Vamonos a la Playa!

Merry Christmas! Well our Christmas Eve was blessed with a visit by a large female leatherback sea turtle. She was about 5' tall and goodness knows how heavy (not pictured!). The tracks she left on the beach looked like those created by a small bobcat (the tractor, not the mammal). We watched her finish digging her hole and laying her eggs, but didn't get to stick around to watch her lumber back out to the ocean. She made her appearance at about 11:30 p.m., so just as we had been told. All in all, it was pretty amazing to see such a site.





So I fell in love with Playa Grande. It is slightly north of Tamarindo--a much more touristy and crowded beach--but every bit as beautiful. The sand is soft and there is a rock outcropping to the north full of tide pools. Hermit crabs are everywhere as are a variety of other beautiful shells and "normal" crabs. Further down toward Tamarindo the beach at low tide is chock-full of live sand dollars. I've never seen so many!




The surfing is also pretty good (Isaac was brave enough to rent a surf board, I stuck with the boogie board). The 0.5 km walk from our hotel to the beach was through a short section of jungle complete with parrots, hawks, and howler monkeys.



Luna y Sol is owned by Alex, a very mellow Italian fellow. The pool was immaculate and each cabina had a whirlpool bathtub. So far I'd have to say that if I were going to spend a week somewhere in Costa Rica, I would choose Playa Grande. The downsides are that there aren't that many restaurants (although Luna y Sol cabinas have small kitchens), the beach is off limits after sunset because of the turtles, and, as is the case in most of costa rica, it is not safe to leave your stuff unattended either on the beach or in your car.



After a lovely Christmas, we reluctantly said goodbye to Playa Grande. There is still so much we want to see here and already a week has past. We made the long trek down to Quepos near Manuel Antonio National Park.



The area around Quepos used to be banana plantations, but after some kind of blight in the 70s (I think), they replaced the banana trees with African palms from which to harvest palm oil. There are vast stretches of this monoculture which, to an ecologist, is quite depressing. I'm sure economists would disagree. We managed to have another experience on the way down---a speeding ticket! Isaac got pulled over for doing 80 km/hr in a 70km/hr zone. The police man happily took a $20 bribe in place of giving us a ticket. When in Rome I suppose.



We arrived at a hotel that came highly recommended by our friends, the Browns. The name of the hotel is Plinio (or Plinios) and it is owned by a charming German couple, Hans and Sabena. We shamelessly dropped the names of our friend's step mom and were instantly treated like family. We weren't able to land a coveted 3-story room, but we're quite comfortable in our little 2-story bungalow. I have to say the pool doesn't come anywhere close to Alex's at Luna y Sol in terms of cleanliness and the noise of the highway isn't the same as the noise of the Howler Monkeys, but there is a terrific restaurant with a great bartender, Juan, who graciously allowed Isaac to beat him at chess. Tomorrow we're off to Manuel Antonio National Park!

Monteverde to Liberia

Ok so we liked the night hike so much we awoke the next morning to go on another hike in Monteverde. (This proved to be a little more difficult than it sounds because the hotel was having it's annual Christmas party for the employees. Ticos like to party and it was quite loud that night! However, we managed to make it to the 7:30 tour. Our guide promised us Quetzals so we were hopeful. Our first Quetzal sighting was a female, a short way into our hike. She was pretty impressive and quite beautiful. As is the case with most birds, however, she paled in comparison to her boyfriend. After hiking to a waterfall and back---and visiting this really awesome tree---

which is actually a strangler fig that has completely killed it's host tree (they send roots down from the top--tarzan vines) so the inside is completely hollow.

We finally got a gander at not one, but two or three male quetzals. Here is the picture Isaac got--isn't he lovely? After a long visit to the hummingbird feeders (amazing!) we rushed back to check out of our hotel and get on our way. We did manage to stop at Sofia's--a really amazing restaurant in Monteverde--highly recommended!

So we drove back down the sketchy dirt road (which seems much less sketchy when its not raining) and headed toward our first couchsurfing hosts in Costa Rica who lived in Liberia. On our way we caught our first glimpse of Howler Monkeys on the side of the road.



I don't show it here, but there was actually a "mono crossing" sign (monkey crossing) beneath the tree in which we saw these little boogers. I guess they like it there.

Anyway, we made it to Liberia which is a large-ish town in Northern Costa Rica and we found our house--The Gato Tribe! Los Gatos consist of Reba, Jorge, and their daughter Ama. They were delightful. They have just finished building a beautiful house and were nice enough to take us to a gorgeous waterfall the next day at the confluence of two rivers. One river has crystal blue water and the other is clear. There is also a place where little six-year-old girls (and 36-year-old girls) can jump off into the water.


That evening Jorge, Ama, Isaac and I all headed to the movie theatre to see Avatar (movies are only like $3 there--and Wednesdays are 2 for 1! We said our goodbyes on Christmas Eve and headed for the coast.

Isaac and I wanted to find a place near Tamarindo because we had heard there was good surfing there and, more importantly, because we had read that this is where the Leatherback sea turtles come to shore to nest. There are many sea turtle nesting places in Costa Rica, but only the Leatherbacks are active at this time of year. Luckily, we managed to find a little cabina at Luna y Sol in Playa Grande and we're now waiting patiently for the turtles to come ashore (they say the average wait is 5 hours---ugggh! I don't know if I'll make it until midnight. Maybe since it's Christmas Eve, the turtles will be generous?