life on the rich coast

this is a picture-heavy post, but the photos recapture our wonderful costa rica vacation far better than i could!

playa guiones was good to us!

heath & brandon evaluating high tide.

sunset surfing.

low tide was great for playing in the water
without getting pummeled. 

overall, the bay was pretty open, with a sandy floor.
just to the north there was a rocky point that created cool breaks.

welcome shade on an otherwise exposed & sunny beach.

brandon was relentless with surfing morning, noon, & night.

i convinced him to pack it in & take me to dinner though.

this was day three & my tan was progressing quickly!

heath, emily, me, brandon enjoying a delicious fresh fish meal.

emily & i.
i stood downhill to compensate for our 8" height difference.

gotta get out past the first waves to catch one.

unfortunately i struggled to stand up on the board
as easily as everyone else in our group.
although i have successfully surfed before,
i have to relearn every time.
as you can tell by my face here, i was a little frustrated.

this happened a lot.
glad brandon captured it, but it is too bad he didn't capture when i did stand. 

i decided that trying to surf was cramping my goal of relaxation.
so after a couple of days of surfing,  i let it go & opted to play in the water,
explore the tide pools, & enjoy the scenery.
far more suited to my vacation needs. 

brandon loved every second he had on the water though.

here he is looking like an endless summer promo.

oh brandon, why must you immediately be good at every athletic task you ever try?

i think i need to show this picture to the folks that say we look like brother & sister.

gorgeous flowers everywhere.

really, everywhere.

this was the road through our part of "town."

a sandy sunset picture.

the breathtaking sunset was competing with the excruciating sandflies.

our stay at kaya sol was fantastic. we would definitely go back!

surf life.

this was our last day in playa guiones & the humidity was pretty intense.
brandon needed a bit of space to keep himself sane.

on our drive from guiones to samara, we had a little river to ford.

the palm-lined beaches of samara.

another fantastic sunset

our trip turned out to include a lot more surfing that i had envisioned. i still got to do all the things i wanted though: yoga, beachcombing, slow walks through lush forests, enjoying the cool calm waters of the pool, and savoring some great sunsets.