Golfo de Papagayo and the Discotheque!

Last Thursday, Elba informed me that we were going to the beach on Saturday morning.  Since I greatly enjoy going to the beach, I was very excited and asked Nieves which beach we were headed to.  I assumed we were going to Playa Hermosa since Don Hernan was driving us and that's his favorite, but Nieves wouldn't tell me anything except that it was una sorpresa (a surprise).  Yay!

On Saturday morning, the plan was to leave at 9, 10 or 11, and we did, impressively, get out the door around 10:30.  Since we were going for more or less the whole day, Nieves and Elba had spent the morning preparing lunch (they know better than to let me in the kitchen to helpl! ha!) which is why we left a little later in the morning.  After driving for about 45 minutes we arrived at a driveway with a somewhat random series of sculptures out front, that I was told were "juevos de gente" (eggs of people).  

Here's a pic:

Turns out that was the entrance to the Four Season on the Golfo de Papagayo.  But instead of heading through the gates, we went back across the way to this parking lot area where we were transported (for free) in one of the "turismo" vans back on to the property.  Funnily/interestingly, we didn't use the main gate/road in the vans either.  There was a second entryway and a crappy road that followed along next to the "nice" Four Seasons entryway.  Eventually the roads merged though and we got to enjoy the smooth ride of a paved road.  Once we entered the Four Seasons property, we started getting glimpses of the little cove within the Papagayo Gulf where we were headed, and it was beautiful!  We were surrounded by lush green rainforests, and since it was the Four Seasons, the property was also dotted with greens from the golf course.  Once we got to the beach access point, we just had to walk a little ways through this really beautiful forest area, and ended up on the amazing beach!  Here are the pics:

 Look who figured out how to use the panoramic capability on her camera!  Whoo hoo!

The beach was amazing, and you can only kind of tell from the panoramic picture that this was a little cove (according to Google Maps its called Bahia Culebra), whith blue water, white sand/shells and super calm water.  It was more like a lake than the ocean, and would have been perfect for wakeboarding, etc.

After arriving at the uncrowded beach, we found a little area to set up camp.  My host family knows how to do the beach in style.  We had brought a little mini table and little stools for everyone, and a hammock so Don Hernan could take a nap while we were there (he works at night, so he needs to sleep a bit during the day).  It was amazing!  Everything was set up just in time for lunch.  Yum!  Nothing like home cooked goodness even when you're away from the house!

Here Elba is rocking Hernan to sleep, and is actually singing "rock a bye baby" in Spanish.  It was really funny!

 I also snapped some pics of the local wildlife.  These birds were really pretty and abundant, and the little critters at the bottom looked like a combination between a possum and a raccoon (they had long tales with black and white stripes), but I think they were actually some sort of anteater because "hormigos" I think was in their name (and hormigo means ant in Spanish).

After lunch, I was ready to go in to the water, but Nieves, being a total mom, said, "Emily Christine! No swimming right after you eat!  It's not good for you!"  That was hilarious!!!  Side note:  So here in Costa Rica, people have anywhere from 3-5 names.  Elba, for example, introduces herself as "Elba Marina" but says you can call her Elba.  Some people prefer to go by their first two names (like first and middle name equivalent, more or less).  So there was a natural curiosity to know my middle name when I first got here.  Elba occasionally calls me Emily Christine, which I think is funny because, as I explained to my host family, growing up, I only heard myself called "Emily Christine Newton" by my mom when I was in trouble/when she was angry at me.  That has become sort of a running joke, so it was just really funny when Nieves called me Emily Christine when she was chastising me.  I mean, she was joking and we were all laughing, but it was funny.  

Since I wasn't allowed to swim right after lunch, I contented myself with reading (I have read 5+ books since I got here!!! Crazy!!! I LOVE my Kindle!) and trying to get a little sun.  Eventually I was cleared for the water, where I got in some amazing floating time, and was later joined by the rest of the family for some goofing off and hanging out in the water.

This is a crab, but I originally thought it was a little tiny turtle.  I was a little disappointed, but was surprised by how really quickly crabs can move!

After spending the afternoon with some quality R&R, it was time to pack up and head out.  In the end, the timing was perfect, because while the weather had been great and hot and sunny all day, as soon as we were on the road on the way home, it started to rain.  Crazy weather!

Later that Night...to the Discotheque!

Even though I was a little tired after the day at the beach, I got my second wind and decided I wanted to go out and do some dancing.  I mean, it was Saturday night!  Cesar is now working at the local discotheque, Kuru, so that's where I decided I'd go.  When Luis heard I was heading out to go dancing, he decided to join me.  Unfortunately the dance club doesn't start getting crowded until 11 or 12 at night because everyone hangs out at the other bars earlier in the night, I guess.  Since I'm old, I decided to head out around 11 and take my chances, especially since I didn't want to be out tooooo late.  (Kuru doesn't close until 6 or 7 in the morning!!!!).  This was the scene when Luis and I arrived:

You will notice from the picture that it's pretty empty inside.  But no worries, it was actually kind of nice because then I felt like less of an idiot when Luis was trying to teach me how to dance.  Fortunately he had taken 5 months worth of dance classes so he was for sure able to teach me a thing or two.  Eventually it did get pretty crowded, and I actually saw one of my students, Wendy, there.  She and her "friend" were probably the best dancers at the club.  But in general, everyone is really good at all the Latin dancing and it was as much fun to watch everyone as it was to try to dance myself...I think people in CR are just born with a better sense of rhythm or something!  (And of course they're surrounded with salsa, meragnue, etc. from birth!).  

I also snapped a picture of Cesar at work.  haha, funny!

All in all, it was another great day and night in Costa Rica!