Last week went along as usual as Ken and I prepared for Noah’s 6th birthday. We kept straight faces and acted normal. Well, as normal as we usually act. On Wednesday the 6th Ken and I went to pick up a rental car at Hertz. Noah, who lives in ignorant bliss most of the time, assumed this was just to celebrate his birthday with dinner in Liberia.

On Thursday at 11am, Ken left the condo. Noah didn’t ask where he went for almost an hour. I fibbed a bit. I said he went to run some errands. Little did Noah know, one of those errands was to pick up GRANDMA from the airport! When we began planning our trip months ago, my mom asked if we would be willing to host her. She wanted to celebrate Noah’s and my birthdays. When Ken arrived back at the condo, Grandma in tow, Noah was beyond excited. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes and wasn’t sure what to do with himself.

Once Grandma got settled, Noah and I showed her around our little area and walked her to the beach. That night, I cooked dinner and we rode the golf cart to the beach to watch sunset. It was such a special night.

(You’ll notice some nicer pictures because mom brought us a new Camera that we purchased!! It’s amazing!)

Noah and Grandma went to bed around the same time, but I think I heard some chit-chat before they both fell asleep.

As Noah and Grandma went to sleep, Ken and I got to work. Noah’s birthday was Friday and we had Thursday night to get everything set. My mom brought us a small gift for him,  the second Harry Potter book, and she brought us some of the decorations we purchased on Amazon before she left. Earlier in the week I ordered a Harry Potter Birthday Cake from a local bakery, Choco Coco which would be ready Friday afternoon. So Ken and I blew up balloons, decorated the walls, colored the whiteboard I brought, and made the living-room party central!

On Friday Noah woke up to the decorations and surprises downstairs. We went for lunch in town, and took a drive up one of the steepest roads nearby. We got some cool shots of our beach.

That afternoon was completed by a swim in the pool. At night we went to Walmart for Noah to pick out some toys for his presents and then to Liberia for dinner. We ate at Tierra Mar – a Cevicheria. Dinner was outstanding! Once we were finished with our meal we came back to the condo to cut the cake. We FaceTimed Abuela (Ken’s mom), and Noah had both his grandmas there to celebrate his 6th birthday! It was very sweet (both the cake and the celebration!).

On Saturday we woke up early to drive to Playa Conchal. We’d heard rumors of this beach being “covered in shells.” The drive was over an hour, an hour that was mostly beautiful countryside. Until we met a police checkpoint. FYI – for all those driving a rental car in Costa Rica: the driver MUST have a copy of their passport on them. Not the passenger, not the child in the back, not the grandma in the back. Just the DRIVER. In other words – ME. We have copies of our passports in our Google Drive, only accessible via the internet, and the signal in Costa Rica is less than predictable. Luckily for us the officers were patient. They even informed us that the day was día de los niños! Kids’ Day! Finally, my passport loaded on Ken’s phone and the officers were satisfied, we were once again on our way to the beach.

We faced rough terrain (much like Arenal), but eventually found the sand. In fact, the road became sand, and we were on the beach!  Playa Conchal wasn’t so much made of shells as it was just plain old sand. However, it was beautiful. And we did find some unique shells. What we also found, which was way more exciting (and could have potentially been dangerous), were Spotted Eagle Rays. Not knowing what kind of rays they were initially, we weren’t quick to get out of the water. In fact, I noticed everyone had gotten out of the water except for my husband. A few Google searches later I discovered that they were dangerous. On the end of their bodies, near their long skinny tails, they have 5 or so sharp barbs covered with venom. Needless to say, we got out of the water when they came around.

We swam a bit more and hopped back into the car to continue on the beach/road. We bobbed and weaved through the beach/woods/puddles and got back to the main road. We had a quiet drive back to Playa del Coco and enjoyed lunch at Soda Pelones, a buffet-style lunch place where they heaped the food on your plate. It was the perfect fuel for the rest of our day!

Sunday allowed Ken and I a rare opportunity to go to the gym TOGETHER!! And then the grocery store. Noah and Grandma hung out playing various games. When Ken and I arrived at home with lunch, we were right on time to referee our son who was yelling at Grandma for not knowing the rules. We ate lunch, went swimming again, and then out for dinner at Cafe de Playa. This place was wonderful! Mom had penne vodka with shrimp, Noah and I shared a fresh sea-food spaghetti, and Ken had grilled octopus. On our golf cart ride back we had a little drizzle but made it back barely wet.

On Monday we were rained in. What started as a light drizzle in the morning soon developed into all-day pouring rain. This was good, however, because on Tuesday we had snorkel plans!

Tuesday morning we were up early to meet the Pacific Coast Discovery boat again. We had such an amazing time with them on our last trip that we knew my mom would love it. Getting into the boat proved to be a challenge because it was high-tide, and the storms in the Gulf were, in fact, impacting the Pacific. What would normally be high-tide was now high-tide with fierce waves. Mom and Noah were first into the boat, and as they got to the seat a HUGE wave came and hoisted the boat into the air. They were ok, a little wet, but ok. Ken and I quickly climbed in, and Eddie and the captain pulled away from the shore.

We hadn’t been on the boat for more than 5 minutes when we spotted our first whales. There were three of them – 2 adults and 1 baby.

We followed the whales around, snapping pictures and enjoying the ride. We also saw dolphins and huge schools of fish. We boated up the estuary again but were only able to see an egret. Then, we stopped at a beach covered in hermit crabs. It looked like the ground was moving. We explored, found shells, and picked up various hermit crabs.

Back in the boat we went to our first snorkel spot. Eddie, the guide, took his time and took care of my mom. Grandma had never snorkeled before. She was game, but also unsure of how it all worked. I gave her my full-face snorkel, she put on her flippers, and with Noah shouting, “Grandma! This way!” she was off. Here we saw beautiful fish, coral, and a sea-horse.

We floated along for over an hour, and then went back onto the boat for snacks. You could smell the fresh cut pineapple all the way out in the water, luring us in. We snacked, chatted, and all of a sudden we heard the Howler Monkeys. My mom’s eyes got wide. She compared their sound to growling, angry dogs. It’s true, they do sound scary, but we didn’t catch a glimpse of them from the water.

When we finished our snacks we slowly boated to our final spot. Here my mom and I just floated with our pool noodles while Ken and Noah snorkeled. We found some other beautiful shells, and Ken was amazed at the puffer fish. There were hundreds of them! I’m aware this sounds like an exaggeration, but it is not. There were hundreds. And they all blended in.

We boated back to Playa del Coco, and on the way we saw sting-rays jumping and flying through the air. We made the long, hot walk back to the condo and cleaned up. Ken had to get back to work, but Grandma, Noah, and I went for lunch at a local Italian restaurant, La Dulce Vita. The owners and locals were watching the Champions League game involving Juventus (Italy) and Barcelona (Spain). I almost made the mistake of cheering for Messi who is on Barcelona and then I realized who was surrounding me! The pizza was thin, wood-fired, and tasty.

Grandma, Ken and I all laid down to relax, Noah wanted to go swimming again. We all turned him down. Well, I did. My mom was sleeping.

At 5:45pm we made our way back to the Italian place for dinner. When we were eating lunch earlier I noticed some of the pasta dishes, and they looked wonderful. So we each ordered a delicious pasta dish and dessert. When we arrived back at the condo, Noah had a few minutes to watch some tv before bedtime. By 8:30pm he was out. By 9:30pm my mom went up for bed. We had a long, but fun-filled day. Wednesday will be relaxing, I’m sure.

Next on our schedule is my birthday on the 15th. September 15th also happens to be Costa Rican Independence day! We’ve heard bands practicing, there’s supposed to be a parade, and local businesses already have decorations up! I think my birthday is going to be one big party! I can’t wait.

 

Side Note:

Ken and I got a new camera (thanks again Mom for bringing it with you on your flight!). Here are some of the animals and flowers we captured this week!