This was our last full day in Costa Rica and we all had that horrible ‘end of holiday’ feeling about us. We had fallen in love with Costa Rica. The sights, the sounds, the food and, more than anything, the people. Maybe it was that that gave us the gloomy mood or maybe the idea that we had to pack and face 16 hours of flying and 10 hours of driving ahead.
Pushing that to the back of our minds, we headed out for breakfast and made a return to the bread house. I picked the waffles with English sauce, just to get me in the mood for home but I have no idea where in England they had visited to find this sauce! I think it was maybe made with the raw sugar cane juice that we had tried the day before but it didn’t stop it being bloody lovely.
JP’s parents had invited us over to their house that evening for a family dinner and a farewell party. I didn’t want to arrive empty handed, they had been so kind to us in our time there, and so we decided that today would be a shopping day.
JP took us to the mall and we walked around shop after shop thinking of stuff that we could take home to loved ones and we picked up a few bits and bobs but nothing too exciting. As JP was without Natty to keep a check on him, he took advantage and we made our way to the mall’s food court.
I swear to god JP ordered a family meal for four and set about it on his own! He soon gave up and boy child helped him along. The table looked like a student flat floor after a party by the time they admitted defeat.
Boy child then decided, on the way back to the car, that he would look at some watches in the Casio store. We joshed him that he only stuck around as one of the young lasses on the counter seemed to have fallen for him and couldn’t stop giggling at everything he said.
I think this played on his mind and he ended up getting a watch. We continued with our ribbing as we walked back to the car and he was getting wound up….he then exploded when he realised that he had bought himself a watch that showed the days of the week on its face in Spanish!
We then went to a supermarket to pick up snacks for the journey, and some form of mad alcohol that they had seen on socials, 4Loko, that they wanted to try. The side effects of drinking caffeine infused mess as a dare would catch up with us later in the day.
Next we went into Cartago to pick up some flowers for the evening and take in the sights of the market. I was going to miss this place so much. The way of life and the pace of life was something that I could see myself becoming addicted to.
We made our way back home and I had energy to burn, more than likely from the sugar cane from yesterday, so I went for a quick run around the house. Like a clown, I missed a raised section of pavement and went arse over tit and landed on my palms and had some pretty deep scrapes.
Rather than stopping and checking for damage, I was terrified that someone would come out and laugh at the idiot English guy so I scuttled off as quickly as I could…..the only real damage being my pride. The good news was that I looked like I had stigmata and I hoped that that would get me bonus point at the parents’ house that evening!
We showered and got ourselves ready for the evening, but boy child wasn’t feeling well at all. He made the short walk around to JP’s parents’ home but he pulled me to one side and said that he wouldn’t be able to make the meal without being sick or worse.
I didn’t have too much sympathy given the huge amount of chicken he had eaten and the horrific alcohol that he had chased it down with but what can you do other than pray that he wouldn’t get worse and not be able to travel home the next morning. JP’s parents were very worried and offered all sorts of remedies and rubs to make him better.
He walked home and left us behind……more food for us!
There was a houseful of people, with JP’s brother and his wife joining us, and it was a lovely evening. We sat in the lovely little enclosed garden where there was a TV hung on the wall and we watched ‘British’ videos on YouTube and talked about their times in the UK. They again expressed their amazement that we had had such an amazing time and loved Costa Rica as much as we were saying we did.
We ate bread, we had an amazing meat stew and the food and drink just kept coming. I was worried that we might have to book me an extra-large seat on the plane the next day! We were surrounded by love, laughter, food, drink and really good friends….the perfect ending to a perfect trip.
Pura Vida.
Itchy Feet and Titchy Feet 