Play dates with Monkeys, New Friends & Preparing to Leave our “Jungle House”

We are in the last few days at our “jungle house” near San Juanillo, Costa Rica. It is amazing to us how familiar our activities, and the area, have become. We love it and I feel like I want to stay longer. We are just starting to realize how much this community has to offer.

The 31 minute drive to the Nosara Supermarket (down from 38 since they filled in the potholes!), the extra 8 minutes to Playa (beach) Guiones for surf lessons, or heading to the little town of San Juanillo for some beach playtime or supplies at the mini-super have become part of our daily routines.

The river crossing that we waited at the first day until someone else crossed it to show us the path is now just a routine part of our daily commute.

The bumpy roads rattle us to our core, but even these are beginning to feel normal. However, I am guessing it takes a lot longer than a month to completely desensitize on this front. The first thing we noticed each time we drove to Liberia or San Jose was just how comfortable and quiet it was when we got onto the paved road.

We have met some wonderful people this month, each on their own journey and with unique perspectives on life. It is not lost on us how different these conversations likely are being as that they are happening on a Costa Rican beach at 9am on any given day of the week.

Yesterday we had one of these awesome families over to our house for a little play date. Their 4 year old is awesome and our two oldest, Scarlett and Nora, were almost competing to play with her. Possibly a bit of a reflection on the isolation of this month for our kids.

As we all sat around our pool we got a visit from the howler monkeys. The first view was from our pool deck and then just down the driveway. Here is a video and a few photos to give you a sense of a play date with monkeys 🐒. We loved the conversations with these new friends. The kids played in and around the pool and explored the (edge) of the jungle surrounding us. We will no doubt enjoy following each others paths in the future and there is every chance we will see them again someday!.

The reality of leaving this area in two days time is starting to come into focus. I am excited to go to La Fortuna which sits at the foot of the Arenal Volcano. The fact that it is a drive and not a flight makes the preparations easier and means we can enjoy Costa Rica for a few more weeks yet.

Note on the video - you can see Scarlett surf and then the monkeys in the first 60 seconds, the rest is just monkeys at play and the kids banter as they watched…