day at the beach

(written regarding thursday, april 1, 2010)

today we awoke to a beautiful sunlit tropical forest outside our bungalow.  we had a decorated stone-wall, outdoor shower that afforded us the opportunity to be greeted by a small number of the many howler monkeys that roam the tree tops in this area.

today was our first real day of relaxation.  we made plans to lay at the beach all day, and just enjoy the ocean.  couldn't have asked for much better weather at 94 degrees and sunny.  we packed up after a great breakfast at our hotel, and walked the mile and a half necessary to get to the public beach that was suggested to us.

we had a great afternoon switching between beach towel conversation and swimming in the turbulent ocean water undulating on its approach to our shore....  it didn't take us long to go exploring the cliffs to the south as they and the extended reefs just offshore looked too fun to pass up.

we saw some locals lounging in natural "whirlpools" created in the stone reefs, and got the idea that we were going to find a whirlpool of our own.  our first attempt was a little ambitious as it was so close to the incoming waves, but was pretty hilarious as we tried "relax" in it.  take a look in the video below.....



as it does in this area, the tide rises and falls quite drastically in costa rica.  i believe this has something to do with it being nearer to the equator than a florida beach by comparison, but i could be mistaken on this.  but anyway, we almost got trapped on the stone cliffs as the tide rose much more rapidly than we expected.  we were probably 30 minutes from not being able to get back had we waited longer.  and considering that the cliffs themselves were covered in cactus plant, i'm guessing our options for survival wouldn't have been without bodily injury one way or another (climb cactus plant, or be rocked against coral reef trying to swim around the corner to the beach).

needless to say we made it back safe to the beach, and found that someone had thankfully moved our towels and bags up the sand covered hill to keep our stuff from being washed away by the rising tide!  talk about being "green."  live and learn....

for dinner we ended up going to a place recommended by our cab driver.  the food was so-so and the music was terrible...  an eclectic mix of musica americana that just didn't work for kellie and i.   i think we would have both appreciated something more local for the evening.  but we're not complaining....   any night out in costa rica is a gift!!   and we enjoyed every minute we had together to "just be."

it had been another wonderful day in tropical paradise...