Costa Rica - One More Time

Is that the sun, shining brightly, first thing in the morning? Holy crap, it is - this is the first morning that the sun is actually shining to start the day. Dave and I are looking out our balcony in total disbelief. We are almost contemplating heading to the beach right away because we are afraid it might not last...lol. So, I check out the forecast and it looks like it's going to be a pretty good day so we're not going to jump the gun. Besides, I'm not going to pass up Dave making my vacation breakfast which he has done every day but one so far. I'm going to miss that when we get back home. 😭😭😭 As we are eating it starts to rain again but it a quick shower with the sun still out so no cause for concern. Once adequately nourished and caffeinated we head out to Playa Hermosa again and out in the parking lot we spot a couple of lizards. One is a beautiful bright green color and the other is quite large. The day proved to be the nicest in this area yet and...

...well, not quite but I'm trying to be optimistic.....LOL This is what the sky looked like Monday night as we were getting ready to watch the Bruins game. One could only hope that this was a sign of what was to come on Tuesday. But alas it would not be...not quite anyway. Waking up Tuesday was much the same as most days this week, it was raining. However, it looked like there were going to be some patches of no rain throughout the day so we decided to head out and take our chances. We drove up to Playa Hermosa which is just north of us and on the way is where we witnessed a family of monkeys up in the trees. I didn't think there were many monkeys in this area so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw some two days in a row. Too bad I only have my crappy camera as it can't zoom as well but a couple of the pictures came out pretty good. We also caught sight of a few MotMots but I am too slow to get a picture of them. they are beautiful birds that have two long...

You know the movie where Bill Murray wakes up to the same thing every day.... For us that same thing is rain!!! On Sunday we wake up to rain again but after breakfast there looks like there's a break so we head out to walk the beach. The place we are staying at in Coco is not on the beach like the last place but it is just a short walk down to the beach. When we get to the beach we see that a few other people have the same idea - get out while the rain has stopped. Too bad it doesn't last long!! Slowly but surely it begins to rain. I brought my umbrella so I'm good and Dave is in the water fishing from shore so he's OK with getting wet. He hooks onto a little jack fish that gives him a good fight and at least he can say he caught something. As we're walking along the beach I look to my left and see a vulture who is soaking wet just sitting in the tree - I'm mean what else can he do, really? We use the down time to head up to Liberia, the closest big to...

Up the coast that is..... So, Friday was our last full day in Potrero and like most days this week, this day started out rainy but the rain did stop long enough for us to enjoy our daily beach walk while Dave brushed up on his casting skills. We got to jump in the water for a while but then had to retreat to some cover as the rains came again. I found out that there is a storm system that is stuck out in the Pacific that is causing quite the rainy weather on this coast if CR. Normally the worst of the rains come in October but it seem that this year the rainy season has started strong right out of the gate. Not so great for our vacation but as I stated before, most days have some sort of break in the rain if not even some sun and you don't really have to stay inside because it's not cold out, just wet. And there is still beauty in the clouds. Friday night we go to this little Italian place called La Forketta and the food there was some of the best we had. Fresh pas...

The easy answer.......anything you want!! In CR it is never really cold especially along the coast so even when it rains, the weather is warm enough to be outside. Not that you'll be able to work on your tan so much but you won't be shivering even you are out in the rain, you will just get wet. Wednesday and Thursday are quite rainy and if I'm being honest, the rest of the week (and most of next week doesn't look too promising either).  Dave and I don't mind too much. I read a bit, Dave plays whatever game(s) he has on his phone, we find a break in the rain and go for a walk on the beach. As we are walking along the beach at just about low tide and we look further up the sand and notice a lot of hermit crabs scrambling along. We think about collecting a few and having our own little hermit crab race but then decide we aren't really that bored! We also stop to observe a sand piper and an egret searching for morsels of food. We spend the afternoo...

Ok, so if you read my previous post you know that Dave lost his watch to the seas! Monday was a day to explore the area so we thought while we're out we'll see if we can't find him a cheap watch somewhere - think $20 Walmart watch. We are staying in a small coastal town so there are only some restaurants, grocery stores and a few other services shops in town (real estate, lawyer, etc.) and while we look in the grocery stores which typically have a little bit of everything, they do not have any watches. So we head out north at first although I already know we won't find any watches that way because these towns are smaller than the ones we are staying in but we check out a few small beaches along the way and discover a great lookout where we can see our beach and the one next door. Next we head to the south and I feel like we may have some luck here because there are a few larger towns and maybe they have a store that may feature a couple of watches. We stop at a f...

Our first stay in CR takes us to Potrero. This is a nice small beach area that seems to have just enough going for it. It's not too big, it has plenty of restaurants, supermarkets and it seems to have a good mix of locals and expats. We arrive to the condo we are renting and the property manager was inside opening the place up and he noticed that the AC in the main room was leaking. He called a service guy to come out and said he should be here in about an hour. So, we hang out and unpack waiting for him and 2 hours later he arrives. A reminder to us how life could be different here. A laid back lifestyle sounds great until you need something done and you get a sense of your true level of patience. Dave & I don't do too bad in this area but we have to remind ourselves where we are in order to get into that mindset. Otherwise we are too used to our life in the states where you can get everything you want and need and you can get it yesterday!! Learning curve for sure but on...

Third time's a charm right? That's what they say but since I never really knew who "they" were, I guess I'll have to find out for myself if they are right. I'm talking about our third time to Costa Rica. It's funny, if you mention Costa Rica to most people they probably have some image of what it might be like to visit but the thing about CR is that it's so many things and so many places even though it's size is not all that impressive. It's more than 13 times smaller that Texas or 190+ times smaller that the United States. Clearly some place this small couldn't possibly have much to offer, could it? Although I know from research and our past two trips that little place is such a diverse place with beaches on both coasts, mountains, volcanoes, cloud forests and even a lake or two thrown in. They have such great wildlife in such a compact space with monkeys, sloths, and hundreds of birds to see, and we've seen a lot of it already. It...