Halloween
and the season of change make for my favorite time of year. A landscape full of
oranges and reds, pumpkins for carving, apples for picking, cooler days and the
smell of wood-burning stoves. And Halloween… whoa! I mean, scary movies on the
tele, people in costumes, parties, trick or treating and candy… the BEST!
Alas,
here I am in Costa Rica where there may be some costumes for the American
holiday, but certainly no changing leaves or a television to watch scary
movies. And so we improvise! My Halloween in Manuel Antonio was different, no
doubt, but geez was it awesome. Mike and I decided to rent a surfboard for the
day ($10 total from 9am to 5pm), and took turns braving the waves. Having
surfed before, Mike was a pretty good instructor and I actually got to standing
on that board a couple of times! We spent a long day on the beach surfing,
soaking up sun and playing in the sand. In OCTOBER!
Late
afternoon we went back to our hostel, cleaned up a bit and headed back down to
town. At the grocery store we bought some snacks and made our way to the beach
to enjoy a sunset over the pacific. Pinks, blues and oranges filled the sky as
the sun slowly dipped into the ocean. Conversation was light as we all marveled
at this spectacular event that happens daily, yet still inspires so much wonder
and emotion.
After
a quick dinner, stop number four at the grocery in one day (this time for
candy), we headed back to the hostel. In the room I share with Gabby and Meghan
(and Coral for one night), we all piled in and watched “Identity,” a psychological
thriller, on my computer. This was bought, along with 7 other movies on a
single DVD for the low-low price of $3. Certainly not the Halloween of years
gone by, but definitely one to remember.
