The Pacific Coast

We stayed in Playa Samara for five days. We went down to the beach most of the days and swam and walked and collected shells. It was very beautiful. It was shaped like the letter C and there were big rocky cliffs on both ends. The beach was smooth and yellow and the waves were amazing. People were surfing all around and they were cool to watch. One person looked like Obi Wan Kenobie in Star Wars. The town was not very big, but had a lot of restaurants and things to buy. The helado or ice cream was very, very, very good. We went to 2 different places to get it. One was Restaurante Coco and the other was an ice cream parlor. Both were muy rico! We also swam in the hotel pool and we met a nice girl named Hannah from Costa Rica and her parents.

We left Samara and headed south to Manuel Antonio also on the coast. The roads around MA were great. They were twisting and turning and up and down because there were many cliffs along the ocean. You had to be careful crossing because of big buses crashing around corners. We stayed at the Blue Monkey (Mono Azul). It was very nice. It had a great restaurant with an awesome breakfast burrito and free coffee all day for mom and dad. There were 3 pools there but we only found 2, so maybe they were exaggerating.

There is a national park right nearby that we walked into. We say animals really up close. Here is a list of some of the animals:

Baby sloth

Adult sloth

Howler monkeys

Capuchin monkeys

Squirrel Monkeys (they are endangered)

Coatis

Agoutis

Raccoons

Hermit crabs—there was a whole beach full of them and you couldn’t tell who they were until they moved. But if you were patient, you noticed the whole beach moving.

Fiddler crabs—these were so fun to chase. I almost caught them but they are so fast!

There are some beaches in the park that you have to hike to and it is almost impossible to get there because it is so steep and the trails are sometimes washed out and there would be no trail. At these beaches they were deserted, no one was there…just monkeys and crabs and us! Later we went to a closer beach and there were many people and we put our stuff under a tree like an umbrella and a raccoon and then a capuchin monkey tried to take our food. The monkey was hanging out in the tree above us. The waves were so much fun. They were not white cap waves, they were hill waves and you could be carried by the waves in and out to sea, but not too far. We met 2 girls at the beach named Allison and Emily. It was really fun telling stories and floating in the waves.

We had a TV in our room and we watched all kinds of show from the United States but in Spanish. We could still understand some of it. We started drinking a lot of Sandia batidos con agua, which is like a smoothie made with watermelon and water. They are muy rico and refreshing! They are also good with pineapple and mango and banana with milk.

After Manuel Antonio we drove inland to San Gerardo de Rivas way up in the mountains. Part of the road was very steep and bumpy, all rocks and we needed four wheel drive to get up. The area is very mountainous and the biggest mountain in Costa Rica, maybe Central America is there. We didn’t climb it by maybe next time. It is very hard to climb and it rains a lot and gets very cold. We only stayed one night but hiked around and saw the cloud forest mountains. The towns up there are very small, but they still have a football field and there are crazy rivers and many boulders. The hotel we stayed in was built on top of a giant boulder and the rooms were made of rocks. They grow coffee up there and you see these big bins where they collect all the coffee beans (they have to pick them by hand) until there are enough to fill trucks. I can’t imagine how those big trucks get up the hills.

The next day we drove back to Orosi and stayed in the hostel owned by our language school. The hostel is so much fun. A hostel is a place, like a hotel, but people share a kitchen, a dining area, living area and bathrooms. And there are quiet hours and everyone gets to hang out together. Hostels are great. We met a family at our hostel and there are 6 of them. They are from France and there are 3 boys, 1 girl, and parents. Their names are Maxime, Lucas, Hugo, Lilou, and the parents are Lydia and Stephane. They are so nice and we played with them all afternoon. We played cards, we taught them spoons, and ran around in the street. We are excited about being back in Orosi. We went for a hike Sunday morning and found a little town where we watched a football game. That’s what people do on Sunday. It was very muddy and fun to watch.

 Yesterday our French friends and our family hiked to the river and the natural hot springs and beach. It was so much fun. At the beach we swam and swam. There were rapids on both sides of the beach, but we swam across the river to the other side and all the rocks. You could feel the river pulling you along and you had to swim hard. At first, dad and Stephane carried Lilou, Ceallan, and me. But then, we started doing it on our own. We would all swim at the same time, all 10 of us. I loved it, even though I got sunburned. We are so happy to be in Orosi and to meet new friends.

Yesterday was sunny all day, but you know it rains a lot here, and it stormed and stormed last night. We love you all and will write soon.