Category: Sámara

the september cocktail hour: a nicoya peninsula getaway, a horseback ride to la piedra del indio waterfalls & a fall bingo card

wanderessence1025's avatar September 30, 2025

September 30, 2025: Welcome to our September cocktail hour. Let’s have a Trinidad Sour (whiskey and almond syrup), a delicious drink we shared on the Nicoya Peninsula. You can join us vicariously on our getaway to Sámara and Nosara on the Nicoya Peninsula. We can enjoy breezes and sunset views, and maybe we can take a walk on a pebbly beach. Better yet, you can come along on our horseback ride to La Piedra del Indio Waterfalls and take a dip in the refreshing pool at the bottom. Sunset is is now at around 5:30 every night; twilight brings with it lots of mosquitoes, so be sure to slather on the mosquito repellent.

I have a variety of soda, seltzer water, or bebida de aloe for those of you who don’t drink. Mike can also whip up some excellent smoothies with pitaya, strawberries, bananas or any other fruit we have on hand. Thanks for joining us in our escape into a peaceful corner of the world.

September marked our fourth month in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. It was in some ways a busy month and in other ways a laid-back, homebody-type month. We had a getaway to the Nicoya Peninsula, one of five “Blue Zones” in the world where people often live active lives to over 100. We also took an amazing horseback ride to La Piedra del Indio Waterfalls. We have also been preparing to go to the U.S. for two weeks beginning October 1.

Dining out

We dined out at more new places as well as some old standbys this month. We tried out Marisquería Lago Arenal, which specializes in seafood, for lunch. We enjoyed snacks and amazing views of the lake at Chicharronera one sunny afternoon. We met Darrell and Farida on Friday night the 5th at an old standby, Restaurante Brisas del Lago, where we enjoyed wine and delicious seafood and chicken. This would be the last time we’d see them until mid-October because they were taking off for a 3-week trip to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay; they would return home on October 1, the day we would leave for 2 weeks in the U.S. Mike and I also tried out Chafi’s Restaurante, another seafood place, on Sunday the 7th. When we returned from Sámara, we went to Café con Amor, Jackie Ruíz’s café, for a pop-up craft market and live marimba music to celebrate the beginning of Costa Rican Independence Day. Later that evening, we went to Tilatacos to eat before going to check out the ‘faroles’ parade: homemade lanterns symbolizing the original freedom torch. We went to our first Chinese restaurant, Restaurante El Lago, which was a mediocre experience. On the other hand, we enjoyed a lovely dinner with our friend Carol at Restaurante Brisas del Lago, where we talked about her deceased husband Carlos as well as her new responsibilities as a cattle rancher with 83 head of breeding cattle. We tried out a German place, Hotel La Rana (frog) de Arenal Restaurante, where the German owner showed us 30+ year old photos of him with Collared Acaris, toucans with a special serrated design on their beaks. We enjoyed a breezy and chill night at Paseo del Viento where we had fancy drinks from DrinKing and sushi from Wabi Sabi Sushi while enjoying Spanish conversations and a beautiful sunset. Finally, we went to El Corral Restaurante BBQ in Aguacate for a tuna special with caper sauce. There we met a group of Americans who invited us to join them on Thursday mornings for breakfast at El Corral. Finally, we took our friend Bruce out to dinner at La Pasadita to repay him in advance for taking us to the airport on October 1 and picking us up on the 14th.

A getaway to the Nicoya Peninsula

From September 9-12, we drove about 2 1/2 hours to the Nicoya Peninsula, supposedly one of five “blue zones” on the planet. A blue zone is a region in the world where people are claimed to have exceptionally long lives beyond the age of 100 due to a lifestyle combining physical activity, low stress, rich social interactions, a local whole foods diet, and low disease incidence. 

Suggested blue zones include Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica; Loma Linda, California; and Ikaria, Greece. A book by National Geographic Fellow and explorer Dan Buettner, The Blue Zones: Secrets for Living Longer, explores this concept more fully.

The two places we visited on the Nicoya Peninsula, Sámara and Nosara, are in the northern part of the peninsula, in Guanacaste. We enjoyed the Hotel Bahia Beach Front, which had a fantastic happy hour and a great sunset vibe, although it faced south and didn’t offer a real sunset view; it sat in front of a pebbly beach with not much to offer in the way of comfort.

The things we liked best about this place were the nightly beachfront happy hours, an early morning walk on the beach at low tide showcasing spectacular cloud reflections, and the visit to Nosara, where I got to do some shopping and we enjoyed a Mediterranean lunch at Restaurante La Luna. We also loved our Italian dinner at Ahora Sí!

a horseback ride to la piedra del indio waterfalls

Thursday morning the 25th, we finally did something we’ve talked about doing for a long time. We drove about 35 minutes south, through Tilarán and beyond (towards Monteverde) to La Piedra del Indio Waterfalls (“the Indian stone waterfalls”) where we had booked a horseback ride to the waterfalls trailhead. Our guide Alejandro got us mounted up and we began our ride first down paved and then gravel roads to the trailhead for the waterfalls. After hiking to the bottom, we cooled off in a refreshing pool and then made our way back up, where we mounted our horses again and returned on a different route over mountains ridges with stunning views of the countryside. Exhausted from the 4-hour excursion, we enjoyed lunch at the little on-site restaurant.

Drives, walks and local explorations

On Saturday the 6th, we took a new walk starting at the top of San Luis by the pickleball courts and up a gravel road to a ridge with amazing vistas.

We took a walk on Thursday the 18th up to the cross at Parque del Viento just outside of Tilaran. We had been up there by car before, but this was the first time we walked it. We saw the windmill blade on which Liz, a Costa Rican woman who sells goat milk yogurt and cheeses to us weekly, painted the murals.

On Sunday the 21st, we also took our 4-mile loop walk from our house to Tronadora and back. On Saturday the 27th, we walked up the gravel road above the pickleball courts in San Luis again for more amazing views.

Costa Rican Independence Day

Costa Rica’s Independence Day, which fell on Monday, September 15th, commemorates the independence of the entirety of Central America from Spain, which took place in 1821. Independence Day festivities began on Sunday the 14th, with the reenactment of the notification of Costa Rica’s liberation by relay teams carrying the “freedom torch.”  One of the traditions on the night before Independence Day is a parade of faroles, homemade lanterns symbolizing the original freedom torch. We didn’t participate in any of the actual Independence Day celebrations.

Finishing up the Summer Bingo Card and beginning the Fall Bingo Card

I wrapped up my Summer Bingo Card with only two things undone: “boat ride on the lake” and “tubing on a river.” I was also one book short on reading 12 books. Everything else was checked off. I definitely got several Bingos!

I created my Fall Bingo Card (September 22-December 20); it’s full of all kinds of plans! Some include going home to Virginia for two weeks and seeing the family, celebrating my 70th birthday at Celeste Mountain Lodge, going to Panama (Panama City and Bocas del Toro) in November, attending a cattle auction, putting together at least 2 of the 4 puzzles we bought, moving into our new home at Lake Arenal Condos, making lots of bean soups and root vegetable recipes, and exploring some towns in Costa Rica’s Central Valley as well as Poás Volcano and surrounding waterfalls. The items that will push me out of my comfort zone are “snorkeling in Bocas del Toro” (I don’t enjoy swimming in the ocean with sea creatures) and “try an open water swim in the lake” (Mike and I have ordered some neon swim buoys which I hope will make me more comfortable as I’ll be more visible to boats). The Bingo Card also includes planning my goals for 2026, one of my favorite things to do. Dreaming is my strong suit for sure! 🙂

I already checked off “Go Horseback Riding” on September 25. And we started our 1,000 piece “Hummingbirds” puzzle (rompecabezas in Spanish).

Birds, flora & other Costa Rican wildlife

I was able to catch a shot of a Montezuma Oropendola early in the month. The trees have more leaves on them now, making it difficult to capture the birds in photos. We spotted a Crested Guan, a very large, long-tailed game bird of tropical and subtropical forest. The plumage is dark overall (often looks blackish) with a bright red throat wattle; white streaking is visible at closer range. The crest is bushy and usually not a striking feature. We found another of the family of green lizards that live under our walkway.

The last week of September we found a new bird, a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron. We saw a pair of them making grunting noises up in the tree outside our house but our Merlin app wasn’t picking up the sound. I was able to get some photos and Merlin identified the birds from the photo. They kept us entertained for a long time on Saturday morning.

Homebody stuff

Early in the month, we had mostly rainy days, but the latter half of the month has been hot! We did enjoy a couple of pool days. We finally took some pictures of our favorite vegetable market in Tilarán, Hortifress.

On Friday, we met with the property manager, Carla, at Lake Arenal Condos to make sure things are done to our specifications in the condo we’ll be renting beginning November 29. We also enjoyed some beautiful sunsets.

I finished 5 books in September, bringing my total to 36/48. I especially enjoyed What We Owe by Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde. We watched four movies: a Mexican family drama called Familia; The Unforgivable starring Sandra Bullock; a mediocre Turkish movie called Sen Büyümeye Bak (In Good Hands 2); and French Lover, starring Omar Sy, that we really enjoyed. We started watching a couple of new series: Toxic Town and Diary of a Ditched Girl (Halva Malmö består av killar som dumpat mig). We continued watching Younger, Seinfeld, Togetherness, Platonic, Fisk, If Only, The Morning Show (S4), and Pernille. We finished watching Maid (depressing yet fabulous!), Territory, and Hostage.

Family Affairs

In Ometepe, Adam has been busy clearing the land for his cows and planting grass. He also built a gate to put up at the entrance to his property. Besides, they always have various family activities going on. We can’t wait to see them again in January.

On Sunday the 14th, Alex, Jandira and Allie went to Richmond to visit our daughter Sarah. Together with some of Sarah’s friends, they all went to a Flying Squirrels baseball game, the last one to be played at The Diamond in Richmond. Future games will be played at CarMax Park. Sadly the Flying Squirrels lost 5-2 to the Hartford Yard Goats, but that didn’t dampen the family’s enthusiasm for the event.

You can find my weekly recaps of our lives in Costa Rica for the month of September on my Costa Rica blog:

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I hope you’ll share how the year is panning out for you, and what plans you have for the fall and the rest of this year.

How did your September go? Did you have any special family gatherings? Have you welcomed any new additions to your family?  Did you celebrate any birthdays or anniversaries? Have you read any good books that can inform your worldview, seen any good movies, binge-watched any television series? Have you planned any adventures or had any shoulder season getaways? Have you dreamed any dreams? Have you gone to any exotic restaurants, cooked any new dishes? Have you been surprised by anything in life? Have you marked off activities on your Summer Bingo card? Have you created a Fall Bingo Card? Have you made any new friends? Have you had any end-of-the-summer-season getaways? Have you learned anything new, taken any classes or just kept up with the news? Have you sung along with any new songs? Have you undertaken any new exercise routines? Have you marched or otherwise participated in political protests? Have you been battered, or alternately, uplifted by any news?

Please share your September with me by giving me the plot below, or a link to a post in your blog that tells about your month.