Quepos Fiesta y mucho mas!

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We're playing catchup with photos here. We got back from the Arenal trip around 4 and shortly after our Tico family invited us out the Quepos Festival. There was some live music, rides (bumper cars was the best) junk food, and bull riding. I'll let the captions and the pictures tell most of the story.

The next day we had a 3 hour surf lesson and local surf spot that took us through some pretty interesting neighborhoods to get too. The waves were bigger than in Manuel Antonio beach and there was no one else but Nikki, me and the three locals that came with us.

Valentine's day was Juan's mother's 69th birthday and he surprized her with a party and mariachi singers. Juan also took Nikki for a spin on the dance floor.

Friday night we went to Bambu Jam - a very popular local spot for dancing on Tuesdays and Fridays because they have live music. I'm probably going to have to learn to dance before this trip is over.

As for the rest of the photos there are a couple from hotels we crash for lunch and then hang by the pool as long as we can. They usually don't mind, and "Makandra by the Sea" was ridiculously nice (among other things they brought out frozen towels that smelled of coconut to put on our heads). We also went horseback riding last Saturday, and tried surfing again back at Manuel Antonio.

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Photos

Bumper Cars
Our favorite ride from the festival. This is Jaime (from England) and Ignasio about to ram us. Juan and Anja and in the background too. Anja was another student staying with the family. She was from Switzerland and spoke at least 3 other languages.

Bullfight Opening Ceremony
Juan kept calling it a bullfight, but it was actually bullriding.

Bullriding Action Shot
This was a pretty good picture of the bull and rider. It also shows that anyone who feels like tempting fate can get in the ring to run away from the bull. After a few beers Jaime convinced me to go in with him. But we both stayed pretty close to the exit.

Bullriding Girl Toss
One of the games the Tico guys played between bullrides was to get someone - usually a girl - to climb in this net and then they'd throw them up in the air. I though for sure this chick was going to snap her neck. She came down right on it.

Bullriding Chris Toss
This was just after Jaime and I had ran away from our first bull. I walked back in the ring and they were all looking at me and pointing to the net. So I thought - sure, that looks fun! It was. I got thrown twice, and the second time they told me to do a flip, which I did quite well I must say. But the batteries died on the camera right after this photo so we didn't get the mid air shot.

Secret Surf Spot
This was at the secret beach the out intructors like to ride. These are about my size waves, but I still bit it more often than I got up.

Fried Frontside
Seriously...who didn't see this coming?

Fried Backside
I DID put sunblock on, and I was wearing my shortsleeve rashguard almost the whole time. But I broke my own rules of sunscreen application - apply indoors before you start sweating, and allow 15 minutes to set in. My shoulders burned from the 20 minute walk back from the beach after I took the rashguard off.

Dancing Night Health Check
We were at a bar in Quepos getting ready for dance night at Bambu Jam when these women came around offering to check our blood pressure. Sounded like a wise idea. This is Natasha (student from England).

Tony and Lisel at Bambu Jam
Tony is one of the instructors at the school, and he also teaches dance once a week. He's good. Lisel is another student from Iceland (although she lives in Sweden). I think she speaks 4 languages.

Group at Bambu Jam
Jodi from South Carolina, Chris, Nikki, and Lisel from Iceland

Makandra Pool
Life sucks!

Poolside Service
First they brought out icewater with fresh cut lime. Then they brought out frozen towels for our heads. I remember jokingly saying to Nikki "We should hang around to see what else they´re going to bring out" and about 10 minutes later they brought out little cups of frozen fruit smoothies. Freakin Sweet! (We´re going back there)

Horseback riding on the beach
We also rode in the mountains, but the beach was more fun and the horses liked it better to. My horses name was "Sol". A couple times I let him run and it was quite the rush. Although riding in flip-flops and shorts isn't something I'd recommend.

Sunset on the Beach
Nikki took this one during our horseback ride. The full rez photo is in our Gallery. Enjoy

We´re on a Kayak
We went to the beach Sunday morning to surf, but there weren´t any waves. So we rented a kayak instead. If they offer you 2 hours for the price of one, don´t take it. You´ll be exhausted after the first 30 minutes.

View from Costa Verde
This was the second hotel we´ve crashed. It was not on the same level as Makandra, but it was still nice and relaxing. We got kicked out around 4 though because a wedding had reserved the pool area.

Chris Surfing Manuel Antonio
After Costa Verde we went back to the beach to check the waves again. They had picked up slightly so I gave it a go.

Comments

[Candi]

Wow!
Looks like you guys are having a nice time in that warm weather! I will make sure to show Logan the Bullriding!

[Shannon]

Finally!
I think I am all caught up now guys - this is so cool! Here we all thought you would be living in bug infested, heat soaked, snake filled jungle - and it's paradise! What an incredible experience for you guys - thanks so much for sharing it with us - keep it comin!

[Candi]

Looks like fun!
Glad you guys are having such a good time. I will make sure to show Logan the bullriding pictures.

[Joey]

:)
Okay, so I'm very jealous now!! By the way, can you bring me back a monkey? I've always wanted one!

[Sandi]

Hola!
Looks like a blast! Nik- Dr. Schneider says to drink lots of water! Ha Ha! Miss you and you need to eat. You look too skinny! XOXO

[Karen]

Howdy
Esperanza usted no se olvidó de inglés. Esto parece tal ráfaga. No puede esperar para oír todos sobre él. Pienso que está realmente fresco que usted puede alimentar realmente monos salvajes. ¿Cómo aseado es eso? Hablamos de usted dos toda la hora.

[Jenny Poo]

Leave It to Nikki
Yep, leave it to Nikki to find a bull riding event in Costa Rica!