Steve Irwin Reincarnated in Costa Rica

I just returned from a week long stay in Tamarindo, Costa Rica at Casa Wendt with Tim, Carson, Troy and my best friend Kim, her husband Pat and their daughter Emily.

I will be chronicling different phases of the trip with some interesting stories over the next week or so.

One thing I can say with certain, I love Costa Rica.

The second is that animals love themselves some Deb.

On our first full day there, we ate dinner on the beach at sunset.
   There was a stray cat wandering around that caught the kids’ eye and they kept calling him over to our table on the beach. Troy decided to name him Bob which I think is inspired by The Bob-Father who would have shouted, Run For Your Lives.

Almost without warning, Bob decided to jump up on my lap.

Then it was a perfect storm of Tim saying be careful he doesn’t spray you as a giant ant walked across my knee. I thought the cat was spraying me and screamed.

Two days later while the bulk of our group was attempting to surf, one of the many random dogs walked by us on the beach. The biggest, fluffiest, Golden Retriever walked right over to us, sat next to me under our umbrella. Troy decided to name him Jack (after my dad, I presume). Later, we saw Jack outside a local surf shop.
Back at our house one night we were sitting by the pool drinking Imperials when I thought I spotted the tail of a cat a few feet away.


I said, “Oh, a cat!”


It wasn’t a cat. 


I was standing a few feet away from a wild raccoon who we named Rocky because he liked to visit us at night.



The following night I was standing near the edge of the pool when Carson spotted something “rodent like” run inches from my feet. The next day we figured out it wasn’t a rat but a red, bushy-tailed squirrel. 


I don't care if they speak Spanish, I still hate squirrels in every country. Besides lizards running around we did have a cool green frog join our party one night too.


Later in the week on our drive into town we saw wild howler monkeys in the trees. Thankfully, they didn’t try to climb on my lap or throw poo at us which they tend to do to show dominance.



Another frequent sighting was Fabio on horseback. He didn't get on my lap either. I’m just glad we didn’t see any crocodiles.