Getting acclimated

This morning I woke up and unpacked.  Now Costa Rica is officially home.  Here are some pictures of our apartment (before I unpacked and organized).  Living room (front door on right):

 Kitchen (to the left of the living room):

 There is also a fridge and a stove on the other side.  Bedroom:

 Aaron was still sleeping.  Bathroom:

Shower on the left.  That's about it!  This is our spot.  It's not much, but we have a nice view of the pool and we're relatively close to downtown and the beach.

After Aaron woke up, we decided to go to the grocery store and get provisions.  I took a bunch of pictures on the way to the store and inside because they had so many weird products, but we took a cab back and I LEFT MY CAMERA IN THE CAB!!!  I lost my $500 camera, which I love love loved!  It's so crazy because I NEVER lose/leave stuff EVER!  I guess we had so many groceries that I got flustered and forgot to grab my camera.  Oh well, she'll make someone else very happy.  Although I lost all the pictures from this morning, at least I downloaded all the previous pictures to my computer before we went out.  Bright side, people!  But yes, I'm a moron and I was very depressed for awhile after that.  Moving on!  We went to a grocery store called Mas X Menos and it was right downtown (about 7 minute walk).  I looked it up online and it's actually owned by Walmart.  'Merica!  Anyway, I did take pictures of some of the goods we bought (with my iPhone):

As far as drinks, we got milk, pineapple juice, mango-banana-pineapple juice and beer (Pilsen and Imperial are the cheapest beers here, but they aren't bad at all, to me anyway).

We got eggs.  They only sell brown here and I bet they're pretty fresh!

We got a bag of ketchup and mayo, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  I just thought it was strange to have ketchup and mayo from a bag, but they were cheaper than the bottle.

These are the junk foods Aaron picked out.  He likes his random chips and is a total sucker for gummy candies.  We also got tons of bottled water (even though the water here isn't bad, we're just doing it to be extra safe), some chicken, ground beef, bread, tortillas, lunch-meat, a bag of black beans, spaghetti noodles and sauce, sunscreen, toothpaste, detergent and other random necessities.  Aaron even got an ice cream on a stick shaped like a donut.  He said it was delish!  In total, we ended up spending $148, which isn't much cheaper than shopping back home.  I figure since Jaco is a pretty touristy area, they charge touristy prices.  Kinda sucks, but we'll live.

After the grocery store mania, we decided to find the beach.  This is the street view once we exit our complex:

We walk down the street and turn left and walk until we hit downtown (about 5 minutes).  Once there, you can turn left on any street and hit beach.

The glorious beach!

Looking left:

Looking right:

We walked this way up to the red umbrellas.  We sat down, but turns out you have to rent the chairs and umbrellas, so we did (we got a "good deal").  

In the second picture, Aaron is the tiny dot in the water.  He really went for it out there:

After taking these, I went out and joined him and it was super duper fun getting caught in the waves.  The water was so warm, it reminded me of lukewarm bathwater, but way less gross.  Then we walked along the beach awhile:

We found bird footprints in the sand:

Pretty cool.  We even saw a few birds catching butterflies in the air and eating them.  There are butterflies EVERYWHERE around here, especially on the beach, and they're big.  I didn't snap a pic of a butterfly (they're too fast!), but here's a yellow bird on a yellow umbrella:

On the way home we decided to stop and catch a bite and a drink.  Did I mention it's hot and super humid (even at 5:21pm!)??

We found this cozy spot on the beach:

We got drinks and watched the sun set:

This is Imperial beer and it is yummy.

It only took minutes for the sun to set and it was beautiful.  We ordered beans and tortilla chips and not only were the chips fresh, but the beans were the best I've ever had.  They just had that je ne sai quois:

Then we walked home.  We saw pretty flowers:

Doesn't it look fake?  Crazy.

About a block away from our home, there is a small produce market to get fresh fruits and veggies.  Check out these giant tomatoes:

I guess you can't tell, but they were the biggest I've ever seen!  For comparison, down below are potatoes.  We also got giant mangoes.  I made Aaron hold them for reference.  Yes, he's butt naked:

I guess they don't look that big, but they were so yummy!  We even got new change:

Someone drew a face on this one LOL!

Aaron's shoulders got pretty burned:

My poor, white baby!  

Well, that was our day.  it wasn't very long, but it was very eventful.  We're getting more familiar with our surroundings, but it's gonna take awhile to get used to this heat.  Now, we're home with the AC cranked (our electric bill is going to be sky-high!) watching:

It won the Academy Award (I LOVE watching Oscar-nominated documentaries.  I don't always care for the movies, but the documentaries are on point) and it was extreme and scary, but fantastic.  Aaron said it was the best thing he's ever seen!  Yes, we're watching TV in Costa Rica, so shoot me!  You can't be on the go ALL THE TIME!  Especially when you're fat and lazy like we are.  It's a miracle we even leave the house, it's so damn hot!

Lastly, Ryan facebooked (that's not a word) a picture of the dogs:

Capone is under the blankets apparently.  We miss our boys so much.  They would have loved it at the beach today!  But they are in great hands and I know we don't have to worry at all.  Thanks Ryan and Sophia for everything!!

More Costa Rica to come!  Stay tuned!