90 Days in Tamarindo: Day 35

Thirty five days. It's been thirty five days since we stepped off American soil and embarked on a mission to learn more about ourselves, become immersed in another culture, explore other parts of our vastly unexplored world and let go of the things we were holding onto at home that needed to be let go of. Thirty five days.

In thirty five days you can build a deck in front of your house. You can learn new dance styles and perform them with ease. You can perfect the angle of your shot to perfectly hit your paintball opponent square in the chest during the final round of a four on four match. In thirty five days we have learned that making friends is as easy as asking someone where they are from. We have learned that sometimes people don't follow through with promises. We have learned that judging a book by its cover can mean a missed opportunity. And most importantly, we have learned that no matter the circumstance, you can change an entire situation by simply controlling the way you respond to it. 

Our 90 days in Tamarindo have effectively been changed to 60 days in Tamarindo. After careful deliberation and many a discussion on the topic, we have decided to return to The States a month early. We are neither upset nor ashamed of the decision but thankful to have had the experiences we have thus far and excited to make the most of the rest of our time here. 

Since the last update, we have continued our pattern of adventuring when we aren't working and making friends along the way. We traveled by private shuttle, with quite possibly the coolest driver yet who challenged my Spanish skills by only knowing a few words in English, to the small town of Montezuma, Costa Rica. It was in this small town at a bar that we made new friends simply by sharing in the frustration of the complete lack of respect some people have. Nothing like a little bit of shared hatred to bring people together, huh? We spent nearly the rest of our time in Montezuma with them, hiking up mountains, jumping off waterfalls, enjoying a dinner that took far too long to make and took far too much of our money, enjoying coffee and breakfast by the ocean, and sharing stories of our lives at home that are quite different being lived on opposite sides of the same country. We convinced our new friends to take a chance and we shared our shuttle back to Tamarindo with them and brought them to our hostel. What can we say? You make friends fast when you're the only people who speak fluent American English in town with two streets. 

When we returned to our hostel in Tamarindo we started planning the next adventure: kayaking up the river to the estuary in hopes of seeing crocodiles, monkeys, and the local birds. Initially, Krysti was scared. She had this ridiculous fear that she'd be eaten by a crocodile and not live to tell the story. Clearly, we were not eaten and we are alive and well to tell the story of how uneventful and crocodile-less this kayak trip was. It was slightly disappointing since I was GoPro-ready to see some beady eyes in the distance. The most we got was the sight of some tracks and crocodile-tail-whipped river banks. Still cool, but much less cool than an actual croc! 

The way back was terrible. We were kayaking against the wind and the current. I thought I had dead arms from working out, or wrestling with my sisters, but those arms don't compare to the dead arms we got from kayaking back through the current. I was highly frustrated. I was quickly becoming upset and hoping and wishing for one of the passing boats to see the frustration on my face and offer to tow us in. Can you guess what didn't happen? I bet you can. I guess it's much more of an accomplishment if its hard, though, so in retrospect I suppose I'm just a bad ass. Yep. That is what I am going with. End of story.

It is with a sad heart that I report we have yet to do anything exciting since the crocodile-less adventure, other than plan our next adventure.  

In the coming weeks we will be venturing to Monte Verde and La Fortuna to see Volcano Arenal, walk across some rickety bridges, soak in the natural hot springs and natural hot river, zip line through the canopy of trees and take in the scenery of an area of opposite climate than we are use to in Tamarindo. After that we will head to  Tortuguera and hopefully see some turtles while we snorkel in the crystal clear waters off the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. I suppose a little down time is ok while we await these next adventures! :)