CR: Part Trois: La Playa!

Joseph tries out the hammock.

I wouldn't if I were you, Jo.

After stopping to have lunch and watch the Paraguay-Spain game at a restaurant in Liberia, our first destination in Guanacaste was Nacazcol, near Playas del Coco.  We rented a private villa from a family acquaintance and spent two nights there.

Mis hermanitos making quesadillas for dinner.

After a stop at the grocery store, making dinner and settling in, we hit the pool for a nighttime swim.  When we got back to our place, Yoha was the first to go in for a shower.  Soon we heard her calling frantically for Glen, and we went to the bathroom to find the shower hissing and spitting steam.  After some futile attempts to clear the shower head of buildup, what I'm guessing was the heating unit in the shower head suddenly sparked and blew out.  So for the rest of the stay, we had to shower in our bathing suits under the outdoor showers in front of the house.  At least we had those!

The next day, our plan was to go to Playa Hermosa for the day, but as luck would have it, we ended up talking to the guy from across the street who had brought his horse over to graze in the lot next to us.  He told us about a little beach with difficult access that not many people knew about.  So after much up and down and rocky roads and trial and error, we finally found Playa Penca, a beautiful little beach which we shared with only one other group of folks.  Truly a treasure.  We also came upon Playas del Coco in a roundabout way during our meanderings, and decided that we were much better off NOT going there.  Words from the wise.

Playa Penca from above.

Vero after her "Pre-Presentación"
Fotógrafa:  Yohana

On Monday, we left Nacazcol and headed to Playa Flamingo.  We had a free night's stay at Flamingo Marina Resort, a definite upgrade from our little villa - hot water, clean kitchen, and, Glory Be, screens between our eating area and the mosquitoes.  If the link looks a little like a party place, it kind of was.  Turned out there was a group of Study Abroad kids staying there, and the flirting and Happy Hour imbibing turned into banging on the next door over and being really loud outside our door at 3am.  But I'm not old or anything.

Glen in our new kitchen.

But the place wasn't all parties.  It was a really nice place, with some rooms, some villas, etc.

Natural shelter at Playa Flamingo

We made a quick lunch of sandwiches and brought them all down to the beach this time.  I realized that this was my second time at Flamingo, and I'd surely go again as it's a lovely beach, lined along the road with droopy trees that act as natural beach umbrellas and clothes lines.

We spent a few hours there, long enough for me to get properly thrashed about by the waves (rather unpleasant, actually) and possibly be the inspiration for my subsequent ear infections.  But we (or at least I) thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

View from our room of some of the pools at the hotel

After the beach, we checked out the hotel pools.

Our room is hidden behind the palms on the left

View from the pool deck.

Bote

Looking out from the hotel beach.

The next morning, our last, we checked out the hotel's private beach.  Cute and pretty, but not for swimming.

Joseph gets to climbing again.

A tricky situation when he was ready to get down.

Joseph finally gets into the beach spirit.

Lagartija 

Finally it was time to head back to Ol' Palmares.  In the rain.  With a repeat stop in Liberia for soccer and lunch at the same restaurant, and McFlurries which are not, in fact, stirred up like in the US.  It took us probably 5 hours to get there, when it theoretically takes 3.  But between the bad weather, unpredictable road conditions (with killer potholes) and slow semis on the two, sometimes 4-lane highways, and a stop to get souvenirs, things just got stretched out.  Thanks for driving, Glen!

Heading home in the rain

Next:  Around Town in Palmares