Ok so today was one of those days where everything was just perfect and it’s this sort of day where I think that I wish I could stay here forever. I often feel a little bit guilty that everybody else that I know won’t get to see and experience this sort of thing but as they say, life is what you make of it.

Today I decided to go to Carrillo, the next beach over to the south, everyone else said that you need to bike but “rubbish” I thought, I can walk it. So I left at about 11am and got there at 1pm (I think – I purposely didn’t take my watch). It was a nice beach, although not that different from Samara really. But I did find this guy selling drinks out of a little mobile trolley on the beach. In a cup he put crushed ice, then syrup, then milk powder, then more crushed ice, then more syrup, then condensed milk on top. It was quite possibly the best drink ever for the price (700 colones, about £1 or NZD $2.20). I was told later that there’s the same kind of stall in Samara. I have to find it!

Carrillo is 7 km from Samara, and my house is about 1 km from Samara in the opposite direction, so I must have walked at least 16 km today in the heat. I took four litres of water with me and drunk it all. Carrillo beach was nice as I mentioned but the town was not really walking distance from the beach as opposed to Samara where everything is in one convenient place. Plus, it was Sunday at 2pm and everything was closed. On the way back, I saw Tomas from the school in Carrillo, then about halfway back I saw Arthur and walked with him, and then as we neared the school we saw Claudia who is the other student in my class. I really realised today what a small place this is – it’s kind of good in a way.

We had a few drinks on the beach as usual, I got a Pina Colada, two B52s and an Imperial beer for the princely sum of 11,000 colones (£16.50) and made my way back home. At home since I was a little drunk my Spanish magically got better and I had a good conversation again with my host family.

Although unfortunately everything has its bad side, considering though the amount of food my host mum serves me at breakfast and at dinner, and the fact that I’m doing very little exercise because it’s just so hot, I feel like I’m going to return from Costa Rica 8 or 9 kgs heaver than when I got here. I hope that doesn’t happen.

I took a lot of photos of scenery but not a lot of photos yet of the town so I’ll take photos of the town tomorrow hopefully.

Oh and I heard from someone at the school that the little insects that have green lights attached to the end of them are called “lightning bugs” in the States, and they’re very common there. I also heard from my friend Katrina that they’re “Fireflies”, so you can take your pick! I think they’re cool.