So farExploring a new country with an energetic, strong willed child is fun, exciting and oh so stressful at timesthe way I do it at least!!
I like to go with the flow and live locally. This makes planning hard!! So I chose to do almost no research, book 2 nights on a beach on the Pacific coast of CR and see what happened next!! Was told it was family friendly and a single friend I meet every year in India was supposed to meet me the day I arrived. Turns out she didnt make the 8 hour journey in one day and instead arrived 3 days later due to travellers diarrhea attacks!!
We had arrived at 11 and ran straight to the ocean!! So by 2pm it was HOT! It just to Indian heat. We only made it to 1 spot, that had odd nights Available here and there over the next weeks, before stopping to play with some new friends. He found 6 year
old twins, with a cool Indonesia mom, who we ended up hanging with our first few days. Took the pressure off me to entertain him, since they had just as much energy as he does!! Turns out traveling to CR is so easy and quick, we had no jet lag, and could jump right into long beach days!!
After checking out one more spot, I joined a local fb group and quickly found our home. So about 24 hours of stress was all that came from my limited research and it brought us to the perfect first home in CR. It was 1 km down the beach from the touristy hotel/restaurant strip of this tiny beach town. So we were in a local fishing village with a few foreigners renting like us but mostly local families. Taylor played with kids who spoke no English but understood the universal language of tag youre it! And here and there hes picked up some Spanish. Our landlady had taken in her niece with 2 young kids so taylor has built in friends. And there were constantly other family members visiting. Kids are just amazing and friendly.
go go and it kind of made us both need more. Took us a week to relax and by week 3 we were both in slow mode, like everyone else!
I loved seeing how the locals here loved their town. They chatted with their neighbours, kids ran from one house to the other and they frequented the beach as often as possible. Having bbqs and get together a, blending with tourists. I didnt feel like a foreigner taking advantage of the land when the locals were too busy with their lives to enjoy it, the way I do in India. I dont think I ever saw my local Goan friends visit the beach or take a boat ride.
Which brings me to our insane boat ride. We grabbed a small boat, with about 10 others and bounces through the ocean until we found dolphins. Taylor and I were first to hop on the bow and watch the dolphins chase the boat. Right below our feet, were dolphins jumping and playing in the wake. It was incredible to see them and playful, just our of reach of our toes. But of course it made nauseous so
I lay down the entire ride back and luckily taylor feel asleep on me! So when we stopped to snorkel just before the shore I jumped off immediately, to avoid being in a rocking anchored boat on the ocean. Taylor impressively dove, head first, off the boat. And for those who know him, you know jumping off a boat into deep water is not his thing!! So we snorkelled and saw almost no fish but had fun, until the waves made me vomit in the water, as I was floating. That was a first for me!!!! I assumed being in the water was harmless! Oops
It gave us the chance to stay the day on that beautiful and empty beach, since I wasnt risking getting back into the van to go home until the nausea was gone!
Late at night I heard the waves crashing, despite being a block away from the beach. The 2 nights we stayed in a hostel at the busy beach, all I heard was music and loud voices. So this place was great.
