Finding Joy in Life's Simplicities: Costa Rica

Departure:

I had such a wonderful trip to see Mari, Coqui and Veronica in Costa Rica. I decided to try using my phone for some of the pictures as it was easier to cart around in some places, but that means some of the images are pixelated and poor quality. I'm not thrilled about it, but here comes my photo essay.

I departed from Minneapolis Tuesday, December 4th. The temperatures had been warm for this time of year, and there was no snow on the ground.

I had a brief layover in Dallas, but departed for my 4 hour flight to San Jose at 4:05 p.m.

It was a lovely sunset over the clouds somewhere over Mexico.

I had not seen my Costa Rican family in 13 years. Here I am with Coqui and Mari. I lived with them in 1998, and then visited for a short time in 1999 after I graduated from college.

They brought me the most beautiful lavendar roses at the airport!

Mari and Coqui's House:

Mari and Coqui's house has changed a lot over the last decade. They built on an apartment upstairs where Veronica lives with her partner and their daughter, Samantha.

The dining room. The house is elegant, immaculate and peaceful.

The room where I stayed.

The living room. There are no televisions in the main parts of the house.

The sitting room outside Mari and Coqui's room.

The kitchen where Mari spends so much time cooking and inventing new recipes.

The lovely front porch was the place I spent many evenings practicing my Spanish with Coqui so many years ago.

Day 1 with Family:

Sweet Samantha was sick the first day, and rested in the hanging chair with Coqui looking after her and keeping her cold compress sufficiently placed.

Mari at her parents' house. Within 24 hours we had visited, or had been visited by, almost all of Mari's family members.

Mari's Dad - Abuelo Eduardo, and her sister, Ali.

Mari's Mom - Abuela Alicia.

Samantha is a very polite, smart and patient 3 year old girl.

We explored the town I came to feel at home in so many years ago. Costa Rica is a lush country with flowers, trees and bushes everywhere.

We explored the city center park, where numerous renovations have been made.

Days 2 to 5 - A Trip to the Beaches of Guanacaste:

Mari and Coqui reserved a beach cabin for us in the northwest region of the country called Guanacaste, known for the most immaculate beaches and clear water for swimming and surfing.

Cabin pool area.

More of the pool and cabin area.

Hot tub tile mosaic.

The pet parrot outside the cabin spoke Spanish. He apparently did not understand my accent, however, as he would not respond to me speaking to him!

I was absolutely enchanted by the wild iguanas that ran around outside the cabin. Accustomed to people, they allowed me to come right up and photograph them. That was very fun!

Iguanas are large, but can climb vertically. I watched this guy scale a chainlink fence in a matter of seconds so he could graze in a shrub for lunch.

This guy had gone up the stairs toward the second floor.

This is a bad picture, but the only one I was able to get of the wild parrots we spotted in the trees. They were brilliantly colored and were making all sorts of noise.

Mari and I picked an entire box full of fresh lemons. The awesome aroma of fresh lemons that characterizes the tree is absolutely intoxicating.

Fascinating palm tree skin.

Coconut trees are everywhere.

Eating mandarin oranges straight from the tree is awesome.

I love this picture of Mari and Coqui.

We did quite a bit of walking on the beach. Here are my footprints at Playa Flamingo.

Sunset at Playa Flamingo.

More of Playa Flamingo.

Sunset over Playa Flamingo - view from the hill.

After a hot day, we found a little shop offering smoothies. Guanabana smoothies are the best!

The 90 + degree heat and strong sun were a bit for me to get used to at times. Some days I just had to take my sunburned, sweaty, bug bite-ridden body in for a little rest.

More often, I was just happy to be with Mari and Coqui.

Mari and I spent hours searching for seashells at Playa Conchal. The entire beach is made up of crushed shells, and a close look at the coarse sand is fascinating.

Sand crabs are very hard to see!

We enjoyed a perfect sunset view at Playa Tamarindo, one of the most famous beaches of Costa Rica. We saw surfers, family reunions, weddings and crabs at the beach,