Goodbye Santa Teresa, hello San Jose

Well we are on the final part of our trip. 😕

This morning we did our usual relaxing around the house. I finished my book and Bryan did a little swim. Around 10 am we went down to the Couleur Café for breakfast. 

I had a very good iced coffee, yogurt granola and fruit. Bryan had a smoothie and eggs Benedict. 

While we were waiting for our food, in walked Javier - our surf instructor from yesterday. He said hi and told us that he was just telling his buddy that he had 2 surf lessons yesterday and the first one went really well and were good (us!) and the second one was really bad and they had no fun and complained and criticized his instruction. Ironically he said they were also from Minnesota. 

After breakfast we went back to the house. We got the ok to do a late checkout but their cleaning lady would come at the normal checkout time (10am) and work to get the house ready for the next guests. While she was cleaning we weren't going to be able to use the bathroom or kitchen. But that was fine. We hung out down by the pool to be out of her way. We also saw a HUGE iguana on the tree right by the pool. He had to be about 3 or 4 ft long. And he made a ton of noise moving around. 

We had also done a little shopping and enjoyed our last moments with the house before checking out around 2 pm. 

We had a bit of time before we needed to be in Tambor so we got some food and drove into Mal Pais for a bit. Then made our way back to the rental car return and said goodbye to our 2nd vehicle "mighty manny". We were waiting for our flight at the airport when 2 bright red parrots flew over us. So that was pretty cool. 

We were on our plane by 5 and landed in San Jose by 5:25. On the flight we flew over Tortuga Island where we went snorkeling. We could see the rainbow bridge and the beach on the island and the different rock areas that we snorkeled around. So that was cool. A lady on our flight was also staying at our hotel so we took a cab with her. We basically just checked in and left right away to go to walk over to the City Mall. It's pretty close and we found our way with no problems before it got too dark. We walked all of the level and ate in the food court. We even stopped at Wal Mart next to the hotel before coming back to the hotel. It was about 7:30. Crazy that at 5 pm we were in Tambor. 

We already printed our boarding passes for tomorrow. So we should be all set. 

We'll be headed back home tomorrow.

Surf lessons!

This morning I woke up at about 2:30 to Bryan shining a flashlight out of our bedroom into the trees because he heard something. Not sure if it was a different "something" than what we normally hear. But I think I fell back asleep quickly. I don't think he did. I got up around 5:30 and went and read on the deck and left Bryan sleeping for about another hour.

We left to go into Santa Teresa about 7:30. We had breakfast at The Bakery and order tons of yummy food and I had a very good latte. We've had some really good food and great service this trip. Everyone has been extremely nice and welcoming and again today was no different. 

We had surf lessons scheduled for 9:30 and we got to the surf shop about a half hour early. Our lesson was with Javier and he was great. Pretty funny, French and joked around a lot. We had a good time. I have only surfed in Australia with Mesa and Bryan had only wake surfed so we were not experts. We spent some time on the shore going over the basics and when we got to the ocean the waves were big and the current was strong. We were not taking the huge waves but rather were about two breaks in from there. I feel like the waves and current were bigger and stronger than what we did in Australia, but I didn't have to paddle back out to get where I needed to be again. I could just hop the waves. Regardless, it was still exhausting. For the first few attempts Javier pushed us into the surf. I got up on the first push and Bryan was pretty close. I feel like he improved while I got worse. I think the more exhausted I got the less I could remember from our lesson. 

Javier just kept telling me to slow it down and do the steps he called : cobra, down dog, back leg, front leg. And when I slowed it down I think I got it. I did about 4 in a row where I rode the wave in and had to jump off when it got too shallow. It felt great. I didn't get much time to watch Bryan but from what I could see he was improving. We were both paddling ourselves in and unless Bryan was off balance he would usually get up. The hard thing was that we were both on the same size boards. Mine felt big and for a beginner but it had to be a bit more unstable for his height and weight. I think he did a great job from what I could tell. 

Of course we both swallowed a ton of salt water. Got beaten by the waves and each had to cover our heads to make sure our boards didn't wack us in the face. I said I just wanted to leave with all of my teeth, and I did that. So I say it was a success. 

We made our way in around lunch time. It was low tide and he said we could go back out on our own again at high tide at about 3:30. We had the boards but we were both so exhausted and beat from being in the sun all morning and getting our butts kicked by the surf and the current. We both had little naps and tried to cool down. 

We went back into town to return the boards and eat dinner.  We hit up a nice little pizzeria on the beach where we (again) had a nice view of the sunset. I had a few Imperial beers and we shared a pizza. It was delicious and probably our cheapest meal we've had yet. 

Came back to the house around 7 pm and had a night swim in the pool again. Felt nice and cooled ourselves off a bit after a long day. 

Tonight is our last night in the house. Seems like it went by so quickly. I feel like we live here and other than us missing Cru and Ella baby, I feel like I could stay longer. 

Santa Teresa is such a cute little surfer town and surprisingly has some amazing food and cute little shops with friendly locals. We have really enjoyed our time here. 

We have a good part of the day tomorrow to hang out so it's not over yet.

Playa Hermosa

Today we really woke up early. Our Howler Monkey friends were really loud and close by right around 5 am. Bryan had already moved out to the deck but I stayed in bed to listen to them and watch the sunrise.

Again Bryan was in the pool by 8 am. While I spent my morning writing and reading like usual. 

We decided to go down and check out Hermosa Beach today. This is actually the beach closest to our house. It's been known as one of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica and also for some great surfing. 

We decided to walk down to the beach instead of drive and we ate at one of the closest little restaurants. We both ordered fantastic smoothies and I had a salad that I was a little disappointed in. But Bryan let me eat some of the fries that came with his sandwich. 

After lunch we went to the beach. It was super hot out (like every day) and there were a ton of surfers out. We had fun watching them out on the big waves. 

I was a little concerned with just leaving our bag and towels on the beach so I sat by our stuff and Bryan walked the beach. We tried to find our house from the beach but you couldn't see it. We can see the water and the surfers from our deck but I guess we would need to be a bit further out in the waves to see the house. 

After the beach we cooled off and relaxed at the house. I read a little more and napped a bit. 

We went back out around 4:30 to go into Santa Teresa for some shopping and dinner. We ate at the Mexican restaurant, Habanero, right on the beach. Right when we got there we saw the cutest little puppy just hanging out on the sidewalk. She was tiny. Pretty skinny but super adorable. Where we had another spectacular view of the sunset. This part of the beach was less crowded and we had a nice meal with 2 for 1 margaritas. We both ordered the tacos. I had the diablo chicken and Bryan had the Pastor Beef. Mine was pretty spicy but it had great flavor. And their chips came with 4 different salsas. 2 spicier ones, a pico de galo and a carrot salsa. That one was a bit different. It tasted like carrot and was kind of bland. But an interesting idea. 

When we finished our dinner I hoped to see our little puppy friend and give her the piece of chicken I saved (& cleaned off so it wasn't spicy) but she was gone. So I gave it to another little dog that I saw. That one was also super cute. I guess you could say I am missing my puppy snuggles. 

I ended up buying a new swimsuit. I probably didn't need one but it will be good for tomorrow- we're going surfing. Plus every day when I get up and "get dressed" it just means putting on a swimsuit. It is too hot to wear anything else. Everyone just walks around town in their swimwear and it's totally normal. So I feel like it will be my outfit for tomorrow.  

When we got back to the house we did a little night swimming in our pool. It felt pretty good after a minute. We still feel like we go to bed pretty early but we just feel tired after so much sun, the heat and probably because we are up at 5 am. 

So it's 8:30 now and I'm likely going to bed.

Monkeys for days

Today was a pretty chill day. We both got a lot of sun yesterday during our tour that we didn't really feel the need to do much today.

Bryan was in the pool by 8 am and around 8:30 he spotted the monkeys. It was our friends the howler monkeys. They were traveling up the trees in a line and there were about 15 of them that we could see. A few younger babies in the middle of the group. It took them about 45 minutes to an hour to move up the trees past us. It was really cool to watch. 

We spent most of the mid day just relaxing at the house. In and out of the pool. I spent some time reading and Bryan had a nice long nap. 

Just before we were getting ready to go into town we saw the monkeys make their way back down the trees. This time on the other side of the house. But from our view they were a lot closer. It appeared to be the same group. We counted about the same. We really enjoyed watching them. 

When we got down to our car we had a bunch of leaves all over it from when they jumped over it. In addition to the leaves we had monkey poo on our windshield. They were still up in the far side of the trees when we were leaving. 

We went into Banana Beach for the sunset and food. They have a cool beachside diner. So we had a great spot to just hang out. I had a few drinks and Bryan had a yummy fruit smoothie and the food was pretty good too. When we were about to go this guy started doing a fire show. It was pretty good. He used a bunch of different things to spin the fire and even extinguished flames with his mouth. It was fun to watch. 

Came back to the house after that. Can't see the monkeys in the dark but I feel like they're still there.

Montezuma & Isla Turtuga

Surprise surprise we were up again at 5:30am with the Howler Monkey and our other friends in the trees.

But I don't terribly mind. It's nice to be laying in bed, listening to the sounds with a spectacular view. 

This morning we hit the road and drove to Montezuma. We did a day tour out to Tortuga Island 🐢.

We got to Montezuma terribly early but that gave us time to go hang out at the beach. It was already quite hot out. 

Our tour started at 9 and we road the boat around the peninsula with about 30 other people. We had a few guides deom the tour group with us as well. We stopped on our drive out to see the Cocolito Falls and the Rainbow Bridge rocks that formed to create a beautiful arch. 

From there we wrapped around to make our way to Tortuga Island. We did 2 stops for snorkeling just straight out from the island around different sections of rocks. We saw all sorts of fish, but no turtles. There were a few fish we really enjoyed. One that looked pretty simple and kind of blue gray but when it turned just right and caught the light it had these bright neon blue spots on it. It was pretty cool. We also saw a baby shark, a moray eel, puffer fish and a few star fish. Hoping that our GoPro was able to capture some good footage. On the second stop we swam through more schools of fish. Little ones and big ones. Bryan got in before me (while I finished my Imperial beer) and I swam out going the opposite way he did around the rock island - figuring I'd meet him in the middle somewhere. When I was on the far back side with hardly no one around I saw a HUGE long skinny fish with kind of a platypus shaped mouth. It had to be longer than I was. But then it swam past me and it got lost in the cloudiness of the water and I looked up hoping someone else saw it and no one did! Looking at the guide on the boat later I believe it was a crocodile needlefish. 

We had about 45 minutes to an hour at each snorkeling spot and after that we went to the island to eat lunch. The lunch was delicious and then we had about an hour and a half to ourselves. We spent the time hanging out on the beach and swimming and checking out the shells and stuff that washed up on land. The whole time on Tortuga Island we saw no turtles. We also saw no pigs like I believe Heather saw when she was here. 

After our free time on the island we took the boat back to Montezuma. We didn't really need to spend any extra time in town because we had done that earlier before the tour. We made decent time back to Santa Teresa and ate at Burger Rancho before going back to the house. 

We caught a fantastic sunset at the house. We couldn't exactly see the spot where the sun goes down but it sure lit up the sky! And when those stars come out it is phenomenal. I wish I was a better photographer than I am because it is amazing. 

Taking it pretty easy now because a long day in the sun wore us out. I'm sure our howler monkey will be letting us know he's around soon enough also.

Santa Teresa - beach & a sports bar

This morning, again, we were up with the sounds of nature. We're unsure but we may be hearing a howler monkey. We haven't seen it but it definitely sounds like it's one.

I tried to get a little more sleep and gave up around 6:30. 

Bryan was already gearing up for the game and had on the Packer Preview and whatever other shows after that. I resigned myself to having it be a "Packer-filled-day". 

Bryan did go down and clean the pool and brush off the deck for any fallen leaves. So I got down there as the sun was just starting to clear the top of the house. That sun gets hot quickly.  We spent most of the morning in and out of the pool and then around noon we drove into town. 

We found a spot to park the vehicle and then stopped into the Sports Bar to be sure they'd have on the Packer game at 2pm. They would be. 

We spent the next hour or so walking the beach and checking out some of the shops. The beach was really nice and not too crowded. It was going into low tide and there was tons of room for people to play soccer and whatever else. Many people were out surfing and the water was soooo warm. It was nice to be out in town and check out the beach in the daylight. 

We got back to the Sports Bar (it's literally called Nativo Sports Bar) around 1:30 or so and grabbed a seat at the bar. They had the sound on for a soccer game but had pregame stuff on another tv. At 2 they switched over the tv and had the sound on for the game. We ordered some food right away and that was pretty tasty. I had a hummus wrap and Bryan had a burger. 

It was ugly. I left to go walk around in the 3rd quarter when the score was 24-0. Atlanta was killing them. There were quite a few people at the bar and a mix of Falcons and Packer fans.  I had a nice walk on the beach and then came back at the end of the 3rd and stayed for the rest of the game. 

We walked around a little more of the beach after the game was over and then stopped at the grocery store to make some dinner tonight. We are making spaghetti.

Edit- while eating dinner we are almost certain now that the sounds we've been hearing is a holler monkey. This is by far the closest he's been to us. We still couldn't see him because it's pretty dark and the flashlight didn't reach him. But he's really making a lot of noise. 

That's going to be about it for tonight!

Full day in Santa Teresa

The post for today will likely be short.

This morning we woke with the sun and sounds of nature around 5:45am. It was a beautiful morning with the sunrise and no clouds in the sky. 

It got hot out real quickly though. We had breakfast in the house and I tried laying in the sun to write in my journal.

I basically got dressed today by putting a swim suit on. We were in the pool before noon. 

The pool was nice and cool and felt great. We ate our leftovers from dinner for lunch today and then went back in the pool for a bit before getting ready to go out to dinner tonight. 

We had reservations for a Japanese place called Koji's. It was delicious. We had some jumbo shrimp, seafood fried rice and a few different sushi rolls. Very tasty. 

Got back to the house and I sort of tripped coming up the stairs so I lost about half of the food walking in. 😕

Going to bed now since we will likely be up super early again with the sunrise.