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.