Finally, things are going pretty much according to plan. All eight of us made it to MIA in two vehicles, our Kia and an Uber, got through security precisely per plan. We Ricks have a thing about schedules, sometimes, and it’s nice when all the cells in the spreadsheet get checked off in an orderly fashion.

The flight to Liberia, Costa Rica was smooth, no delays and our luggage made it. Costa Rican customs involves not only presenting one’s passport but providing proof that lodging has been reserved and that a return flight has been booked. Coming to Costa Rica and living on the beach for an indeterminate period of time is frowned upon, I guess.

Our limo ride was at the curb waiting for us. The driver was helpful, friendly, courteous and a safe driver too. A little more than an hour was required to get to our house in Tamarindo. The countryside through which we drove was rural, and it was fun to watch Griffin react to his first exposure to a foreign country. Many of the houses and schools were modest and far different from those in Massachusetts that is his normal stomping grounds.

Our house – Casa Crusero Verde (it shows up on Google maps, if you’re interested) – has four bedrooms, a large kitchen with a bar that seats 10, a large family/living room complete with a pool table and a nice open air sitting area on the top deck. And, of course, the swimming pool. We all fit, although Carter and Reagan, taking one for the team, are time sharing one bedroom, with each spending half time on a living room couch. Rebecca, Esme and Griffin have one upstairs bedroom, Jeff the basement bedroom and Judy and I the other upstairs bedroom.

One interesting feature is that all four bedrooms have baths that are totally outdoors. Private, yes and fully equipped, but Griffin found a frog in his bathroom sink this morning. We were told to lock the bathroom door since an intruder could, in theory, gain access to the house through a bathroom. The house is in a gated community so intrusion is not likely but nonetheless, it’s a bit disconcerting to have to wrestle with a lock and key in the middle of the night.

Shortly after we arrived our two golf carts showed up. I signed our lives away and now we have two vehicles to carry us to and from town, a half mile or more to most spots. Walkable, yes, but the roads are dusty and the temperatures in the high 80s.

Getting acquainted with a new town is always the first order of business, no matter where you travel. Tamarindo was no different. Sure, we’ve all driven golf carts a bunch, but driving in heavy, albeit slow traffic is different. Finding our way to a place for lunch another challenge. Parking is not abundant in this the high season. But we were successful and even managed a grocery store stop to stock the larder before returning home. Lunch was at an outdoor bar and burger joint on the beach and while the service was slow the food was adequate and we could finally relax that most of this trip’s unknowns were behind us.

Our hostess, Claudia, cooked dinner for us, according to plan. She and her assistant prepared a nice mahi-mahi dinner for the four fish lovers in our group and beef tacos for Rebecca, Carter, Esme and Griffin who don’t like to get even close to an unopened can of tuna fish. It was nice to kick back, have a margarita or two and relax from the stress of the trip.

We all turned in at eight, believe it or not.

I’ve been brushing up on my Spanish, which needs a lot of brushing, believe you me. But interestingly, three of the first three people we’ve been in contact with speak French as their first language. Claudia is originally from Montreal. The golf cart guy spoke English with a strong French accent. And then there was the lady I chatted with at the bar at lunch time. She was French-speaking Canadian too.

Now before you get the wrong idea, it was not my plan to ditch Judy after 50 years and take up with some random woman at a Tamarindo bar. What happened was that the bar TV was showing football highlights. Griffin ponied up to the bar, got himself a glass of water, and watched the show while everyone else in our family sat at a table across the way. I, the caring grandfather that I am, sacrificed and joined him at the bar for an Imperial beer, the national drink of Costa Rica.

The lady at the next bar stool gave me her life story. She’s an English teacher at a college in Sudbury, Ontario and was adopted into a French-speaking family. This is her 34^th trip to Costa Rica, “My credit card has a huge balance but Costa Rica is the place I love.” She met and befriended a couple in her Sudbury neighborhood. The man, she learned three years later, is her uncle, her deceased father’s brother. I could go on, but you get the drift of our conversation.

So now it’s Tuesday and time for a beach day.

We started with breakfast, mostly consisting of pastries and smoothies that Rebecca, Griffin, Esme and I procured in an early morning run into town. Then, we sat around the pool and opened Christmas presents and the usual array of calendars, thereby completing this year’s calendar exercise, the 22^nd year by the way. We did 35 unique calendars with pictures of family and friends taken over the past year and printed a total of 78 calendars.

Then, we hopped on the golf carts and headed into town and the beach. Main Street Tamarindo fronts the beach and it’s a beach town just like you find in Maine, Florida and probably everywhere that one of the seven seas hits land. But it’s clean, the people so far are quite friendly and the vibe is good.

At the beach we found one guy who rented us a tent-like sun shade and eight lounge chairs. Another guy rented us two surf boards and two boogie boards. A third guy brought us drinks and ran a tab all day long. They don’t give this stuff away and at lunch time Carter, Griffin and I made a run home to get more cash. Lunch, at another surf-side restaurant, took credit cards, thank goodness.

So we had a beach day. Esme and Reagan surfed, Carter, Griffin, Rebecca, Jeff and I did the boogie boarded the waves while Nana held down the fort. We were in and out of the water until 4 PM or so. The waves were good sized, the temperature was in the upper 80s and there was a nice breeze blowing so it wasn’t oppressively hot.

We loaded up the carts and headed home with one crew stopping for more groceries. Jeff whipped up some dip for the chips and made us some great margaritas/lemonade. Some of us took a dip in the pool. Dinner was pizza delivered by a local pizza shop recommended by Claudia.

Dishes were done and a final game of cards played (Griffin won for a second night in a row) by 9 PM.