33. Final Days in Costa Rica

As often happens when you are in a place for a long time, the departure date appears suddenly on the horizon and all those things you meant to do are now unlikely.  I have been lucky though as I had ticked off most of my list.  Ziplining, Drake Bay, The Galapagos, another yoga retreat and plenty of yoga classes, personal training, plenty of reading.  I probably hadnt done enough study as I would have liked (or more like should have).  All that I really wanted to do was have another sunset happy hour and tapas at Gaia.  In particular the Gaia special martini had to be tried.   This is a beautiful hotel with a carpark at the bottom from which you are zoomed up the steep driveway to the restaurant in a golf buggy.  Quite the ride back down after a couple of the cocktails!  Another sunset opportunity was at Ronnies, another popular viewing spot reknown for its jugs of margharitas, oh and the spectacular view of course!   I also wanted to do the sunset sail one more time.  As I had been out of action for 10 days I also wanted to do some personal training and make sure I spent plenty of time down at the beach.  And I wanted to visit my friend Chris in Jaco.

Sunset at Ronnies

I was lucky to have gotten all these things done!  I booked in for 7 personal training sessions in 8 days.  Happy hour at Gaia was shared with Holly and Silvia.  The Gaia special martini was delicious, along with the seared tuna tapas...yum!  I had dinner at Ronnies with my personal trainer and yoga mentor Lorraine.  As usual the sunset was spectacular and the food very good.  As Lorraine doesnt drink alcohol, I didnt attempt a jug of margharita by myself.  Some may find that surprising but I had been sick recently remember!!  I visited Chris and met his new girlfriend Yamit.  We had lunch.  He is so happy, it is really cute!The only bummer of the day was me leaving my favorite sarong on the bus...sitting on it so I didnt stick to the vinyl seat and just left it behind...doh!  Holly, Silvia and I watched the weather and picked a fantastic day for our last Sunset Sail.  

During the week before, while I was still recovering, we had the first real rain that I had experienced in Costa Rica.  And boy, does it rain.  I could not hear the TV or music no matter how loud I put the volume.  Holly had some sand delivered for her garden which was sitting in the driveway.  The rain was so heavy I was worried the pool was going to flood, then I noticed the water coming in the back balcony.  On investigation I noticed that the sand was blocking the drain in the driveway causing the water to flow into the balcony.  It didnt look like the rain would stop and it was quickly heading for the french doors into the house...eek!  So I was going to get a chance to try the new raincoat that I had lugged over to Costa Rica.  So in shorts and raincoat I headed outside into the warm rain and cleared the drain which fixed the problem.  It didnt take long but I was completely soaked.  Probably would have been better in a pair of bathers but the raincoat does work!   I was still worried about the pool overflowing and I had no idea what to do about that but somehow it rose to the top but didnt overflow.

All too soon Thursday came around and I had to be packed and ready to catch a flight to San Jose for the night then an early flight the next day to Denver.  Holly and I had lunch at El Avion, a restaurant that is constructed around an old Fairchild C-123 aircraft supposedly purchased from profits from Regan's Contras scandal in the 1980s.  It had always intrigued me and looked a little corny so I think it was the perfect place to have my final lunch there.  

Sadly I said goodbye to Holly and took my last small aircraft flight over Costa Rica.  I stayed at my usual hotel at the airport, but sadly, no offers of wine this time! I felt earlier that I would probably never be back to Costa Rica, but as I spent time reflecting on my experiences there and the lifestyle on the beach, there is a chance I may return...who knows what the future holds.

The next morning I caught my flight to Denver where I had arranged to stop for the weekend and visit a friend I had met at the Awaken the Wild Woman retreat in Dominical.