Looking back through the trip so far I can't believe that it's already been a full month that we're back in Costa Rica. It's already been a wild ride. Taken somewhere over Central America, there we were headed back down to the land of good surf, good food, and good friends. Expecting to land in San Jose where we'd spend a few days taking care of some business and await the arrival of my dog before heading to the beach.
After a long flight we arrived in San Jose in time for sunset. Went to sleep with this...
...and woke up to this. Well done on the hotel selection Dad! Bienvenidos a Costa Rica!!
Spent some time with family and friends while G found a spot to chillax on the playground
Sooo...long story short - no dog was to be had that week. Packed all our things and headed to the beach. Every time we make the trip I say a quick prayer that G has an easy trip as it's a good 5 hours. Only one meltdown was had and promptly cured by quick pitstop and a fruit drink. Arrived, unpacked and let out a breath.
...and finally, the reason we're here. First morning on the beach and so glad to be back!!!
Just enough time to unpack and jam all our stuff into our little place and time to turn around and head back into San Jose to pick up the pup. G and I hopped a quick flight back to the city collected our dog and another long drive back to the coast. It was one VERY long day
...and finally, it all paid off. I think he'll be one happy dog here :-)
So...it's been RAINING here. And when I say raining I mean raining...did I say raining? Cause man it's raining!...and I come from the land of rain, but this is something else. I thought that coming in November we'd miss the rainy season. Just our luck that this is an exceptionally rainy November. I really tried to take it in stride as I'm sure come May when all is parched and dried out I'll be wishing for rain but I gotta admit, it's been a little hard to do. At any rate, makes for some nice photographs :-)
One of the joys of being down here is the interaction Gabi has with nature - the plants, the ocean...and the animals. There have been a lot of monkeys around lately. The monkeys we have here are howler monkeys so not the monkey sound you think of. Here's G talking to the howlers. You have to turn the sound up all the way to get the full effect :-)
Our friends kids were playing in a soccer...er football tourney so we decided to cheer them on. G was more concerned with the extra balls than the game. Baby's deffntly gonna be a baller :-)
Until she discovered she could run onto the field...
Somebody really likes to climb up on things. At least it keeps her occupied and in the same spot for a few minutes. One thing this kid is, is unafraid..of everything. I like the fact that she's so outgoing but it means you really have to stay focused. A quick walking one year old that likes to charge into the waves is no bueno. She shows no fear. There's no stopping this one.
The night before G's birthday we were coming back from Samara and decided to stop at the south end of Guiones where the fishing village is. There you can drive right out onto the beach almost to the wave break and it 's a different world. Kind of hard to put into words. Where we live is very beautiful. It is a quickly growing little town on the edge of the ocean. It is full of tourists, especially now, along with semi-permanent transplants trying to find themselves or loose themselves, make something of themselves, or just surf, sun and yogi it up. It's mellow but is's busy.
From where I was that evening I could see the crowd down the beach, gathered as usual to watch the sun go down. But as I stood out on the rocks on the south end where the Tico fishermen lived I felt like we were a world apart. On the beach there were few families, one or two fishermen on motorcycles heading home. The vibe was just different. At that moment I felt completely at peace, and grateful. Grateful for my beautiful sleeping baby in the car behind me. Grateful for her father fro bringing me here and beyond that for being able to bridge the gap between the foreigners that live here and the locals. To be able to be in this place in this time and not feel out of place.
One year later and look how far we've come, right back to where we started but we took the long way back. I know that I will never really be able to express what I felt in that moment but I hope that I will never forget it!
We had a party for Gabs on the beach complete with pizzas from one of our favorite restaurants and cake from the cafe. One her faves of the moment are bananas so we decided to have a banana chocolate cake :-) Everyone had a great time including the birthday girl!
Tried to keep her clothes clean (not an easy task with babies, cake and sand) but in the end the birthday girl wanted to be in her birthday suit :-)
Happy Birthday my sweet baby G
