For posterity: Liz captured the moment where Lauren finally passed the slow moving truck – and in the river, no less! I’ve passed a lot of cars while driving in my time, but I’ve yet to pass another vehicle while in the water.
The pattern of our days, in Las Catalinas, has been something like this: wake up, breakfast, reading for a while, get sleepy, possible nap, wake up and read a bit more, maybe swim, possible second nap, drinks watching the sun set, dinner, drinks post dinner, repeat.
Towards sunset, there were a few spots in the pool that got lit up. Made me wonder how often people tried to get into the pool, when these things are lit. Despite all warnings and safeguards, I just assume people still do it (and still get burnt).
During the day, we were in two different groups but eventually met up in Tamarindo. On our way to the Farmers Market there, we stopped off at Tamarindo Coffee Roasters for some coffee and beans (had a great Cortado).
Tonight, we went really off road and our group made its way to Tempate. Surprisingly, it was really close to where we were staying (despite the roads really feeling like we were at a remote town). I’m guessing the roads we traveled were what the Monkey Trail used to be, a few years back.
I walked into the pool slowly, and made my way towards the low ledge (where you can hang your arms over, and just look out over the side of the house). Best spot in the pool.
Right before I was going to lean over the ledge, I realized that my phone was still in my pocket.
Despite a late night ringing in the new year watching fireworks on the beach, a group of us woke up early (6:00 AM) to drive about 2+ hours for a rainforest hike at Sensoria.
Lauren and her friend Laura wandered to find their own spot. And as Liz and I were walking together, somehow… Brandon and Natalie spotted us, and called us over. We sat with them a while and shared their good vantage point for the show.
On the drive to dinner, we encountered a few cows wandering the road. This happened more than once, during the length of our stay. Brandon and Lauren had been warned about “vacas negras” as something to keep an eye out for, while driving at night.
Woke up super early (4:00 AM) so that we could catch a ride to O’Hare, along with Julie and Bob, for a vacation in Costa Rica. We got invited to stay with Liz’s Uncle David and Auth Beth, and to trade in our cold Chicago days for some warmer climes.