Day 26: We're still leaving, no matter how hard you try.

Ever since we’ve put down our deposit on our new place, it’s as if Parrita is doing its best to change our minds with beautiful weather, awesome sunsets, and empty beaches for us to enjoy all by ourselves. As long as the weather permits, we’ll take advantage of Parrita’s generosity. We’ve vowed to not walk and not ride bikes or buses anywhere until Wednesday when we pick up a rental car for our move. I know I’ve talked a good amount of crap about our current location but I can’t stress the beauty of the beach and how spoiled we are by it being a coconut’s throw from our front door. I’m doubtful this will be something we can experience on a daily basis when we return home, so forget the power outages, the earthquakes, the strange noises, the unwelcomed creatures, the endless walks and sore bike rides… we’re enjoying the beach. There’s no effort needed to do that.

There have only been about three days of the almost one month that we have lived here that we’ve actually just laid on the beach. We’ve run on the beach, we’ve taken photos of the beach and we’ve watched the sun rise and set on the beach but we haven’t treated this beach the same as we would at home by lying in the sand with a good book, some tunes and lots of sunscreen – which is what we decided to do today. We were the only ones with the exception of the crabs that were curious and courageous enough to leave their holes and tiptoe around us. I always looked at them as the intruders, but clearly, we’re in their territory. That point was clear today when Mike approached a bright orange guy a little smaller than my hand and too far from his home base to run. Not sure if he would’ve though…instead of trying to dive into the next open hole, he prepared for battle. I found it admirable that this crab that could have easily been squashed by Mike (who would never do that even if he was quick enough to catch it) stood like a statue, stared him down and then lifted his two front claws like Mr. Miyagi taught him some moves. We let him think he won and walked away to find some more sand dollars the size of my hand. I have about twenty so far and zero clue of what I’m going to do with them. But I like ‘em.

Parrita threw in the best sunset that we’ve seen yet as a last ditch effort. The clouds have always been in the way and only allowed for a red setting sun to peek out at best. Today the sky was painted pinks and light blues and tints of orange. Whichever way you looked, you saw a different pastel shade. It was enough to make us feel a little bad for making this place out to suck because it really doesn’t. It’s location for someone without wheels does. The house guests and uncomfortable furniture does. But everything else is just as amazing as the rest of the Costa Rica I’ve heard about.