🤠 Rodeo Roundup 2018 Week #52

🌴 We closed 2018 out in the tropics with Tatyanna's family in Samara, Costa Rica. 🏄 We surfed. 🐬 We saw dolphins. 🌅 And we saw many lovely sunsets.^*

🏠 Casa Pacifica

We shared Casa Pacifica, the main house, with Tatyanna's family. Our family plus cousin Forrest slept in the adjacent Casita Pacifica. Both houses are on the same enclosed property. Casa Pacifica's pool was a hit with everyone and a great place to cool off.

This rental is a few miles/kilometers outside of Samara. The shortest and most scenic route into town was via the beach. At low tide we could even ride the bikes available to the house over the firm wet sand to Samara and back.

🏄 Life is better when you surf

Casper and Forrest spend a lot of time boogie boarding in the surf. Everyone but Sunny and Ron took surfing lessons at Pato's Surf School where Life is better when you surf. The best part is that you have use of their surfboards for 5 days following the 1.5 hour lesson.

Throughout the week we'd surf when conditions were friendly to the absolute beginners we were (and still are). We either walked to the Pato's Surf School on the beach just before you get into Samara. Or call a cab to take us into town. The kids loved riding in the back of a pickup on some of these rides.

On Christmas eve we made a non-traditional Christmas meal of pot pie and fish tacos with locally caught red snapper. Then held a photo shoot with Christmas decorations as props for a new family group picture. The opening photo of this post is the result.

🐬 Dolphin watching

The day after Christmas we hopped on a pickup to take us to a charter boat one cove over. From where we set out to see dolphins. After motoring out a few miles offshore we encountered two pods. The dolphins danced in front of our boat's bow.

Back in the cove we snorkeled close to the shallow reef. While there were some colorful fish, there was hardly any life coral. It was a fun outing for all.

🌅 One last sunset

We ended our stay in Samara with one last sunset viewing on the beach. The next morning, we boarded the charted minivan with Heidi's family and said goodbye to Sunny & Ron. Heidi's family would fly back from the capital San Jose where we'd arrived, that same afternoon. Our family, however, left the minivan half way to San Jose at a gas station where we met up with Tatyanna's Tica friend Adriana.

I published this post roughly a year later. At least I completed 2018 before the end of 2019. 😉