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Published: April 11th 2022
First new adventure since 2010!! Even selecting the country for this post was odd!!
So far…Exploring a new country with an energetic, strong willed child is fun, exciting and oh so stressful at times…the way I do it at least!!
I like to go with the flow and live locally. This makes planning hard!! So I chose to do almost no research, book 2 nights on a beach on the Pacific coast of CR and see what happened next!! Was told it was family friendly and a single friend I meet every year in India was supposed to meet me the day I arrived. Turns out she didn’t make the 8 hour journey in one day and instead arrived 3 days later due to traveller’s diarrhea attacks!!
So day 1 I dragged taylor around in the midday heat to search for a beach home.
We had arrived at 11 and ran straight to the ocean!! So by 2pm it was HOT! It just doesn’t compare to Indian heat. We only made it to 1 spot, that had odd nights Available here and there over the next weeks, before stopping to play with some new friends. He found 6 year
old twins, with a cool Indonesia mom, who we ended up hanging with our first few days. Took the pressure off me to entertain him, since they had just as much energy as he does!! Turns out traveling to CR is so easy and quick, we had no jet lag, and could jump right into long beach days!!
After checking out one more spot, I joined a local fb group and quickly found our home. So about 24 hours of stress was all that came from my limited research and it brought us to the perfect first home in CR. It was 1 km down the beach from the “touristy” hotel/restaurant strip of this tiny beach town. So we were in a local fishing village with a few foreigners renting like us but mostly local families. Taylor played with kids who spoke no English but understood the universal language of “tag you’re it!” And here and there he’s picked up some Spanish. Our landlady had taken in her niece with 2 young kids so taylor has built in friends. And there were constantly other family members visiting. Kids are just amazing and friendly.
Those first few days was go
go go and it kind of made us both need more. Took us a week to relax and by week 3 we were both in slow mode, like everyone else!
I loved seeing how the locals here loved their town. They chatted with their neighbours, kids ran from one house to the other and they frequented the beach as often as possible. Having bbq’s and get together a, blending with tourists. I didn’t feel like a foreigner taking advantage of the land when the locals were too busy with their lives to enjoy it, the way I do in India. I don’t think I ever saw my local Goan friends visit the beach or take a boat ride.
Which brings me to our insane boat ride. We grabbed a small boat, with about 10 others and bounces through the ocean until we found dolphins. Taylor and I were first to hop on the bow and watch the dolphins chase the boat. Right below our feet, we’re dolphins jumping and playing in the wake. It was incredible to see them so comfortable and playful, just our of reach of our toes. But of course it made me completely nauseous so
I lay down the entire ride back and luckily taylor feel asleep on me! So when we stopped to snorkel just before the shore I jumped off immediately, to avoid being in a rocking anchored boat on the ocean. Taylor impressively dove, head first, off the boat. And for those who know him, you know jumping off a boat into deep water is not his thing!! So we snorkelled and saw almost no fish but had fun, until the waves made me vomit in the water, as I was floating. That was a first for me!!!! I assumed being in the water was harmless! Oops
It gave us the chance to stay the day on that beautiful and empty beach, since I wasn’t risking getting back into the van to go home until the nausea was gone!
Late at night I heard the waves crashing, despite being a block away from the beach. The 2 nights we stayed in a hostel at the busy beach, all I heard was music and loud voices. So this place was great. Although taylor definitely loved connecting to the owners of the hostel (1 Canadian guy, 1 American guy)…who he had random conversations
with about the avengers and animals! Whenever we’d make the walk down the beach to the busier section, he’s always want to stop in and catch up with his friends there.
I can see future taylor hanging on a hammock, chatting with fellow travellers!
A few things That feel different here than India:
I can dress how I want without feeling disrespectful…everyone dresses “modern to” here, as if they’re in North America. Unlike Indians who tend to wear tradition clothing. So tourists don’t stand out as obviously. Although taylor said he can always tell who the locals are!
There are Toilets everywhere, and they are clean!
Hotel beds are comfy, with good pillows!
Drinkable water from the all taps…so civilized and simple!
Soap is provided at the hostels
Good internet everywhere, don’t need data on my phone.
Generally, tourist life here is very similar to North American culture, in comparison to how drastically different it is from Indian culture. It’s so easy to adjust. Cars with air conditioning, big grocery stores, tap water, western food at tourist restaurants…Except the one harder aspect is that very few people speak English. Bus drivers, taxi drivers, shop owners, mostly speak Spanish.
It’s not as easy to get information or get from one place to the next.
The buses are also sparse…often only going once or twice a day to another town. But once I figured them out they were so much cheaper than any other form of transport. They are comfy and clean and I can book a seat in advance, unlike India, but since there is so much country/forest in most of CR, there just aren’t many roads and cities are not as accessible as getting from one place to the next in India. Renting a car seems to be the way to go for most travellers.
Since we didn’t do that, we took a taxi to Monteverde. It was long to travel by bus and I thought the private car would prevent motion sickness. It didn’t. When the car stopped for him to use his phone and I hopped out to puke, taylor casually told the driver I was fine!
The drive back was 2 consecutive buses, lasting a total of 8 hours…it was no better!
But the 3 days we spent up in the mountains was such a drastic change in weather that it was a relief….went
from unbearable heat on the coast, to a warm Canada in summer day!! Made it perfect to hike in the mountains. One day we visited a national park in a rainforest with hanging bridges and the next we visited a cloud forest and wandered for 5 hours! Taylor had been heard about zip lining from his 6 year old friends and when on the first hike, we could see them above us zipping through the sky. So on a whim, we went for it! I had a hunch he would back out and made sure we could get our money back if he never made the first line! We planned to go together with a guide, the whole 13 zip lines. It was supposed to 2 hours!! And on the first one, he looks up and says “I think I’ll go alone!” He was first from the group and my stomach almost flew out of my mouth watching him float among the trees. It got better from there!! We took a few together, especially the longest 1 km line! And by the end, after we’d flown above the tree line, through the clouds, we were both exhilarated. He of course
wanted to go again immediately!! I was slightly relieved it was over! Man, life changes with kids.
We’re Half way through this trip now, and now hanging at a farm, started 30 years ago by an American couple. Reminds me of the Nunnery we usually spend a week at in India before heading into the mountains. It always connected us to spirit…a quiet week, away from the chaos of Indian villages. This farm connects us to mother earth. We walk around barefoot, plant seeds, dig in the earth and jump rocks in the river.
Day one we dug up turmeric that had grown wild in the ground just next to the crops. Day 2 we washed it in the river after shovelling dried horse poop into a wheelbarrow for composting. Work happens in the morning and the rest of the day is for running, feeding the horses, playing in the river and cooking. Our third day we explored up river and found some call pools to dunk in. Taylor swam with the current…his swimming is getting better and he was able to keep his head up the whole time! Pretty cool that his swimming improved in the costal rican
oveans and rivers!
Days pass slowly and quietly. Internet is sparse and it’s been a great detox from unnecessary scrolls through Facebook! It’s hot when the suns out but then the rain comes and provides a breezy shady hour. We sleep in an open air cabin, up in the loft. Where it’s nice to need a light blanket at night. No more night sweats from such extreme heat! Below we share with 3 like travelers. And in other structures there are a total of 6 others. Taylor is free to roam, with fences closing in the farm, with doors that he can’t open! So I can relax when he runs free, knowing he’s safe. He still asks for tv but I’m hoping just as I needed a phone detox, his too will pay off by the time we leave here!
The animals certainly help. Kids would have been more entertaining, but throwing a stick for the dogs and feeding the horses has certainly been an incredible experience for taylor. He has become friends with each dog, learning their names way before the names of the other people here!! And by day 2 he was feeding the horses by hand.
They just roam freely, eating grass all day. They are not stuck in a specific area nor are they tied up. So it’s incredible to feel like we are living on the same land as them. I’ve never been somewhere where horses were free like this. Off for a skip in the river!
Until next time
Pura Vida, as the saying goes here
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Joy Brenhouse
non-member comment
What fun
Love reading your blog … Taylor is incredible what an experience you are affording him .. Whaf’s with you puking all the time lol Hope you are feeling better Can’t wait for your next blog Enjoy and have fun Baby Joy