Low Tides and Ice Cream Cones

We had a super laid back day today. We slept in super late and honestly didn't do a ton. We knew we probably weren’t going to hear from Luke until after 10:00 since they really wanted some time to themselves, so I didn't even get up until about 8:30 and then took my time getting ready. By 10:00, we still hadn't heard from Luke and we figured he might have just wanted to spend more time with Anna since it was her day off, so the three of us decided to take a stroll down to the beach. 

The exposed rock reef at super low tide.

It was another super low tide today so we spend quite a bit of time just walking the tide pools and seeing what we could see. The majority was just the little grayish brown fishes that swam in small schools but I also saw one little electric blue fish and a small sea slug.

Slug!

After a while when we had walked quite a ways down the exposed rock reef, mom and dad decided to try hiking over to Buena Vista, the next beach over, and finding a way up and into the mountains. I wasn't really up for another super strenuous hike, my legs were still super sore from yesterday! So I decided to head back to the hotel on my own while they continued on.

About half an hour later Dad called saying they were coming back, Buena Vista turned out to be a little farther than they had thought, so when they caught up to me a while later and we walked down the rest of the beach and back to the hotel together.

Samara Beach

Dad and I continued to just hang out, waiting for Luke's call, and Mom decided to head into town to inquire about various tour options. Luke called my phone a while later, around 1:30, saying he was on his way down from their temporary house to their old apartment to clean up the place and hand in the keys. Arden had apparently been really difficult all morning and had been super unhappy and grumpy since waking up. Anna had decide to just stay at home for the day with the unhappy baby and sent Luke down to clean up the old place on his own since they needed to be completely out by the first of the month. 

I had really been wanting to try some ice cream at this one shop Luke always raves about so I ended up walking into town on my own and meeting Luke at "The Monkey." After getting our "banana y naranja" ice cream cones I walked the rest of the way to Luke’s house with him and helped him sweep and clean the place.  While we were cleaning, Anna texted Luke with the idea that since Arden had been in such a bad mood and it likely wouldn’t be the best day to have a lot of people around, we could just give Mom and Dad the evening to themselves and I could spent the night over at Luke and Anna's place in the loft.

Luke liked the idea and after calling and talking to Mom she liked it too. So off to Luke's house it was, after stopping for a few groceries at the Iguana Verde, and getting attacked by licks from a rather friendly little puppy. 

View of some of Samara

On the long driveway, Luke and I heard this rustling coming from the bank to our right and looked up to find a Coati scampering up the hillside. I remember seeing a ton of them last time I was in Coast Rica about 14 years ago but this was the first one I had seen this trip! A little further along the driveway we came across a howler monkey with a baby on her back just sitting right on the side if the road. We got pretty close before she cut if the road and scurried off into the woods.

Pool time with Luke and Arden

We heard Arden screeching before we even reached the house and she was in a rather feisty mood to be sure. It was still fun though getting to hang out with just the four of us. We went for a swim in the little pool out front, we stalked an interesting sounding and rather large looking bird that decided to meander around the trees next to the house, and we ended the afternoon with Luke crafted piña coladas on the patio while we watched the sunset.

Just as we were finishing up and getting ready to head inside to make dinner, the guy who is lending us the house, Scott, drove up the driveway, returning a little early from a trip he had taken to another part of Coast Rica. He is a classmate of Anna's in the massage school and it was fun getting to know him while we cooked and ate a dinner of chicken and rice tacos. While we were cleaning up after dinner we heard this rustling and scratching coming from one of the side doors and we looked out to see and family of raccoon's! They hung around for quite a while, scampering around the house, and we even opened up the door and let Arden get a good look at them. It was the first time she had ever seen a raccoon I think and maybe the first time they had ever seen a tiny human. When she tried to crawl out to them they thought she was the weirdest thing and they backed up slowly and stiffly before turning and running back off into the night.