8 Minute Memoir, Day 4: Adventure

Our first international adventure together.  After a layover, we landed in San Jose, Costa Rica.  We couldn't even have begun to fathom the week that lay ahead of us.  And it was an adventure right from the very beginning... with the clerk at the rental car place, giving us directions to our beach town direction using landmarks and barely any road names.  We, of course, made it to our destination, but even then I was thrilled and overwhelmed with the buoyancy of adventure and flight.

Sunrise and sunset, low tide and high tide.  Letting the ocean waves take us.  Wandering around Jaco and exploring nearby beach towns.  Late night bar trips and lots of Imperial in our lodgings for the week.  The beach, my god, so beautiful...  and one afternoon, napping in our room to the sounds of a torrential downpour outside.  Our effervescent, firecracker of a dear friend, Jackie, showing us around and showering us with her love.  This was the farthest I had ever traveled from my home but in a way, I felt more comfortable than I could put into words.

I remember a night cooking dinner in our hostel, beers on the porch, the sounds of the Pacific crashing onto the shore.  I remember how peaceful it was down there, how magical it was to spend time on the beach, to relax and get lost in a foreign country.  That week we spent in Costa Rica in March 2012 was and is truly one of my very favorite adventures.  It changed me in profound ways and I am so grateful to have had the experience.  Of all the places I've ever been to, Costa Rica is the one I want to go back to the most.  If I'm lucky, we'll get the chance to return... because I've been longing for those ocean waves, those beaches, those tropical jungles, since we boarded the plane to come home.

Pura vida, indeed!