Miserable, Magical Monday

1. I was going through the photos on my phone after my nap on Sunday (first nap in a looong while) and could not remember when or where I got this photo. After a bit of recall, I remembered I took this one morning pre-coffee. The sunrise was particularly vibrant that morning as I walked to my car to grab my shoes. Yeah, my shoes. Sometimes my feet get really claustrophobic while driving home. And then I also get too lazy to just pick up my shoes and bring them inside. It makes no sense, but hey! At least my neurotic tendencies got me this shot!

2. I can't remember the last time I took a nap but man are they wonderful things. I slept so well I even did that thing where you wake up all disoriented and forget what day it is. I thought I'd woken up late for Monday morning work! Silly me. On a sort of sweet note, having Brandon back has done wonders for my sleep. I really missed having his obscenely warm body in bed with me. I bet you it's his heat that lulls me to sleep half the time.

3. So I had five whole days to myself last week. And I did maybe 30% of what I said I was going to do to fill my time. I bought avocados but saved my nacho night dinner idea for Friday once Brandon was home. I did not paint my nails or have my spa night like I planned because I did laundry instead. But I did do some writing and uploaded my photos from Costa Rica onto my cloud and computer, so I guess I was sort of productive. I didn't even bake Thursday night because I got caught up in picking up after myself. Confession: I am a messy person. I never think to put my clothes away after I take them off in general, and the fact that my dresser is in the spare bedroom  doesn't help. I leave my shoes everywhere. I have a shoe basket at the front of our apartment so I have no excuse to leave my shoes anywhere else, but of course I still do. I'm looking down at a pair I wore to work just chilling in the dining room right now. All of that to say that baking took a backseat to my annoyance with myself Thursday night. Apologies to anyone who has ever lived with me ever for being the roommate that leaves her crap everywhere.

4. Saturday was a blast. I should warn you I did nothing spectacular or mildly interesting but vegging out with Brandon after several busy weekends was exactly what we needed. I woke up around 10:30am and just chilled with my coffee until Brandon got up. He then played his video games while I finished writing my second post on Arenal. After that we watched New Girl all.day.long. We munched on chips and salsa/homemade guac and had a CPK frozen pizza for lunch (at 3:00pm). After finishing season 2, we decided we wanted macaroni and cheese for dinner and walked over to Safeway. We picked up some Golden Grahams and Fruit Loops and juice while we were there. Seriously, we looked like we were buying food for a kid. By the time we got back and sat down to eat dinner it was somewhere around 9:30pm. That didn't stop us from watching Magic Mike.

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For the record, it was Brandon who brought it up. Also, yes, there was so much male body rolling in this movie and  I kind of loved it.

5. As if sitting through the sausage fest and male thong-ridden movie wasn't enough, Brandon even sat through the pilot of Sex and the City with me since the whole show is on HBO Go. What a trooper, right? I don't plan on making him watch that with me, mostly because I don't want to force him to sit through the "girl talk" dynamic. I, as a woman, love that dynamic and understand it fully. I think he'd get over it quick. Besides, I'd rather use my political spousal capital on getting him to watch West Wing with me.

Thank you, Leo.
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6. To make up for the non-existence of baked goods welcoming Brandon home from a week at camp, I decided to bake some blondies while he was still snoozing. I've never made them before so I was a little nervous to taste them. The recipe I used called for tons of M&Ms, of which I had none. What I did have were white chocolate chips, so I tossed about a cup into the batter and called it day. Honestly, they don't compare to my chocolate chip cookies, but Brandon seems to like them enough even if they are rich.

7. Sprout update! A while ago, I told you guys that I planted some of the wedding favor seeds. I was ecstatic when I saw them sprout up. Good news: I've actually been consistent with watering the plant! Go me. Anyway, the sprout (is that still what it's called? I'm such an amateur at growing things) has grown a little bit and I took a semi-artsy photo of it...so I obviously have to share.

The weather here in Davis is so weird. It looks super stormy and the wind has kicked up. I guess we've even had a teensy bit of rainfall. The temperature has come down to a comfortable high 70/low 80 which I'm loving, but the clouds make me want to pull out all of my autumn sweaters and never get out of bed.

Arenal part II will for sure be up tomorrow.

Happy Monday, friends.

♥ A

Volcano Land: Arenal Part I

I have to tell you guys, I went back and read my post (from when I studied abroad) on my old blog...and it sucked. I took hardly any photos on my own and barely left the resort my program was lodging us in. I guess there was no reason to go explore (except, you know, the fact that I was in Costa Rica for a once in a lifetime experience) since the resort had it's own really nice thermal pools and a trail to a volcano viewing deck. Also I was hungover basically that entire weekend -- something I wouldn't admit three years ago but now seems too pathetic to not share. It's strange how much I've growing up I've done from 21 to 24.

Here are two photos I have from my last trip.

Pretty sweet view.

I printed this one out and have it up in my office because I love the colors in it so much.

HashtagHungoverPhotography.

Anyway, this time was different. First, ain't nobody got money to pay for resort room rates right after graduation/marriage. No one. So I booked a room through the amazing Airbnb. Next, I took photos and even made it to the national park instead of Andrea and I luckily made it out to the town of La Fortuna without a hitch. We dropped off our bags and car and walked around town for a bit. I was slightly hungry so I suggested we split a lunch meal (at like three in the afternoon). We got some of the most yummy chicken nachos I've ever consumed in my life. We followed up the nachos with Pops, a Costa Rican ice cream chain, and ate our melty treats in the town square.

Oh hi there, volcano.

Neither of us were really hungry come dinner time, so we figured we'd at least check out one of the cool looking bars in town. I sipped on a rum and pineapple slush -- and I mean that in the best way possible -- while my sister and I chatted with some friendly locals. They were probably wasted (or on their way) by the time we sat down, but they were all typical Tico-nice regardless. I don't remember any of their names, but one of the guys made a lasting impression on Andrea while talking about footbal and futbol. She and I commented how football is kind of boring to watch because it's a constant start and stop and so slow whereas futbol is fast paced and dramatic. And you know what this guy did? He defended football. He said it's slow because it's strategic.

I'm gonna borrow my sister's reaction real quick and say that I've never heard a football fan defend futbol before. And here was this man who loved futbol (is my lack of calling it soccer pretentious yet?) defending this American sport to us. Take notes, people!

We were back in our room by 9:30pm and I was asleep by 10. The next morning I felt like I was flashing back to every bad drinking decision I made three years ago. But before you judge, know this: I wasn't actually hungover, I was just beyond dehydrated. I think I literally sweat out all the moisture from my body the day before. That's what happens with the humidity is high and you forget to drink water, I guess.

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After our beautifully plated breakfast (more than I expected from a hostel), Andrea and I drove out to Parque Nacional Volcan Arenal. We decided to hike up to the observatory point where we could have watched lava flowing had it been 1992 before then looping down to see a 400 year old tree.

After taking in the panoramas that no camera can ever really capture (I suggest clicking through to see the original size of this pano shot), we began the trek to the tree.

Pretty sister.

Baby face central.

Half way through the hike we heard rumbles. At first, Andrea thought they could be airplanes but before we knew it, we heard the sheet of rain start to fall. The weather and rain were warm enough that we could handle walking through it without jackets. We also had the umbrella of treetops to catch most of the falling water. Eventually, though, the rain became strong enough to break through the leaves and we were forced to throw on our jackets. We ended up getting caught in the middle of a decently strong rain but luckily neither of us was upset by it. It was really awesome to be there with my sister. I never once had to worry that the hike was boring her or that she wasn't enjoying herself because of the rain or lack of wildlife sightings. She was perfectly content walking through the jungle, sometimes in silence.

Looking redder than normal.

We came around to the huge, old tree. There's actually not a whole lot to it if you're not easily amazed at old things, but for us a 400 year old tree was worth seeing. 400 years! That's older than the US. This tree was a seedling the year Pocahontas got married (that's just about the most interesting fact I could find about 1614) and survived countless years of volcanic activity and human exploration. For me, that's beyond cool.

This is just half of our day in Arenal! I still have to tell you about the warm river, driving around the lake and eating some pasta I'm still sort of dreaming about.

Until Friday!
♥ A

Miserable, (mostly) Magical Monday

What? A slight deviation in the title? Something cool must have happened.

1. Coolest thing ever: two of my great friends got married this weekend! The relationship Barbara and I totally called months before it happened now has a cool piece of paper and a public lifelong commitment to enjoy. I'm still over the moon that I was able to be a part of their day and it was beyond cool to see my favorite people all in the same place again. There was a coffee bar complete with sugar cubes and syrups and you better believe I took advantage of it all. I think the spontaneous group singing to Don't Stop Believing might have been the highlight of the reception for me, followed by the circle dancing to 22 and Best Song Ever. Seriously, I had such a blast I never asked Brandon for my phone (I decided not to lug my purse around and he was nice enough to hold it for me) so I took zero photos at the reception. I'm half-kicking myself for it because I feel a little like an awful guest (and I have no photo memories) but at the same time, I think it gives you an idea of just how much I enjoyed myself!

2. Usually I'm terrified of asking people for things. Help, accommodation, forgiveness...you get the point. But Friday was a lesson in taking a risk. See, because flying was too expensive, Brandon, myself and our friend Derek decided to drive down to San Diego for the wedding. At the same time, being in Costa Rica used up all of my time off so things were looking grim as far as arrival times went (we're talking midnight if we were lucky). After counting the driving hours and realizing just how awful that plan was, I decided I needed to ask if I could leave early on Friday. It took me like 10 minutes of figuring out how I would ask, if I would ask and what I'd propose. Finally, I went into HR's office and explained that I was making the drive down to San Diego and wanted to know if I could work out an unofficial credit hour system. I offered to come in an hour early, leave at noon and then make up my hours by coming in early on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the following week. I honestly didn't think she'd go for it, but -- to my surprise -- she did! It was a really cool moment for me and I thanked HR like five times. I was basically the "thank you" equivalent of the chick that won't quit bowing in Sound of Music before going back to my office with a huge smile on my face.

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3. Spending the weekend in San Diego was wonderful. It was almost too wonderful. We arrived Friday night and quickly headed to me and Barbara's prime happy hour/burger spot: Harbor Town Pub. Barbara and I split some fries and I got my favorite cocktail. It's basically a fancy non-orange juice mimosa and I love it. There was loud music playing which wasn't what I was used to, but we had fun either way. Saturday started with brunch at Broken Yolk, a San Diego classic that I'd never made it to. It was no Raglan's, but the strawberry sauce that came with my french toast more than made up for the warm mimosa. Then there was the fun wedding. A small bonfire at my friends' house followed the reception on Saturday. We sipped cider, talked, laughed and roasted marshmallows. It was like old times but better. Brandon was there and it always means so much to me when he gets a chance to hang out with the people I grew to love over my three years at Loma. It's even better when they get along and joke around. Seeing a natural interaction puts me at ease. Plus the added bonus that my friends are slowly becoming more than just names in stories to Brandon and he's more than just my boyfriend husband to them. Sunday we grabbed a Denny's breakfast (a Brandon and Alex tradition) with Kayla and then headed home. No lie (and maybe TMI) I cried in the backseat while listening to Taylor Swift on the way home. But only for a little while!

4. Brandon is at camp this week which means I'm home alone. I'll be hanging out with my mom at some point this week, but mostly I'm stoked to listen to tons and tons of Taylor Swift in my apartment. I wonder what her Pandora station is like...

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Oh that's right. ADORABLE.

In all seriousness, I've already had trouble sleeping. It's stupid because it's not like Brandon and I haven't been apart. I mean, hello! We were long distance for three years, we can handle being apart. Plus I've gone away (to debate tournaments and Costa Rica) and have slept fine. I didn't expect any feelings of wahh I'm alone to pop up, but they did. I guess it's different when you're the one at home alone? In any case, I watched a dumb movie, Bachelorette (it's on Netflix), last night because Lizzy Caplan is in it and I will always love her work.

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5. I've got a bit of a rant to go on. It has to do with how horrible sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day is for our bodies. Seriously, my back cracks when I get up to walk around form my awful, too-big-for-my-5'1"-frame chair. Not just any old stiff bones crack, this one is new. It's practically a pop and it happens only when I get up from this chair. My slouchy couch at home? Nothing. Chairs in a restaurant? Nada. Getting out of my car? Zip. It's this damn chair. I hate it and my tall desk. Why do we put ourselves through the horrors of office work? It's literally the worst. It represents the worst, it feels the worst and it brings out the worst in me. Phew. Ok. Back to the good feels.

6. I got back to Davis around 8:00 last night and immediately went to Safeway to pick up my Week Alone necessities like avocados, lemons, brown sugar and coffe ice cream. Yeah, I will open a tub of deliciousness and snack while watching some fancy-pants movie this week, thank you! I also plan to make this lemonade I saw on Joy the Baker's blog (which side note is probably the blog I've followed the longest) and lots of homemade guac to stuff myself with. I also plan to surprise Brandon with some baked goods (he reads the blog so I can't mention exactly what I'll be baking) for when he comes back from camp because I'm an excellent wife.

7. Joyeux 14 juillet! Today marks the 225th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille in Paris which kicked off the French Revolution. I donned by red, white and blue as well as played music from a French Cafe playlist on Spotify as part of my personal celebration, even though la fête nationale (the national holiday) doesn't constitute the same kind of festivities as Independence Day does in the US. At the risk of turning a non-holiday into an Americanized thing, tonight I'll enjoy some baguette and cheese and probably a French-inspired sandwich for dinner. I might even watch a French movie! I'll use any excuse to pretend I'm French.

So insta I could barf. But I love it anyway.

I couldn't possibly end this post with an outfit photo, so in case you're into history, here's a short video on the French Revolution.


I'm almost done writing my post for Wednesday so get ready for pictures of a volcano and trees that all probably look the same. Ha!

♥ A

Miserable, Magical Monday

Deciding to do a weekly post on one of my busiest days of the week was definitely an idiotic decision, but damn if I don't love the title too much to change the day to something less packed. Also, I apologize in advance for the lack of Costa Rica stories in this post, but I'll be writing about the adventures (of which there were many) at length in the coming weeks.

1. Vacation Bible school (VBS) was a hit and a blast. I really, really enjoyed getting the chance to act alongside my sister again. She is one of those people who's "on" like 95% of the time and her stage presence is unmatched. She completely brings out my secretly big personality. Also, VBS is basically my dream excuse to draw freckles on my face and literally jump around during music. People totally eat it up when you're pretending to be a kid, but if anyone saw me rocking out like that in a different context (like, say, my car), I'm sure I'd get a Regina George eyebrow look.

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YOU KNOW I'M RIGHT.

2. My body is going through actual Costa Rican withdrawals. I held my office at a toasty 80 degrees all day (while in pants!) and still had to go out to my car to fetch a cardigan because I was freezing. My hot tropical blood misses the homeland.

3. Have you ever looked back at your last four weeks only to realize that you've been too busy to notice you've been so busy? That's sort of what June and July is for me. They're always a blur. A stressful, surreal blur. Ok enough with the Mean Girls references (for now). Two weeks ago, I was busy doing VBS from Sunday to Thursday. Thursday to Saturday night/Sunday morning I was traveling around Costa Rica. I've got this work week at home before heading down to San Diego for a wedding on Friday. Then Sunday when we get back form our tiny road trip, Brandon heads off to Kid's Camp for five days. Okay, that last part doesn't really involve me, but it feels like so much! To be real, I'm sad I have to miss camp this year. I've been a counselor for five years or so and planning my wedding didn't stop me from going last year, but my full time job (and international vacation) did. Remember that time I said I hate full time work in the summer? Yeah, now I hate it even more.

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4. In order to distract myself from the fact that Brandon and I will end up spending almost half of July apart, or the fact that I won't even have a dog to come home to and snuggle during the five days he's gone, I'm already thinking of ways to spend my time while alone. Right now the list includes blogging, catching up on one or two of my 12 Things, watching lots of chick flicks and West Wing (and Veep!) while painting my nails, yoga, tanning by the pool and baking. You'd think I was planning for another week off, huh?

5. My serious excitement over celebrating a whole wonderful year of marriage with Brandon has me planning our festive outing already. It's kind of working out since we both have procrastinator tendencies. The general idea is to do something special but modest somewhere within two hours from home. It's hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly! Since we'd been dating for seven years, one more year of being together (just married) didn't really strike me as the sort of thing that I'd want to make a big deal. But I guess marriage and the public commitment we made to each other is a big deal. Either way, I'm looking forward to spending a weekend away from home and responsibilities with just Brandon.

6. Great news! I finally got Brandon to watch New Girl with me! I'd gently asked him to watch it with me for months but he was never really interested. But since we caught up with House of Cards and Sherlock and Game of Thrones ended for the year, it was time to pick another show. I basically begged the guy to watch it with me and he eventually gave in. Now he loves it, just like I thought he would.

A relatively decent representation of my victory dance.
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Keep checking back because I've got so much to share about my trip! My sister and I already started working on post titles...and they're good.

♥ A

Pre-Vacation Guarantees

A few things are bound to happen right before you go on vacation.

First, you'll have the busiest week ever at work. The universe will decide to restore balance and will make up for all the weeks where you had nothing to do (and nowhere to go) by cramming all of the time-consuming work into the four day work week you originally hoped would be super chill.

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You'll inevitably have an extremely busy week outside of work, too. Leaving you with the choice between packing and going to bed at a decent hour. Or showering and going to bed. Coffee will be the only thing getting you through the day. And the candy from vacation Bible school. That's breakfast.

People at work and drivers on the road will sense that you're days away from hopping on a plane to a tropical paradise. Their jealousy will overflow and you'll be forced to handle passive aggression and idiot driving decisions. It'll totes throw off your day, so you'll definitely escape to the Starbucks where everyone knows your face (and is learning your name) for a #sadnessfrapp. You'll proceed to stroll around the expensive downtown antique stores that carry furniture that literally looks like they 3D printed it off Pinterest.

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But no amount of blerg will distract you from the fact that in less than 48 hours you'll be out of the country for the first time in three years. And the fact that you're gonna get so damn tan.

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Be back July 7th!
♥ A

Miserable, Magical Monday

I had every intention of posting last Monday, but got caught spending a day waiting for my passport to process. A recap is below.

1. I am a huge fan of Lauren Conrad. I watched every single episode of Laguna Beach (including the awful third season with the dull cast) and The Hills. I even watched most of The City, but that was mostly because Kelly Cutrone is a BAMF and someone I wish I could be. Naturally, I read Lauren's blog/website. She uploaded a video tutorial for her curled hair and the whole time I watched I couldn't help but think Aw, I miss watching her on TV. Lauren always was my favorite person on the shows.

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We could so be friends.

2. Before moving to Davis (and doubling my commute time), I was a tad worried about how I'd handle having to wake up earlier. At that point I was completely struggling to get out bed before 7am and I knew that if I wanted to do yoga or have a semi-relaxing morning I'd need to be waking up around 6am once we moved. Luckily, I had trouble sleeping the day before the move (plus the next two days after) and I woke up between 5:30 and 6am. Since then I've unintentionally trained myself to expect an alarm around 6am and I've had no trouble waking up. It's been nice because I've had the freedom to sit and write, read, wash my hair or do yoga in the morning. Most days it's yoga, but a week ago I got up to put my contacts in and then got right back in bed and read for a while.

3. Speaking of yoga, I recently read a Greatist article about being bad at yoga. It was a pretty good, eye-opening and definitely relatable piece. I, for one, know that I cannot do gorgeous forward fold or downward dog pose. Anything that requires my stubby, unyielding hamstrings to stay straight while the rest of me relaxes is out of the question. I've been mildly keeping up with a home practice and can maybe get almost straight legs after an hour of yoga. But I rarely have time for more than 20 minutes of yoga, so I've kind of resigned myself to enjoy the lack of cracking that yoga gives me versus achieving a decent asana.

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4. One thing I haven't quite mastered is the early bed time. I spent a solid chunk of time trying to figure out if I'm a morning person or night owl and the freaking test I took said I was neither! How am I supposed to plan my daily routines without this pertinent information about myself, Real Simple?! Anyway, it's not like I've got the discipline to actually go to bed at the same time each night. Brandon's for sure a night owl and I try to hang out with him as much as possible (because he's the coolest person I know), so I've caught myself in a cycle of late bedtimes and early risings. I won't complain as long as he keeps lulling me to sleep with bass renditions of Disney songs.

5. I spent last Wednesday night at my cousin Rachel's house. She was back in California for a short visit and I jumped at the chance to hang out with her and Lily in person. We ate a delicious dinner and sipped some yummy, almost champagne-like wine while laughing our way through stories from when we were kids. We even pulled out the sleeper couch and all slept in the living room together! It was a good night surrounded by girls/family I don't get to see too often. You better believe leaving for work Thursday morning was difficult. All I wanted to do was keep chatting and hanging out. I guess I'll just have to plan a trip to Boston or something, ha!

6. Brandon and I went to see X-Men: Days of Future Past on Saturday. We spent all morning lounging; me going over vacation bible school (VBS) lines and him playing video games. After our late breakfast I was done lounging. I declared I was bored, but of course had no alternative activity to offer (I can be such a brat). Brandon suggested we go see a movie. Sure enough, X-Men was playing in 20 minutes. I really enjoyed the movie, though Brandon did let me in on a storyline inconsistency he noticed. We walked and talked as we searched for the Cultivé frozen yogurt downtown. Both of us are still familiarizing ourselves with downtown (we literally walked in circles our first weekend here), but luckily we found the place quickly. It was nice to get outdoors and stretch my legs out. Sitting at a desk all day is honestly wreaking havoc on my body. I don't know how we all just put up with it.

7. Last but not least: the reason I missed last week's post. I went to get my passport processed in San Francisco on Monday. I thought for sure I'd go to my appointment, head to work and still have time to come up with something witty enough to post. I was wrong. My procrastinating ways got the best of me. I was told by my super helpful passport processor that express mail was still cutting it too short and that I might want to pick up my passport at the end of the day. First of all, I had no idea it only took a day to process! So there I was, alone in San Francisco, taking a day off work that I didn't want to take, with no car. I took BART in for old time's sake which left me at the mercy of my feet and the amount of cash on my BART ticket. I walked sooo much last week. I killed a bit of time in a Blue Bottle but had to eventually call Brandon because my extroverted tendencies were going nuts (I hadn't said a word out loud in hours). Honestly, it's the least amount of fun I've ever had in the city. I guess I've gotta go back to make up for it, right?

A

Wanderworm

Have you ever heard of an ear worm? You know, those songs that are so catchy they involuntarily play over and over again in your head?

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I'm experiencing the wanderlust version of that.

My sister and I leave for Costa Rica in less than a week and the thing dominating my thoughts is the trip. The reservations are made and our itinerary is set, now I just want to be there breathing that wonderful thick air!

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The week leading up to this trip will be bananas. Because our flight is at like one in the morning on the 27th, we'll head out to the airport basically as soon as Vacation Bible School (VBS) ends on Thursday night.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that we're launching this adventure on the tail end of an exhausting -- but super fun and incredibly rewarding -- week of jumping around pretending we're children exploring God's weird but awesome creation in the jungle? I don't know how I'll manage this year's VBS. It's the first time ever that I'll be working full time and heading straight from the office to the church to change into costume. I may go all week without a decent dinner!

Anyway, since I inexcusably missed last week's Miserable, Magical Monday, I figured I would give you a quick peek of what the plans are! It just might be the thing to get me to go from paralyzed excitement to packing and preparing.

FYI: the Google doc I created for this trip is titled Pinedas Take Costa Rica, because I thought it was so cool.

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ARENAL

We'll head out to the Volcan Arenal (that actually looks like what you picture a volcano looking like as a child) as soon as we land in Costa Rica. While we're there, Drea and I will take a dip in some hot springs, enjoy dinner at a soda and of course take a hike around the volcano. There's also a waterfall I'm eager to go back to about 20 minutes out of town. I might actually be adventurous this time and swim in the water!

MONTEVERDE

Sadly, we're practically passing through Monteverde. We'll stay at this awesome-looking hostel I found on airbnb. Seriously, that website is so cool. Although  I kind of wish I knew of more to do in the rainforest, we are doing a zip line course and a canopy bridge tour. I for one am praying that we get non-foggy weather on the day of our tours. My only other experience zip lining (in Monteverde) included lots and lots of fog. At one point I seriously felt like I was moving through empty space since all I could see anywhere around me was gray clouds. It was cool, but I'm itching to see the tree tops and wildlife. Also, this time I'll be prepared with my dad's waterproof camera so I won't be shy about snapping photos of my view. After lunch the plan is to explore a forest trail before heading out toward the beach!

MANUEL ANTONIO

The major attraction of Manuel Antonio is the national park, so that's where we'll start. We'll be up nice and early (hopefully) to increase our chances of seeing some wildlife and literally spend the rest of the day lounging on the beach. Before dark we'll head out for dinner and then watch the sunset on the public stretch of beach. The next day is basically wide open. We want to get in on this spice tour I read about on TripAdvisor and tracked down with my interweb skillz, but I haven't had any luck getting a reply from the people who run the farm. Andrea and I might just show up and use our curly-haired, mistaken-for-twins charm to do the tour without a reservation. Honestly, who could say no to this?

PUERTO VIEJO

Puerto Viejo is the only place I spent more than one weekend in (I spent two separate weekends there) when I studied abroad. I loved the relaxed vibes and riding a janky rented beach cruiser uphill in the pouring rain (I'll have to tell that story sometime). Despite spending more time there than other places, I completely missed out on the various rescue centers. I'm not making that mistake again, so Andrea and I are definitely visiting the Jaguar Rescue Center and might even make the drive to the Sloth Rescue Center. We're both animal lovers at heart so I'm seizing this chance to get my naturalist fix. I liked the souvenir shopping in PV and since this is the last stop of our trip before heading to the capital, I see no harm in beginning the stockpile of souvenirs.

SAN JOSE

I couldn't be my sister's tour guide without taking her to the capital city. neither one of us are interested in eating our way around the country, but we'll probably pick up a lunch at either the Mercado Central or Pollo Campero, a childhood favorite from the small amount of time we spent in El Salvador. We'll squeeze in some souvenir shopping at the Mercado Artisenal and grab coffee at the Teatro Nacional, which, fun fact, is a replica of the Opera House in Paris. I also have to take her to get either some Pops ice cream or a Trit (another ice cream treat) because they were central to my Costa Rican dessert experience. The plans for dinner are up in the air; I'd like to swing by Zapote and see my host mom and old stomping grounds, but I don't know if I'll be competent enough to drive the tricky and scary streets of San Jose. Either way, we're planning on staying with a family friend who lives a bit outside of the city.

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SARCHI or CARTAGO

The last destination on the list is a simple day trip to either the rural cultural area of Sarchi, where they famously paint the oxcarts all kinds of gorgeous colors and patterns, or the Cartago ruins, another thing that was maybe half an hour's bus ride away from me the entire time I lived in CR but never went to see. After a few hours we'll head out to the airport to check in for our flight home. 

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Since it's Drea's first time in the country and since I only got to spend a tiny amount of time in these places, we're sticking to the beaten path this go around. Maybe in the future we'll snob up and spend the whole trip getting to know one place. But for this time around, I think a taste of everything Costa Rica has to offer suits us better than one giant meal.

♥ A