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| Pura Vida! |
We had the good fortune to return to Playa Flamingo and happily basked in the sun, enjoying the surf, the large pool and drinking coconut water straight from the source, spending two nights at the Playa Flamingo Resort. I think that my parents could have easily never left this spot. We did our job enjoying happy hour with several of our new iguana friends.
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| Life is good |
We did discover a couple of beaches new to us near Playa Conchal and will return for sure. The water is as clear as I've ever seen and there is plenty of solitude, even on Sunday. There surely is an abundance of gorgeous beaches open for exploration on the lovely Pacific coast.
A definite highlight for visitors to our adopted hometown is a trip to "Pottery Island" for a beautiful stroll on a peninsular extending out into Lago Arenal. The views simply cannot be beat.
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| Erica admires the view |
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| Sullivan hangs on his grandfather's every word about UFOs |
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| Lago Arenal |
The evening views were followed by a fantastic meal at a new bio-organic, locally sourced restaurant nearby called "Rancho Las Tinajas". The food did not disappoint but could not match the sunset views, multitude of toads, the friendly pet parrots and newfound friends with whom my dad practiced his Spanish. A magical evening for sure.
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| Sunset dinner view, Rancho Las Tinajas |
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| New friends |
Unfortunately, the great and late evening before was not without a price to be paid the next morning. Sullivan, short on sleep, had a pretty rough day in kindergarten. It turns out that this particular Friday was the day for the annual school elections, for student government. This may be a nationwide event. In any event, there was a lot of sitting around and loud music.
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| Student government elections |
For part of the day, the kindergartners also had to wear flower costumes. Long story short for our little man too short on sleep was that he couldn't handle all the festivities and daily attention from his classmates and he acted out, having a meltdown and even hitting some of the other kids. It was a rough day for him but we're continuing to work with his teacher, who is quite understanding and patient, and he's been doing just fine since. It's just a lot for our young man to handle sometimes, especially since he still attracts a lot of attention from his classmates and can't yet fully express himself in Spanish. We will keep working with him. There is no question that he is an energetic and opinionated guy like his father and grandfather as well.
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| Lago Arenal rainbow and sun |
We also managed to make it to Tierras Morenas, a nearby pueblo, during its annual oxcart celebration. Though we missed the oxcart parade and saw only a few oxcarts, we did enjoy the evening subasta, or auction. We managed to avoid purchasing any livestock but left before the "running (chasing?) of the bulls". Sullivan insisted on a great "cowboy" belt to go with the rest of his outfit.
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| Our caballero |
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| Church, Tierras Morenas |
It's been a fantastic couple of weeks with my folks. They've developed quite an enthusiasm for Costa Rica and learning Spanish. Tomorrow they head out to return to the States and I will head back as well, to work for a couple of weeks. We are fortunate to have this time in such a lovely setting, together.
