The turtle watching/nesting/hatching never worked out. I'm not sure if we were getting a tour company run around or not. The first story was that they normally wanted 6 people and if it was just us they'd charge the kids. Ok with us. Then they started telling us the weather wasn't good enough even though it was. Then something with the tides. We gave up and took advantage to go to bed early so we could get up early, I mean normal time, for our last full day.

Everyone was started to get restless on the last day so we decided to move everyone out as soon as we woke up and go exploring. I heard that Playa Barrigona was one of the prettiest and undeveloped beaches in the country. That was our goal for the day. To reach it and then explore others between us and Nosara.

Nothing was open yet in town for breakfast. I found a few maps online the night before that were a huge help, we wouldn't have gotten to any of these beaches otherwise. Our first stop was Buena Vista right north of Samara.

As we left town we saw that the local bakery was open and stocked up on pastries and some of the mixed fruit nectar drinks the kids got hooked on. So much cheaper! The pastries were delicious. Absolutely no clue what they were. Monkis (or Monkeys) was the name. Wish we had found it Day 1 there,

Feeling better we headed over to Playa Buena Vista. We didn't go out to the water due to the alarming signs about crocodiles in the estuary. The view from the car will be just fine. On to the next beach Barrigona.

Strangely we couldn't find it it directions on any map or in my limited google search. My map said it was 2 km north of Buena Vista. We headed up the beach road until we found a road leading off towards the beach and a local hotel. We were hopeful for about one minute until we hit the river crossing. No way we were making it. We turned around and headed back the way we came to try and go up and around and hit the beach from the other side - the North.

We made it back to our beach road and realized we (thought) were almost back to where we had turned around. I recognized the name of the Barco Quebrado as the beach right North of Barrigona. I had seen pictures of it and read that it was accessible too. Not sure how. I also read that somehow one house was built on it back in the 1940's and a couple still lives there. We took a guess on a dirt road and started driving. A long ways in the jungle. We had no clue where this was leading and then we emerged on a deserted beach - with the exception of a house in front of us. It was one of the coolest places we have discovered in our travels. I was tempted to walk up and put a note on the door offering to buy it.

We weren't sure if anyone was home and we wanted to be respectful. We walked around a but on the beach and climbed in the rocks for pictures. I had read they get a sick surfing wave off of the beach but absolutely no one was out there.

We headed back out still in search of Barrigona. I figured that the best landmark would be the monstrous estate. Mel Gibson owns 500 acres of jungle and estate above the beach. I also read that the public access was either on his property or directly adjacent. If we found his place it would have to be possible. We wondered how we would see it.

Let's see. Shack. Shack. Cattle farm. Shack. What in the world.... A monstrous property emerged with a crazy fence, immaculate grounds and staff working all around the gates. The Christies real estate sign really gave it away though. He is selling the $30M estate.

There is a dirt road on each side of the property. We took the southern one first and made it to the beach but I don't think it was right. It didn't look crystal blue and white sand like the pics. Also there was water between us and the beach and more croc signs. A local surfer we had seen the day before was arriving right then to jump on the break that looked pretty sweet if you didn't get chomped on the way out.

We figured we had one more chance with the northern dirt road. We got pretty close and the water piling up on the road became too much to pass. We think that was probably the right road. Stupid heavy rains the night before. Oh well.

We gave up on Barrigona and headed up the coast towards Nosara. We passed through Garza, a small fishing town literally on the ocean. I saw zero tourism there. It was surprising to have it sandwiched between two bustling surf towns.

We kept driving up the infinite dirt roads. There had to be better roads but we didn't find them. We made our way into Nosara and managed to get list through the winding roads down to the beach. All the development is kept if the beach in this more commercial surf town. We saw tons of folks hiking it down the road that leads to the beach.

We stumbled upon Beachdog Cafe and the name and sign sold us. We were seated next two local women and a boy about our son's age. Soon I heard some oohs and aahs and looked over to see a baby red squirrel. Or are they chipmunks? We had seen the adults in the wild a lot. One of the women works for the refuge and was tasked with taking care of it until it was old enough to be at the center. I never thought feeding a baby animal out of a medicine dropper of letting a wild rodent climb my child would be part of our excursion today. You just never know.

The kids gobbled up their pancakes with hunks of fresh bananas throughout and we headed for the beach. I was interested to check out Nosara since it was a true beach town. While the surfers there were definitely pretty amazing and he waves were almost turbular at times, I don't think it would have been a good family choice. We didn't like how the vendors jped on us as soon as we entered the beach and one of the shop owners shouted "look with your eyes not with your hands" behind my son was even fully through the door. At Samara half the town knew my kids before we left and tried to keep them there. Cool to see Nosara but not really our scene at this stage.

We let the kids play in the water a bit. I guess the car ride had gotten to then because they went crazy and started dancing and making up their own song about how much fun the beach and Costa Rica was. We looked crazy. But it was fun. We had to practically pull them off the beach but lured then with a surprise. Josh and u had spotted the coconut lady in a truck at the parking lot. For a dollar a piece she took a machete to a coconut and delivered it fresh with a straw. My daughter thought it was disgusting and handed it over after getting her photo. My son downed about 2/3 of it. I had bought some fresh bottles coconut water at Samara Organics and was enjoying it this trip.

We all piled back into the car and the kids were asleep before we made it too far our of town. We felt an obligation to take a look at the other Nosara beach Playa Pelada. Not much there except some fishermen. We didn't even get out.

On the way back we figured we would go by good ole Mel's house another few times and see if security was thinking we were staking out the house. No, we decided to take the beach road back, we had pretty much done it from both sides. Couldn't be any worse than that horrible connector road.

It could. We got just about to where we had turned around coming from Samara and look. There is a river across the road. If we were in one of my cars we would have gone through no questions asked. Our rental car was a 4x4 Montero something. It wasn't super high and didn't have great traction on the tires. We just couldn't risk it. The kids slept most of the detour and we finally made it back home. Not until we got by the cows first. Because doesn't every cattle farmer herd his cows through the street? The video was one of my favorites. The kids were sound asleep and I was sure some horns were coming through the windows.

We headed straight down to the beach to find Pablo and surf. Well the three of them did. I hit up Sub Express to try and grab a cheap sandwich. I was the only one at the counter and the sandwich was $10 for a 12". Is it me or is that insane? That's insane for US prices. What has happened here? The lady running the shoe appeared to be American and she told me she made all the bread and the oil and vinegar dressing. Do you make that special? It was fine. Just not worth that crazy price.

No joined the family and they told me Pablo wasn't ready yet. I wasn't totally sure Pablo really wanted to surf again... After half an hour Josh and my son went up to his spot and returned with a board. We would surf ! For the next hour we took turns surfing. We had quite the system, Josh would push the child. I would catch them or fish them up and get them back over to Josh. I was also on kid #2 duty who was sitting on the edge of the water digging.

We were all exhausted by the end and headed in with our board. We said our goodbyes to Pablo where we watched videos of his son riding road and mountain bikes to try and convince our son to take off his training wheels. Then Pablo tried to convince our daughter to stay in Costa Rica with their family until November. Sounded like a sweet deal. He would give her a place to stay, food. And all the surfing she wanted. She giggled and said she would miss her mommy. My sweet girl. My son, on the other hand, was all in. We said our goodbyes to Pablo for real and promised to see us in November. He likes June to visit but thinks November is his favorite month. End of rainy season so it's super lush and almost no people. Hey family - Thanksgiving?

We got back to the villa and stopped to talk to Diego about checking out. We planned to leave super early in the morning and needed to pay tonight. The kids were going nuts while we talked. I had just turned around to stop my son from running when WHAM! He ran full force straight into the parking gate. Those arms that raise up and down. He managed to drive his nose straight into the end. He did it with such force his little body slammed into the driveway whipping his head back. In true dad fashion Josh says (without seeing anything) "he's ok", I'm now screaming frantically as I see he has split his nose and I'm imagining a trip to an unknown beach hospital. Josh was still talking to Diego! Stop talking to Diego! He's lying in the ground bleeding!

My son was ok. Thankfully he missed his eye by about half an inch. I cringe to think what if. I luckily force us to travel with a rather large first aid kit so we had plenty of stuff to clean him up with. I also think that pillow on his head saved him a concussion. I can't imagine if it had been his braided head that had taken that hit. Ugh. We did do many crazy and extreme things and the way he gets injured 13 hours before leaving is running into a parking gate. Of course.

After I calmed down and we iced him up and let him rest we headed out got our last dinner. Josh wanted to get our son a souvenir so we headed to a jewelry store in the far end of town. Of course the cool necklace we were all drawn to was a metal pendant that had been made from some spray paint machine part. Cool but it had no meaning whatsoever and looked like it could be dangerous. With a lot of work we convinced him to get a shark tooth necklace to remind him of surfing. Of course he wanted the prehistoric one not the one that actually can't from near that beach....

For the last dinner we tried Locanda also near us. For some reason I wasn't hungry at all. Maybe it was my son almost losing an eye. I ordered a mango shake. They gave me pineapple. We ordered chicken quesadillas for the kids. They brought them beef. I told my daughter to behave. She threw a fork at my head. I called it a night and we were ready for bed before the boys were even back.

We packed everything up and were ready to say goodbye.

Today was nothing but travel. I will be honest. It was miserable it involved a 4 hr drive from Samara to San Jose which had us leaving at 6am. The kids were pretty horrible in the car. Smile.

I won't repeat the horrid experience at the airport. I had it typed out and then realized some things are better left untold.

Get me on the plane.

FINAL THOUGHTS

1. Ten days with your family is a long time. Don't let this blog fool you. We had moments where I was pretty sure we wouldn't make it and all four of us had our meltdowns. But getting to spend that much time with my family is something we have never done before and I wouldn't give any of it back. Ok maybe a few "special" parts.

2. While I spent a lot of time planning all the best stuff - places to stay, activities, restaurants, etc most of our best memories will probably be the people we got to know and the unplanned moments.

3. One of the most surprising observations for me was the reaction to my son and his perception of it. He got almost no attention when he had his braids in. My daughter got it all. As soon as his hair was back we had locals wanting to take pictures with him, talking to him, etc. He has cool hair, I get it. But it was a bit shocking for me to observe.

4. My daughter became very observant with the animals and their babies. Which animals have eggs and which don't was a new game. By the last day that turned into the dreaded question of "how do babies (people) get out of their mommy's tummy". My answer of "with the doctors help" only held her over for 30 minutes. If anyone would like to take that one for me...

5. If you can't tell by my blog, La Carolina is my absolute favorite place in CR. It's a short drive from the Liberia airport. We are talking about a plan to get the kids down there annually and to watch flight prices. The beaches are pretty but to us Pura Vida is about the land, animals and people.

6. If asked to compare traveling with the kids to just the two of us - different. Better in many ways but much more exhausting. We didn't lounge and sip wine at night. We slept! I don't think we sacrificed one ounce of fun and we still put our own adventurous spin on it. 

The day started off rough, to put it nicely. I won't go into too much detail but since this is my (I mean our) own blog why not tell a little.

For a month prior to coming on this trip I randomly cut all drinks, except water, out of my diet. I wanted to see what effect it had on my body and to stabilize my system before so much fruit!

The interesting part of my experiment was that for almost 2 months I pretty much eliminated my migraines. Quite shocking because I have horrible ones that can get as high as 20 something a month. I had become a bit dependent on soda and sweet tea and was trying to cut some calories.

The night before at dinner I ordered a mixed drink, with coke in it. I hadn't had a soda in close to 6 weeks. This morning I woke up with a migraine. I believe I have found another piece to my migraine puzzle....It didn't make me feel any better in the moment though.

Josh tried to keep the kids sane fur as long as possible so I could sleep. When I felt human we got up and headed over to Samara Organics for breakfast. We still had 45 minutes until we needed to be at the zip line office.

25 minutes later.... Our omelette, breakfast platter and granola/yogurt emerged. Although we literally had to throw the food down our hatches, the omelette was divine with all the fresh vegetables and eggs and yogurt was tasty. Best breakfast we have had in Samara. Just slow.

We drove over to the Wing Nuts office which was luckily right on the outskirts of town. We got there on time. We signed out lives away and got harassed up. I briefly questioned what we were thinking bringing our kids to do this as they strung them up to the beams and said "ok now flip upside down. It will be just like that in the trees." My son wasn't having any flipping. We loaded up a van with a grown family of three and were up the hill got a few minutes.

Holy Mosquitos. The other family was talking about how there weren't any bugs here in Samara. Are these people crazy? My legs now looked like I had gone through a few rounds of chicken pox.

I was happy to hear the kids would not be breaking themselves. I wasn't thrilled about the hand/glove break system for myself. Six years ago I badly burned my arm on a cable and still have the scar. As we ascended the first platform I was really having second thoughts on this. My son can't even listen when I tell him not to stick his fingers in the moving fan blades. How is he going to listen to these directions? Don't worry. Josh had double GoPros set up to record the majority of the events. He with one and my daughter with the other.

For the most part it was fine. My daughter turned upside down and giggled through the trees the entire time when they told her to. My favorite parts were private yl when they hooked the kids together and sent them down a slow line together. They loved that. Or when Josh dropped his hand break and completely flung the staff member at the end into a tree. Can't wait to see that video! But seriously some if the views of the sea were incredible. We stopped and had snacks as a group high up on one platform. Very cool. And they were very safe. I think the only outfitter in the country taking anybody that can fit in a harness. Kids loved it.

Afterwards it was lunchtime but everyone was full from snacks. We headed back for naps to refuel for the beach. I took advantage of the quiet time to visit a few of the boutiques. The Fabric Boutique is definitely my favorite shop in town. Cute bohemian beach clothes, jewelry. I got a cute scarf for Ro, some jewelry and a new coverup. Score. I tried to get them to sell me this torn fabric covered dream catcher but was told it was display. I thought I could convince them but no. They did invite me to the town's World Ocean Day celebration on Sunday. Sounded cool. Too bad we are leaving.

When the kids got up we headed back to find Pablo. We noticed he was already packing his trailer so we told him we would surf tomorrow. He asked if we had checked out that beach. We told him we had and asked if he had any clue about the police car and everyone else. Yes. Yes he did. He forgot to tell us that TWO PEOPLE HAD DIED OVER THERE. Lovely. He thinks they fell on the rocks and they have still only found one body. See that white boat over there? That's the search boat for the other body. Oh good. Glad we used common sense and didn't climb down anywhere. Oh Pablo.

We did our "normal" beach then pool routine before getting ready for dinner. Tonight we decided to hit up Lo Q Hay. We noticed them building a bonfire earlier in the day. That indeed seemed to be where the crowd was. A party was happening at 8:30. WAY past our bed time but some other families had the same idea as us and had come early too. While we waited for the kids' pizza and our tacos, the bonfire was lit and every kid on the beach swarmed. I'm not sure that was the safest reaction. Our son quickly made friends with a group of girls and spent a while chasing hermit crabs with them. What a life.

I thought the tacos were the most foodie thing I had had in Samara.

Another busy day and everyone was out quickly.

I will be honest. I have no clue what insane time the children woke up. Without the bug nets to keep them in their beds it was a losing battle. For most who know me in real life, you probably know I talk a lot in my sleep. Drives Josh crazy. This whole trip I've woken us both up every night yelling for my son to be careful of something. He seems to have no concept of danger and it scares the crap out of me.

We tried to keep them quiet as long as humanly possible. These villas are quiet and removed from the bustle but are very close together. I worried about bothering others with singing Frozen songs or debating about having to wear shoes in the streets. It was finally time for sunrise so we made our way over to the beach for a walk and shell collecting.

My daughter would only collect the pink ones. She carefully placed them in the pocket of her little designer surf coverup. Such my diva. My son just went crazy picking up the largest pieces of coral he could find. The peaceful morning walk came to abrupt end when my daughter discovered the crabs waking up and we uncovered a new fear of hers.

It was almost 7 do we thought places should be opening up for breakfast. Nope. Nothing. We stopped by Samara Organics I had heard such great things about. Not until 7:30. So we went back to wait a tad longer.

Almost 8 and we struck out again at the breakfast place. Not good. We noticed that Lo Q Hay, one if our must try dinner places was open. We ducked in and grabbed a table on the beach. That table lasted all of two minutes before we moved onto the patio. There are some sort of sand fleas here that are destroying us. I couldn't take it and moved us out of the sand. We put in a quick order for French toast for the kiddos and breakfast tacos with potatoes and rosemary for both of us. It took a while to cook but was delicious. As we waited we figured out that some of the more chill surfers ran their gig out of there. Not the more sophisticated joint with GoPro hookups on the boards like at C&C but just cool dudes. They brought the kids some chalk and let them draw on the dart board wall.

After breakfast we got geared up for the beach and split up on duties. Diego at our reception desk was in so I talked to him about getting in touch with the zip lining folks. I had emailed but not heard back. Instantaneously he had them on the phone and handed it to me - English, he said. That was easy. We were booked for tomorrow morning. Next up turtle hatchlings at the conservation center. They apparently didn't speak English so he made a quick call. He told me it would be tomorrow or Saturday. Was he ok to set either up for us? Sure. Why can't everything be this easy?

I made my way back to the beach and the family. Josh told me he had talked to one of his new friends Christian out in front of Lo Q Hay. They could take the kids out for a private surf lesson at 1 when it was super calm. One of us would be in the water too since they don't swim. No clue what it would cost back home but they offered to take them for $30 and then they can use boards for the rest of our stay. Flashbacks to my surf lesson here years ago pop into my head... That was a disaster and I thought i would die.

We played on the beach some but the waves were getting big. I was wrong. There appear to be quite a few good surfers here. Short board.

Time for some more pool and then down for naps before our afternoon outings.

Everyone woke up just in time to have some leftovers before heading back to the surf school. Josh made a trip to the never open Samara Organics that was now open for some fruit. When he got back I took a turn and grabbed a smoothie to hold be over. For $3.50 I say yummy. Quite the cool shop with fresh sandwiches, coffee and juices plus tons of natural foods, sauces, cheeses, chocolate, etc.

Turns out the surf school actually has a name. The Tico Surf School. We met up with Pablo who turns out to be the owner. I make sure he knows my kids can't swim. He assures me he has worked with small kids and tells me he has a 7 year old who can't listen to directions at all. He should be good. The first 15 minutes are spent on the land doing safety and and learning to pop up. I loved that he started by telling them that they would stand in their spot while he talked and if they moved the lesson was over. That set the stage. I've never seen them listen do intently. I was super impressed with how he talked to them and how he worked out a plan with us. Basically it would be a rotation. He would get them on the wave. We caught them turned them back out (and filmed of course.)

I knew my daughter would be good but had no idea she would pop up first time. It was ridiculously cool. It took our son a few tries to get the courage. Soon they were both up every time. Josh and I were exhausted. It was like the snowboarding stuff all over again. While it was awesome that I had a 3 year old up surfing, I was most proud at how determined and fearless they both were. How spoiled are these kids? They learned to surf in Costa Rica.

When the kids cried uncle, and the storm clouds started rolling in, we headed into the beach. As we cleaned up we talked to Pablo about the surrounding beaches. He gave me directions to Barrigona and then said "I am 100% sure you shouldn't go today. Go another day when it is sunny." Instead he gave us directions to a secret beach past Carillo. The directions involved looking for a speed bump, turning down a gravel road, finding a big wall in the middle of the road built by a Swedish (or maybe Danish?) man and then walking down a path. We found all those landmarks and headed towards the water. The empty parked police truck was a little disturbing but we kept going. At the end was a 270 degree vista of amazing rocky coastline. We weren't adventurous enough to go down and see the tide pools. We were worried to get stuck in the rain.

As we headed back towards Playa Carillo two police on motorcycle passed us. Strange. Down at the beach a group of lifeguards was walking together. Again strange since we had never seen any lifeguards. I won't even mention the ambulance we passed as we got further away.

Coming back into Samara I notice a hair salon in a small house. An idea popped into my head. If you haven't noticed the pictures, my son's hair was going downhill fast. He also had noted that no one told him he was cute anymore. If I could take the braids out I would. I couldn't. I jumped out of the car and popped in. They could barely understand me. They talked a but, accidentally sent us into a room with a woman getting waxed and sent us into town. I had no clue where they said to go. Something like La Morena. Or maybe they were just calling me that. Doesn't it mean brunette?

We drove around the Main Street and saw nothing except a surf shop called Marea. Josh wanted to know if that could be it. Uh, no. I'm pretty sure they don't do hair while selling surf gear. Well.... Why don't we go in anyway? Oh geez. So we all pile into this tiny surf shop which was also an ice cream shop. Perfect. I tried to keep my son from diving head first into the ice cream bin while Josh started wandering. Honey, I don't think this is gonna work. One child is climbing on clothing racks and the other is halfway in the ice cream fridge now. He seemed to agree and pulled them towards the door. As we were leaving I gave it a shot and asked the girl working there if she knew any hair salons to take out braids. She did.

We are now back in the car looking for a mini plaza. Josh somehow knows this place - no clue why. We find it easily and I then go on the search for Laura. I find a surprisingly upscale salon in the back with a woman I presume is Laura. She is extremely nice and says that of course they can take his braids out and condition it. Her assistant specializes in braids and can braid again if we want. No we are good. It took about an hour but he sat that quiet as could be the whole time. The two ladies couldn't have been nicer. There was an American girl in there getting a Keratin treatment and Laura's daughter who entertained the kids some - and was quite the business woman as Josh bought some bracelets for the kids. There was absolutely no way (1) we could have done that, they had special picks and (2) his hair was gonna make it one more day without moisturizer. The smile on that kids face when they were all out. He was almost asleep as they washed his hair and combed it. He was so relaxed. After well over an hour of working on him they told me $16. What? You are kidding. We gave them a ridiculous tip, thanked them profusely and left. If you are in Playa Samara and need hair or nail services, go see Laura. She's next to the big supermarket in the very back. It sounded like all the girls go there.

Newly free, our son was like a new boy. We headed for dinner at El Ancla across the road from our villa. It was a rainy night so we sat under the roof but still had a great view of the ocean. I loved their tree canopy with lights on the beach. The food was more seafood focused. I got a dish that had almost an Indian curry influence with the fish. Their guacamole was delicious and I'm totally stealing how they serve it in the avocado peel. The kids were happy with the quesadillas. Everywhere we have been we have split one meal for the kids and it has worked fine. Happy to have non-picky eaters.

I did order a drink which will be a topic for tomorrow...My first drink order other than that mojito or the fruit juices.

Everyone was pure exhausted and fell asleep quickly.

I couldn't believe it. Our last day here and I slept until 5. My daughter even slept until 6, meaning she was out for 11 hrs. Yesterday really wiped us out!

We have a long drive today to Playa Samara so we decided to get packed up before breakfast. I reread my email reservation and reminded Josh we needed to pay in cash since we hadn't prepaid with the owners. He shot me a troubled look. There was no way we had enough money and we were in the middle of the jungle at 6:30 in the morning. We headed down to the main lodge and handy Alejandro gave me directions to the bank in Bijagua which I translated to Josh. There was no cell phone service so if he got lost he was on his own.

I stayed back and did breakfast with the kids. To keep them busy we wrote all the staff a letter. Each kid told me what they wanted to say and I tried my best to write it in Spanish. My son's paragraph was dedicated to Alejandro (shocker) and my daughter talked about how much she loved the food and ladies here. I couldn't tell if the staff really liked the note as they kept calling others to read it or if my Spanish was so bad they needed a team to decipher.

At the hour mark Josh returned on time, and wasn't cursing, so I figured it was a success. He told me he either took out just enough or now had the equivalent currency to buy a small house. The bank wasn't open yet so he had to use the ATM. The Spanish ATM. In colones. He had no clue what the conversion was. We had done almost everything through our two lodgings so far and everything else in US dollars. He called the car rental folks on our emergency phone. Too early. He finally found a colones amount on the bottom of the receipt from the hanging bridges. Luckily his math was right. We have then everything we had plus a healthy amount as a thank you and said our goodbyes.

The kids asked Alejandro for hugs and some more pictures. He had come down earlier to have one last coffee with them and we did an English/Spanish lesson back and forth. Before leaving my son had rushed into the kitchen looking for his letter to show Alejandro. As we were heading to the car my son got very sad and said he was going to miss him a lot.

LA CAROLINA LAST THOUGHTS
When we picked Costa Rica as the destination for our first international family trip I added La Carolina immediately. As we got closer to our trip I started having second thoughts. I was worried I had picked a location that I knew I would find relaxation in but that my kids would get bored. As we are departing today, I'm truly sad to say goodbye. I already started talking to Josh about bringing the kids back. I have been observing our children actually being immersed in the simple life rather than relying on the glitz of modern society. I'd love to see my son spend a summer down here. I can imagine that not only would he come back proficient in Spanish but that he'd be quite the worker. Someone note this. Someday.

There isn't much I can add that I haven't written in the past few blog entries. This is a place to truly disengage from the outside world. It is about relationships and connection rather than entertainment. I can't wait to come back. Josh can't wait to use some of their building ideas for our own imaginary farm.

A LA PLAYA
Once we sorted out all the money with La Carolina, we packed up the car and hit the road. I had no clue how long it would take but had an idea which roads would get us there. In true Jenny style I stumbled across an old map from Leaves and Lizards that had an arrow and the words "towards Samara". Of course I saw that 30 seconds before the T in the road where the instructions would take us left rather than right. We went with our gut and completely changed our route in that moment. It proved right and we got to Samara in around 3.5 hrs.

We didn't exactly know where Our place Villas Kalimbas was located. However we knew it was across from the beach and near the center of town. Couldn't be too difficult. We luckily picked the right turns and stumbled straight to it. Although we were there at noon, they were waiting for us and checked us straight into our tranquil villa.

The family we had met at La Carolina didn't give us the best of impressions of Samara but we knew that everyone had their own taste. They seemed to think it was too small, too surf-vibe and too party. When we first came to Costa Rica we discovered Malpais, a small surf town. When we returned three years later it has quite a bit of commercial tourism hitting it. We didn't enjoy it as much. We were hoping for some of that original charm. My favorite restaurant ever was a little soda on the rocks in Malpais being torn down for beach encroachment last time. I was interviewed by the San Jose news about it.

My first impression of Samara was that it was a fairly small beach village. Very compact, walkable and laid. Very friendly for Americans. Tons of food options. Nowhere near as hippie as Montezuma but definitely some behemian vibe. A mixture of beach cafés, small art galleries, yoga studios and tons of surf camps. Not sure what they are surfing. Waves close out quickly. The beach is long wide and gorgeous.

It was hot from all the rain and we were hungry. We threw our stuff in the villa and took off for the ATM and lunch - most places here are cash only. We took a recommendation and hit up Casa Esmerelda a block back from our place. Huge plates and menu. Meals were good. I wouldn't call prices cheap compared to what I remember. Still cheap by US standards but not $3 meals.

Since we have a full kitchen Josh set out for the supermarket to get a few basics while the kids finally napped. He returned excited about something. He had found Popsicles. Hmmm. He then told me the full story where he was a Popsicle stand exactly like our Popsicle guy in Charlotte. Same stand, same Popsicles. Turned out the lady who runs the stand is from Atlanta and knows our guy. She gave Josh recs for the best food in town. Gusto Beach on Wednesdays for the 2x1 pasta was the place to be tonight.

Kids woke up and we finally ventured out to the beach. Immediately upon walking down the path through the C&C surf camp the kids went CRAZY. Running all over the beach. Jumping through the air. Fist pumps with shouts of "this is awesome!!!!!!". It was a perfect time of day with low tide. There was plenty of gentle shallow water before the waves began. We stayed on the beach a good while allowing the kids to get tuckered out before heading back to the villa.

Just to make sure they were plenty tired, we took a turn at our pool. We had only see two other girls at the villas and they were gone from the pool when we returned. Our daughter wanted to be even more adventurous and insisted on swimming - which we are in the midst of learning. You give her a direction once and she's flinging her body off the edge if the pool and flailing around underwater. She finally called mercy and we got changed for dinner.

We took the Popsicle lady's advice and walked over to Gusto Beach (there is another one on the main road) for their specials. We got there right at 5:30 and grabbed one of the four closest tables to the ocean. All are taken with 10 minutes. I had read reviews and they were all over the place. Everyone agreed the chill beachfront location and vibe was good but many thought the food was overpriced and service lacking. We had no service issues, but we were early, and the price was just right. For four giant pasta dishes, two mojitos and two frozen fruit cocktails for the kids we paid $25. Our drinks were 2x1 from 5-6 too. That's pretty dirt cheap actually. We even brought back half the pasta for a lunch. We noticed during dinner how many English speaking folks are here. Not over the top tourists though. The table behind us was a group of kids taking massage school classes. Several surf family types.

We called it a day.

Pre 5am wake ups are starting to get to me. With our luck they will adjust around day 9.

As was routine it stormed the entire night and early into the morning. As we were getting ready I heard a scream from one of the kids about a bug. At home my daughter is terrified of even an any it's been a huge change here where she tried to even eat the termites at the refuge. (On purpose). As Josh was chasing a cockroach I heard frantic shrieks in my bedroom and entered to find my daughter huddled on my bed quivering behind the mosquito net. I still didn't have me contacts in so I couldn't see anything. Josh walked in and got a horrified look on his face. He jumped back and said he wasn't touching it. Great. Apparently it was more than 3 inches long had wings and looked like a leaf. Josh carefully guided our friend out the front door and things settled.

We headed down to breakfast early to avoid anymore run ins. Alejandro was already down there before the morning cow milking. We stayed put since there was still a heavy rain coming down. I spent the time talking with the ladies about the food, finding out what the bug was, learning about the staff, etc. Being the only family has spoiled us. I'm not used to being taken care of like this. This trip I have gotten to spend do much more time with the people. For me I feel like its a thin line to walk. I want to learn as much as possible but still be respectful and not come across like an intruding privelaged American. I've been told that speaking Spanish, or atleast attempting it, is a good start.

I continue to be amazed at how the entire staff bends over backwards for us but does it in a way that makes it seem effortless. They begin meals whoever we choose to stumble down for a meal. If my daughter wants to set the table they let her. If I want to learn how to properly slice a mango they show me. Not once have we seen them at our cabin. But everyday our cabin is cleaned and every might candles our lit when we return from dinner.

After breakfast the rain had stopped so we decided to head out for our hike at Rio Celeste. I remembered it being a highlight before but also remember it being a hard hike. I had already read in the lodge book that the hike to the waterfall was 1.2 km and figured we would just do that part. Cutting out the vistas and blue lagoon we had done before. Alejandro had told us the night before he thought they could make the waterfall trek.

As we were putting our backpack on and filling up water bottles the kids ran up to Alejandro and begged him to go with us. I felt bad because I wasn't sure if he wanted to or he was supposed to. I told him the kids were very slow and he said it wasn't a problem. So all five of is loaded up into our car and made the 20 minute drive out to Tenorio Park.

Again kids were free. Josh and I paid $10. A great deal considering we also had our own private guide. No clue if we are supposed to be paying for an excursion but we figured we planned on taking care of the staff at the end of our trip.

Alejandro pointed out the pile of walking sticks to the kids and they each grabbed one for the hike, having no clue what to do with it other than stick it in holes, the last thing I thought we should be doing with it. We started the walk into the jungle and he immediately started pointing out plants, sounds and talking about the area. He whipped back a tree branch and unveiled a birds nest with an egg in. I of course forgot the name but he showed us the picture in a book. It looked similar to a parrot. I wanted to know if the nests are in the same place and that's how he knows to find them. He said no but that he has done this hike everyday for 15 years. Crazy. That turned into a conversation about how he enjoyed it because it was the time of day he got to interact with people from all over the world, not just be a cowboy. Or that is how I translated it.

It wasn't too far into the walk when Josh and my daughter, who were behind my son and I started screaming. I'm talking terror. I had no clue what was going on so I kept walking very fast. I turned around and Alejandro was approaching a skinny bright green snake towards the side of the path. Apparently he had lurched at my legs when we walked past and scared the crap out of them. Alejandro did some snake charming thing with the guy before moving him over and letting everyone pass. He later told me that snake bites but he isn't poisonous. Oh wonderful.

Next thing I know. Listen! Toucans! Now the guy at that refuge says they made ugly noises. These were quite pleasant and loud. Before I know it Alejandro had disappeared off the trail and was following the sound. Now he was beckoning us? What? After that snake? Ok. We trudge through God knows what to get to him. He points out the visual path we should follow to see the toucans. None of us see. Why aren't we smart enough to lie? He goes jumping deeper into the forest and beckons us again. This time, clear as day two Toucans are sitting high on a bear tree singing with their heads cocked back. I found out later Josh never saw them but was so scared he lied and said yes.

On we go. Next up Tapir tracks. We didn't see any of the large animals. We did however find their tracks. My son wanted to track them through the jungle. Luckily we all agreed that was a very bad idea.

As we got closer to the waterfall the kids were becoming more fixated on Alejandro. They insisted on holding hands with him. When we got to the final descent that consisted of hundreds of steep stone stairs the only way my daughter would go down was with him. It was cute to see how they took such an instant liking to him. They usually reserve that for females. Maybe the fact that he has three sons and knows how much energy they have. He even stayed patient as they brutalized his name. If only they were Lady Gaga fans. He sang her song to try and help them with his name.

The waterfall was beautiful. All of the rain had minimized the turquoise blue color some but the flow was heavy. I don't remember if people were swimming here last time but it is definitely not allowed now. Someone died and they discovered a 16m hole under the waterfall. It scared me enough to keep a good grip on the kids.

I'm not sure how they did it but the kids managed to walk back up all those stairs. Josh had to give some shoulder rides to get a certain 3 year old back to the car but we made it. Great hike. Adventurous, scenic and good butt and calf workout.

The best part is that when we started Alejandro bribed the kids. He said Good hiking = another horse ride. Bad hiking = no horses. That was motivation. So the whole way, "is this good hiking?" At the end he said to me that my daughter is quite the hiker and adventure taker. Oh yes she is.

Covered with mud and wet from our hose down we returned back to La Carolina. We thanked Alejandro at least 23 times so that we had an excuse to talk to him and that is the one word they know. Our goal was to get everyone through lunch and to naps without a meltdown. We were pretty much successful.

Everyone must have been exhausted because they were down for over a 2.5 hr nap. I used my quiet time to do some photography with my real camera. If it's not obvious. All the pictures I'm posting are shot and edited with my phone. Sometimes they are super blurry (like the hiking or horseback with Alejandro) but the moment was too special not to want to visually remember. I also gathered every map the rental company had given us, our lodge map and grabbed the 2001 guidebook I found in the main building. Piecing everything together I laid out our route for tomorrow. Again the rental car maps are worthless. I wish I had remembered to bring one of our many guidebooks from home. I shot a couple pictures from a few pages in the book and good laminated country map La Carolina had. Let's hope I'm right.

After lunch Alejandro had told me to bring the kids down to the barn around 3 or 3:30. At 3:15 everyone was still sleeping and I was worried we were going to get rained out so I woke them up. We were all thankful that the staff had offered to do a load of wash for us that morning. Perhaps we smelled really bad. We each had only brought one pair pants and those had all been covered in cow poop and other farm specialties. The idea of putting them on for a third time was not appetizing. Luckily they were nice and clean.

Josh was still trying to figure out how he could get away with not having to ride again. I convinced him that if our son was going to be a cowboy at the age of 5 his dad needed to get slightly more comfortable on a horse. Alejandro said he didn't mind taking our son so I jumped on my horse and grabbed our daughter. 10x easier than the day before. I could actually take pics today. I heard some grunting from from the men as they got our son on. "Big Boy" ha.

I had warned him not to talk Alejandro's ear off. That went straight out the window. Until now we thought the baby howler monkey at the refuge was his favorite part of the trip. Now we knew it was this. Being a cowboy with Alejandro. Whenever he started talking too much, Alejandro would take a hold of him and start galloping across the fields. Yes, I mean gallop. Our son would let out shrieks of joy followed by uncontrollable giggles. I quickly realized we weren't doing the normal trail loop but rather helping tag along on his afternoon checkin with the animals. It was very cool and by far the best horse ride I've ever been on. The horses are so well trained and are responsive. We saw a few howler monkeys and then an entire family of cappuccino monkey, something we hadn't seen in the wild yet. We watched for a bit as they swung high in the trees. The boxer, who we have decided is their monkey spotter, was hot on the trail that day. We decided Tonka would be a good monkey spotter.

After the horseback riding we headed down to the hot tub for one last dip. It was almost 5 by now and the kids said I looked like I was going to fall asleep right there. It was obvious my body had finally adjusted to vacation mode. If there was an ideal relaxation spot made for me, this hot tub would be it. Wood burning fire + hot tub + rushing water = I'm already getting depressed at the thought of leaving. I wonder if Josh has sketched the plans for this tub yet?

We were still the only guests tonight do we made our way down to dinner a little after six. We noticed all the guys heading out on their horses before dinner was served. They normally stick around but I'm guessing they had enough family time with us today. It was just us and the two ladies. So quiet and peaceful. As we sat and served our meal I watched as the women started to light the candles around the property. Josh and I noted how crazy and humbling that was. They must realize that each night we walk straight up the stairs and go to sleep. However, they still treat us as if this is a full resort and still do every detail. No short cuts. They even made a delicious chocolate dessert because they heard our daughter talk about how much she loved chocolate.

For those who are wondering - it was under $600 for all four of us to stay here in our own private cabin for three nights, all meals cooked for us, two private trail horse rides with guide, cow milking, use of boat, a guide to the waterfall and a lodge to ourselves. I'd say that deal is ridiculous for this type of service and experience the kids were provided.

Tonight even I was in bed, and asleep, by 7.

Our fourth morning waking up in Central America and I'm still getting up at 4:45. Granted when you are sleeping in the forest you kind of have no choice but to wake up when the animals do. I was reminded how peaceful it is to sleep next to rushing water. (We have two favorites back in the US if anyone is ever looking. One in each of our "home" states - one in NC and one in Utah)

Our son slept until almost 5:30 so we are slowly increasing his time. His behavior is directly tied to his sleep. He needs 12 hours a day. Not easy while in such a fun country.

The night before I had told the ladies cooking dinner that the kids would like to milk the cows in the morning. It involved some hand gestures and me making up some words but I thought she said Alejandro would be there for breakfast at 6 or 6:30 and she would tell him. We should be down at 7. I was completely confident in my translation of the conversation so Josh went down at 6:30 just to make sure. Yep.

At 7 we met our old friend Alejandro down by the kitchen. Josh had told him the kids wanted to ride horses that morning too. Complimentary of the lodge. The other couple staying that night joined along with us for the cows. When I came down I found the ladies were already spoiling the kids with "kiddie coffee" aka hot chocolate. They lived drinking out of their own mugs.

We followed Alejandro through a quick pasture and arrived at the cow barn. One cow was already eating and tied up, we saw calfs roaming around and one in particular was crying very loudly. Now that we were cow experts I guessed due was a couple days old. We found out eight. Everyone helped milk a few cows and waited while the babies were brought up to nurse from their moms. One calf who didn't have a mom (didn't get the story) was given her own bucket straight from another mom. It was pretty cool to see the inside workings of a dairy farm from that perspective. West have to find a dairy farm back home for the kids.

Breakfast was ready by the time we got back. Like dinner it was a typical meal. Fried plantains, bread, eggs, fresh cheese and mango juice.

After breakfast the horses were brought down for us. I remembered the ride and knew the kids couldn't do it on their own. There were some steep parts and you never knew if a horse would run. I was fine riding with a kid but Josh is barely comfortable riding alone. Alejandro seemed to understand what I was saying and said he would take our daughter.

Since we were riding Western we put pillows on the horses with the kids on top of them. I got my bigger son and Alejandro grabbed our daughter. I'm pretty sure she thought the entire ride was the coolest thing ever. She had a grin plastered on her face the entire time while she bobbed up and down and I didn't hear a peep out of her.

Have you ever seen two people riding on a horse together and wondered why it was always bareback? I will tell you why. Two people don't fit on a saddle. Or at least not me and my ginormous five year old. The whole second half of the tide he was saying "My penis! My penis! My penis!" or "Mommy stop the horse thsy thing (the horn) is up my butt." Thank goodness no one could hear or understand us. Every so often Alejandro would look at us, shake his head and motion us through getting him repositioned. Considering our horse liked to make his own path and trot at will, while my son had no concept of leaning backwards on forwards on steep hills, I was quite proud I kept everyone on the horse and with the others.

The ride was great. We didn't see any parrot babies like last time but we did see Blue Jean Frogs, Birds of Montezuma and Howler Monkeys. The most amusing part was probably when we got to the gate by the cow barn and all of sudden Alejandro tossed Rory to Josh, said "Just a minute. Cows in garden" and took off like someone out of a Wild West movie. My son was screaming "it's a real cowboy!" Soon the trip to the candy store was over for the cows and they were back I'm their pasture while we were on our way again.

The garden for the property is quite impressive and the word garden doesn't do it justice. It's a full farm. Every fruit and vegetable they grow and in large quantities. All their rice, beans, etc. I think the property is almost completely self sustaining with a few exceptions.

We finished our over an hour long rude that took us all over the 175 acre property and the kids were hooked on horseback riding. My son is determined to learn to ride by himself.

They were wiped out so we luckily got then both to take a nap before lunch. The first real naps we had gotten. I was worried we would miss lunch bit then I realized we were the only guests. Everyone woke up a little after noon and stumbled down to the main lodge still half asleep.

I got down slightly before the rest of the family and one of the ladies looked at me quickly, thought to herself and then said (in Spanish) "you speak a little Spanish, right?" Sure. Next thing I know she has picked up a phone, is telling someone there is a girl who can speak and hands me the phone. I spent the next ten minutes translating a conversation for a family back in the US trying to make a reservation for the next week. I answered all sorts of questions about which cabin they should get, why they really needed to change their car reservation to a 4x4 and most importantly why coming to La Carolina is worth the hassle. I then gave her the home number for the owners in Charleston. I think.

After lunch we loaded up the kids and headed down the road a km to another property the family owns with a lake. The directions took us through someone's yard and with a dog chasing us we arrived at a small lake with a covered wooden boat tied up. Despite now owning our kayak, boating is not our strong suit. We successfully got everyone in without any catastrophes. The sky was becoming dark so we limited our boat outing to less than half an hour. Paddling a wooden car takes a lot of work anyways. The kids insisted on paddling which again was a success since we didn't lose any paddles or teeth.

Before leaving we drove up the hill further to a lookout shelter and benches. There wasn't anything to do so I just snapped a pic and noticed it was about to pour.

On the way home Josh asked if I could go to the store for him and get a few beers and chips. He couldn't communicate with them. His description of Churillo didn't do it justice. All of things for sale were in one of three places 1. A garage I couldn't see 2. A cooler container they was so foggy I couldn't see in or 3. Behind a counter. I walked into this "store" and two men followed me. I told them I wanted 4 beers and then one literally jumped over the counter and returned with part of a six-pack ripped off still in the plastic wrapping. I don't have a clue how much anything was. They didn't even tell me. I just held out my colones. Of course it started monsooning during my 2 minute exchange and my lovely husband decide to take photos.

The kids were excited to take their afternoon dip in the "hot pool" whole it rained. I guess that was becoming their thing. We ended the afternoon with some games and full on tantrums before heading to dinner.

My dinnertime the kids had seen Alejandro around several times now. They called him A Lasagna (not being mean or funny) until they were able to ask him his name themselves. They never forgot, our son became obsessed with him and whenever he saw him was right there to tag along. Before dinner it was 20 questions and mommy was the translator, my daughter invited him to eat dinner with us and I'm pretty sure there worlds were made. My son exclaimed that he now wants to be a cowboy when he grows up. Which our daughter responded that she could be a cowgirl.