Home again! (July 30, 2023)

Yep, we're back in Austin!

Max didn't want to leave the airport parking lot. The driver's door handle dropped off! We had to open the door from the inside.

While the hoomans are away, TC will play. He's obsessed with unrolling toilet paper! His name should be TP.

In both bathrooms!

I like to pull down curtains too!

 I'm the stray, Georgie, but I earn my dinner. I guard Amazon packages!

On our way to the airport in Liberia (July 30, 2023)

Even if there were no signs in English, you'd understand what a "pistero" is, yes?

Rock art outside the pistero.

Micah and Otis at the airport. Almost time to say "so long, farewell." They would be on Alaska Airlines to Los Angeles, then Portland. We'd be on American Airlines back to Austin.

 

Leaving Samara (July 30, 2023)

A guard, sometimes with his wife, spent nights in a guardhouse at our VRBO.

Tropical flower along the road from the VRBO to the beach.

Last sunrise at Samara Beach and Isla Chora, the hermit crab island. The English meaning of "chora" is petty thief.

 The road past Casa Pacifica, our VRBO, on the right.

Did you see the horse at the end of the road? "Stop" in Spanish is "Alto."

Samara, Guanacaste Province, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica (July 29, 2023)

Micah and Otis scurrying from the casita to the main house in an evening thunder storm.

The cyclops cell tower watches over our VRBO.

Enjoying the rain storm. Papa, Ryder (inside), Otis

Almost done!

 

All done except for two missing pieces. Nowhere to be found!

Lagarta Lodge and road there and back (July 29, 2023)

Ah! Refreshing ice cold drink at the end of the nature trail hike at eco-friendly Lagarta Lodge in Nosara. Notice the straw is made of wood.

The Nosara River meets the Pacific Ocean. View from the restaurant at Lagarta Lodge.

Piper and me at the Lagarta Lodge restaurant.

River and Ryder looking over the jungle below Lagarta Lodge.

This is State Highway 160 from Samara to Nosara. We drove through a river at one point. I didn't get a photo and Ryder took a different route back to avoid the river. No desire to risk getting stuck!

A pedestrian/motorcycle bridge alongside the low water crossing on State Hwy 160.

Lush, green pastures equals happy cattle.

We stopped at a grocery store for cold drinks and for me to get Costa Rican chocolate bars for Amon and Fox, who didn't make the trip with us. Notice the recycling bins. Costa Rica is very on top of nature conservation and good environmental practices.

Organic chocolate bars and a 2000 colon bank note that has a shark on the back (especially for Fox). Costa Rican paper money features native animals including a sloth and a crocodile. Very cool!

Costa Rican rides in front of the grocery store. I guess if you have a lot of bags to take home, this is an option? People walk everywhere. We saw families of four on one motorcycle too--Mom, Dad, two small children, no helmets.
 

Nature trail at Lagarta Lodge in Nosara (July 29, 2023)

Room for all in the 12-passenger van. Micah and Otis opted out of trail hiking.

Walking above the mud (thank goodness!) in the Reserva Biologica, a nature preserve next to the Lagarta Lodge on Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula. 

Stumps and roots! 

Maybe an old bridge support?

We saw no animals except for one tropical bird, a flock of chickens (!), this land crab, and termites.

We walked down to the river but saw no crocodiles. Maybe a good thing?

So happy to see the hotel sign after more than an hour in the humidity and heat.

True words: "When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money." --Native American saying

Termite nest

What goes down, must go up. Steps up to the hotel from the nature trail. 
 

Sunset at Samara Beach (July 28, 2023)

So hard to leave! The water was warm, the waves were gentle. Otis, Ryder, Brandy, River, and Piper facing East.

Papa and me at Samara Beach.

Otis as Samara Beach at sunset.

Playing in the surf. Can't tell who's on the boogie board. Maybe River?

Beach bike and paddle boards from our VRBO.

Maybe Mya on the boogie board? Looks like Ryder, Brandy, River, Piper, and Otis out in the surf.

Papa Tom silhouetted at sunset at Samara Beach.

 

Samara, Guanacaste Province, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica (July 28, 2023)

Have you seen the Netflix series about Blue Zones, where more people than average live to be 100? The Nicoya Peninsula is one of those zones. One factor in aging well is living stress free. We were on board with that! Friday was a lazy day at the house and the beach. The front tire on Ryder's rental was low. The guys used the bike pump to add air.

One of many iguanas we saw. This one was along the road to the beach. He ducked into a drain pipe right after his photo shoot.

More fruit along the road. We saw grapefruit, coconuts, star fruit, and whatever this is. Mya had us stop the car just outside Samara to pick star fruit. That girl has 20/15 vision and sees everything!

Papa at Samara Beach. Our rental came with beach bikes.

 Papa gave me a 1,000-piece puzzle for my birthday. The challenge: finish it before the end of the trip!