Wed., Jan. 16 - Day 9

Today was a great last full day in Costa Rica.  We started out by heading to the public beach.  Jennifer and I planned on finishing our surfing lesson, but there ended up being three other people who wanted to do it, so we ended up taking a an entirely new lesson.  It was a good review of the fundamentals.  The water conditions were completely different today.  First of all, it was the morning and the tide was coming in, so there were more waves and bigger waves.  There were also a lot of rip currents, which I had never really seen first-hand.  It's interesting because it really does look like a river of water going out to sea.  We had to move around a little bit to avoid the rip currents.  I was glad our instructors know exactly what to look for, because I would have been clueless!  The owner of the surf school, Dante, was also keeping his eye out for them and would whistle to us to move if we were close to one.  The surfing was awesome!  I got up many times, and I think I did quite well for my second day of surfing.  I'm so glad that I can now say that I've surfed. :)

When we were done surfing we took some great pictures, and then Ariel and Michael gave us some water and cut up watermelon for us.  So refreshing!

Then we loaded up the bus and headed back to the hotel to quickly shower, change, pack and check out of the hotel  Then we hit the road towards San José.  Along the way we saw some red macaws eating in an almond tree and stopped at the "crocodile bridge" to see the crocodiles.  It surprised me that there are cattle grazing in a field right next to the river with no fence or anything, but they must be safe.

We are now back in San José at the same hotel we stayed in as the first night, the Country Inn & Suites.  For supper we walked to the nearby mall and gave the students some time just to shop and eat where they wanted to.  It was very relaxing.  Mrs. Petty and I each had a slice of pizza from Pizza Hut (very American) and a milkshake from "Pops Helados" ("Pops Ice cream" - very Costa Rican).  Now I'm sitting by the pool on a beautiful 70ish-degree evening writing my blog.  I hate to say it but I'm actually getting chilly with the breeze right now.  I can't imagine how it's going to feel to get back into Iowa winter weather tomorrow night.

We get to sleep in a little in the morning - we're eating breakfast at 9:00 and are leaving for the airport at 10:30.  We fly out at 1:50 and are scheduled to arrive in Minneapolis at 10:00 after a layover in Miami.  It sounds like the weather is going to be not very good tomorrow night, which could be interesting.  We'll use common sense and are very glad we have good drivers driving us home.

This has been an awesome trip, but I'm glad to be heading home.  I can't wait to see Josh and the kids!