Day 22

Welp, it's over. It's fitting that today, things ended how it all started: raining. I like to think of it as, Costa Rica's inner mood being reflected in terms of weather (because we're leaving). We had a few brief hours of non-rain, which by no means meant there was sun. We've grown to think that the absence of rain is a home-run & when the sun is present, it's a grand-slam! Today was neither. We stayed out through the rain as long as we could…but it seemed to be a lost cause. We spent the afternoon watching movies or at the gym. 

loving our robes & slippers

Tonight, we went out for the official last supper. We had lots of wine, laughs, some almost-tears and lots of love for Costa Rica. 

what you can't really see is me trying to take MK out with my thick wood menu

Tomorrow we leave the Marriott at 6:15 to catch our 7:10 tin-can flight to San Jose, then a 9am shuttle to the international airport. We will reconnect with Liz and her beau to fly into MIA, all minus MK. We are so sad that MK is not continuing with us into the home-stretch. So so triste.  Costa Rica - you were great. All I have to say to you is -- "Pura vida, no pass nada…adios…"

isalud!

I'd rather say, "hasta luegs" - because I know I'll be back.

Day 19 & 20

Day 19 was full clouds but it was our first full day without rain! We'll take it. We laid at the pool/beach from 7-3:30, taking full advantage of our close proximity to the equator to toast our bods. (don't worry, mom - I'm wearing sunscreen). We all lay down in efforts to cool off before we hit the gym for another insanity sesh when we hear a pounding at the door. Could it be room service with more ice? No, enter the sexy sweed,("the SS") Fredrik, one of our many friends from the night before. We ditch the gym and head down to happy hour by the pool. The SS takes a quick dip and when he meets us back at our table, MK asks "so, why did you put your shirt back on?" We all have a good adolscent girl giggle before moving on to the more mentally stimulating conversations.

A few hours past happy hour, we ask Fredrik to join us for dinner on property, but he has other plans in store for us. He met some other friends and invited us all to dinner in Tamarindo. Us girls get ready, hail a cab and we're back on the dirt/gravel road down to Playa Tamarindo. We meet the SS and pick a place for din-din. We meet more friends on the way. Lots of beers and hours laughing later, we head home. Hasta Luegs- Fredrik, the sexy sweed, you will be missed until we visit you in Stockholm next summer. :)

Day 20
Please don't think that tomorrow is our last day here. Please don't think about that tomorrow is our last day here. YOU MUST STOP THINKING THAT TOMORROW IS OUR LAST DAY HERE. I'm so sad. Tomorrow is our last day here. Of course, those miserable first days at Cabinas Pedro Miguel dragged by like stick in the mud and these glorious 6 days in paradise have flown by faster than Costa Rican cab drivers (which is fast, BTW). Today we lounged at the pool all day next to our fav LA couple  (who are sadly leaving tomrorow). Sunshine all day, and no rain to date - knock on wood. Tonight we're going to have dinner at the sushi restaurant on property and try not to think that tomorrow is our last day here. Crap. I did it again.

Day 17 & 18

Day 17
Life in Guanacaste is great! Would you believe that after 14 days of pure dry climate and nothing but glorious sunshine on our first full day here -- it rains??

 We woke up super early to hit the beach/pool and laid out until the rain came at 1ish. While at the pool, we met two cute couples - one from LA, the other from Canada, eh? The LA couple have been here for almost a week so they had lots of advice and info to share with us about the ins and outs of the resort and the surfer town, Tamarindo, which is only 15 minutes away. When the rain came we retired to our room for an unintentional yet great cat nap. After the nap, we hit the gym and did insanity. Seems kind of counter-productive, huh? Oh well. Better than nothing!

We came back for a quick shower and were off to dinner at one of the restaurants on property. Would you believe that we were sat next to our fav LA couple at dinner? It was so cute, when we walked in the man loudly whispered, "is that our girls?" I guess we all look different when not in drowned rat-esque hair & bikini attire. :) At dinner, we had a couple bottles of wine - something that we haven't had in CR yet! We needed it to hopefully put us to sleep at a decent hour (despite of nap) so we could rise early with the sun.

Day 18
Up early to hit the beach/pool. Not a cloud in the sky - hallelujah! We laid out all morning/afternoon with only a brief 15 minute shower that didn't deter us. We may have become delusional here because we laid there in the rain because the sun was still out. The sun rays can still tan us through the rain and clouds, right?
We are heading into Tamarindo at 4 to check out the little surfer town, go shopping, grab some dinner & hopefully steal some Wifi. The JW is great - but we are so disappointed that wifi isn't free here!! It's $15 for 12 hours, per device. Annoyed. With a lap top and 4 smart phones it just isn't worth it -- so to town we go to hopefully re-connect with the world & update the blog. :)

Ok, so scratch that. We went into town sans computer to a local bar and met so many friends. We were wondering why we didn't have millions of friend requests from all the people we've met so far…apparently all of our friends were in Tamarindo. Lots of beers and chats later, we're the most popular friends that you didn't have to pay for. There may or may not have been a prostitute on the shuttle bus back with us. She introduced her "friend" to us and showed us where the communal bathroom is. In a drunken stupor, Kimberly shimmies into the concierge desk and starts playing her sweet, sad, violin story of not having internet on property…wham bam thank you mamma, now we have internet for free!! Except blog updates on the reg, kiddos.

Day 16

Up early because we were too excited to sleep. Today was the day we had been waiting for - fly to Guanacaste, CR. We said "hasta luegs" to Liz and headed for the airport.

Bags and bodies on the scale first, then we were waiting for the puddle jumper to arrive. We were nervous because a cow had wandered on the runway. A man shimmied out and shooed it away so our plane could land. I guess nobody wanted ground-beef. har har har.

This quick 20 minute flight to San Jose was so much better than our other flight, but still more than just a little nerve-wracking. We only had 10 minutes in between flights - a quick run to the bano and grab some peanuts to up the blood sugar & we were off again. A 45 minute flight to Tamarindo, culminating with the most gorgeous view of the beach while approaching the landing strip. The moment we've been anticipating has arrived - JW Marriott/Playa Mansita time!!

The only way we survived the four long nights at the Cabinas Pedro Miguel was anticipating the moment of arriving at the JW. It's bittersweet that our last stop on our incredible 3 week vacay is here. We wandered around the grounds and ended up having dunch (or linner, if you will) at the azul grill overlooking the beach/pools. At dunch/linner, Kim, Susan, MK & I all had some reflection and share time about our favorite and least favorite days of the trip so far. One of our favorite/funny story that we haven't shared yet is when a cow charged our taxi-van, relampagos & the 3 sizes of Jose's - pequeno, mediano, & grande. So many vacas all around. It seems like we've been here so long but it's gone so fast. All I know is, I could get used to a permanent vacation & I definitely do not want to go back to school/work.

Itinerary or should I say itinerario?

Kim, Liz, Susan, MaryKate, Kaiti & I leave at 6am tomorrow! Wahoo! 
Here's the itinerary -- 

July 10-17 We will be in our apartment in Manuel Antonio for surfing lessons & class. :)

July 17-19 Friends from LHS who will also be in CR will visit us MA - snorkeling, hiking, MA National Park, zip lining, paddle boarding, etc. 

July 19-21 Jaco Beach, boat to malpais and santa teresa

July 23 - we fly to arenal, la fortuna and go check out the volcano & hot springs! Day trip to Monteverde (there are several options on how to get there - one being by bus/boat)??

July 26 - we fly from arenal to tamarindo 

July 26-Aug 1 we stay at JW Marriott Guanacaste  - prob broke by then and want to relax oceanfront with fruity umbrella drinks :) but need to investigate about the area more...

Aug 1 7:10am flight- from tamarindo to San Jose-Pavas; 9:00am Shuttle to SJO 
Aug 1 SJO to IAD departs 12:10pm 

Beach in Manuel Antonio National Park

Playa Espadilla