nosara

Posing at the blowhole on Playa Pelada

For the past 10 days we’ve been in the Nosara in the western state of Guanacaste. Since we left Turrialba we haven’t had a lot of practice speaking Spanish, since Nosara is big with American expats and is a surfing mecca. The drive here was trial by fire with a standard transmission and Costa Rican roads. Erica manned the wheel for most of the drive thankfully. Not long after I took over driving the afternoon deluge began that required pulling off the road until our windshield wipers could keep up. Not long after that we took a wrong turn in Samara and were subsequently led across a river fjord by a very nice German guy who clearly wondered what the hell we were doing. Think 3 young kids, Dad who can’t drive a stick to save his life, water up to the doors. No biggie. Thankfully I didn’t stall in the river.

Nosara has been wonderful and exactly what we were looking for before we head on to Cordoba. It’s a pretty primitive surfing town south of much more visited Tamarindo. We’ve been surprised at really how little there is here. As the sticker on our fire extinguisher in our house says, “you are the fire department, think about it!” There are essentially two main beaches, Playa Pelada and Playa Guiones. Since it was Sunday yesterday, Guiones was “crowded” with maybe 200 people. We rented a house from VRBO about 200 meters into the jungle on Playa Pelada. The kids have had a great time exploring all the creatures in the tide pools at low tide. The roads here are crazy! Just dirt tracks in the jungle really. We’ve had our token flat a few days ago. Somehow we haven’t broken an axle.

There are some nice restaurants in the area but we’ve cooked in most of the time to save. Lots of pasta with red sauce until we finally found some dorado to grill the other day! Our efforts to find meat to grill in the Super have ended with a hotdog-like product that was coveted by the boys but left Erica and I a bit disturbed. Elliott has developed an addiction to Nutella and all the kids are digging all the pineapple.

After a few days here we discovered some blowholes on the beach and a giant tree in front of the house that was home to about 4 iguanas. We have regular visits from a troop of howler monkeys and the biggest bugs we’ve ever seen! The boys and I had a great time learning how to surf together a week ago. Since then we’ve rented boards a few times. Since we seem to wear out after a few hours on the beach or the rain starts, so we’ve also taken a liking the pool and cocktails at the Guilded Iguana. Buy a drink and the kids can swim in the pool! We attempted a grownup activity the other night when we visited Lagarta Lodge to watch the sunset. Our fellow tourists at the Sunset Bar were quite glad to the Vaughn family depart since apparently kids don’t seem to cherish a quiet, romantic sunset like adults. Tonight we went to check out the seemingly abandoned Nosara Beach Hotel (otherwise called the Scoobie Doo Hotel by me) and ended up getting a personal tour of the renovation by the laborer and his 10 dogs. Elliott thought it was hilarious that he asked why our Spanish wasn’t as good as Elliott’s.

We’ve had a ton of beach time and it pains me to admit we’ve all gotten our fill of beaches and inhaled enough saltwater to move south into winter in Cordoba. Our tans, burns and rashes are complete. Ben’s lost two teeth (by natural cause not by accident). We’ve realized that kids still fight and argue in paradise! Who knew? Time to go to Argentina! We leave Nosara tomorrow and spend a few days collecting stored luggage in San Jose before our flight Thursday. Ciao!

Brave Molly at Playa Negra

Two weeks down, one to go of Spanish classes here in Turrialba. We can’t believe how fast it’s gone so far. Since Erica and I are getting one-on-one instruction, we’re in class for only 3 hours per day, but still exhausted from the effort. It’s amazing how much progress we’ve all made (even me!!). Dana and the folks at www.isls.com are highly recommended. Despite a rough few days last week from Ben in protest-mode, the kids did pretty well in their classes. It’s wonderful to see Elliott’s jump into a conversation with our host family to tell them what we did over the weekend. Boredom in the afternoon is our greatest challenge so far with the boys. Boredom = crazy boys = crazy parents. The local pool at the university and a nearby park have been a blessing.

Thursday was a national holiday in Costa Rica in celebration of the annexation of the state of Guanacaste. All schools, including our language school, were closed on Thursday and Friday. Before heading out of town for a long weekend, we attended a celebration at Ben and Molly’s school. The whole week their classes had been practicing traditional dances and songs. Molly spent the prior night prancing around the house twirling the dress we’d borrowed for her for Ari and Sonia, but much to our surprise, it was Ben who actually followed through and participated in the activities. Molly claimed to be shy and refused to leave Erica’s ankle. Rough parenting moment.

Our long weekend plans came together literally the day before we left. The taxi driver who takes Molly and Ben to their school drove us by van to Cahuita, on the Caribbean. We had been researching lots of options on the east coast before settling on Nosara on the west coast ultimately for our final week in Costa Rica, so we were excited to still be able to visit, if only for a few days. It’s about a 2.5 hour drive from Turrialba to Cahuita. We had been under the impression that Turrialba was hot, until we dropped down off the rolling mountains onto the coastal plain. Wow, the heat and humidity were incredible. We stayed at the Siatami Lodge right next to Cahuita National Park. and heard the famed howler monkeys the moment we stepped out of the van. The bungalow we rented was pretty basic but had a kitchen and mosquito nets, key! Their coffee and breakfast that came with the rental was great! Unfortunately this is the rainy season in Costa Rica, and we had about 5 hours of spotty sun over 4 days. The first night we experienced the most violent thunder and lightening any of us had ever seen. Somehow Molly slept through it all, but the boys were in our bed seconds after the first thunder crashed right overhead and shook the bungalow. The proximity to the Park and wildlife drew us to Cahuita, but it tended to be very “backpacker” and a little sketchy in our eyes. Lots of budget accommodation and just a gut concern on safety. The restaurant and grocery selections were limited, so we’re glad to be spending a longer spell in Nosara later. The rain started Thursday night and didn’t stop until late afternoon the following day, which allowed for some beach play despite the clouds. We scheduled in a trip south to Puerto Viajo by taxi and the Jaguar Rescue Center during a particularly wet Saturday. The rain and dark made for pretty bad photos unfortunately, but the kids loved it. We saw sloths, spider monkeys, tons of snakes and birds. We were escorted in the monkey sanctuary where monkeys actually jump on you! After Elliott had one pried from his ankle and Molly’s curly hair became too interesting to the monkeys, we had to exit. The rain let up a little that afternoon again so we could walk to neighboring Playa Negra for a few hours of splashing around, followed by lots of whining about saltwater chafing. Wouldn’t you know that today, we had the best weather in Cahuita? We ate breakfast and grabbed our beach gear to finally do a jungle walk in the Park to a beach to play in the sun for a few hours before heading back to Turrialba. We spotted 3 sloths not 10 minutes into the walk, including a baby! The ants here are crazy and numerous. Erica and Molly both were bit just when walking. Elliott had a monster bite into his flipflop and not let go.

Self defense bark

On Saturday we pick up our rental car, say our goodbyes to the Sanchez family, and drive to Santa Ana (just west of San Jose). We’ll arrive in Nosara the following day after a long drive amid Tico drivers. Wish us luck.