The Taste of Ocean Water

            I got up well before Luke and Anna this morning, having slept overnight in the loft, so I hung out for a while downstairs by myself before Scott came back inside a little while later. Apparently he had been up since around 5:00 and had gone outside so as to not wake anyone up. That house is certainly not the most conducive to quietness!

 He made some coffee for the both of us and then we quietly took our cups outside and sat overlooking Samara while we awaited Luke and Anna’s arousal.  It was really cool getting to talk to him about his life and what had made him decide to change careers to massage therapy so late in life.  He’s done a ton of traveling in his past as well and he told me numerous stories about his times abroad and the children he has sponsored over the years.

Gorgeous view of Samara

Luke and Anna finally got up around 9:00 and we had a pretty simple breakfast of fruit and leftovers.  Church service was to start around 10:00 so as to not be late Scott offered to drive Luke and me into town.  We met up with Mom and Dad at the hotel shortly thereafter and walked the two minutes down the road to the church. We made it just as they were finishing the first song. Success!

The church service was really cool and I really like the pastor.  He talked a lot on the story of David and Goliath and put the story into a perspective that I hadn’t really thought of before.  We got to meet a couple of people after the service that Luke and Anna have befriended in their time here and then we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel for the car.  We made our way up to Luke and Anna’s temporary house and got there just as Arden finally fell asleep for a nap.  Impeccable timing I must say. While we waited for Arden to wake up, Dad and Luke took a birding, sightseeing tour around the neighborhood, Mom worked on some reading and Bible study stuff, and I entertained myself watching a line of ants traverse the cracks of the patio. 

One of the six or so Coatis that were roaming around beside the house

When Arden finally did wake up, we packed us all in the car and headed off for the beach.  The plan was to meet some of Luke and Anna’s friends from church at Barra Gona beach and Luke had gotten fairly detailed instructions on how to get to the out of the way beach. Apparently it’s supposed to have super clear water at any tide and be great for snorkeling and spear fishing. While following the direction, we came upon a fairly nice sized river that crossed the road and apparently it was pretty low and not as full as normal.

Fording the River

We looked at the car (i.e. glorified skateboard), looked at the water level, then shrugged our shoulders and said “Alight! Let’s see what happens!” There have been few time that I can honestly say that I was proud of the “Gutless Wonder” but by golly that was one of them.  That little car came chugging through the river with water almost covering the tires and never once went astray. It came chugging out the other side, happy as could be (if a car could be happy) and we all hopped back in without so much as a delay in the world.

We followed the rest of the direction to a T, came up behind a line of pared cars, parked at the end and got out to organize out stuff (well, the babies) for an afternoon on the beach.  Only then did we realize that we were still only at Buena Vista beach and not at far as Barra Gona beach (apparently the person who gave us the instructions had miscounted one turn). But we decided to just stay where we were since we were already ready to go.

This baby LOVES water!

I still want to go to Barra Gona beach, but I am honestly super glad we stayed because that was one fun afternoon! We played in the waves with baby, went body surfing on some pretty big waves, splashed each other, dived, hung out on the beach… It was fun.  Relaxing and really fun.  Aside from the multiple nosefulls of ocean water I got… That was not fun.  Kind of burns as it goes down your throat, leaves a nasty taste in your mouth and a slight twist in your stomach...  Let me tell you that water is anything but pleasant… other than that though, everything was great!

Dad catching a nice wave

It started to get a little on the darker side when the sun fell behind the big rock outcropping of the cove on its way to the horizon so we decided to pack up and head out before we lost the daylight we needed to find our way out of the unfamiliar twists and turns. The river crossing was uneventful again (Yay!) and almost a little bit better for the horrified looks we got from some Ticos (natives Costa Ricans) who were sitting on the river bank across the way.  I really think they were just in awe of the feat they had just seen. 

Cool underwater shot of Dad swimming in the ocean

             Dinner was fish tacos (amazing Luke creation as usual) and while they were being made we were graced by the presence of no less than six Coati’s as they frolicked through the woods and around the back yard of the house. Those things are just so funny and definitely have a personality of their own! Certainly another animal I could just sit and watch for hours.

My favorite song from church this morning