Days 14 & 15: Final days in Costa Rica

Our last morning in Sámara we went dolphin watching. We trolled around in large swells for about 45 minutes before we found them. There were mom's and babies, big ones jumping all the way up in the air, and they even swam alongside the boat and jumped as we moved with them. They were so beautiful! The morning weather was perfect too - it was just after 7am and the sun was just coming up and the mist was burning off, so pretty looking back at the bay.

After the dolphins, we trolled around a bit with the fishing poles out, and low and behold we hooked something! I got to do the honors of reeling it in. They set the pole on my lap and I had to reel it in by hand as they gassed the boat to make sure to keep enough tension. It felt like forever, but I'm sure it was less than 5 minutes before I reeled it all the way in (arms straining and panting a bit) and up came a yellow fin tuna! Of course, the boat owner got to keep it, but it was pretty cool to reel in my first ocean fish!

After a long and bumpy 4 hour ride back to Sámara, we arrived at the most american hotel of our entire trip. Big and roomy with bright lights and modern facilities, a restaurant with such american dishes (mom ordered a bbq hamburger with onion ring, I went for my last bit of fresh Costa Rican fruit with a fruit plate and stole a few bites of mom's burger). I went and got my first ever pedicure done. I asked for just a pedicure, but surprise, all the fancy things they were doing was actually the spa treatment so they charged me 3x as much ($40 instead of $16)! I did enjoy the lotions, massage chair, foot spa, being waited on with food and drink, etc though.... not gonna complain about being pampered :)

The next morning I woke up to a great breakfast of pancakes where bananas had been in the mix (amazing), my final plate of rice and beans for breakfast, and some eggs. mmmm I'm still thinking of those pancakes! Then got on my 12 hour flight back to Washington DC.

Now I'm in DC, all settled at Dima's tango house hanging out with Jamaal. Got to go dancing for the first time in nearly 6 weeks (yay! I didn't forget how to dance!) and volunteer with a teenager's summer camp where they are teaching tango to some rebellious kids, but I actually had a great time. Hung out with some high school friends I hadn't seen in 6 years today and checked out the monuments (tourist day: check). Next, either Sunday or Monday I head back to NY for 6 weeks of dancing and hanging at Robin's before moving on to Argentina.

Check back in in a few weeks!