About a month after we arrived in Costa Rica, Riaz lost the ability to ignore the waves on the beach outside of our house and decided to sign up for some surf lessons.
The first lesson was going to be on Playa Grande which is about a 45 minute beach walk from Montezuma. The morning of, we packed Aiman up and headed to town to meet with the resident surf instructor, Chris, and the other three girls who were going to be getting a lesson with us.
The three other newbie surfers turned out to be three Brits (Kate, Nicki and Amy) who were each taking sabbaticals from their lives (sound familiar!) for a few months while they explored Central America. They were like the British versions of us except, ya know, they were all girls, and they didn’t have any kids, and I’m pretty sure their accents make them much more awesome than me. Anyway.
The surfing lesson was a success, that is, Riaz got the surfing hand gestures down and learned to fall off a wave very gracefully.
A few days later, Riaz had another lesson, in which we ran into the Brits again and then we ran into them at dinner in town. Thinking back, I have decided that these girls installed a homing device on little Aiman so they would know where he was at all times. They loved him.
(Mandatory Child Protective Services Disclaimer – those beer cans are empty! We’re not that bad of parents.)
We ended up having the Brits over for dinner which was Riaz and my first bit of entertaining since being in Costa Rica. We had a fabulous time. The girls ate all of our lobster and Nicki, the PR Goddess, gave us lots of advice on how to become millionaires off of Bula Balls.
Because of the Brits’ aforementioned obsession with my kiddo, we decided we should spend one more day together so we all headed over to Mal Pais for a final surf lesson. The waves were huge that day and no one caught anything, but at least everyone looked cool while trying.
And Nicki got some good pictures.
From left to right: Kate, Nicki and Amy.
And Riaz embarrassed the girls with excessive use of the video camera.
Good times.
We have met lots of tourists during our 5 months here, but most just kind of come and go. The Brits have been different, we are now fast Facebook friends, and I know at least one of them checks the blog regularly (Hi Kate!!).
I am currently plotting my escape to London for a mommy getaway sometime SOON, where I plan to sleep in, eat fish and chips, drink at pubs, shop with these fabulous ladies and say things like “pip pip” and “cheerio” as often as possible. Yes, I am an annoying American – live with it.
So Nicki, Kate and Amy … if you are reading this … Mommy needs a break. I’LL SEE YOU SOON!
From Alaska to Australia 
YES, we are reading this and we miss you guys like crazy!! (and for the record, we totally stalked all three of you, not just the little one!)… ok, now I sound a little bunny-boiler’ish!
London is waiting for you Kristina, and Kate and I are planning our next trip to paradise to meet the new addition!!
Such a pleasure to re-live these amazing times once again, thank you for the lovely post!!
Big love to the Fredericks clan… mwah xx
Lovely Fredericks!
Amazing times.. thank you for the reminder. Its so easy to get swept away in the chaos of work and life in the UK. What I would give to jump on a plane tomorrow for some pura vida (and barbequed lobster a la Riaz!).
Almost went surfing in the North Sea at the weekend, but luckily came to my senses. Riaz must be a bit of a pro by now. Kristina – the girls are having a reunion in London in a few weeks. We haven’t seen eachother since Montezuma! One of these days hope you can share a bottle of wine with us too..
Lots of Love (especially to you know who!)
Amy xxx
Sorry London…Perth is eagerly awaiting a visit and I think it should be the first stop! Although London is much cooler city so I don’t blame you but we have the sun (and the surf!)…so come home soon we miss you too!!