Surfin’ Costa Rica

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that it has been over six months since I posted. That has the dubious honour of being a record for me since I started blogging over four years ago. I’ve been away from this space for many reasons – which I won’t go into here!! Suffice to say that as our Costa Rican adventure drew near, I knew it was now or never. If a dream holiday in a stunning destination couldn’t spur me into action then I think all would have been lost for onthecroadagain. The messages I also received, politely asking just what in the hell had happened to the Croad family, were also a much needed kick in the pants. So here we are – surfin’ Costa Rica!

We are here in Costa Rica for Christmas largely because of a set of teeth – Richard’s to be precise. He was in great need of some pretty major dental work but the quote given to him by a dental group in Winchester was…to put it politely…somewhat on the high side. Richard was not impressed when the dentist quipped, “hey, it’s only a new car right?”.

Being the resourceful chap he is, Richard was soon furiously researching other options and lo and behold, it transpires that Costa Rica is a great place to go if one is in the mood for a spot of dental tourism. I have to admit to experiencing some trepidation at the thought of a) Richard heading off to a tiny central American nation to have his mouth transformed and b) a significant change in the way he looked. My only experience of anyone having major dental changes was when my Dad (and I’m sure he won’t mind me mentioning this – right JBG??) had a new top plate thingy put in and it took everyone months to get used to the dazzling white teeth that emerged every time he opened his mouth.

When the Costa Rican quote came in at a significantly cheaper rate – second hand Ford focus anyone? – the deal was sealed. In late June, Richard made his first trip down here, and it was anything but a tropical vacation with a bit of time in the dentist’s office on the side. The phone calls home were miserable, chronicling nine hour stints in the dentist’s chair, needles, crowns, implants….ugh. But by the end of the week, Richard had endured all the prep work and had made a firm friend in Guillermo – a taxi driver who helped endear him to the seemingly haphazard Tico lifestyle in the mixed bag metropolis that is San Jose.

Richard needed about six months before his return trip to complete all the work, and as that coincided with late December, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and make his return to Costa Rica a bit of a family adventure. Richard went on ahead of us to get the final work done on his chompers and on Friday the girls and I flew down to join him. (And just in case you are wondering he looks just like the same…ahem…old Richard…and he’s been thrilled with the overall result.)

We stepped out into the gloriously warm city of San Jose late on Friday afternoon and rendezvoused with Richard in the early evening, after he got the sign off from the head honcho at the dentist. Saturday morning was spent hunting down a few necessities – flip flops and sunscreen – then we hopped in our car and began the drive to Dominical. On our way there we had our first encounter with some of the abundant Costa Rican wildlife. We made a stop at a bridge which crosses over the Tarcoles river. There were souvenir stalls set up and lines of people making there way to the middle of the bridge, cameras in hand. As we passed one of the stalls we got an inkling of what we were in for…

We followed the lines of people and once at the middle of the bridge, leaned carefully over. We were met with this sight…

On our arrival in Dominical we met up with Neil, originally from London but an avid surfer, hence his relocation to Costa Rica. We followed his car to the start of a very rough and steep looking dirt track, at which Neil let out a cry of “yee hah!” and we began our ascent to Gorde Vista, our home for the next week.

After much admiring of the house and garden, swimming, unpacking, swimming, grabbing a few groceries, swimming, popping out for a quick bite at a local seafood restaurant and more…you guessed it…swimming…it was time to hit the hay. We had to be up bright and early for the first of our adventures – surfing lessons for the girls at Dominical beach.

Monday morning was a scorcher. We met up with Steven – authentic Californian surfer dude – and the girls began learning the key steps to hanging ten…

After all that excitement and action we spent the afternoon at home watching the monkeys playing in the trees next to our house…

and getting acquainted with some of our other neighbours…

Right – my word count tells me I have written over one thousand words which means this is in danger of resembling a university essay. We have had another action packed and animal filled day today…about which I will attempt to write after tomorrow’s action packed day. I suspect I will need another vacation to recover from this one!