OK, so let's start with Sunday. Dave and I went to Playa Herradura, the nicer, calmer beach that's about 15 minutes up the road from us. We headed out about 9:00 am and figured we'd get there before too many people. Boy were we wrong, the place was packed with many tico families spending their Sunday together at the beach. We find an area to park and put our things under the shade of a nice big tree and it happens that we are next to a huge family of at least 20 with their kids, parents and even abuela (grandma) who at this point is sleeping in the sand. It's a bit early for her to be passed out so we'll assume she is just napping. They have the back of one of the cars open and music is blaring. First some reggae, then some Latin salsa music. Then the men get the grill ready, and by grill I mean some old, rusty tire rim that they have put some bottom on and they start the fire with everything they can get their hands on. Top it with a grate and soon it is ready and the grilling begins. Meanwhile the kids play soccer on the beach and go into the water. Dave and I have gone in a couple of times too.
Now we are relaxing having a beer and the tico family next to us is eating and their drinking begins as well...BTW, it is barely 11:30 now but it's all good. As we are sitting there, their dog comes next to me and proceeds to pee next to me but at least it wasn't on me, then someone is there apologizing for the dog and introduces himself as Mauricio. We begin to talk with him about nothing in particular mostly how our visit is, what areas we like about CR and a stint of time that he lived in Wisconsin. He is extremely nice and funny too. Every paragraph ends with him saying something like this: "Here its good because no one bothers you, .....except for me!". We talk with him for a while longer and then he goes back to drinking with his family and we go in the water. By now, la abuela has had her share of shots and she is singing and dancing on the beach....it is so fun just to watch this family have fun together.
Dave and I get out of the water and are having another cerveza when Mauricio comes over with a couple of shots for us and wishes us Pura Vida!!! Now la abuela is in the water trying not to get too wet but a big wave comes along and wipes her out....she gets up laughing harder then all her family is and goes right back to drinking some more as it seems to be a bit safer for her than in the water!!
It was a great day just watching Mauricio's family have fun and to speak with him and share a drink with him too!
Now on to Monday. Dave and I weren't really sure what we wanted to do today so we decided to start off driving up to Playa Agujas which we stumbled upon when we first got to this area and were driving around a bit. When we first found this beach area we heard quite the ruckus and then realized that there were macaws in the trees above us. I didn't have my camera with me that day so today we are on a quest to find the mighty macaw, camera in hand.
Of course we get to the beach and there's no sight nor sound of them so we walk around the beach area and we see a bunch of fiddler crabs on the side of a creek that runs into the ocean. We also start to see other birds like egrets and some hawks.
We go back to the trees in which we saw the macaws last time time but they are not around. While we are waiting we see a motmot and an awesome looking tiger-heron. And then we hear it, the loud squabbling sound on the macaws. They travel in pairs and make a lot of noise. Finally we see them and they are gorgeous. Big and bright and sitting on the tree just waiting to have their picture taken. Over the course of our time there we see three pairs and I try to get some good pictures (will have to post later) and my last task is to try to catch them in flight and I make Dave wait, and wait, annnnd wait but finally one of the pairs takes flight and I try to get some pictures...we'll see how good they come out.
So, overall we've had a coup!e to good days that make me glad that we spent some time in this area!!
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