Costa Rica Day 6 - Beach Day

It is our last full vacation day, so even though I was sorely tempted to book a jungle cruise to get that sloth sighting, Ian convinced me that we would be better off just having a rest day and leaving the sloths for the return trip. The fact that the hotel offered a free coffee demonstration/tasting and kayak rentals also helped. 😊

No photos of the kayaks, we were scared we'd flip the kayaks and lose the phones. At least I was. My track record with water boats isn't the best.  Also, it was SUPER hot, so even though we were allowed to keep the kayaks for an hour, I'm pretty sure we were out and back within 15 min or so. 

No worries -- time for our coffee tasting anyhow! Ian was super psyched. Doesn't he look super psyched?

Our tasting included three different coffee varietals prepared in three different ways. As a non-coffee drinker, I got a sense of how folks who don't like wine must feel at wine tastings. After two sips of the first one I was feeling a bit woozy!

Here is the classic "sock" Costa Rican preparation method. (I bought one of these to take home because it seemed pretty fast. Not quite Keurig fast but it must taste better, right?). It was actually invented by the Spanish soldiers but has become popularized by Costa Ricans. 

Here's the second Japanese/German siphon method. Again, apparently invited by the Germans but popularized in Japan. It seemed way too involved/scientific for everyday coffee, but certainly was cool to watch. 

More coffee in an hour than I've had all year probably! 

Fitting that this is basically the only day we are fully catching the sunset. Sunsetting the trip. 😢

Have to say we've been to better beaches elsewhere, at least from the "palm trees, blue water, white sand" perspective, but this was still a lovely end to the vacation!

There was actually a wedding happening at the resort tonight, which meant we got to enjoy some tasteful guitar covers (for those who were at our wedding, Ian commented "MUCH better than DJ Redbeard") as we lounged through the sunset. 

And after the sun fully set, we continued the lounging indoors. Hammocks were big in Costa Rica. I realized I prefer the ones that are hooked to trees. Less swaying. Ian isn't so picky. 

And for the last meal, we went off in search of more steak. Lots of folks had warned us that the food in Costa Rica was decent, but not amazing and to keep our expectations low. I think compared to say, Italy or China, that was accurate, but I think we ate just as well as did in say, Mexico, Australia, Sri Lanka, etc. We had a lot of cerviche and steak -- tonight is no exception: Peninsula CR Steak & Seafood. 

Fun fact: this is the first time I've had a restaurant charge a corkage fee literally for uncorking. He said if we brought the bottle pre-opened, no fee.  Done! We also discovered on this trip that South American cabs are much more mellow than their Napa counterparts and also, surprisingly, that Chilean Malbecs are more complex than their Argentinian counterparts! (Well, at least the two we tried). 

And with that, back to pack our bags...back home tomorrow! 😭