When I was trying to find a place to have a Skype call with Rachel this morning, I found this frog stuck to one of the doors. The sound in the background are the howler monkeys in our backyard. Pretty cool!

Jim and I only have a few weeks in Costa Rica and since we work most weekdays we have to make full use of all our weekends.

I really wanted to share the town La Fortuna with Jim and see Arenal. Arenal is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It is constantly spewing lava and heats up some beautiful thermal hot springs.

I didn’t do a very good job of making any arrangements for our weekend. I just figured that it would all work out, which it kind of did.

We rented a car in Samara and made the 4 hour drive to La Fortuna; only needing to stop for directions a handful of times. Driving in Costa Rica is an adventure in itself. None of the highways are properly marked and the roads are curvy and intersect each other at weird angles, it’s easy to get turned around.

Unfortunately, the last few weeks have at Arenal have been nothing but rain and clouds. Nobody has been able to see the volcano and they just get wet trying.

We decided to spend our evening at the Baldi Hotsprings resort. The water is thermally heated by the volcano and they pipe it into their landscaped water park that is complete with water slides and wet bars. It is summer vacation for most kids in the northern hemisphere so the place was packed.

At first we were suffering from sensory overload, but the farther we walked up the hot springs the quieter it got and we finally found the “no kids allowed” pools which were beautiful and relaxing.

Spending hours in hot springs made the rain feel cool and refreshing. The weather alternated between moist cool air to torrential downpour (that was my favorite).

The next morning we woke up to rain, rain and more rain. There isn’t much to do in La Fortuna that doesn’t involve hiking, horse back riding or being outside in general so we cut our losses and headed back toward the coast.

We drove a few hours back toward Tamarindo, which is a bustling surfer/ tourist town. On the way we stopped at Playa Conchal, which made Jim a little nervous. We had to drive through the town Brasalito and along an off road vehicle trail that spits out onto a beach which you have to drive along until you get to another jeep trail which in turn spits you out on a rutted out parking lot for Playa Conchal. Did I mention that we were driving a glorified European roller skate for a rental car with no ground clearance! People were giving us incredulous looks as we barreled our way down roads that only off road vehicles usually drive on.

The harrowing journey was worth is. Playa Conchal is named so because it is made up entirely of little white shells. The water is a beautiful clear blue/ green because there is no sand to make it brown.

Jim and I spent hours sitting in the surf letting the waves push us around and feeling the little shells underneath us. It is definitely one of my favorite beaches ever.

Once the sun started going down we decided to head into Tamarindo and see about finding a hostel for the night. We arrived in Tamarindo just in time for the sunset, which was spectacular. The sky had large puffy clouds that magnified all the different colors that were being reflected off the ocean water.

It’s amazing how quickly it gets dark once the sun starts setting. Within a half hour of being on the beach it was pitch black. We drove into town and looked into a few of the hostels, but they were either full or expensive. We didn’t want to pay $30 for a crappy room when we could just drive an couple hours and be home. The thing about Costa Rica is, though, that one should probably avoid driving in the dark, if possible. The roads are narrow and windy and there aren’t very many street lights.

We made it home safely and are already making plans for the next time that we get to spend a day at Playa Conchal. Since it’s only an hour and a half away – we are thinking about making a day trip of it and going up with a picnic with our friends.

Yesterday was a wonderful day in Costa Rica. I went down to C&C Surf Shop and took a lesson on a long board. My instructor, Samurio, was great and had me standing up in no time.

It’s really amazing how different surfing is once I have some instruction. When I lived in Costa Rica in 2004 my good friend, Joann, and I spent almost every weekend surfing. She is a natural athlete and has always been much better than me. She tried to show me the ropes, but it never really took as well as with one on one instruction.

So now I am super excited to get to surf everyday here in Samara. Jim has a surf lesson today and hopefully he’ll get the hang of it pretty easy so that I have a partner to go with me.

This morning and 5AM Jim and I were woken up by the sound of the house alarm blaring. I’m not sure how long it took me to become coherent, but it felt like a long time before I realized that it was the house alarm. I guess I am so used to being woken up in San Francisco by the various noises of the city (including car alarms) that it took a good while for me to realize that there might be something wrong.

My first instinct was to run upstairs and find out what was going on. Of course, Jim has stronger survival instincts and said that we would wait until somebody came down to let us know.

I immediately got on my computer to see if any of my roommates were online and could fill me in, but it didn’t look like they were.

The alarm seemed to go on for minutes, but I’m sure it was less. After the alarm was silenced we sat on our bed and waited. Waited for one of our roommates, waited for the sound of police, waited for anything, really. It never came.

After all the excitement I couldn’t go back to sleep, plus the not knowing was killing me! (And I was hungry) So I made my way upstairs with the intent to watch the sunrise. Of course, this is after Jim became protective and made me wait in the room while he looked around and made sure that everything was okay.

Well, I have pretty much missed the sunrise; it was mostly light by 05:30. It is nice and balmy this early with a light breeze blowing across our balcony as I listen to the waves in the ocean and watch an escaped horse walk down our long dirt road.

This dusky space between night and day is magical. The night creatures are settling down to sleep for the day as the animals of light begin to wake. It’s a cacophony of sounds that you don’t usually hear simultaneously, the rooster crowing incessantly as the crickets perform one last number in their symphony.

I am excited for the day to fully begin. Jim and I have a surf lesson this morning, which I am really excited about. I also want to figure out how to go horseback riding around here. I see people on horses all day in the field in front of our house.

Today in Costa Rica was pretty warm! Jim was exhausted from our trip so I got up early and did a little work. Then a little after 8AM Jim and I walked down to the beach and enjoyed the morning water. Even at 8:30 it was super warm and comfortable!

I was trying to body surf, but either the waves weren’t that great for it or I am just very out of shape. I only lasted about 20 minutes before I was feeling tired. Jim had brought his nice camera down to the beach and didn’t want to leave it unattended so he wasn’t in the water with me, which wasn’t as fun.

We also stopped by C&C Surf shop and booked a surf lesson for tomorrow morning. I can’t wait! It has been so long since I surfed last. I hope I can still do it.

Other than that, life in Costa Rica is very chill and relaxed. The town we are in is tiny so there isn’t a lot going on. After living in San Francisco for the last couple months I am welcoming the change of pace. It is so much nicer to be woken up by the sound of birds and monkeys in the yard rather than jack hammers and dump trucks.

Jim and I made it to Houston only to find out that our plan to San Jose was over sold. No problem though. We volunteered our seats and are reveling in the beauty of one more night in a nice hotel room (courtesy of Continental) with air conditioning and flying first class to San Jose tomorrow morning.

They also gave us some vouchers so now it is time to sign off and hit the hotel bar for some daiquiris.

As I write this, Jim and I are sitting in our hotel room in El Paso Texas awaiting our flight to Costa Rica.

I still can’t believe that we are going to be getting on an international flight and into the next adventure. I almost forgot to pack my passport! We’ll be flying to San Jose International and spending the night in the city before catching a ride up to Samara where we’ll be living for the next few weeks.

I’ll try to keep regular updates of our adventures. It should be really fun!