90 Days in Tamarindo: Day 20

Twenty days into the adventure already? I can hardly believe it. The concept of time feels different here than it does at home. Some days feel like we have been here forever and other days feel like we just arrived. I guess that's the interesting thing about time - you create it yourself. It's a man-made phenomena. Humans are the only species who think of a day as 24 hours and think of all things in relation to time. When we rid ourselves of this concept, our days escape us and the only notion of time we have left is the rising and setting of the sun we adventure under.

With the sun as our time keeper, we have been collecting adventures like seashells in a bag. One by one. Perfectly glossed and imperfectly flawed. Some adventures were everything we expected and others required some tender love and care. But all of them are worth looking back on.

On Saturday morning we packed a few snacks and some bottles of water and headed to the beach. Kayaking was the agenda for the day. We talked to one vendor who didn't have what we needed. He walked us to a shop that did. Two kayaks - a double and a single. Perfect for the three of us and our things. We haggled a bit, he threw in three sets of snorkel gear and we were off. We swerved through the boats anchored in the harbor and were on our way to the island covered in shells, and boy was it covered! Conch shells, all broken into smaller, spiral-looking pieces covered the island like a blanket. Walking on them almost felt wrong, like we were stepping on something sacred.

After we explored the island a bit and picked some shells to bring back home, we grabbed the snorkel gear and made our way into the water. The current was so strong we could literally just float in the water with our heads looking down and let the waves move us along. A snorkel tour in neutral, if you will. We saw bright blue fish, yellow striped fish, and schools of average looking, less exciting fish. Then it happened. After exploring a large area and gaping at the underwater clarity, we heard a gargle-muffled shriek. Niesha came above water, took the mouthpiece out and said, "I saw something cool and want to tell you, but I also kind of want to get out of the water. It's a sea snake."


Krysti and I looked at each other, then under the water and immediately pulled our feet to our chest, wading high above the ground and laughing at our fear. After looking for a few minutes, we didn't see the snake so we carried on with our exploration. It took about two minutes and BAM. Right in front of our faces was a fairly long, bright red and yellow sea snake. And instead of gaping at its awesomeness, we shrieked, choked on sea water and thrashed our arms and legs as if this thing was already attacking us. haha (Can you picture this?) As I am sure you can guess, we exited the water immediately and prepared for our trek back to the mainland. Like I said - an adventure that required some tender love and care, but one that we surely won't forget.

Other than our kayaking and snorkeling day, we have been pretty relaxed. We found a quaint little coffee shop we like with all hand-made, wood furniture and delicious cappuccinos. We found a restaurant with (so far) the best guacamole, salsa and chips in town. We have ventured to the quirky book store a handful of times to talk to Jim and read the books we picked out. While I am in the middle of two books on my Kindle App, I am currently reading the hard back version of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I am hooked. Between working at the hostel, completing my remote assignments for the agency at home and exploring, it seems like I am doing a pretty good job at setting aside some time to read and relax. When we finish the books, we can return them for half the price we bought them for in store credit for a new one. Pretty good system if you ask me. A few days ago we took our books (or sketch book in Niesha's case) to a new coffee shop, Cafe Tico. This coffee shop is all outdoor seating under a gazebo, which boasted perfect front row seats for the thunder storm that rolled in on our way. We enjoyed fresh fruit smoothies, listened to the thunder storm, read our books and sketched for two hours. It was a perfect way to spend our break. I have a feeling we will be back again soon. 

Today, after watching the beachside fireworks, we are heading to the Crazy Monkey for some dancing.  It won't be too late of a night, since our shuttle to Montezuma leaves at 7am. For Krysti's birthday we are headed to an even smaller town in Costa Rica for a weekend of relaxation and waterfall jumping! Photos, videos and a new blog to come, of course! 

Ps. Twenty days in and I have already added a nicely bronzed, sunscreen-protected layer to my skin. SCORE! Living la Pura Vida here, as we should be! :)