "more milk mommy".  Geez, this kid.

Nice Mug.

I could see the branches of the trees were rustling above us and I assumed it was birds until I looked up and a monkey was right above us!  Caleb and I both were thrilled (maybe me even more than him)...Monkeys, I love monkeys!  Turns out there were four monkeys in our tree, and one was a momma with a little baby on her back.  It was so amazing and a great way to hit the reset button on our trip and start fresh.  This is a good point to mention that I hadn't planned on blogging on this trip and didn't bring the cord to my camera so all these pics are going to be iPhone pics and I won't get to check out my big camera pics until I get home.  Monkey pictures are on the big camera...first world problems.

Our refrigerator was still basically empty at this point, so we went down to the beach and looked for a breakfast spot.  This momma needed coffee, stat.  We stumbled upon the absolutely perfect spot, the Breakfast Grind.  It was on the second floor and all open air, so the views were beautiful, the people were friendly, and even better, the owner had a little girl so there was a kids corner full of toys and books.  I told our server that Caleb had had an upset tummy the night before and she made him a fresh fruit smoothie that got some vitamins back into him and perked him right up for a full day of swimming.  I had an awesome breakfast sandwich with fresh avocado and Brandon had a breakfast burrito with a green sauce so spicy that sweat was beading off his head.

We left with full tummies and walked across the little street and found a nice shady spot to set up our beach spot for the morning.  The weather could not be more perfect.  Mid-eighties, sunny.  We watched the surfers and soaked in the amazing view.  The mountains to the right of the beach are totally undeveloped so it's just blue sky and green mountains as far as the eye can see.  The tide change here is pretty drastic, so at low tide during the day, there is so much beach.  Caleb ran and ran and ran.  We played in the sand and splashed in all the little tide pools around these cool black rocks.  I am definitely observing some cultural parenting differences.  A group of four little kids about Caleb's age played in the tide pools for about an hour (one was totally naked), with not an adult nearby or even in shouting distance.  I am assuming their parents were surfing...and you know what?  They didn't die.  They were as happy as they could be, covering each other in wet sand and using their surf boards as slides into the tide pools.  I instantly realize I need to back off and let my kid breathe and be independent.

After a few hours on the beach, we were hot and sandy and decided to take it up to our pool for a cool dip before lunch.  We floated and chilled and life is good.  The boys went up to the condo and I went off to the supermarket in search of some food.  I am hoping to cook some meals to keep costs down a bit.  Tamarindo is a town of only 500 residents and all surfers and tourists so we are finding the restaurants to be a bit more pricy than our last trip to Costa Rica on the Caribbean coast.  I fumbled through the market trying to piece together a couple of meals in my head and realizing I had to carry them all back home...up all the stairs.  Funny to pick out things at the grocery store using weight as the discretionary factor.

Brandon and I had sandwiches and cold beers on the back patio and all snuggled down for a nap.  It took a little wrestling to force Caleb to sleep, but I had to wake him up at 5 for the sunset, we had all enjoyed a mellow afternoon.  We made it back down to the beach just in time, and man, the sunset really lived up to the hype.  It was incredible!  I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but the colors, the clouds, the reflections in the sand, it's all perfection.  We cracked open a couple of celebratory beers (we are so happy to be drinking Imperials on this trip!) and soaked it all in.

Earlier on my grocery store field trip, I had spotted a restaurant that looked really good, so we went to dinner after the sunset.  Like all the restaurants seem to be, everything is open air and all outdoor so you can feel the nice breeze and the smell of the roasting chickens was making my mouth drool.  The waiters were so kind to Caleb and brought him special little books and pens to color with and Caleb is getting great at saying "Gracias!".  He is making lots of amigos here.  I talked Brandon into going for the special which was Sangria for two and a big tray of steaming meat to share.  Doesn't it sound good when I describe it just like that? Big tray of steaming meat...but that is just what it was!  There was chicken, steak, grilled corn, guacamole, pico de Gallo, something that we couldn't really figure out and are referring to as fancy hot dog.  So good!