Tuesday August 14th
OK, so we made it to Playa Nosara. Wow what a drive that was…between blinding sunshine and blurring down pours, we made it. Mind you I don’t think there was a much of a road most of the way (yea it was either washed away, under about 6” of water due to the fact that it had turned into a river, or so pot holed it was unrecognizable as a road). But after about 2 ½ hours to go about 60 Kilometers…well you get the picture. We got into town and roamed a little, trying to check out a couple hotels…first stopping to check out the Harmony Hotel…Like I previously wrote (small disclaimer, we were already here when I wrote that…I was just being lazy and badly in need of a beer). But before we settled, we headed out to find another hotel a bit further north on the beach…and wow…we crossed a couple bridges that looked as if the river was about to over take them, then finally turned back when it looked as though our little RAV4 would completely disappear beneath the mud (that is saying allot…I wouldn’t take a rental car somewhere…weird). But in the end the Laguna Azul would have to be without our business…oh well back to our little piece of high society…really not all that, but for where we are…this place is pretty damn nice.
So an interesting fact about Nosara is that there is a protected zone along the beach that keeps any buildings at least 200m back. What that means to you and me is that all of the hotels and shops (the small number that there are) are back in the jungle, and you walk through paths to the beach…pretty damn sweet if you ask me. Don’t get me wrong, I like a porch with a hammock overlooking the beach like everyone else, but this is nice because it eliminates all the bad things that come with having everything right on the beach…namely crowds (and people trying to sell me stuff). Oh and as we got here, the rain stopped and we caught a sweet sunset…nicest one yet as far as I am concerned.
So this place is pretty damn small…and I like it. This is what I envisioned the Playa’s to be like…small towns and even smaller crowds (exactly what Tamarindo was not), off of a beautiful stretch of sand...and… there are animals all over the place. A couple of the coolest are the little red and blue crabs, and bright green lizards that are literally everywhere on the path between the hotel and the beach…crazy…I mean like thousands of these things…and the crabs climb trees! Everything seems to be alive, with almost every bush rustling as you pass. We did see another Howler monkey yesterday...make that a first for our trip here to Costa Rica…I guess I need to start looking harder.
We got up this morning and headed up to the local surf shop (Coconut Harry’s) to rent some boards and get some advice on where to hit the beach. So after gathering our equipment and advice, we headed down to catch some waves. So…we preceded to catch a few good waves, but in the end pretty much lost the battle to the waves…man they make you tired. But a great experience…and we have the boards for a couple more days, so I expect to see marked improvement. After that, it was off to do some laundry and grab some lunch. We opted for hitting up a Laundromat vs. using the hotel ($9 for the loads vs. $1.50 per article…ouch!). So while our laundry was working its way clean we hit up the Hotel Café de Paris for some lunch…a pretty good pizza and a couple of beers…I like it! The Hotel actually has a little bakery that we will need to go back and hit up in the AM…looks very nice. After lunch and gathering up our laundry, I ventured back to take a dip and do some updating (writing this damn thing…LOL), and Jori was off for a massage…I know, life does not get much harder, but I will keep trying. Till tomorrow!
Cheers! RB
OK, so we made it to Playa Nosara. Wow what a drive that was…between blinding sunshine and blurring down pours, we made it. Mind you I don’t think there was a much of a road most of the way (yea it was either washed away, under about 6” of water due to the fact that it had turned into a river, or so pot holed it was unrecognizable as a road). But after about 2 ½ hours to go about 60 Kilometers…well you get the picture. We got into town and roamed a little, trying to check out a couple hotels…first stopping to check out the Harmony Hotel…Like I previously wrote (small disclaimer, we were already here when I wrote that…I was just being lazy and badly in need of a beer). But before we settled, we headed out to find another hotel a bit further north on the beach…and wow…we crossed a couple bridges that looked as if the river was about to over take them, then finally turned back when it looked as though our little RAV4 would completely disappear beneath the mud (that is saying allot…I wouldn’t take a rental car somewhere…weird). But in the end the Laguna Azul would have to be without our business…oh well back to our little piece of high society…really not all that, but for where we are…this place is pretty damn nice.
So an interesting fact about Nosara is that there is a protected zone along the beach that keeps any buildings at least 200m back. What that means to you and me is that all of the hotels and shops (the small number that there are) are back in the jungle, and you walk through paths to the beach…pretty damn sweet if you ask me. Don’t get me wrong, I like a porch with a hammock overlooking the beach like everyone else, but this is nice because it eliminates all the bad things that come with having everything right on the beach…namely crowds (and people trying to sell me stuff). Oh and as we got here, the rain stopped and we caught a sweet sunset…nicest one yet as far as I am concerned.
So this place is pretty damn small…and I like it. This is what I envisioned the Playa’s to be like…small towns and even smaller crowds (exactly what Tamarindo was not), off of a beautiful stretch of sand...and… there are animals all over the place. A couple of the coolest are the little red and blue crabs, and bright green lizards that are literally everywhere on the path between the hotel and the beach…crazy…I mean like thousands of these things…and the crabs climb trees! Everything seems to be alive, with almost every bush rustling as you pass. We did see another Howler monkey yesterday...make that a first for our trip here to Costa Rica…I guess I need to start looking harder.
We got up this morning and headed up to the local surf shop (Coconut Harry’s) to rent some boards and get some advice on where to hit the beach. So after gathering our equipment and advice, we headed down to catch some waves. So…we preceded to catch a few good waves, but in the end pretty much lost the battle to the waves…man they make you tired. But a great experience…and we have the boards for a couple more days, so I expect to see marked improvement. After that, it was off to do some laundry and grab some lunch. We opted for hitting up a Laundromat vs. using the hotel ($9 for the loads vs. $1.50 per article…ouch!). So while our laundry was working its way clean we hit up the Hotel Café de Paris for some lunch…a pretty good pizza and a couple of beers…I like it! The Hotel actually has a little bakery that we will need to go back and hit up in the AM…looks very nice. After lunch and gathering up our laundry, I ventured back to take a dip and do some updating (writing this damn thing…LOL), and Jori was off for a massage…I know, life does not get much harder, but I will keep trying. Till tomorrow!
Cheers! RB
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4 comments:
Ryan,
I think you missed your calling. You should be a professional blogger/travel writer!
Love the updates.
Janet
R & J,
Would love to hear from you, since the earhquake in Lima.
Just want to make sure you both are ok.
lots of love,
M&D
Hey...we are all OK...small panic down here on the beach, but everything is great...will update more later.
RB
RB, we have limited choices on Vegas rooms. Trop $163; Harrahs $250; Bellagio $1050; NY/NY $245. These are per night rates! We need to win big at craps to cover! Where do you want to stay?
SM
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