Week 2 of Exploring & Fishing Costa Rica

Lauren Blacker

The fishing the past few days has been pretty good.

Yesterday Ryan caught barracuda, snapper and a bunch of other species hand-lining from a boat with a local Tico fisherman.

Our refrigerator is now stocked with jacks, barracudas, mackerels, snappers and other fish which we don't know the names of!​

​You never know what might bite next!

You can read more about the fishing at the bottom of this post.  For now, let's get to the adventure side of things!

Ryan and I have now been in Costa Rica for a week, and I already understand just how "good" we have it back at home in the US. Most local people here in CR don’t have luxuries like air conditioning and windows to keep the bugs out.

The next time I start complaining about a luxury problem (like when my Instagram won't load) I remind myself myself that it's not so bad.

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Our little jungle house here in Costa Rica is cushy to say the least.

Having a safe, almost bug-proof house to call home has been invaluable.

We are raised up above the ground to keep most of the insects, spiders and other animals away.

We have screens velcro’d to our windows. We have electricity and running water. We have wifi. The list goes on.

But there are still some things that have challenged me, and I hope to overcome them soon.

For one, it’s incredibly humid.

You can imagine my absolute alarm at the thought of my laptop, camera and phone getting dampened by moisture, and if you haven’t yet experienced the feeling of waking up in a damp bed, with damp clothes and a damp pillow, I recommend you avoid it at all costs!

Another thing I have a hard time with? The sand, it's everywhere!

The sand here is gorgeous and feels great on the feet, but it ends up everywhere and gets into everything.

The beach here is composed of volcanic black sand and get’s everywhere and into everything.

Tiny little granules get stuck to our damp wood floors, and then they get stuck to the bottoms of our damp feet, and get tracked all through the house.

This is definitely something I need to learn to cope with, because the sand is not going away any time soon.

But there are many things here in Costa Rica that we don’t have at home, that I am super excited about.

Up and down the dirt road in front of our house are palms with coconuts which we can crack open and drink at any time.

If you have a machete, then you can drink all the coconut water you want.

There are beautiful flowers that bloom so brightly, you notice them from yards away.  

Vibrant plants and flowers grow in abundance here in CR.

The sight of an emerald green hummingbird on a brightly colored flower is quite a sight to see - although too fast to take a photo of 🙁

We have macaws and monkeys for neighbors.

We hear the monkeys more than we see them, but we've still managed to spot two different species in the trees near our house.

Mango, lime, orange, avocado, banana, cocoa and lemon trees all grow in abundance all along the road, and are free for anyone to take.

So many delicious fruits grow wild in the jungle.

Plus there is always the sound of the ocean and the waves as they crash onto shore, and the blue skies and vibrant green all around.

Around here, the good outweighs the bad by the dozens.

We've had monkeys and all sorts of other critters crawling around the jungle house and on the front porch.

It’s a very liberating feeling to know that the world really is your oyster, and you can do as much with it as you like.

Iggy the iguana wakes up each day around 8am. He lives in the tree by our front door.

I am blessed for this trip and even though I may want to scream and cry when my shirt get’s damp or the mosquitoes totally assault me, it’s still paradise.

Ryan has of course been fishing like a nut.  

Ryan's caught about a half dozen jacks from the beach during the past few days.

He's been waking up before the sun rises, then fishing in the afternoon until the sun sets.  

This mackerel bit a Sebile Magic Swimmer yesterday morning.

In between those two times, he wades in the ocean, almost acting like a fish himself, or typing up something on the computer. 

The good thing about traveling with a fisherman - the cost of food goes way down!

Ryan has been catching our dinners every night since we arrived.  

Bringing in jacks, mackerel, snapper, barracuda, gar and some other species which we aren't sure of.

Yesterday Ryan went on a fishing trip that I am glad I was not a part of. 

Ryan spent all day hand lining with Noah (his new Gringo fishing buddy) and a local Tico fisherman named Froylan.

I am sure many of you MFCC members would have loved it, but for me, to be in a tiny rowboat, with three men, fishing all day in the direct sunlight with no shade at all - no thanks!

Ryan was gone all day, so I hung around the house waiting for Emilio, our fruit and vegetable delivery guy. 

When Ryan finally returned, he had a huge bag of fish with him.

The only downside to dating a fisherman is that literally everything smells like fish.  

We now have enough fish to feed a small army!

I am going to let Ryan take over from here, and fill you in on the details of the fishing. He's also been capturing most of the action on video.

Click below to check out Ryan's report.