We were up early and showered. Good bye Flutterby House! We had fun but off to do some sight seeing on our way to Manuel Antonio. Before leaving the area we had to stop to take a picture of this tree that Spencer spotted.
He enhanced it a bit in a photo app and look how cool it is.
Onward...
Our first stop was Dominicalito. It was a small, somewhat hidden beach that was recommended to us by Justin and Jessica. And what a great suggestion it was!
There were a few places we pulled off until we found "the" Dominicalito beach.
Spencer loved it here... He could hike out and feel like he was in the middle of the ocean.
Spencer hiked around and called it "narly". He is starting to talk like a surfer. We wished we would have had more time, but we needed to continue on to Manuel Antonio as we had a reservation to fly! We did make a couple more quick detours though as we were slightly ahead of schedule. We also stopped at Playa Dominical which was right down the road from Dominicalita. The other detour was just that... They had these beautiful palm tree forests. It reminded us of pine forests in Northern Minnesota where you can see them all lined up. We noticed there were some roads in the forest so we decided to take one on hopes it would lead us to the beach. It did not... However, the drive was fun and beautiful.
We still had the GPS on as it was leading us to Manuel Antonio. We found it very interesting that these random narrow dirt roads were actually on the GPS. It could find our hotel in Fortuna, but these roads are on it?
Instead of going straight out the way we came in, we decided to head toward the direction we needed to go. Kind of like a short cut. Smart move, right? Then we come up on a small river. I stopped and contemplated for a moment. My mind brought me back to all the rivers we drove through in Iceland. We can do this! As a precaution, I did ask Spencer if he would get out and walk it. It only was up a little past his ankles. Now I know I've got it. Spencer waited on the other side and I just gunned it and picked him up on the other side! (And I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it!) It ended up being a part of our adventure.
Now we were boarder line running late. I emailed Melanie to let her know. She was so sweet she had someone meet us at El Avion, a restaurant at the top of the hill to meet us and lead us to her and safe parking.
Our activity that Melanie was setting us up for... Para-sailing! We got there right at 11 and she had hoped we'd be there slightly earlier. We weren't really in a time schedule the rest of the day so she asked if we minded waiting about 45 minutes and offered Spencer a boogie board while we wait.
Super nice of her to give him one and not make us rent it. She was so sweet. She moved to Costa Rica from Virginia as she met a man from there that she married. Now she spends her days on the beach helping people fly.
We also had someone approach us and ask if we wanted a drink. We decided it was the perfect time for pina coladas.
Melanie then warned me about the beach vendors but did tell us the one that we ordered from is one of the most honest. I felt relieved. Until he came back and charged me $20 for one with alcohol and one virgin. For real?? He claims that's what the bar charges and he wasn't taking a cut, but not sure I trust that. I told him to not bother coming back.
We then had our adventure in flying! It was a doubly harness so we got to together. We were up in the air for about 15 minutes... Although it felt more like 5. It was super peaceful... Well... Until Spencer started razzing me about my fear of heights and that if you leaned back you would fall from the harness... He went on and on for a bit. His too big to call a little stinker so I'll call it like it is... A little shit! Our landing was a wet one. On purpose. They drop you right into the ocean. Then they pick you up on a jet ski to bring you to shore. A fun experience! One of my goals was to do things Spencer hasn't done before. This was the second of the trip.
Another 45 minutes or so playing in the ocean and we decided we were getting hungry. What better place to stop and eat than the place the guy had met us to lead us to Melanie so Lunch at El Avion - the airplane restaurant.
Just moments after we sat down, it started pouring. Fantastic timing we had... Not that it mattered if we would have been in the ocean while raining. Nachos for an app along with a beer for me and ginger ale for Spencer. It was a beautiful view... Even in the rain.
I have noticed the photos don't look as cool when it's overcast or raining which has happened every day... But it really is still beautiful.
Drive back to Esterillos to Justin and Jessica's TEAK Boutique. We drove in to this small town and felt welcomed. We walked into our favorite place we stayed and felt like we were coming home. Justin and Brent were heading to Beach Bar a couple miles away (the one that Spencer and I walked to only to find them closed for lunch on Monday.) They told us to come join... That there was a horseshoe competition going on. We contemplated, but were maybe going to spend some time at the beach and meet the Olson's. Ironically, when Angela and I touched base, she said the boys Rick, Ian and Brody were there already and she was heading there too. She also told us they had been robbed the night before. We decided to head there and join them.
We chatted for a bit and Angela and Rick told us the story of being robbed. Apparently the robbers came into their Airbnb and took all of their electronics and her purse and basically anything of value.... Along with the beer in the fridge.
Angela had fallen asleep on the couch and woke up to the rain as a window was open. She said she eventually tried calling her phone and someone answered. She said she started yelling at the woman who answered but the women told her she works at the hospital and had all of their stuff. Apparently the guys that stole the stuff got in an accident and were in the hospital. The olsons essentially got back everything that was stolen. Is that what we call Karma for the men who stole?
The boys all started playing horseshoes. Spencer started with Rick and ended up playing with one of the local expats. He'd been there for about 6 years. He reminded me a lot of my dad and ironically his name was Dick. Dick and Spencer ended up winning the last game. I couldn't help but have warm fuzzies like Spencer was playing with my dad. I guess Dick would always say to Spencer when it was his turn "wing it, boss!"
Talked to Brent about surfing in the morning. Even though we can't spend the entire time with them... It would be nice to have a little fun before heading out. I felt we would have more time in the morning, forgetting we had an almost 2 hour drive to get back by the airport and then need to return the rental. The end of a fun vacation is always hard.
Of course we had to have out last Costa Rican dinner at Los Almedros. This place is seriously worth eating at every day. We even had desert tonight... Homemade brownie and ice cream. Pure Deliciousness!!
Before getting back to TEAK and our excitement for our last night of amazing sleep, we stopped and talked with Justin. He told us about the "excitement" that happened with the burglery with the Olsons. Angela apparently honked her horn at 3 am driving through the town. She left that part out of her story to me. He said the locals were so mad at how she handled it that they wanted to throw eggs and mangos at her when driving through honking. There are a lot of little kids and they were all woken up. I totally get that it would have sucked... Being robbed and violated like that. I don't envy that. But to drive through a neighborhood in a foreign country honking at 3 am, doesn't seem like the answer.
So... Back to the funny things in Esterillos... As we were talking with Justin, there were 2 Horses randomly walking through town. But you could tell they were teasing each other. Justin mentioned how the boy horse used to be friends with Justin until the female horse came along and now he doesn't give Justin the time of day. It was so funny the way he talked about it. Justin certainly is a funny and kind soul.
Back to the house to pick up so we can hit some waves in the morning! After our nightly card game of course. I've been winning more lately so there's a chance!
Buenos noches!
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