Engagement in Samara

So, here's the story you've all been waiting for!

Its a funny story, really. Every time this year that were somewhere romantic on a trip (the Carribbean, Samara, Panama, the mountains, etc) I would always think about how romantic it would be for Jordan to propose there.
However, when he did actually pop the question, I was totally shocked and honestly had not been thinking about it that whole weekend.

A few teachers decided to go to the beach the weekend after the last week of school. Jordan and I had planned all along to spend our last trip in Samara as we had done for our first trip in Costa Rica. Everyone left on Sunday morning except us because we were leaving on Monday instead. We had spent the morning wandering town and hanging out at the beach. We decided to go surfing but we wanted to digest our lunch first (you wanted the whole story, right?) so we walked down the beach a bit to read until we were ready.

Not long after we sat down Jordan asked me to stand up.

"Why?"

"Just stand up."

"Um, okay..."

Just then I saw something in his hand and I realized what was going on. I started getting embarrassed because there were people around. I just wanted him to stand up. He said he loved me very much and asked if I would marry him. I said, "Yes. Stand up!"

He stood up and we hugged and then he got back down on his knee to put the ring on my finger. I pulled him up again. How embarrassing! (Really there was no one around and no one noticed, but for me there might as well have been 100 people watching.)

We realized that the ring didn't fit, but he told me not to worry because there were 4 more possibilities back in the room. He had bought the first ring in Dominical when Amber and Danny were visiting. But he second guessed his choice and ended up with 5 rings total. None of them fit, however, so we had to find another one the next day before we left.



Directly after I said yes it started raining. Then it poured. We decided to go in the ocean (in CR the water, air and rain are all the same temperature). We swam and played until we were the only ones left on the beach. Then we walked back in the rain and got ready for dinner. It was still raining so we were the only ones at the restaurant. But, as you can imagine I'm sure, it didn't matter.





So, that's the story. It was wonderful and perfect!

Rafting

Yes, I am going to go in chronological order. I haven't been good about posting, but in order to keep everything in order, I'm going to write about this first and then the post I'm sure most of you are here to read.
So, rafting... Well, as some of you may know, I'm scared of everything. Rafting is no exception. After all the safety information, we loaded into our boats and headed down the river. We had practiced all the commands and our guide seemed very good (also, it was his birthday and I figured this was a good sign that he would try to keep us alive so that he could go to his birthday party later that day).
Our first few "rapids" were a little scary for me. The biggest of the day was a class four rapid, and the first few were barely class ones. That made me little nervous. Turns out my fear was founded and on the first real class one rapid, the whole boat flipped and everyone flew out into the water. No, I'm not joking.
I lost my paddle, we all scrambled to find the top of the water and eventually we all made it back into the boat. It was startling but turned out okay, so I had a little more confidence that I would survive this adventure.


The rest of the day went smoothly except on the biggest rapid. Jordan and our friend Andrew were in the front of the boat and Andrew's wife Ali and I were behind the boys. On the biggest rapid, Andrew and Jordan were shot out of the boat and into the rapids. The guide yelled for Ali and I to get in the front.
Get in the front? No thanks.
I wanted to say no. In reality I knew I had now choice so we hoisted ourselves to the front. I don't really remember the rest of the rapid just that I don't think I was really paddling and all I focused on was staying in the boat.


After the rapid we saw that Andrew and Jordan had been rescued by other boats. They had even picked up Jordan's lost shoe somewhere along the way.
It was a fund bonding experience and I'm glad I did it. I don't know, however, if I ever need to do it again. :)