Samara, Costa Rica - Day 1

Sunday, February 10

Hello from Costa Rica!

We left snowy Minnesota behind Sunday, February 10 in search of sunshine and adventure in Costa Rica. There’s an easy five-hour flight from Minneapolis to Liberia that we’ve taken several times now and the kids both did excellent on the flight. It seems things get easier every trip we take with them.

Liberia is in the northwestern part of Costa Rica, but we didn’t stay there longer than it took to get groceries and grab a bite to eat. Our plan is to travel around Costa Rica and see several areas of the country.

The local Wal-Mart is the “same but different” as the United States. We picked up meat and veggies, beach towels, bottled water, and a few must-have kid foods like noodles, cereal and sour cream that we knew we’d have trouble finding in smaller town markets. We also picked up a few foods unique to us - like soursop, a sweet fruit in a giant green shell that looks like an avocado.

I’m not sure how many trips we have to take before we realize food is #1 priority once we arrive somewhere new. By the time we finished grocery shopping, the four of us were HANGRY so we high-tailed it to a nearby Mexican restaurant called Taqueria Mazatlan. Maybe it’s because we were famished, but the tacos were delicious here.

After we ate, we hit the road for Samara, which is a two-hour drive from Liberia. Our only stop along the way was to POPS for ice cream and a bathroom break.

First stop in Samara was to meet the property manager of the airbnb we booked. He delivered some bad news, unfortunately. The septic at the airbnb backed up a few days prior and wasn’t fixed yet. He notified us that we would not be able to stay there, but he had another property available we could use. We were bummed, but what other option did we have? We followed him to the alternative house located right in the town of Samara.

We made dinner and called it a night. I think I was asleep by 9pm! Travel days are always rough, no matter how you slice them.

Monday, February 11

I was bitter about our airbnb not being ready when we arrived Sunday night, but daylight always brings new perspective. This house we were in was still nice and had a great pool. We all slept in until around 7:00am, then the kids ate breakfast while Andi went for a run and I did my workout next to the pool.

Then we all swam in the pool for a bit. Gosh, it was hot! No matter what the forecast says, you just can’t imagine what 90 degree heat will feel like when you’re freezing your butt off in Wisconsin. I panicked an hour into swimming when I saw how red Aden’s cheeks were already getting, despite having sunscreen applied. We decided to dry off & head into town for a bit to take a break from the sun.

We had lunch at a restaurant called Luv Burger on Samara Beach. Little did we realize it was a Vegan restaurant - fine for Andi and I, but the kids weren’t super enthused with the “healthy” options there. Tory ordered a black bean burger, Andi had the Luv Burger casado with rice and a salad, and I had a yummy Yogi Bowl with lots of veggies and quinoa. The food was delicious, but the service was definitely lacking.

After lunch at the beach, we toured a local school to see if the kids might like to take some Spanish lessons there while we were in town. Tory and Aden weren’t too keen on the idea so we ended up not booking any sessions, but it was still interesting to see a Costa Rican school in action.

We found ourselves down at Samara Beach again. We stopped for ice cream at Kratos, then hit the beach. The sand seem to stretch on for miles at low tide and the kids immediately jumped into having fun in the water. Andi brought along a sun tent on this trip, so we popped it up on the beach and relaxed until the sun set. The perfect ending to our first full day in Samara.

That night, we grilled steaks for dinner back at our airbnb. The kids were toast after swimming a large part of the day, so we put them to bed early. Andi and I stayed up a little later to ring in the close of our first full night in Costa Rica.