Samara, Costa Rica - Days 8-9
Monday, February 18
The best Mondays start like this:
That’s how Andi’s started. Mine began with a good sweat and powerful exercise endorphins flowing!
The view from our airbnb is breathtaking! We can see dry tropical forest for miles below and the ocean in the far distance. In the mornings, the birds and howler monkeys make all kinds of noise and in the evenings, the cicadas sing loudly.
Monday for the kids started with chocolate chip pancakes, fresh mango and watermelon & a dose of Strawberry Shortcake on Netflix. I don’t think they’re complaining.
After breakfast, Tory and I did some school. Since the internet works so well here, we’re able to keep up with her online program. By the way, the kid’s bedroom in this house has inspired me to loft Tory’s bed at the cabin. Once I saw this setup, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of that myself! It’s so nice having more floor space and a desk in an otherwise tight space. I think that’s a great thing about traveling - seeing the way other people do things. Someday it’d be cool to have a home inspired by our travels.
We ate lunch at the airbnb (hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, pea pods, hummus, pasta noodles, and crackers) and then decided to scope out a waterfall we’ve heard about in the area. Locating places off the beaten path are a bit of a challenge, but I found some detailed directions online that led us right to the spot.
The road leading to the Belen waterfall took us through a rural part of Samara, and it was beautiful. Big open pastures with lots of grazing cattle. About 2 km (1.2 miles) down the road, we came to a dirt parking lot and as our directions mentioned, a few women working as “parking attendants” sat at the entrance. We’ve seen this a few other places; basically, locals take it upon themselves to charge tourists 1,000 colonnes ($1.50) to park and in exchange, they will “watch your vehicle for you.” There was hardly anyone there, so I wasn’t worried that our vehicle would be broken into anyway.
As we hiked to the waterfall, Aden designated himself the “leader” of our family, and then threw a gigantic tantrum when no one listened to his bossy directions. “GUYS! I AM THE LEADER,” he exclaimed. He wanted to be the leader, but he was too busy yelling instructions to actually take the lead. I calmly explained to him that in life, no one listens to people who shout at them in mean voices and that while he was standing there being mad, Andi and Tory had already walk ahead to the falls. Once Aden and I got to the water, he forgot all about it and jumped into the water to play.
This hidden gem of a place was just 20 minutes outside Samara. It was a fun and different way to spend the afternoon. The small waterfall and swimming holes surrounding it were the perfect temperature to lounge around in the water or sprawl out on the smooth riverbed rocks.
Afterward, we drove to Nicoya (a bigger inland town) for groceries. The Belen Waterfalls were halfway between Samara and Nicoya, so we figured we’d check out somewhere new.
The first thing we noticed when we reached Nicoya was all the traffic. Ugh! Andi and I definitely second-guessed our choice for a bigger town. First, we stopped for ice cream since we saw that Nicoya has a POPS ice cream shop. We’d stopped at a POPS on our drive from Liberia to Samara and it was delicious, so we wanted to go there again.
Coincidently, right next to POPS ice cream was a car wash & detailing place and Andi wanted to see if they could buff out a scratch we’d made on our rental car. He dropped Tory, Aden and I off at the ice cream shop and took the SUV next door to see if they could fit him into their schedule. So, Tory, Aden and I sat outside while we waited and did some people watching while we ate chocolate chip ice cream cones. Andi returned a while later and said, “Well, that was an experience!” I suppose it would be a bit of a challenge communicating that you need a scratch fixed on your vehicle when you doesn’t speak Spanish. In the end, it all worked out and he got a car wash and the scratch buffed out for 3,650 colonnes ($6). What a deal!
Next, we drove to the Super Compro for groceries. It was really chaotic finding a parking spot at 4:30pm with all the city traffic. There aren’t big parking lots at the grocery store like in the United States — there’s just a handful of spots in the front of the store, maybe 10, and a parking attendant who directs cars in and out. Finally, we found a spot and headed into the store to buy fruits, veggies, meat, bread and milk.
This larger supermarket is similar to the United States in that you can find lots of different food items here, all in one place. Noticeably absent are the aisles and aisles of pre-packaged foods (there was one aisle in the Super Compro with crackers and chips, but that was it). There isn’t a frozen food section, except for a door of ice cream, and no microwavable items. Also different, there’s an entire row of bags of rice and polenta.
Andi thought this section of the grocery store was amusing — a whole row of broom heads. “When was the last time you replaced a broom head back home?” he asked me. I guess I hadn’t thought about it, but it’s so true! Lots more dust here = lots more sweeping.
The drive from Nicoya back to our airbnb house had us all chuckling at the craziness of this experience. Driving here is like a game of Frogger! In the 40 minute drive (32 km) from Nicoya, we encountered semi trucks rolling full speed down a hill, motorcycles zipping past us, dogs in the middle of the road who don’t seem interested in moving out of the way, people walking alongside the highway, and cars stalled in the road. The kids were talking and asking questions and Andi shouted back, “Guys, I can’t talk now! I need to focus!” It would be impossible to text & drive here; you have to pay full attention all the time so you don’t hit something or someone. Actually, I have seen quite a few people texting and bicycling, so maybe that’s safer?
We made it back to our airbnb just in time to watch the sun go down on another day in Samara. If you’ll remember, watching the sunset together is one of our family’s trip goals and the kids are eager to remind us every evening around 5:30pm.
Andi grilled chicken for dinner and I steamed some broccoli to go with it & we all enjoyed a nice, quiet dinner together on the outdoor patio. The kids played toys until the big frogs came out and then we called it a night. (The frogs, by the way - wow! I’ll get a picture one of these days to capture their size. You won’t believe it.)
Tuesday February 19
We’re going zip lining today! Everyone woke up early and ate breakfast as we had to be at Wingnuts Canopy Tours by 9:00am. “I’ll just have something in the freezer,” Tory said when I asked her what she wanted for breakfast. I laughed. There is nothing in the freezer; they don’t have frozen Eggo Waffles in Costa Rica. Andi made the kids chocolate chip pancakes with fresh fruit while I did my workout on the patio. Then, we packed up and drove into Samara for the day’s adventure.
Wingnuts had awesome reviews online for being a safe and family friendly company. We were excited to see for ourselves. Ziplining was something on Tory’s bucket list to do while in Costa Rica. She fell in love with it when she zip lined in Switzerland last year. Aden was a little nervous, but agreed to give it a try.
Before we left the shop, the owners helped us into our harnesses and then he had the kids practice hanging from the ceiling beam to get a feel for what it would be like.
Once Aden experienced what it would be like to hang upside down, he was hooked! I could see the fire of adventure light up in his eyes - he was ready. We hopped into the back of a pickup truck to ride up the mountain to the beginning of the zip lining trails. Even that was exciting for the kids- “We get to ride in the back of a truck! Cool!”
There were seven of us in our group - our family of four, plus three college-age siblings from Rhode Island, and our two guides. The pickup truck dropped us off at a metal gate and then we hiked a short distance into the dry forest. Manu, the owner, asked who wanted to go first and I could see the kids were a little nervous. Honestly, I was too! Even though I’ve zip lined before, it’s hard to know what to expect. Andi volunteered and Manu explained exactly what to do as he clipped his harness to the line. Then, away he went! Tory and Aden’s eyes lit up. “I’m next!” Aden exclaimed. By the second zip line, Aden and Tory were both hanging upside down soaring through the air.
“This is so cool!” Aden said to me at one point, nodding his head with enthusiasm. “You should definitely put this in your blog, Mom.”
We rode 5 zip lines and then stopped for a break on one of the platforms in the trees. The guides set out fresh pineapple and watermelon, organic oatmeal cookies, water, and mixed fruit juice to enjoy while we gazed at the ocean in the distance. The second guide, Freddy, pointed to an iguana laying in a tree and said they call him Boris. Freddy grabbed a stick and fed the iguana some chunks of pineapple and watermelon. A few minutes later, Boris crawled over to a tree branch above where we were sitting and Manu started shouting, “No! No!” as he shook a stick at Boris. “He uses this branch as his bathroom,” Manu said. “Move over. Quick!” He was specifically talking to the three teenagers from Rhode Island, but they weren’t catching on at first. Eventually, the three moved over on the bench … and just in time! Boris the Iguana urinated from above and liquid splashed down right where the girl had been sitting. We all had a good laugh. Manu said Boris likes to do that, and some of his past clients haven’t been as lucky to move out of the way.
We finished the tour with five more zip lines through the trees and two repels where they dropped us straight down to the ground. We all had such a fun time. Our guides were awesome with the kids and we felt very safe.
Tory said the repel drops were her favorite part. Aden liked flying upside down the best.
After zip lining, we drove into Samara to grab some meat for lunch and dinner. We came back to the airbnb and made sloppy joes with zucchini for lunch and lounged around the pool for the rest of the day. The kids swam and Tory and I did some school together, too.
Around 5:30pm, we climbed to the top of the hill to watch the sunset but there really wasn’t one because the sky was so hazy. It wasn’t cloudy, but just hard to see far in the distance. Andi grilled pork chops with fresh green beans for dinner. What a fun day we had in Samara!
