Costa Rica - Part 2 - June 5 - 11, 2024

Part 2 - Beach 

------Wednesday -----June 5, 2024 (continued)

We arrived in Playa Flamingo at 4 pm and checked into our Airbnb for the last 6 nights of our trip.

We rented a 2 story townhouse/condo that overlooked Playa Flamingo on one side and Playa Potrero on the other side.   

Playa Flamingo

After hotel stays for a week, we were all so happy to have our own space and 2 bathrooms!

I started laundry while James and the girls went to the beach and pool.

We had dinner in Playa Potrero.  Then we got groceries and Elin found the most amazing popsicles.

James and I had a coconut one and it was so good we bought a container of it the next day at the grocery store. 

-----Thursday  ----- June 6, 2024

I woke up early and was treated to a beautiful sunrise over Playa Potrero right outside our front door.  

We brought ALL THE FRUIT for breakfast. We mix it with yogurt and granola.  It is our usual vacation-in-a-tropical-place breakfast. The fruit in Costa Rica was so good, best I've probably ever had.  Especially the mangos and passion fruit.

  I enjoyed mine on the balcony while everyone slept in.

Our plan for the day was to go to the beach and relax.  We packed up for Playa Flamingo and set up at the beach.

The waves were really rolling in and were pretty rough.  The kids tried to body surf...

...but eventually gave up and came in to have lunch.

After lunch they just sat down and let the waves roll them around. They actually thought it was fun.

They ended up with sand EVERYWHERE

so we went back to the condo to rinse in the pool shower and swim.

After a little "quiet time" we headed out again to a beach 15 min north called Playa Danta in Las Catalinas.

The surf here was even more rough so we didn't swim.  But we did find a swing ...

... and a store that sold Pura Vida bracelets.

Back "home" we had a quick dip in the pool again, 

then dinner in the condo.  One of our traveling traditions is to have a pasta dinner everywhere we go.  We have done this in Breckenridge, St. Johns USVI, Finland, Norway etc.

Movie and bed after dinner.  Perfect beach vacation day.

-----Friday -----June 7, 2024

Another day...another beach or two to explore.   We got out of the condo a little earlier today and went north about 45 minutes to Playa Hermosa.

This beach had nice calm waves so we played in the water for quite awhile.

A man was selling something similar to shave ice so we tried it.  He had a giant block of ice in his cart and he shaved it off right in front of me.  

It was nice and cold. Mine was cherry flavored with condensed milk on top that made it creamy. It was a little too sweet though.

Around lunch we packed up and headed south 10 minutes to Playa Coco for lunch and shopping.

Just as we got to Playa Coco there was a huge rainstorm.  We had lunch at a local soda…more pollo casado and aroyo con pollo.

We wandered down the street and looked in all the tourist shops.  The girls got a sweatshirt and a sloth stuffy.

We headed back to the condo on the “public road”...parts of it looked like this.....

Crazy roads....

Back at the condo James made guacamole from a giant avocado Elin and I picked up

and they enjoyed it by the pool. 

James grilled fish for dinner and we went to Playa Potrero for music and pina coladas.  Unfortunately the band was on their last song when we came in but the drinks were good. 

----- Saturday ----- June 8, 2024

We drove south about 25 minutes to a beach town called Tamarindo. It was where most people go to the beach in Costa Rica ---very touristy. We found the Tamu Market.  It had lots of fun vendors but it was VERY hot and humid under the tarps. 

so we cooled off with Acai bowls and smoothies.

Then we went to the beach for swimming 

and a surf lesson at the same shop where James took a lesson 20 years ago when he was in Costa Rica for the 1st time. 

They had a great time and were so tired when they were done. 

Sunset, dinner, and bed.  

-----Sunday -----June 9, 2024.

We decided to have a "chill" day so we took our time getting out of the condo.  We had lunch

then we went back to Las Catalinas for more Pura Vida bracelets … we all got one this time.

We stopped for gelato…

...then more pool time, 

dinner and back to Playa Flamingo for the most amazing sunset.  

It is called Playa Flamingo because when the sun sets just right the sand turns pink like a Flamingo. We were lucky enough to see it.

----- Monday -----June 10, 2024

Last Day!  Breakfast on the balcony with a beautiful view.

We spent the morning at Playa Flamingo

and had a little more pool time.

After lunch the girls had some down time in the condo while James and I went for a beach side massage.

For our last night we decided to go to a restaurant right on the beach in Playa Flamingo called Coco Loco.

We had a table that was just a few feet away from the water with a perfect view of the sunset.

We ordered fun drinks

And had the most delicious dinner.

The girls got to cook their steak on a super hot lava rock.

Back at the condo we packed up for an early day to the airport and home.

----- Tuesday -----June 11, 2024

We left the condo just before 8 am knowing that Costa Rican roads are unpredictable. We had 39 miles to the Liberia Airport.  Google said it would take 1 hr 15 min.  Our flight was at 11:49 am.  We had to get gas in the rental car, drop it off at the off site location and take a 10 min shuttle to the airport.  We should be able to get that done in 4 hours, right?

On the road things were going fine until we noticed the road was "red" ahead meaning stopped traffic.  The navigation system wanted us to get off the main road and onto a frontage road to save time...so we tried it.  Through a neighborhood then across the river to the frontage road. We were led to this road which goes through the river but there was NO BRIDGE!

Not even surprised after our many random roads here. So back into traffic we went. 

At least it was a pretty drive.

About 9:30 we started to wonder if we would make our 11:49 am flight.  I started researching other flight options and hotels for the night. We went 19 miles in 3 hours....stop and go....all because they decided to work on a bridge that day and reduce the traffic on the bridge to one lane on the ONLY road to the airport.  

We got to the car drop off at 10:50 am....the shuttle driver sped us to the airport...we hurried up to the counter....it was 11 am.... we really thought we could barely make our 11:49 flight.... but our flight was closed.  It closed at 10:45.  We were literally 15 min late.  UGH.  

We were rebooked on the afternoon flight that left at 3:20 pm with a connection in Houston. We were sad to miss our original flight because it was a non stop flight and connecting through Houston meant we would get home about 6 hours later.  We were happy to be on a flight that day and they upgraded us to Economy plus. 

When we got through security we saw they were just starting to board our original flight....we were sad...

but we made the most of it.  We had lunch and hung out at the airport

before boarding our flight with upgraded seats.
 

We were 30 minutes late into Houston which gave us only 1.5 hours to get through passport control and customs, get to our next gate 2 terminals over, recheck our bag (we had one checked bag), get BACK through security and onto our flight that left at 9:50 pm. Luckily, this was pushed back to 10:05 pm while we were flying.  

We landed in Houston and got in the LONGEST line ever for passport control... hundreds of people waiting for 4 agents to clear them.  In this line I started searching for hotels in Houston thinking we were likely staying the night.  It took one hour to get through passport control. I looked at my phone as we were leaving to go to customs, it was 9:35 pm. We had exactly 30 minutes until our plane left.

Customs was quick but we had to get all of our bags to terminal C which was a 10 minute walk. We got our bag rechecked...It was now 9:45 … and asked a United employee if our flight had closed yet.  It was not, but she told us we would never make it because it was closing in 5 minutes.  We decided to try.  We hurried through a short security line.   My bag was flagged for additional screening so James and the girls left to go to our gate, luckily it was C-1, while I waited for my bag.  

They got to the gate just as the gate agent was deleting us from the flight.  But because he hadn't deleted us all, he was able to get new boarding passes. I was still at security while this was happening. At 10 pm I was cleared and started RUNNING to get to the gate.  As I rounded the corner I saw James waving at me to hurry "we can make it"!!!  I got to the gate, we boarded the plane and they shut the door behind us.  I looked at my phone...it was 10:15 pm when I walked on the plane....barely barely made it...actually we were 10 minutes late...but we did it.   Amazingly our bag did too.  

After all that rush, we were delayed another 30 minutes due to weather before we could take off. BUT......we made it home.  It was 12:30 am when we got to Denver.  We landed 6 hours later than our original flight because we were 15 min late in Liberia.  At the airport in Denver Anikka said "that was the craziest flight I have ever taken”.  Girl, I agree.  Even in all my travels that was a crazy one.  We got an Uber home and were in bed at 2:30 am.  So tired, but happy to be home. 

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That wraps up our summer 2024 trip.  We did such a variety of adventures and made amazing family memories.  

🇨🇷 Pura Vida 🇨🇷