Surfs up today!! So excited! Had a bit of a rough sleeping experience - was attacked by mosquitoes left right and centre and got bitten 3 times on my forehead so I look a bit diseased haha... Anyways, we had to be at the beach by about 9 for our surf lesson so we got up, hired bikes for the day (basket and all!!) and went to get some breakfast before heading to the beach... Our instructor was this Rusta man called Adrian who was thrilled we actually stuck to our word and pitched for our lesson... We went to get our rash vests and put our things in lockers and then our lesson began on the beach to start... His helper was Douglas and they showed us the basics of surfing and gave us tips etc... We had to try for ourselves (still on the beach) and then it was time to hit the water! Hahaha... Let's just say it was very hard work! Wow! The current was pretty strong and carrying those massive boards out to the water against the waves was so tiring! Adrian would tell me to get on the board and he'd position me to face towards the shore and then give me a push forward when the wave came along... I struggled a bit to get up... You tend to try rush the whole movement when you actually have enough time to go through the motions... Each time you'd have to mission back out to the instructor and try again so it was incredibly tiring! We practiced for about an hour and then they gave us a break to go rest on the beach... Then we went back into the water for another 7 waves each... I sort of got up but was getting quite frustrated with myself! I feel like I know exactly what to do but it's such a different feeling so definitely need to practice more! We had the use of our boards for the day if we wanted to but we decided to first go cycle the 13km beach stretch to Manzanillo (us girls have named this leg of our trip "Costa Rexia" as we are determined to eat healthy, exercise and get thin haha)... So we showered after our lesson, swam a bit in the pool then hit the road and cycled the thick jungle and beach road all the way to Manzanillo... Was so cool! Had some hardcore hills to negotiate but for the rest it was pretty easy and we just cycled and enjoyed the gorgeous Costa Rican scenery that surrounded us... When we arrived at the end, we tied up our bikes and lay on the beach... It was so hot though so we ended up spending a lot of time swimming in the calm sea (quite a contrast from the intense waves just up the coast!!)... Lots of chatting was done while just lying in the sea and it was just turning out to be the most spectacular day! We of course were ravenous by lunch time so we went to find some lunch and had a good grilled chicken sandwich (nice girls!!) but then Vicks and I felt we deserved an ice cream after all that activity so we had one haha... Poor Barbs was suffering with quite a head ache at this stage so we decided to stay at this beach for a while and we literally just chilled and chatted for hours, alternating between beach and sea... Heaven to say the least!! We finally decided it was time to head home so we started on our 13km cycle home (all the delightful downhills we enjoyed earlier were now coming to bite us in the ass haha)... It started to get dark as well and the billions of crabs started crossing the road again so we were freakin out trying to avoid crabs and oncoming motorbikes and buses!! Finally finally got back to the town where our hostel was and we went to book our shuttle to Panama... After paying for that, we cycled back to the hostel so we could freshen up before dinner. Unfortunately, after I had showered, I realized my purse was missing... I figured I must have left it at the travel agency where we booked the shuttle as that was where I last used it, but when I walked there to ask the lady she said there was nothing there. I searched everywhere at the hostel, asked them to see the CCTV cameras, retraced my steps on the road but unfortunately my purse was gone :( I'm so devastated as I had for the first time this year been carrying a bit of extra cash on me so now that's all gone... I am just so frustrated as I had just used it and I can't imagine where I would have lost it or where it could have been swiped... Not a happy chappy :( So dinner wasn't my best meal tonight and afterwards we all just headed home and went to sleep... Sometimes the realities of traveling are very harsh! Regardless I had an incredible day... Surfing in Costa Rica? Not too shabby... Tomorrow we finally make it to Panama!

Lesson of the day: Never ever carry excess cash on you...

Moment of the day: Surfing in the waves off the Costa Rican coastline...