OUR RETIRED ADVENTURE
qUEREMOS VIVIR AL SOL
KSha
Costa Rica is amazing! Beauty abounds.
Panama is "home" for now. Loving life!
South America is next! Columbia here we come.
Costa Rica is amazing! Beauty abounds.
Panama is "home" for now. Loving life!
South America is next! Columbia here we come.
We couldn't be happier that Villas Rio Mar is our "last" (real) stop on this trip. The unique rooms and patios, plus the beautiful grounds have us smiling each time we traverse around the grounds. The blogger boy has had limited "goods" to share as we had 3 mostly cloudy days with rain coming and going frequently during the days. That put us trying to grab a cloud tan here and there and playing a lot of cribbage. We've enjoyed some wonderful meals at our restaurant on the grounds, and found a nice wine to compliment some of our dinners. You may recall, our road to the hotel is a rock-filled, pothole laced trek of about 1.5 kilometers from town. Well, it doesn't stop there. So we took an afternoon and had to see where it went. We got to ford our 2nd "river" across the road as we meandered down the road at about 10-12 kph. Everything is green everywhere! Houses popped up here and there and we imagine what it must be like to live there. The road continued along the river that we follow into town and then into the ocean. We couldn't help but share the little waterfall we found along the way. You may also recall that one of the native birds has eluded us so far during our trip. Well, NGG did her research and we got the sounds down they make and became very aware that the toucans were in the area around the property--especially after another guest caught one with his zoom-lens camera. We both have seen the "Fruit Loops" poster child fly by the pool area two days in a row--but they were always too quick and landed too far away for any documentation...until NGG would not be denied. See if you can spot the elusive toucan in the next 3 pics. The next ones may be a bit easier...my zoom was maxed, with NGG working the controls. Gotta give credit where it's due...NGG wasn't coming home without a toucan pic. She's amazing! That's why I love the girl! The last two days have had the sun shining as we awoke...NGG was worried about her tan fading (it's not...I saw her tan lines); and we have spent the days at the pool. Highs around 82, and feels like 91! After working on our tan today, we headed off property to find somewhere to have a late lunch. We cruised past the places we've visited south of Dominical and kept going south. We both saw a little restaurant that touted a ocean-view and I made a not-so-nice abrupt exit off the road (with a couple of cars hugging my bumper). Catching our breath, we looked at it and something didn't sit well (not sure what it was) and we waited for an opening to get back on Ruta Nacional 34 (34), and continued south. Our decisions we have made, whether to turn on this road...kept going on that road...or pass up this restaurant have been spot on. Look what we found instead! Blast it; (I'm working hard not to be a food blogger--but can't help myself!), but did we have a great lunch! NGG had cansado de pollo, a tico lunch, and BB had sopa de mariscos. Beautiful scenery with the river leading out to the ocean was a spectacular backdrop for our late lunch! The last pic here is the shells I picked out of my soup--and the 2 mini crabs were the cherry on top! Never losing our desire to connect with the ocean and the waves, we stopped at Playa Tortuga as we drove back home. You would've been proud of us for driving down this road to get to this beach. I wondered who and why the road was built several times before arriving. We tried a couple more turns off the road to reach other beaches along the way back, and were disappointed to find them closed and entrance prohibited (we were curious as well to know why they were closed). With an "oh well, we'll find another one", we drove on and took the next available beach exit (really, a hard left off the pavement and onto rocky dirt). Again, the "if it was easy, everyone would be doing it" feeling crept in as we looked at the path ahead. But we wanted to see Playa Ventanas (Windows Beach). Ok, pretty... a little rain was falling and it wasn't blowing my skirt up... Then we discovered why it is named Playa Ventanas... As I mentioned, road in was a questionable decision to continue. I didn't tell you before...we needed to leave a sacrifice at the stone panther/monkey idol as we entered...(no not really). BUT, we did have to ford our 3rd river across the road (the 4x4 didn't even flinch)! We drove through multiple rain showers on the road home and got home about 5 pm local time. We made it to our room during a short break in the rain and then shortly after it started RAINING! Below is a highlight of a 2 hour light and sound show that kept us impressed. Well, the rain hasn't stopped as I've been updating...so it's back to the cribbage tourney with my love! (I'm ahead right now so it's making the blog!) Retirement is super cool!
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We laughed and put a towel down on the floor to make sure our luggage, or bed didn't float away as the rain kept pouring down...and we had a few cocktails while playing cribbage to soothe our minds. (You may recall, NGG was making a comeback and she brought it back to single digits before we hit the hay--with a wary eye on the ceiling.) The morning arrived with the rain taking a break, but the radar had storms coming back again around midday as we headed down to breakfast. We were pretty fit to be tied with what had been happening at this hotel as we sat down for breakfast. The nice waitress we had seen the day before was another person as we both looked at each other and said what the %#@* is going on. Rude was only touching the poor service and we couldn't wait to finish eating. (There was another issue occurring at this hotel that I am not taking space here to describe--but another negative notch in the "let's get out of here column".) As we walked back to our room (3rd one we've occupied in a day and a half), we both said we need to get out of here. Long story short, we called our travel agent--Wendy--you ROCK!, and she and her CR colleague went to work on changing our location. While we waited for some news, we saw a weed-wacker extraordinaire in action; saw a new crew of white-face monkeys come by the building for some grooming, then check out the clothing on the 2nd floor balconies, and then lounge in the tree after a hard early afternoon's work. Our super travel team gave us the great news shortly thereafter that we were able to pack and check out of Hotel Karahe and we would be going to our next destination in Dominical at Villas Rio Mar for the extra 5 days we had left at Karahe. We packed in no time and were on the road 30 minutes after receiving the news. We headed back to Quepos; as the road dead-ended by the Manual Antonio National Park about 5 km south of our hotel, and set out again on Ruta Nacional 34 (34) south to Dominical. I have to say, this was mostly a normal drive and we made good time to our greatly anticipated new home. GG called for a hard right turn on "the dirt road" as we came into Dominical--and I have to say I didn't listen to her, as I was coming in a little hot (a hair too fast) to make the turn. But I recovered quickly and turned at the next corner a 100 meters past the directed turn. We drove a short way and got a "turn right on the road" and I followed as directed. Another 100 meters and we ran out of pavement...and onto a dirt road. Now you know what I say about roads that most people would turn around for...damn right, keep going! (If it was easy to drive on, everyone would!) As we bounced over the rocks and avoided the mud puddles/holes, crossed two mini bridges and watched the river to the left of the road we came upon Villas Rio Mar. As we moved our luggage to our room we both had huge smiles on our faces! This place is incredible! Tucked in the middle of the jungle, with the river Baru across the road, there are villas with outdoor patios with refrigerators/sinks and beautiful rooms and a huge bathroom with rain shower. We couldn't have been happier! We had lunch at the really cool restaurant on the property and then took the "4x4" back down the 'road' toward town to check out the beach (first 3 pics). We played cribbage on our patio that first night with some drinks we got at the mini Supermercado around the bend from the town center and felt extremely satisfied that we had moved! The next morning, after breakfast, NGG was adamant about giving the 4x4 a break and had us on foot to town. The 1.5 km trek was almost easier on foot as we made it to town in 12 minutes (yes we timed it). We did venture down to the river and walked along the rocks for awhile until we ran out of real estate and headed back to the road before reaching "downtown" Dominical. A quaint small village with a lot of hostels by the beach and a small little escuela (school) in the middle of the neighborhood. We returned "home' about 1 1/2 hours later. NGG was making some headway with her deficit in cribbage--which had blogger boy, studying the cribbage board (last pic) for the afternoon/evening battle. We have a neighbor that documented that we have toucans on the property! NGG has researched their sound and is ready to capture our moment for history!
The trip to Karahe Hotel was for the most part, normal. We past through Parrita, which Sharon had wanted to investigate and was a great deal larger and populated than we had imagined; it had a stop light (which was the third town that we found one in it) and well established neighborhoods. We then hit Quepos, which is on the ocean, but was very tightly packed and seemed full of tourists/people and was almost too much of a lot of everything; and we were happy to get through it. We then got back to "normal" roads that went straight up and curved every 500 yards as we drove the last half hour to Karahe. Check in went smooth and we got to our room on the 2nd floor with a nice balcony that looks over a cool garden area, then the pool, then the restaurant and then beach to the ocean. The room was hot, so we turned on the air and went to the restaurant to let the room cool off before we set up shop. It was early afternoon and we were pleasantly surprised to find "happy hour" in full swing. Pina coladas were "on sale" and we had 2 brought to our table as we checked out the view of the trees to the beach. About half way through the first drink for each of us, we both heard a large "crack" of thunder and then looked at each other with wide eyes wondering if the other was shaking the table. We both realized that neither of us could have made the floor of the bar swirl in a circular motion for about 5 or 6 seconds. Two other couples in the bar confirmed that they had felt that same sensation. Well that was really weird! We decided to return to our room a little while later; and then weird went wild. Upon returning to our room we found the temperature had only dropped a few degrees (from the outside temp of 88) and as we started to unpack we found that sweat was rolling down our backs. This was not going to be sleepable conditions and we needed to go back to the front desk. Luck was (kind of) with us and we were given the room next door to us--so we repacked and moved next door (only after verifying that the AC unit was fully functioning--and then we ran out of luck). We had a great batch of cribbage games in our room with beers we bought at the local tienda before we arrived. Just a quick update: Kev was holding a commanding lead of 24 wins to Sha's 12 wins at the start of the evening, before Sha made a big comeback to make it 26-18. Licking my wounds, we hit the hay to get ready for the beach. I believe it was 3 AM when we both sat up and said, "What the *&#@ was that?" There was a distinct scratching sound in our ceiling. Not just a scratch or two... but scratching that was moving around the ceiling-there was something up there! Hearing a moment of silence, I wished upon sleepy eyes that I imagined it, but was quickly denied as the critter continued to scratch his way around the ceiling. A sandal tossed at the ceiling didn't scare it away, so I headed outside to find the security person for some assistance. The front desk was on the other side of the road, so I had to pass out a gate to cross the road. As you can imagine, the office was dark and there was no one in sight...darn, and double darn! I headed back to the gate I had just used and then realized the room key was needed to reenter...this time I got to triple darn! Luckily I remembered the code to use to get into the secured parking area about 50 yards down the street and got back to the hotel that way. I returned to the room with no help and no answers on how to solve our "critter" problem; which by the way was still actively scratching around. Befuddled, tired and frustrated we heard voices outside the door. I quickly looked outside our door and found two girls out of the room next door to us looking scared and heading out-not normal at this hour and in their PJ's. We briefly spoke and they said that they thought some animal was in their room and they were going to get help from someone in their group. After confirming hearing similar sounds they went to find help. I was hoping they would have better luck than I did. Girl power prevailed and they brought back the security guy! With flashlight and a pole he searched their room as I stood outside, "ready to come to the rescue." No animal was found in their room and then I had to get some answers. I figured out with some translation assistance from the girls that he was telling them it was geckos that might be in the ceiling...hell no my friend (not sure how that translated) as I told him "no pequena, es grande" that's in my ceiling! We eventually figured out that he would come back in the morning to investigate and get rid of the "geckos." Great, just great! Shear exhaustion was the only way we went back to sleep. No scratching was heard upon awaking today, but there was no way we were going through that again. We headed for breakfast before we hit the beach for our morning walk (and then to the front desk!). We had a wonderful walk and believed we walked to all the way to the Manuel Antonio Nacional Parque, which has the famous "whale's tail" peninsula (7th pic is part of that peninsula). After returning to our hotel grounds, we got back to the restaurant and the waitress was pointing up in the trees...NGG sprang into action and she documented our first sloth! Before returning to the front desk, we ran into the couple at the restaurant we sat near yesterday. The husband had done his due diligence and checked on our "swirling bar floor" event and informed us that that had been an earthquake we had felt! It occurred out in the ocean near the Costa Rica/Panama border and was a 6.8 magnitude! NGG later continued the research and found that CR has an average of 350 earthquakes a month/~12 per day, (obviously the majority are imperceptible)! With that news, we headed for the front desk to discuss our "scratching problem." Long story short, we got an upgrade and were given a room on the top floor (3rd). So we went and turned on the AC in the new room (3rd) and showered the sand and sweat from our walk off in our 2nd room. Verifying that the room was cooling, we packed for the 2nd time and moved into room number 3 in Karahe. Thus concludes our first 24 hours in Hotel Karahe...let's recap. Moved into room where AC didn't work, went to Happy Hour and experienced a 6.8 magnitude earthquake, repacked and moved into room #2 that had the flight of the Iguana going on in our ceiling, exhausted, met the new day with a walk on the beach and a sloth sighting, to later repack and move into room #3. Then it started raining...and at the time of this posting, it hasn't stopped! Oh no...there's a drip coming from the ceiling...
Our stay here at Terraza del Pacifico has been fantastic! From a couple of moonlit dinners just feet from the surf, to walking the black sand beach at low tide, to basking in the sun listening to the macaws fly overhead, we have felt pampered without a care. Our neighborhood companions have delighted us with the varieties of them and their interactions with "us" and each other. We have enjoyed the sighting of the flock of 36+ macaws that went overhead one day at the pool, to the hoard of gliding vultures that are constantly riding the currents above and around our "home." [We weren't able to improve the documentation of the macaws past our last video--but they always seem to be paired up when in flight and move pretty quick. Plus, a photo from the ground up doesn't capture the beautiful colors that they all have.] We have also eaten better than a person probably should...the bald guy will need some more exercise to keep the clothes fitting--ha! NGG and I will surely be missing how close the ocean was to everything we wanted to do; as well as the beauty of it. But the one thing that will always be a unique aspect of this place is the sound and feel of the surf. We both loved the fact that we'd wake up in the middle of the night and not only hear the surf, but feel the waves crashing on the shore. I will not soon forget that sensation. Va y vengo! We are off to Hotel Karahe in Playa Manuel Antonio today!
The "top of the world" was a great 2 days! Quite a different climate than the coast as temps were in the high 60's to the 70's and a lot more humid. Beautiful, but not what the sun-seekers were looking for. Maybe the mountain didn't get a fair shake as we visited in the green season (rainy season for you gringos), but being in the clouds was pretty cool! The return trip down the mountain to the beach was just as "exciting" as the climb. The weather was much clearer going down which meant we could see all the way down the valleys as we rounded the tight curves--active driving all the way. Once we "got down", we traveled on Ruta Nacional 34, a 2-lane highway that was the first longer stretch of road that put me in "normal driving mode." Majority of the road was 80 kph speed limit, and dropped to 60 kph as small communities popped up here and there. Our destination was near Jaco, at Terraza del Pacifico, a beachfront hotel. As we past by Jaco we could see the roads into town were about a third of a mile from the shore. We had a short drive yet to our hotel; and as we came around an incline and a curve I saw ahead the beach and surf, which caused a little squeal of delight to come unbeckoned from my mouth. The view was breathtaking, but only lasted a few seconds. Luckily GG had us turning right in 400 meters...a right turn was toward the water we're driving along. The first thing that was apparent as we were checking in was the sound...crashing waves! Audible from the moment we got out of the car. We got to our room and looked out our patio door and we could feel the waves crashing on the beach--I mean it, you feel them as well as hear them. Our patio is 75' from the sand; if this hotel was any closer to the ocean, we'd be in the water! Oh, I believe I haven't mentioned yet that this beach is a black sand beach, and that the waves crash on the shore constantly. Swell is followed by another, and then another, and only infrequently is there a 10 second "pause" as they regroup and then keep coming. The 1st picture below is from our first night dinner table, and then first morning from room and patio. Walking on the beach here in the mornings is a lot more work than our previous places. Much shorter stretch of sand and more inclined. Several surges have come up and over the stone wall by the restaurant seating area. We enjoyed a few sunny days relaxing by the pool, acting like we were on vacation, and then were treated to a storm while having dinner. We wanted to have verification of our black sand beach in case it wasn't clear from the pictures...check out the feet pic. Also, didn't want anyone to think NGG retired or was off-duty--she hit the jackpot with Macaw sightings and the local band that we are seeing on a daily basis. We've done some exploring around the area and found some awesome local places where we've had some fabulous lunches--and some great companions to enjoy it with. We are having more fun than can be expressed...I will sign off for now as I watch the pelicans feeding in the crashing waves. Said we weren't here for the adventure tours (this time), but couldn't pass these two adventures up in Monteverde. Ziplining, canopy walk and butterfly/reptile tour was a full day of amazing! Thirteen zips with the last one going for 1650 meters (do the quick math)! We both did the last one in the "Superman/woman" position (damn, no pics!). We worked hard to get to some of the platforms, but it was awesome! Little miss afraid of heights was an absolute champion! Canopy walk was next--just a 'quick' 3 km hike through the jungle and across suspension bridges (8 total); not sure who measured that distance, cuz it seemed quite a bit farther than that. We took about 200 pictures throughout the trek; but didn't see the pics presenting the unbelievability of what we were seeing. Walking among the tree tops of jungle as far as you could see was breath-taking and surreal. Not to mention the 100' plus height of the bridges and what was below. Here's a few for a taste of this super cool experience. (Dad, I'll have to let you see all of the plant/tree varieties pictures that I took later, hope the video gives you a taste.) We felt like we'd done a mini marathon at this point; and stopped to have some lunch and let the legs catch their breath. Repast and recovery had us about 10 minutes late for the start of the butterfly tour, which we joined the only other couple there shortly after the tour started. The butterflies are housed in an enormous enclosed structure that has been set up for the needs of a large variety of butterflies. The different stages of development are shown in the 1st picture, the largest cocoons of the owl butterfly (3rd pic) are on the green leaf. I needed to record all the great info we heard about the native butterflies in order to share more; but hope the short video shows them in action. The reptile tour was our final event for the day, and we had our own guide for the two of us. Again, a plethora of information that had me forgetting to take pictures as we saw the huge size of the native rattlesnake (the rats and rodents here are big--and so is the rattler! About double the USA sized guys in Arizona, etc.) The "Jesus" iguana is in the 1st pic...yes he walks on water, and we finish with the dart tree frog (not poisonous, but looks the part to keep predators from snacking on him); which is only a half an inch in size. We woke up early the next day and set out for our coffee, sugar cane and chocolate tour. Sharon and I, once again had a guide just for us. The origin of coffee, guess...nope, Ethiopia!, was shocking all the way to how the migrant workers from Nicaragua came to pick the beans and how the process has been modernized was cool to see first-hand. Sugar cane is a really tall plant and when it is ready to harvest, the plant flowers at the top with a 1 1/2' flower. We ate raw sugar cane from a stalk, manually squeezed the juice from stalks in a press and poured that juice over rosemary for a delicious "shot" and saved all the leftover parts for reuse and recycle. The chocolate portion was just as amazing. The size of the fruit was so much larger than the both of us thought, and the 2nd pic shows a freshly cracked open pod that we got to sample first hand. Sticky, sweet and not edible (just sucked on it a bit) due to the several layers that will need to be removed. The process that ends with what we enjoy is really cool; and we got to make the "drink of the gods" as you can see Sharon doing the final whisking to blend the ingredients. We asked for the recipe, but were told that it required a blood sacrifice and penalty of death...so we don't know the recipe. We were able to enjoy the finished product of white chocolate, regular chocolate and chocolate covered coffee beans, (which I believe are better than a cup of coffee!) before we concluded our tour. We were both wide awake on the ride back to our hotel!
Our stay in Samara was awesome, and actually we had an extra day that we forgot about--thought we had to leave on Saturday and we were one day off. Our new base will be Monteverde and it is in the mountains (elevation 4650'). You may remember that Samara is in the middle of the "horse's head" peninsula so we need to head inland and cross over the Golfo de Nicoya which is via the bridge in the set of pictures below...Bobby, it wasn't that bad. This portion of the trip was about 30 minutes into our 2 1/2 hour journey. Then things got interesting, well it depends on who you ask that question. Shortly after this section we begin to climb; and we don't stop climbing until we reach our hotel, Poco A Poco. It was partly cloudy/sunny at this point, but it wasn't long until the sun was not visible. This road was paved the whole way, but that didn't really ease anybody nerves as the tight corners and "oh shit, there's a pothole" made for active driving. Then we started getting closer to the clouds, yes I wrote that correctly. Oh, and then it started to rain... We came across a little "Coffee Shop" at the top of a rise and decided to stop for lunch, and see if the rain would let up. I don't want to be known as a "food blogger", but check out what we had for lunch; Cansado con pollo--Sharon and casado con cerdo for me. Cansado means "marriage", and in food-speak the beans and rice are 'married' with the choice of meat. This is a first for the fried egg, which is on top of the mound of rice. Fantastico! That jar of peppers, carrots and there's also hearts of palms in there that you see in the 2nd pic was hotter than a biscuit on fire! Yep, I went back for seconds and thirds. The rain let up after lunch, (for a little bit) and we headed out. We thought we were high in the mountains, but we kept going up (arriba)! We drove into the clouds, put on the flashers for safety and drove through multiple mini rain showers; all going about 25 mph as our top speed. At times it seemed as if we were about to drive into oblivion with a sharp corner and nothing but clouds ahead. Nevertheless, we made it to Poco A Poco without anyone losing their lunch. Once we checked in, with the clouds all around us but no rain, we wanted to check out the hotel grounds. We've got a covered pool with a swim up bar and a jacuzzi on the next level down from our room, and switchback walkways that take you there. We went exploring further and hesitated at what looked like a stone block path. One of the hotel crew pointed and said "sendero"; to which I pointed and repeated it with a hand motion to see if it was ok to keep going. With a nod and another "sendero" he sent us on. Now I'm not going to say I knew sendero was trail, but it sure seemed that was the case to both me and Sharon. This sendero weaved through a dense section of jungle right on the property! Note the rare photo of the elusive beautiful blonde retiree that I captured in the jungle. We emerged from the sendero, marveling at the natural beauty we had just walked through. We grabbed a couple of things from the store across from the hotel and had to scurry home as it started to rain again. Then it began to rain... We have our Canopy Tour tomorrow for some ziplining and a walk among the treetops on a suspension bridge to see the butterflies and hummingbirds in their natural habitats. Hope to have some good pictures to share from that adventure. Buenas noches!
Having enjoyed our walk on the beach with the low tide, NGG checked the local nautical data for tide times so we could hit low tide for our morning walk again. On our way to the beach, we came across a familiar sound that caused us to stop in our tracks and search the trees off the road. NGG (of course) spotted the first one. Then we saw there was a small crowd of howler monkeys in the tree tops from 30'--50' above us. The ATV that passed us on the road prompted several of the monkeys to howl their claim to this territory. As we observed from below, we came to the conclusion that this was a band of bachelor boys that were traveling together. Still amazed at how far the water recedes at low tide. Adventure waits for no man-or woman, so we headed out again after lunch. GG had us heading for Ruta Nacional 160 (160). After about 10 km of paved road, we passed through Carrillo (yesterday's adventure) and were prompted to turn right. Without hesitation we followed GG's call to action. You can play the slideshow below to get a taste of what we drove on...but I'm darn sure it will not come close to the experience we "enjoyed." Once you've had a chance to look at those--try the video NGG shot from the front seat as she was kept from bumping into the windshield by her seatbelt fully engaged. I'm glad I got a good phone...otherwise you might've puked while watching this one. Nothing ventured, nothing gained--and Playa Islita became another fantastical destination! With the rental car still in one piece and blue skies over head, we had other sights to see and continued on the coastal highway, Ruta Nacional 160 (160) going south. Just in case I haven't mentioned the fact that there are no, and I mean no flat or straight roads in any part of CR that we've travelled yet--I thought I'd throw that in here again as a reminder. We managed to find a few "safe spots" on the 160 to stop and take the below pictures-but NGG wasn't always happy I got out of the car. As luck would have it, there came a turnoff on the 160, as there seemed to be no civilization or end in sight, so we (of course) took it. Well wouldn't you know...up ahead was a tree in the middle of the road! We looked at each other and smiled (you may remember why). But hold the phone; a short distance away was another tree in the middle of the road! We both giggled at that turn of events. We continued ahead and were crestfallen when we came to a sign prohibiting vehicles from further passage. Totally bummed; I mean what the devil did you build this "road" for anyway, we stopped and turned around. As we paused, and being pissed, I saw movement off to the right of our car. NGG identified what moved right away and I literally jumped out of the car! Macaws! Our pissed pause (no I didn't do that), had allowed us the opportunity to see these beautiful birds. Yeah, that's real. After taking pictures and marveling at the spectacle of the gorgeous macaws; there ended up being 4 in the tree where we stopped, we thanked the luck of the tree(s) in the middle of the road and decided to head back home as the afternoon clouds were coming in. We definitely didn't want to be returning on our section of the 160 in any rain shower/storm. It was ironic that as we drove out, one of our trees in the middle of the road was hosting a few of our vulture friends NGG identified before. A couple of cool pictures from the "top of the world", and a herd of cows grazing on the steepest hill I've ever seen cows on was eye candy on the way back home. This was dessert! We enjoyed the 4th by exploring the roads north of our home base in the morning. A great walk that took us to another town after about 30 minutes of walking. We realized that we went all the way to the north side of the crescent of the Samara Beach. We arrived at the beach during low tide and it was really cool to see how far the water was away from the shore. We could see where we entered the beach from our hotel and set off to return via the sand along the beach. It was going great until we came to a point where there was an inlet with more water coming in that was in our way to the sand to our destination. We began to ford through the waves that were hitting an outcrop of rocks until the depth changed and I wasn't sure it we should continue. Sharon found us a way up the bank and we looked for a better crossing point passed the rocks. We found a way down back into the water, about knee deep here and crossed. The changing tides are amazing to see and the power of the ocean is mesmerizing. We had a great day on the beach, and didn't miss not having fireworks! Then the blogger went down. Mucho sol. Too much sun for the bald guy! Had to spend the day in bed drinking CR's version of Pedialite. I did get to work on my spanish by watching movies, with only one english channel that had terrible choices-so didn't watch that one much. I forgot to mention that our front row parking spot at the hotel got us a flat tire on the rental. We saw it coming home from Saturday dinner. Phone calls and attempts to get support that night and Sunday ended up having us to get it fixed ourselves. So blogger down meant Sharon was left to deal with the problem. My girl is awesome, and your damn right the tire is fixed--as well as the spare which also had a leak. She took care of the UV overdose patient the rest of the day, and to the delight of all--or maybe just me--the blogger was back! The beach walk on the 4th had us pass by some areas that we wanted to go back and see more closely, so we navigated some new streets today. NGG was on high alert as we started down a muddy dirt road and she caught some old friends, the hooded vulture in trees along the road. We continued on and were amazed as we came upon a campground that was just off the beach. As we entered the campground and paused to marvel at the site, we heard a loud plop about ten feet ahead of us. Holy buckets of fire! We realized that it was 2 very large iguanas that had just fallen about 30 feet from the palm tree in front of us. Check out what NGG caught on this video! She also recorded the 2 of them scampering up the tree. We thought at first that they were fighting...but changed our minds... We also wanted to better document our water crossing, which the ones below give a better look. Needing to make up for the UV delay, we were off exploring after our morning adventure and went to Playa Carrillo to find some lunch. Playa Carrillo is CR's self-identified best beach and a local destination for vacations due to its peaceful/laid back vibe with no hotels or restaurants near it. You park off the road parallel to the beach and walk 20 yards through palm trees to the sand...it is like this for 2 miles or more. After a great lunch at a local soda, in town past the beach, we investigated every road we could find. Then we found a road that went up...I mean up. By the time we got to the top, it felt like we were on top of the world. Don't think our pics can convey the awe as we stopped to take in the scene. (I had to drive up in 1st gear half the time due to the incline, and came down the same way to keep the brakes from smoking!) What a day!
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Kevin & Sharon SeibelBeginning our next big adventure! Archives
December 2023
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