One day we decided that we wanted to track down some local fresh fish and grill out for an evening's meal. Finding fresh fish proved to be a bit more challenging than we had originally thought, but after some help from the local tourist office (who was fabulous!), we found the signs for the local fish monger.
Following the signs led us here...
This is the local fish monger's house, who sells the fish that he caught on that morning's fishing excursion. Abatha and I waited in the car while Ryan and Scott tried to finagle the sale of some fish. With much broken language and a handful of gestures and signs, the boys managed to score some red snapper, which the monger politely filleted for them in his garage.
Enjoying our fish dinner (minus me - who settled on some chicken instead)....
I am told that it was the best fish that the three of them had ever had. I guess I'll have to take their word for it!
Adventures took form in the simplest ways... just driving down the street looking for a restaurant or taking in the sights of the village was an adventure. The signage in this village was poor at best, so finding the restaurants proved MORE than difficult at times. Sometimes we had to abandon our original plan for a restaurant selection simply because we couldn't find it. And it wasn't because the town was too big.
Scott looking for a restaurant on the map while the rest of us waited in the car...
Driving down the narrow roads meant you had to dodge people riding their bikes, people walking on the shoulder of the road, or swerve to miss stray dogs. At one point we nearly hit some horses that apparently run loose in the streets as well, as evidenced by this very unfocused picture.
One day we strolled down the road to Playa Carillo - dubbed one of the "must see" beaches in the world. As it turned out, it was a very beautiful beach. Abatha and I spent the time sitting out in the sun in beach chairs until we got to hot to take it. Then we cooled off in the ocean and repeated the above said behavior.
We couldn't get the boys to spend more than 2 minutes on the beach with us. They quickly took to the boogie boards that we found at our house and tried their hand at boogie boarding. Here they are with their stylish boards....
Might I just add... they were the only ones in the ocean with Styrofoam boards and the only ones that had a design on their boards - not to mention an obnoxious design. Could the locals tell we were tourists?!
We enjoyed some fabulous food at local restaurants and enjoyed the local cervezas (beer) - Imperial.
At the sushi bar... the boys were in heaven! Again a food I didn't partake in. Seeing a pattern?
The trip to Costa Rica was in itself a fabulous vacation. It was the perfect mix of relaxation, soaking in the sun, and experiencing a new culture and environment. The best part, however, had nothing to do with the scenery or the sun. It had everything to do with creating memories that will last a lifetime with our best friends, Scott and Abatha. I don't know that there are too many people out there that can say they have as close of friends as them despite the distance that separates us. Until the next time we vacation together, we will have to hold dear the adventures we took, the laughs we made, and the memories we created.
Getting back into the groove of "normalcy" is slowly setting in... still wishing we had one more day sitting by the pool, watching the whales in the ocean and the monkeys in the trees.
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