Toni, her partner, and their pup arrived to Costa Rica a few weeks before us and would be our neighbours for the duration of our three month stay in Sámara.
While he was busy completing his course in town, Toni was working remotely from their casita… which meant we had most interaction with her and their four legged baby, Eleanor (Nori). The gardens between our two casitas provided much privacy but we inevitably crossed paths often and we LOVED having Nori visit on the daily. 💜
There were many shared experiences: changing a flat; the near daily passing of the guy selling watermelons over a loudspeaker: “SANDÍA, SANDÍA, DULCE SANDÍA”; sharing wifi when ours or theirs was down; fish tacos at Anglers; the oppressive heat that none of us quite knew how to contend with; the howler monkeys snacking in the property’s mango trees + waking us all in the early morning (which I loved but our daughter did not 😂); the onslaught of noseeums that were most drawn to the females in the group (mosquitoes are NOTHING in comparison, I’ve never been so itchy in my life! 😩); queries about crocodiles + tarantulas; community bikes + bbq; treehouse neighbours who came and went; and - of course - Nori and her four legged bestie Pipa (a pup that apparently had an owner, but who spent most days and some nights on our property)…
While Toni had said ‘yes’ to the shoot early on, it took us a while to actually get organized. With only a 10 days before my gang was due to leave Sámara; we found an afternoon that worked and it seemed like the heavy rains would hold off. We planned to visit one of Toni’s favourite surf spots for the shoot: Barrigona…a beach I’d wanted to visit since our arrival. This idyllic stretch of white sand is only a few km north of Sámara by boat but the ‘shortcut’ to get there by car is only passable during the dry season and only with an SUV (the long way takes an hour+).
Thankfully Toni had an SUV. ✅
Unfortunately, the rains came early + heavy to Guanacaste this year. 👎
Toni generously offered for the whole fam to come so that we could all finally see Barrigona…our daughter drew the proverbial short straw and got middle seat with Nori and the surfboard overhead! 😂
Alas, despite our collective desire and Toni’s impressive driving - the ‘road’ was a lake in places and I’ll never understand how we avoided becoming irretrievably stuck in the quagmire of mud and potholes?! But, we DID manage to get turned around and subsequently opted to instead visit our local beach for the session. It was a busy April afternoon on Playa Sámara but we managed to shoot between the beachgoers for around 20 minutes before darkness overtook and the rains started up again.
I was so pleased to have the chance to capture some shots of this smart, fun, easy-going woman we’d come to know. We really couldn’t have asked for or imagined better neighbours with whom to share the highs + lows of our time in Sámara. 🙏🏼
Nori + Toni, with the requisite Imperial post-surf 😉
Behind the scenes…
Nori + Pipa 😍
Leaving the casita for Barrigona…it was a tad crowded. 😂
A few days after the shoot Toni offered us her SUV so that we could visit beautiful Playa Barrigona…we opted for the long way. 😉
A quick snapshot of our neighbours + Pipa as we said goodbye to Sámara.
My genuine thanks to Toni for the myriad ways she contributed, knowingly or not, to our time in CR…and their generous ‘sharing’ of Nori was a godsend in helping us get our puppy fix as we desperately missed ours.
Isn’t it wonderful to have the opportunity to meet people you wouldn’t otherwise come to know? Surely, one of the biggest + most beautiful blessings of travel. 🙏🏼
Life is beautiful!
xo Lori