Surfing really wears you out! At least it did that to me the first time I tried it. Friday was a somewhat lazy day. Michael surfed in the morning and I went to boogie board but found the waves and tide to be not quite right for me. Plus, I was tired from the day before. So I went back to the house and read in the hammock. We often spend some quiet time at the house in the late morning.
By afternoon we were ready for another adventure, so we put some actual clothes on (as opposed to swim suits), and gathered a few things and set off for the metropolis of Nosara central. The town of Nosara is about 5 km away and we planned to hitchhike there as it is anybody's guess when the bus will actually show up. Now before any of you gasp at the thought of hitchhiking, keep in mind that there are a lot of expats who live around here and plenty of people, both Tico and expat, who travel the road on a regular basis. If you are headed up the road to the north, chances are you are going to Nosara. These are all dirt roads. Michael has hitched up there before when he was here without incident, but he was a little concerned about me anyway. I told him I was game for an adventure and we prepared for the possibility that it might take us a little while to accomplish our goal. We didn't even make it to the main road on foot before we got picked up! It was a nice couple from New York who have a house a few towns over and had been in Guiones for fun. They were headed to Nosara to do their grocery shopping before heading back to their house. Since we wanted to go to the Super Mercado in Nosara to do some grocery shopping, it was a perfect fit! In no time at all we were there. We both went to a vegetable stand and then to the supermarket. Nosara is not big. It has some houses and a few shops and restaurants and a disco strung out along one or two roads, a tiny airport (airstrip really), and a soccer field. After doing our shopping, we stood with our bags out on the road and thumbed another ride. We knew there was a bus coming soon (theoretically) so we even had a backup plan. After only about 10 minutes, 3 nice ladies in an SUV picked us up and dropped us practically back at our door. They were down from the East Coast for a yoga retreat and we chatted all the way home about where they'd been and what places they liked. Yoga retreats are big down here. There is the Nosara Yoga Institute which does a lot of teacher trainings, but there are other retreat centers too. These ladies said their place was all vegetarian and no oils or anything in the food, so after about 2 days of that, they decided they had to get out and visit a local restaurant! Plus they wanted some tequila as their retreat only had beer and wine. They were having a great time and leaving to go home the next day. When we got home we realized it had only been a little over an hour since we left. I was totally impressed that we managed to get to Nosara, shop and get back in that time.
We went down to the beach for sunset and then got ready to go out for the evening. Over by Cafe de Paris I had seen a sign advertising Latin Jazz and percussion music, a drum circle, and the Grand Opening of the Fish Bar for that evening. I thought it would be fun to check it out so we rode our bikes over with lights to go out to dinner. When we got there, the restaurant had only a few tables occupied. I asked about the music and the owner said, Oh yes, a little later it would start. He said all the tables were reserved (!) but we could sit at the bar and eat if we wanted. This is not the kind of place you expect to make a reservation, so we were a little surprised at this! However I thought we should give it a try, so we went over to the bar which was by a lovely pool. Tables had been set out around the pool too and a little band was setting up on the other side. The "Fish Bar" turned out not to be sushi or anything to do with food. It was a little bar with stools and a fish shaped sign behind it that read "Fish Bar"! We got two seats and they turned out to be prime real estate for the evening. Soon the place began filling up. We spoke to at least 2 others who had been in several times on previous nights and they said they had never seen more than a few people there! The cafe is owned by a frenchman and also has a hotel attached, and the bakery I've already mentioned. Our bartender, Christophe, was french too and was planning to play in the drum circle later. I think he was just helping his friend out and filling in behind the bar because he wasn't much of a bartender, though he was a nice guy. Michael also recognized him as a good surfer he'd seen on previous trips. There was a very international feel to the crowd with french being spoken as well as english and spanish. We recognized a couple of artists from local shops. Next to us was a woman from New York state who was down for a yoga retreat. Sound familiar? Like I said, a lot of yoga retreats. There are also a lot of people here from the East coast. Lots. The band played and we ate dinner. I had a steak sandwich and the steak was so tender. The bread was good too, from the french bakery. A little later, the drum circle began and Christophe abandoned the bar and went to play. We joked about how perhaps one of us should hop back there and start serving drinks! Eventually the owner himself came and did it. He was having a good night with a successful event! After a while we were ready to head home so we got on our bikes and had a little nighttime bike riding adventure on the dirt roads and trails. The stars were so bright and there are so many of them.
Yesterday we got up and went to the beach where Michael gave me another surfing lesson. It was a lot of fun and I practiced some new things and caught a few waves and stood up some more. In the afternoon we went for a hike over to the Boca de Nosara. North of Playa Guiones is Playa Pelada which we had walked to before. North of that, over the next little headland, is the mouth of the Nosara River where it flows into the ocean. It's a great fishing spot and there are stables there that do horse rides and a kayak tour outfit. We have seen the horses on the beach almost every day. The Nicoya Peninsula is actually cowboy country and there is a big tradition of cattle ranches and horse riding here. This beach is perfect for horseback riding as at low tide there is so much flat, firm sand.
Anyway, we walked up the beach, over to Pelada and up that beach, and then followed a trail through the jungle toward the river mouth. In the jungle it was a little hot, but we saw lots of butterflies and a different perspective on the landscape. We took a little path to an overlook on the headland but discovered there were some prickly yuccas to get through. Ouch! Still, the view back to Playa Pelada was cool and we managed to retreat to the main path without getting stuck too many times.
Finally we came down from the headland to a little rocky beach at the very mouth of the river. There were fisherman chest deep in the water throwing lines for fish and lots and lots of birds. Lovely Egrets and Herons just hanging out on the rocks. This is looking upriver at the mouth.
We decided to ford the river to the other side and managed to get across without getting too wet or falling in. Going north on the other side of the river is a beautiful and deserted black sand beach that stretches on for miles. There was a lot of driftwood and it looked very wild and remote.
After a bit we decided to head back and crossed the river again in a different place. We also took a different trail back, the one the horses take, which was a little easier to negotiate. By the time we got back to our part of the beach it was almost sunset, so we went home just long enough to get a cold beer and rode our bikes back to the beach to watch the big orange ball go down.
This morning I surfed on my own while Michael caught his own waves. They were small enough that I paddled out to the outside and practiced sitting on the board. It was fun playing around and trying to catch waves. The surf has been a bit small for Michael's taste, but there is always hope for tomorrow. While we were lounging at the house afterwards, an iguana decided to climb up on our roof and hang out on the skylight! We could see his belly against the glass, and his head and claws.
There was also a big stick bug hanging out on our hammock. He's been there all day! He looked like he was doing yoga poses upside down. We met our neighbors in the driveway and showed them the stick bug too and chatted for a while.
This afternoon we rode over to Coconut Harry's and I signed up for a surf lesson for tomorrow. We also traded my bike out for one with a basket. At Robin's we had an ice cream. I had Passion fruit sorbet and Coconut ice cream. Delicious. We also met a lovely woman named Jessica who was tending a shop with jewelry made by her partner, an Argentinian. They also had things made by artist friends of theirs from Monteverde, where they used to live.
Now it is time to head to the beach for sunset, so that's all for now.
Pura Vida,
Sarah
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