Weddings, Parties and Farewell Scorpion Stings

Another beautiful sunset in Costa Rica

Today was a BIG day for the North Welsh contingent.  Ben and Ann, Rich and Chrissie were to be married at around 5pm on the beach and though things had been fairly relaxed until that point, you could tell there were a few nerves in the air.  Julia and I had a nice relaxed morning, then headed out for a surf lesson with Jim.  He had told us the learning curve and we were excited to keep getting better under his expert tutelage.  Jim is a very amiable guy around the hotel and actually quite reserved.  Put him in the surf and the professional comes out in him - let's just say if you don't follow instructions to the letter he'll let you know how strongly he feels about doing things right.

What can I say?

All that of course is wonderful though - as you can see from some of the photos here, by the end of the trip we'd managed to catch our own waves, progressed (or is it regressed?) to a smaller and lighter board and even started to turn into waves as we rode them.  We weren't about to challenge Kelly Slater yet, but clearly it makes a huge difference to your enjoyment when you can actually "pop up" and catch that wave!

Half way through the lesson though I realised that I had a kindred spirit in Jim, as he turned to us and told us with an apologetic look on his face that he had lost his car keys!  Luckily, the lovely Austrian couple from across the way at the hotel were surfing on their own next to us and leant him their car to get the spare set.  So at the end of the lesson Jim drove us to Sandy Lane (home of the Welsh) and then sorted himself out.

We had dropped off the bags earlier (thank goodness!) and the house had been empty.  Now it was different.  A proper hive of activity.  Jenn and Clare were running around helping the brides and Gareth was helping them set the place up to look just beautiful for the wedding.  Our wedding was hard enough to manage from a foreign country, yet we had Julia's family helping us.  This bunch were on the other side of the world and on their own and it still looked lovely and personal.

Lovely :)

Being the helpful lad that I am, I arranged with Jim to take us boys into town for a few drinks and a bite to eat...you know....get them out from under the girls' feet whilst Julia prepared them for their new husbands.  So off we went to enjoy some surprisingly good pizza and a couple of beers by the beach.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Julia was toiling away to deliver the goods for a couple of ladies who, it turned out, loved the end product.  Wunderbar, as they say in Paris!

By the time we got back, the photographer was in full flow and the celebrant had turned up (he had married Pink in Santa Teresa apparently....I asked if she had worn white.....he didn't think that was funny).  Then, when Julia was done and with 30 minutes to spare we headed off for a stroll down the beach back home.  The stroll turned into a bit of a trek as the distance proved to be deceptively longer than we had expected!

As always the wives are on top in this relationship!

We were to cook for ze Austrians and so TASTE23 Santa Teresa Edition fired into action.  On the menu tonight was:

Insalata Caprese

Tuna Sashimi (Smoked Yellow Fin, Blackfin and Mackerel Tuna)

Ceviche

Pan Fried Tuna Fillet in Capers and Garlic Butter, with Sauteed and Spiced Sweet Potatoes

Bizarre though it sounds, this tiny town at the *rse end of the Malpais peninsular had a great little supermarket (I mentioned it last time), Super Ronnys, a wonderful fishmongers and a great Italian deli (for the Buffalo Mozzarella and the Prosecco from Veneto).  We had all the ingredients to make a lovely meal and the Austrian couple, Suzy and Gilbert (great name) turned out to be .....well....lovely.

How nice!

Jim took us surfing again the next day and we had an extra long lesson.  By the end of it we were knackered, but exhilarated.  Tonight Hefin (Chez the Welsh) was cooking us dinner.  You guessed it ...we were eating more of our ridiculously large catch from the other day!  It took us ages to get down there, mainly because we had to wait for the huge electrical storm to calm down a little before we could run down the hill and get a cab.

Normally you could see the sea above the trees!

One of the features of our time in Central America so far had been an almost daily thunder and lightening display.  Tonight the rain was particularly bad and as the cab went down the road it was totally flooded.  We arrived and the mood was.....chilled.  The previous night had been a big one and it was a slow burn as we all waited for the food.  I say the mood was chilled....Hefin was clearly running around like a blue-arsed fly preparing our meal.  Anyone that knows us will know we're not ones to sit and wait to get served, so I hauled out the cocktail gear and made everyone some good strong frozen margaritas.


As dinner finished and the conversation started, there was a bout of iPad playing and it became clear that we should probably just push off home.  Until someone (can't remember who) piped up that there was an "electro night" at the local club.  20 minutes later we walked into a big empty room complete with disco lights and some truly cheesy electro.  An hour after THAT we were all dancing away to Carl Cox, downing shots and generally getting a little "large".  By 2.30am it was time to leave and so we wove our way back to the house.  Julia and I picked up our bags and walked home as there were no cabs to be had.  Thank goodness it had stopped raining because it took AGES to get back.

So chuffed to have a board that weighed less than an elephant

We awoke feeling a trifle jaded.  Having arranged with Suzy and Gilbert to go surfing though, we pulled ourselves together and went down to the beach for what turned out to be a really fun way to cure a hangover.  Plus the Go-Pro came in useful again :)

Unfortunately, Julia also managed to injure herself!


I know, I know.  That's my job, but somehow, in dismounting from the surfboard she managed to put her foot down on to sand and sprain her foot!  Bizarre injuries are my forte, but even I am at a loss to explain this one.  Still, the benefits of ZipLoc bags became apparent as they proved useful in yet another way;  as perfect travel ice-packs.

Suzy and Gilbert

Home for lunch with S&G (yes, more fish but this time with a lovely frijoles mix), then that evening Julia cut Stephanie's hair in a torrential downpour, before we headed out for burgers with Suzy & Gilbert.  This was the first time in 2 weeks that we had had red meat and it tasted good :)  We had an early night tonight as tomorrow we were going to drive back to San Jose with S&G and we still had to pack in the morning.

Breakfast with the Austrians was lovely, Gilbert popping down for a can of beans and some eggs and we just managed to hit their departure time of 8.45am (ok, I was a couple of minutes late!) and as Gilbert drove the car down the steep hill to the main road, I looked across at Julia and smiled.  Our time in Santa Teresa was over.  Between us on the seat was my big and heavy backpack and across that was her thick black hoodie.  She hadn't worn it out here and so it had lain undisturbed for 2 weeks.  I reached across to put my arm around her shoulder, lay my arm against the hoodie.....

......

..... and shouted "OWWWW FUCK!"



I didn't know at that point what had happened, but it felt like someone had jabbed me with a red-hot needle and the pain was spreading up and down my arm (I believe the word is "radiating").  Anyhow, Julia begins shaking the hoodie to find out what just stung me and I try and stop her, whilst holding my right elbow.  After all, the thought of a stinging insect flying around a closed environment like a car was NOT high on my list of priorities....better get the hoodie OUTSIDE before shaking the miserable little insect free.

So I hopped out of the car and dragged the offending garment to the floor then began poking it around with my foot.  Then froze.  All I saw was the backside of the little b*stard, but then, with a scorpion, that's all you really NEED to see to be able to identify it!  Also, it wasn't so much a little b*stard as a bloody big b*stard.

Apparently I shouted something like, "It's a f*cking scorpion!" before I turned white (which is quite a trick when you're tanned) and then started marching up the hill.  I knew big ones were less venomous and that you had to keep calm and your heart rate down to slow the spread of the venom, but more than that I didn't know.  It's quite hard to keep your heart calm when you're climbing a steep hill in 90% humidity having just been stung by a scorpion, so by the time I got to the hotel I was sweating my head off.  The lady at reception pushed my elbow into a pot of very hot water (apparently that helps kill the venom) and then it was on with another ZipLoc bag full of ice.

As it turns out, scorpion stings are not that bad.  It hurt a little every now and then, electric shock kind of pains up and down the arm and my hand went numb a couple of times.  But you couldn't see where I had been stung and there was no swelling at all.  Either I had been very lucky......or I had been very lucky!

Happiness and Injury ....poor Julia

S&G's drop-off for the car was right behind our airport hotel, which was even more luck, so it was a short farewell to new friends, then a relaxing afternoon recovering from our various injuries, before a 4am wake-up call and an early morning flight to our next destination....Tulum on the Mayan Riviera in Mexico.