Setting Sail...

We are wrapping up our stay in Tamarindo, leaving in a few hours for Arenal. We will stay there over the weekend, then drive to San Jose on Monday and fly home on Tuesday. This last week has been a lot of fun, but I think the girls are ready to go home. Fortunately this weekend should keep them occupied - we don't have any concrete plans but I am sure more horseback riding, ziplines, and mud will be involved.

Monday evening we had dinner on the beach and watched the sunset.

On Tuesday I had my surfing and Spanish classes, while Kathleen accompanied the girls on their tour of the estuary.

They got to see crocodiles, howler monkeys, and termite mounts. Unfortunately their boat didn't get chased by a crocodile like some of the boats did - that sounded like a lot of fun for the kids.

Then we celebrated our anniversary with a nice dinner at a restaurant called La Pachanga. It was excellent - Italian-inspired dishes with local ingredients. It was the fourth place the girls have had pizza this trip, and probably their favorite.

As I noted in my last post, I am officially a Spanish School dropout. I told the instructors on Tuesday that they wouldn't see me again, and I held to that. This freed up my afternoon on Wednesday to take a sunset cruise. The boat was the Anteres, an 80' schooner built in the 1940s. The captain told me that it was originally commissioned as a private yacht, then it went into service as a fishing boat, then as a treasure/salvage boat before the current owners purchased it. The captain is a doctor and his family (wife and sons) serve as the crew along with a few hired deckhands.

Another family from the camp came along with us, so Sadie had a good friend to lounge around with.

I wish I had taken a few photos of the food, as it is the signature item that sets this boat apart from the rest. They brought us a half dozen or so small plates of gourmet food - salads, smoked salmon on toast, some kind of a squash curry... Along with as much rum punch as we could drink. I asked for a Guaro Sour, and they brought me the best (and strongest) I have had so far on this trip. One of the deckhands also doubled as the entertainment for the evening, playing a mix of Spanish and English reggae songs. The Marley was well done, but I really enjoyed the Spanish stuff he sang.

 

 

Unfortunately Molly and Sadie decided that since I dropped out of Spanish it would be hypocritical for me to require them to attend their classes every day (one of the other parents pointed out to me that I should have made it a prerequisite that they tell me this in Spanish). They opted out of classes on Thursday - they hadn't enjoyed last Thursday's "cultural exchange" so much - and went souvenier shopping with Kathleen instead. I went surfing at Avellanas beach with my surf class, and the plan was to meet up for lunch. Unfortunately I misunderstood the plan with the surf trip, and we got back an hour and a half later than I had told the girls. They went to lunch without me and much excitement ensued as I walked around the town looking for them. We were all reunited, and took one last stroll around town last night.