Us vs. The Calf

As Lauren mentioned in one of our first posts, there is a large pasture between our condo and the beach that houses a plethora of horses and cows.  Up until yesterday, we were able to walk through the pasture on a footpath straight to the ocean (we learned this route by watching a large group of ticos meander through two Sundays ago).  However, the owner of the land has since A) grown tired of ticos and gringos walking through his big yard, or B) grown tired of his horses and cows walking aimlessly through the street.  Whatever the reason, yesterday he closed in the openings in his fence and now we can no longer use this short-cut.

Ah, but I am digressing…

Anywho, back in the days when we could walk through the pasture to the beach – last Thursday to be specific – we were met by the vicious moo’s from a baby cow.  The little guy had positioned himself on the footpath, and as we continued to approach him he continued to get louder.  Luckily, I was able to respond with a series of cow noises myself (to Lauren’s dismay), and the baby cow eventually sauntered off with his shoulders hunched over in defeat.  I was beaming with pride after backing down this young calf in such a dramatic fashion.  It was just a small victory for Lauren and me, but definitely a giant win for mankind.

I made a wonderful discovery last week on the “snack front” – just off the main street running into the ocean I spotted a rainbow umbrella with a cooler and small grill beneath it.  From my time in Thailand, I immediately knew that this could only mean one thing – Meat-On-A-Stick.  For merely two dollars, you can choose either grilled pork or chicken (both have been marinated to perfection in my opinion), which the “grill master” heats up and hands over with a tortilla to go (on a stick of course).  Lauren and I have gotten ourselves into a glorious routine of eating one these meaty snacks on the beach around 2pm nearly every day…finally, our afternoons have meaning.

Our condo here is really great – swimming pool, nice kitchen, hot shower, etc.  There is a running joke between us and some of the other travelers staying here that we aren’t exactly “roughing it”.  However, I would like to mention that in Costa Rica (as in Thailand), you cannot flush paper down the toilet.  No matter how spoiled I might be feeling with our digs here in Samara, I am reminded every morning (about 9am to be exact) that we are “roughing it” just a little bit.

Our favorite Costa Rican cheese that comes in an efficiently packaged ball

Me napping on the beach that used to be owned by Mel Gibson.  This is SO "Lethal Weapon" of me...

I saw this colorful crab and took its picture...little did I know, I would see millions more around our place.

Big waterfall in Montezuma that I jumped into (there is a video)

We are at the top of another waterfall in Montezuma - it was a five-mile hike along the beach to get here, and it felt like we were at the end of the world overlooking the ocean from this high cliff (it's a lot higher than it looks in this pic)

Same cliff & waterfall as above