Pura Vida!

I woke up at 3 and was awake for a few hours, so got a little slower start than I’d hoped. One funny thing, I was laying in bed listening to my book and could hear an alarm going off in the distance. I thought, that sucks, but at least it didn’t wake me up because I was already awake. So maybe 10 minutes later Matt gets up to go to the bathroom and when he opens the bathroom door I realized it was his phone going off the whole time! We’d plugged the charger into the bathroom. Doh!

We met up with Steve and Chelsea at our free hotel brekkie where we had a traditional Costa Rican brekkie with gallo pinto (beans and rice), eggs, plantains, and fresh fruit. 

S&C had a view out their window.

After, we packed up and hit the road for the San Jose Central Market. It was like Reading Market Costa Rica style. Chelsea and I pulled a real rookie move and bought tiny sweet little nativities at the first stall and then we saw cute ones we liked better later on. Oopsie. 

I wish I'd have bought one of these for my travel wall. After the nativity blunder I was being cautious, but I never did find this again.

Also, this funny sweatshirt.

We tried an authentic ice cream made with cinnamon and vanilla that tasted like pumpkin and we got a tropical drink tied up in a bag and some casados wrapped in banana leaves for later since we weren’t hungry then. 

Made from the same recipe since 1901. It was good, but not creamy like we're used to, it was kind of icy.

We walked the outdoor market and Matt got himself a Jersey and we joked all day how he looked just like a local. Steve is holding our drink in a bag that we all drank out of. We got real close. 😂

We had about an hour and a half drive out to the cute little El Faro de Puntarenas lighthouse. 

Steve and Chelsea had rented a toyota suv, the most popular car in all of costa rica it seemed like.

We ate our cansados on a bench there and laughed when our rice and beans went flying because it was so windy. 

There was a fun and loud band and color guard practice we enjoyed for awhile.

We wanted to check out the crocodile bridge next, but they’re doing work on the road and the maps had us in stopped dead traffic for a long time. Chelsea’s map had another route on a dirt road, so we decided on adventure. Pura Vida, right?!

Where the map wanted us to turn said private property and was gated, so we looked at the map and found another road and that also had a gate at the end of it and the road we wanted was right beyond it. 

So our local got out and opened that gate right up. 🙌

And then we had just a few minutes of traffic as opposed to hours. And after all that, we missed the bridge because we thought we could get out on the other side and not get stuck in the traffic again, but no such luck. 

So we headed to our Hotel Amavi and it’s really cute and hip. 

Teeny little room, but windows everywhere and clean and quiet.

The front desk. All the staff was so helpful, they really went out of their way to accommodate and serve us.

We decided on a sunset horseback ride on the beach and I was pretty nervous because it’s been a long time since I’ve ridden a horse. 

 In another life I’d have owned horses. 

It’s so cloudy here that we didn’t get to see much of a sunset, but it’s still beautiful watching the waves roll in and all the surfers. 

I loved it!

My horse was a competitive lady like myself and when any horse would try to go around us, she would speed up.

We cantered a lot. 😆

Nice form. 😂

The guides would come get Matt's phone and take pictures for us. I didn't dare take out my phone. Or do anything other than hold onto my saddle and reins. 

Staying at the front of the pack!

It was an hour long ride which, as it turns out, was just enough time.

After, we walked on the beach and Matt got bit by a little crab. 🦀 

We got into the pool when we got back and it was much warmer than in San Jose. It’s humid here too, so even the outside temperature feels warmer. 

We ordered empanadas and ate them in the pool as we fended off a stray kitty. 

After showers we went to a little cafeteria style restaurant Steve found and had more rice and beans and also papaya with sausage, spaghetti, and carne asada. 

Then we hit the grocery store for brekkie food for tomorrow since we have an early morning! It’s 9:00pm local time (11:00 our time) and we’re in bed for the night because we’re party animals. We love it here!