Our first trip to Costa Rica was on our honeymoon and we had so much fun!  We stayed at an all inclusive resort in Guanacaste and we saw so many things.  We booked several excursions and had something planned every day!  Most of the excursions started at 6 or 7 in the morning, so we were so exhausted.  We saw so many amazing things!

When we talked about going back we knew we wanted to be a little more relaxed and more sporadic.  Some good friends of ours gave us some airline buddy passes that had to be used quickly, so we took some days off in December right before Christmas and hoped that we could get to Costa Rica.  Once we knew we had seats on the flight I called my mom to book us a hotel and a car and to send me the info before we took off!  It was so fun to not have a plan and to take each day as it came.  We did a lot of driving and exploring the countryside and small towns and beautiful beaches.  It was such a perfect trip!

It was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the holidays and to really spend time with each other. Costa Rica was the perfect destination to get away and relax. Costa Rica had an amazing assortment of beaches and jungle to explore. From the touristy beaches of Tamarindo, to the serene beaches of Conchal or Samara. Each beach has a different look, but they all have their own character. Playa Tamarindo is such a fun touristy beach; the sound of the waves, kids playing in the ocean, and the beach vendors yelling “Pipas, Pipas” meaning fresh coconut water; it is the perfect refreshing drink to sip while sitting on the beach. It was mesmerizing to watch the locals surf the beautiful waves.

Driving through Costa Rica is just as rewarding as sitting on the beach, the landscape is so picturesque. In between each town there are beautiful fields with cattle grazing under the Guanacaste Trees. Road side fruit stands were the best way to get your lunch, fresh juicy pineapple cut to perfection, ready to eat. Each town had its own charm with friendly people. Colorful flowers and cacti graced each house and every corner. It was so refreshing to experience a simple Christmas, non commercialized celebrations, just celebrating the true meaning of the season.

We stayed in Tamarindo in a cute little bungalow, El Sabanero.  We loved visiting the little town and we ate fish tacos every day.  We ate at Eat at Joe’s several times, I made sure to order some sort of taco and guacamole at every meal.  There were so many beautiful beaches close by.  On our last day we only had a little bit of time to explore, so we drove through some small towns and on some dirt roads.    We found the most amazing beach on our last day; Playa Conchal it had the best sand and the water was so clear and beautiful. We had the beach to ourselves.  I remember standing in the ocean as far as I could go without getting too wet before we had to fly out.  I was so tempted to jump in fully clothed, it was so heavenly.

Samara was about an hour drive from Tamarindo and it was another favorite beach.  You can’t go wrong with any of their beaches.

On one of the days we went and found a beautiful waterfall, Llanos de Cortez.  It was fun to switch up the beach scenes and see more of the jungle.

All images are taken on a Pentax 645 nii, with Portra 400.  For this trip I only shot film and it was so fun waiting for my scans to come in to look at photos from our trip.  Developed and Scanned by The Find Lab.

This trip was suppose to be published in one of Magnolia Rouge‘s lifestyle magazines, it was going to be in her last issue, but they ended up not printing any more.  So pretend you are looking at these images in one of her beautiful magazines.

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