Well, it took some work, but we did it, we made it back to Jaco to find the exact spot where Shaun proposed. But Costa Rica certainly didn’t make it easy for us.

As you may have read by now, I suffered a little bit of a travel illness back in Montezuma. After 24 hours in bed, I woke up the next morning with an hour long speed boat ride ahead of me. Not exactly something that my queasy stomach was yearning for. That being said, I soldiered on.

white lips, and indication of health for sure

This picture pretty much represents the worst of it. I think I looked, and felt so pitiful that this wee little perro came up and nuzzled up next to me for a snuggle. The high point of my low point.

After waiting on the curb for a while, we lugged our bags down to the beach, and hopped in our boat…Well, some of us hopped, some of us hobbled. And then, in a flash, we were off. I clung on for dear life, and just hoped that I wasn’t “that” girl. Thanks to sheer will power, some fresh air, and the gravol I took before boarding, we made it to Herrudia without incident. After a quick shuttle ride, we arrived at our hostel.

SO happy to be on the boat.

The day was not all that adventurous. After a long nap, I was determined to walk to theother end of Jaco to get a Mandarina, my first real source of sustinence in days. Shaun was very patient with me, and sat with me as I took breaks along the way. We finally made it, I managed half a Mandarina, before I tapped out, and reported, I needed to go back to the hostel stat, and in a cab. The rest of the evening involved the bed, and Shaun convincing me that chicken soup was a good idea. A very romantic start to our engagement celebration.

The next day I was feeling better, toast for breakfast and even managed a low impact workout. Shaun and I wandered into town to look around. It was amazing to see all the changes that had occurred in Jaco since our last visit three years ago. Everything is paved, there are huge condo’s everywhere, and a much higher police presence. We found ourselves noticing that they had road marking on the street, something that we take for granted back home, but a novelty here.

After wandering around town, and stopping for an ice cream, we headed back to the hostel for a little pool time. We had planned to go to the Caliches, the restaurant I mentioned in my Must Sees post. Their nachos are burned into our memory, and we were so looking forward to imbibing in them once again. When I was looking them up online I discovered, they are closed one day a week, Wednesday, the day we were there. *sigh*

We changed our plan, and decided to rock a happy hour the local beach bar, than find our “spot” to watch the sunset. Well, lets just say chips, and spicy salsa on a weak stomach, probably one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had. I thought I was done for, but I knew sunset was looming, and we only had one shot to get to our spot, and re-enact our moment. So, I sucked it up, and we had a very silent hike down the beach.

Now, this is fairly appropriate, as it truly does pay homage to our proposal moment. Shaun and I had decided to watch the sunset, but he made me walk the entire length of Jaco beach to do so. The longer we walked, the more I complained, and the grouchier I got. He kept telling me he wanted to watch the surf waves on the other end of the beach.

Our sunset

Despite my discomfort in my current moment, I couldn’t help by laugh at how similar our situation was becoming. In the end, we arrived, Shaun pulled up a log, and we sat down to watch the sunset.

It was surreal to be in the exact same spot, thousands of miles from home, where such a momentous occasion occurred; a moment that changed our lives forever. As the sun went down, we reminisced about the proposal, and how funny, and appropriate it was for us. Never in a million years did we think we would make it back to that spot, but, despite all the obstacles, we did, and now we have a new memory to go along with it.

Our proposal picture on the top, and our re-enactment on the bottom.

Do you have, or have you heard, a good proposal story you want to share?

Pura Vida

Kate

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