April 21 – 24

So what does your perfect beach look like? A crescent bay with wide flat sand? Warm, gentle waves that occasionally ramp it up for a bit of fun? Backed by rainforest where howler monkeys play? Maybe a few nice restaurants near by? Shady camping? What about throwing in a few wild horses and their colts that occasionally make their way past your camp along the sand?

We saw these and other horses several times over our stay when they visited the beach.

We stayed four nights at Camping Los Cocos in Samara and had a hard time leaving. It was all of the above and more. Apparently, the entire Nicoya Peninsula is one of five “Blue Zones” in the world, a term coined by National Geographic. A Blue Zone is an area with a high concentration of people over the age of 100, as well as an area where people largely do not suffer from age related diseases such as heart disease, obesity, cancer and diabetes. So paradise….yup, pretty much.

AND…we took our first ever surfing lesson. If I had told my twenty year old self that I would be learning how to surf in my early fifties, I wouldn’t have believed me. We took a one and a half hour lesson, both managing to ride the board to shore a few times, then played in the waves for about another hour. Derek went out again later that day but I was too sore…my shoulders in particular. (The sore abs didn’t hurt until the next day. It’s amazing what a good workout surfing is!)

Piper’s hair goes all crimpy after it has been wet.

Derek getting ready to hit the waves again.

The waves can look pretty big when you are out there.

Okay, riding a small wave to shore…

Not all rides go as planned…..

No Dereks were harmed in the making of this film…..

We walked the beach, had nice dinners out, and met a lot of really nice people. We had planned on staying a few more days to take advantage of the free surfboard rental that was included in the cost of our lessons, but I had my first real sunburn of the trip and we decided that a day out of the sun driving was a good idea. And so, we packed up, said goodbye to some new friends, and left this little piece of paradise. Samara is highly recommended.