Costa Rica Day 2-- Sabbath Breakers

Honestly, we had all intentions of going to church in Costa Rica before we left the US. But, well, we never really figured out where the branch was. And we slept like rocks way past 9am. Well, as one of my zone leaders use to tell me, "Sister Spendlove, the road to hell is paved with good intentions!" Good thing I'm not a missionary anymore! ;) But, if it counts for anything, we ended up passing by the church building on our way back from all of our "Sabbath breaking" adventures. ;)

Ok, so we decided to spend Sunday driving around the country and not doing anything in particular. So we had a little day trip down to the Nicoya region of the country:

I had read that there were really pretty beaches there. But beware on the trip down! Costa Rica is serious about their ridiculously slow speed limits! Unfortunately we got pulled over... but fortunately, Becca's fluency in Spanish and naturally charming (flirty) ways landed her a $20 payoff instead of a real ticket. Not bad!

Anyway, we just randomly found this place called "Playa Pelada" where we spent our day.

This is what I had in mind when I planned my trip to Costa Rica!

Palm trees, beautiful beaches, blue waters.

And very few tourists! Just a bunch of locals & their boats.

After exploring for a bit, we decided this place was a keeper for our afternoon activities.

Burke and I were so excited to be out of the car,
we had to jump for joy! ;)

There was a little bar & grill type place right on the beach called "Olga's". This is where we had our first traditional Costa Rican meal, "Casado". (Yes, that means married. I don't know why it's called that...) It's basically your choice of grilled meat surrounded by black beans, rice, salad, steamed veggies and a tortilla. It was really yummy! I somehow didn't snap a picture of it... probably because we were so hungry and gobbled it up so quickly! Well here's a picture of some Casado we had later on our trip... since I'm talking about it now.

But I did get a picture of my second favorite part of the meal...

... Pepsi! (Or "Peksi", as most Central Americans call it...)

And here's the view from Olga's Bar.
I meant it when I said "right on the beach"!

We spent the rest of the day doing what each of us loves best.

Burke played in the sand...

...while working on his new facebook profile picture.
Let's get a close-up of that face...

And he even gave himself a sandy goatee!

Becca and Caleb spent time "getting to know each other better"

And I sat back reading a book and spying (via my zoom lens) on my friends:

Burke playing in the sand (big surprise...)

Becca & Caleb getting to know each other better (big surprise...)

The four of us did meet up at one point for some frolicking in the water.

Someone suggested we do chicken fights...

...but that never got started because I
practically drowned as Burke tried to get on my shoulders!
(Yes, he got on my shoulders... I would have broken his back!)

And it was at the beloved Playa Pelada that we snapped my
NUMERO UNO
absolute favorite Costa Rica picture:

Here's why I love this picture:

1. We're jumping! Who doesn't love that?
2. Becca and I did not plan on kicking our legs out in opposite directions but we did and it perfectly frames the picture!
3. Caleb's head looks tiny. Let me zoom in on that one for you too...

His head isn't really too tiny for his frame.
We think it's just his arms overhead that throws it off.

Well, the day wore on and we decided to make the drive back to our resort, hoping to race the sunset. We took a little detour (aka unpaved, unmarked road) on the way home and found these two treasures:

First, a surprise river!

Becca driving into the river.

In the midst of the river.

And we made it out safely (not sideways as this picture suggests...)

The road just ended at some water, but a local washing his motorcycle in the river (you can see him in the background of the last picture) said it wasn't deep and that we could make it since we were in a 4x4. Well, I'm here to tell about it, so obviously we made it! (And lucky for me & my mom, it's been months since this happened and I'm safe, so nobody has to worry! Ok, Lucy?)

Second, monkeys!

In fact, right after (or right before... I forget) the river incident, we saw a bunch of monkeys. Hanging out in trees. Not in a zoo. In the wild! I'm sure Ticos (nickname for Costa Rican people) think of them as annoying rats... but we sure loved watching them!

So that was our Sabbath day... not too bad. We appreciated nature and definitely rested in our own ways! ;) Maybe next time, we'll actually go to church. For those planning a trip in the area, we did see a church off the main road as we passed through Santa Cruz. But that's about all I remember!