Le Tired
Costa Rica Day 12

holaaa

short one today folks as i am le tired.

gotten on a 6:30a alarm the last three days and for anyone who knows me, i don't rise early for my job back home. so yeah i'm liking the up early and to bed early routine. tomorrow is earlier than that as i'm doing my first full day excursion out of Tamarindo -- to Rio Celeste. wish me luck!

 

beaut of a day here and January is the dry season and as i walked the beach to my 2p surf lesson, i noticed how it's a 'dry heat' (they said this about a thousand times when i was out in Arizona for club lacrosse national championships in college). but yes, it was dry heat here, too. between 10:30a-3:30p ish it gets SO hot and i didn't realize that Eric (surf instructor) locked up shop for us to head down to the water (obvi was chatting) so i was like ah i forgot my flip flops inside! and he was like too late now! so we're on our way and yep, it's hot on the bottoms of my feet. Sophie, his stepdaughter, carries my board down like an absolute champ even tho i just asked if she wanted to take one end. THANK YOU. when we get to the beach, Eric gives me his flips to use and gives a friendly but stern reminder to remember to bring flip flops especially at these hours of the day. wowie did he do me a favor big time -- that sand is HOT. thank you!!!! i feel badly but he says i should use them. 

 

we've got a young couple probably around my age who has never surfed before and a couple young teens probably - Nico and Luca - who are here for a vacation from San Jose (capital of Costa) who also have not surfed before. we get to surf all white water today and it's awesome -- the tide is on the lower end coming in and we're in nice and shallow water so i feel suuuper comfortable today. although he did disregard my whatsapp text that i'm not paddling across the river mouth again  but it was okay this time because the tide was soo low and we were about as far out as you can be for it to even be the river mouth. also i felt much better as i was chatting with Sophie while we were still at the shop waiting for Nico and Luca to arrive and she assures me in 20 years, there's only been one incident with a crocodile and a person and it was up in the river. She's been here for 12 years. They live in Villa Real, super close to Tamarindo, but way less expensive. She and her mom used to live in Tamarindo. Their place was $500/ month at first and then, by the end, it had gone up to $1,600/ month. i don't love hearing that the folks who love this place and were here first are being pushed out due to lack of affordable places to live. I was talking to Cruz at villas macondo earlier as i was putting sunscreen before heading out for this lesson and she lives in Villa Real, too, and says it's a short - less than 10/ 15 minute, bus ride for her to get to work here. 

 

i digress, the water was great!! i take it super easy today as i said in my last note about surfing, i want to be all in or all out if i'm doing it. i felt in a good headspace, especially now that we're in shallower waters, there's more of us in the group and we've got three instructors (Eric, Sophie and Giovanni) and i don't feel out of my depth. also we didn't go all the way to Playa Grande so my arms were not shot (and because Sophie carried my board down to the beach). The couple in the group were fun to watch get up - they're names are Ashwin and Sarah and they live in DC. (BTW Andrea, from my last lesson, lives in Germany). Ashwin was incredibly pumped afterwards and when i said goodbye to them // nice to meet them, he asked if i wanted to grab a drink with them. um yes?!?! that's only what i've wanted with anyone i meet! (amongst asking them all my questions :)  )

we walk to Witch's Rock (a surf lesson co and they have an adjoining bar / restaurant and we're all so thirsty for water. fill up my Nalgene (gracias, Lauren y Leah!) from the water cooler they have on the bar and am ready for a pina colada. !! so good. we grab a spot on the picnic tables on the sand (now shaded by trees at this point, we're not sweltering in the sun!) and have a chat. super fun. good peeps. Ashwin has the itch now that he hears what i'm doing here. Sarah is quieter and introverted ( - self proclaimed introvert ) - and we talk lifestyles with travel and jobs and surfing. he's hooked! when i ask if she'd surf again, she almost wasn't going to surf and she said yes, she would!

 

quick time out from writing as i went over to Maria's room to give her my info as when we were talking in the kitchen yesterday morning, she that that she and her partner may be trying to move to Boston. they are visiting from Ukraine. so nice and her partner's name is Maria, too!

 

that'll do it today as i need to pack an extra set of clothes for my trip tomorrow, get organized and have a small bite to eat before bed. 

 

buenos noches!

8:32p, 12 January