Nurse on the Run

In case you haven’t been around, I’ve (slowly) been recapping my recent vacation to Costa Rica to go to surf (and yoga!) camp!  It was an amazing week, with the main highlight being SURFING…of course.  You can check out some recaps below:

Part I:  planes, trains, and automobiles
Part II:  surf’s up!!
Part III:  becoming a yogi

In this post, I’ll highlight all the random odd and ends of activities that we had during the week!  This was not a vacation for kicking your feet up and relaxing on the beach, and we were go-go-go most of the time.  Definitely makes you feel like you’re making the most out of your day!  Let’s check out what I did when I wasn’t surfing or doing yoga!

long walks on the beach

Good morning, ocean!

Breakfast was usually at 8am, which is early by the standards of this evening shift girl.  However, we were often so tired from all our activities that we hit the hay by 10:30pm.  This meant that I had my full bajillion hours of sleep by 7am!  The sun rises in Costa Rica at 6am and sets at 6pm (almost year round, I’m told), which makes for a perfect morning walk on the beach.  The air is soooo crisp early in the morning, and walking with the waves rolling over my feet was a perfect way to start the morning.

Afternoon stroll….so pretty.

In the afternoon, we would sometimes have an hour-ish between activities, and my roommate and I would take the opportunity for another walk on the beach.  We’re in Costa Rica, why not??  We chatted as we walked and enjoyed the views.  The beaches in Costa Rica are much unlike the condo-lined beaches in the US, so it makes for some pretty sight-seeing.

A real surfer dude!

On one of our walks, we spotted really good surfers out in the big waves, so we sat and walked them for a little while.  It was cool that we kinda knew what they were doing…maybe one day I’ll be like them. 

zipping through the jungle

Have you ever been on a canopy tour?  You know, one of those activities where you wear a harness and you zip from platform to platform on wire cables?  If you have been, you would know that they’re AWESOME.  I’d never been on a canopy tour before, but one of my friends has been on them in Mexico, and the fact that this was offered as an afternoon excursion was one of the reasons why I picked this trip.  It sounds like so much fun, and the views are supposed to be excellent.

Needless to say, I was super pumped for the canopy tour…that is, until I got up on the platforms and remembered that I’m terrified of heights!  As in…I wouldn’t even jump off the high dive at the local swimming pool when I was little.  The lifeguard used to have to come walk me to the edge since you were allowed to climb back down the ladder!  But anyway, I was still soooo excited for the tour, and after the first mini-zip line, I was hooked and had a blast!  So much fun.

All harnessed in, hanging out on a platform in the jungle!

Faster than a speeding bullet!

With nine platforms and seven zip lines, we had plenty of opportunities to see the sites.  For safety reasons, you could only go on the zip lines straight with your feet in front of you…except for one line, where you could spin, go upside down…do whatever you want.  I figured that I’m only doing this here once, so I might as well go all out…UPSIDE DOWN.  I went from being terrified to hanging upside down on a zip line…pura vida.

Hanging out!

Oh yeah, the view was pretty too. 

 massaged by the ocean waves

Tropico Latino…hotel and spa!

Okay, not literally, although you might consider getting beat up by the ocean while surfing some sort of massage!  A spa was part of the hotel where the surf camp stays at, and included in our camp was a massage.  I’ve only had one massage in my life, and it was lovely, but let me tell you…nothing beats having a massage in an open hut next to the beach, where you can hear the ocean waves behind you!  It was divine.  I actually fell asleep at the end of it, and I shook myself awake because I dreamed that I popped up on a wave…how fitting. 

I had my massage on day three of surfing, which was perfect timing to work out all the sore muscles!  I will never look at a massage with a CD of birds singing and waves crashing the same again.  You spoil me silly, Costa Rica.

more to come!

I have so much more to share with you (if you’re still interested…or I’m at least saving this for when I have a rainy day!), that I’ll share more of my random adventures in another post.  It’s my weekend to work, so I have to hop off to the hospital.  Here’s hoping for a lovely Sunday!  Hope you’re all having a non-work-filled weekend.