Noisy Mawcas and Trucks

We are enjoying our very comfortable house in Tarcoles.  We have settled in and it now seems like we are living in Costa Rica as opposed to vacationing here.  Every morning we are woken up to the most horrendous racket.  The first morning we were here, I had to get up to see what the Sam H.... was going on.  It sounded like someone was banging on the outside door.  But, it was the Macaws.  They love the almonds trees in our yard, and when they are finished cracking the almond they discard the shell and it drops on the tin roof of our house and sitting area.  Then, they proceed to scream at each other in their loudest squawk.  Their screech is enough to scare the begevees out of you. (I'm not sure this is how to spell begevee, or even if it is a for real word??).  But, we are thoroughly enjoying the macaws, squawking and all.  There are about a dozen of them in this area that we have noted. 

Anyways, the semi trucks are no better.  Our house is located between the highway and the ocean.  So, if it isn't the macaws screeching, it will be the jake brakes on the large trucks..  It gets to be hysterical at times, and we do have moments of complete solitude!!

Moving Day

Today, we moved to a small town called Tarcoles just north of Jaco.  We have a house that is on the ocean.  The macaws squawk and fly over our house for most of the afternoon.  We have been told they like the almonds that grow in our yard.  We have a beautifully landscaped yard with many plants, a small pool, and many places to sit.  We also get a lovely breeze off the ocean.  The slow roll of the ocean will lull us to sleep each night, and we have many new haunts to investigate each day.  This is a great house and I know we will enjoy our stay!!

Jaco Boat Trip

Wow! Another fantastic day in Costa Rica!!  This weather just does not stop!

We booked a boat trip for today.  What a great idea!  We had a fabulous time!  It started early this morning when a van picked us up at 8:00 to deliver us to the water taxi that drove us to our boat named Paradise... perfect name!!  They served a variety of drinks, watermelon, and pineapple during the two hour boat ride to Tortuga Island.  The boat ride was fantastic.  The breeze kept the hot Costa Rican sun at bay.  The water was calm and the young men that worked on the boat were well mannered, helpful, and genuinely enjoyed their job.  On the way there we saw red algae, a sea turtle, manta rays, bonita(tuna type fish) that were feeding, and the highlight....Dophins!!  And lots of them!!  Our captain circled a couple of times so we could get a good view.  He then dropped us off at some rocks where we could snorkel for forty-five minutes.  We saw a lot of brightly coloured fish and Hoss's eagle eyes spotted an eel, so thanks to him our party of four saw it also.

We then taxied back to the beach for a delicious picnic lunch of chicken, rice, vegetables and salad (and no skimping on the portions).  The service was prompt and gracious.  The next three hours were spent nosing around the beach, cooling off in the ocean, searching for coral, reading and snoozing.  How much better can that get when you're a sun dog, water hound and lazy pooch.

The trip back proved too much for some of the boat goers. A few people slept under deck searching for protection from the sun or covered up.  But not us, oh no, more sun please!!  The way back was relaxing with a slice of cake served up for dessert, more fruit, and of course drinks to serve the soul.  We arrived back at shore at 5:30PM.  What a day!!  This is one trip that I would indulge in again!!

Here is a picture of the boat we were on.

Beer Break

Manual Antonio is about an hour south of Jaco, so on our drive back we stopped at a hotel for a beer at their bar.  A very nice, but very quiet spot.

Manuel Antonio National Park

We decided to take in a national park.  Manuel Antonio is a smaller park but highly popular.  We had to dicker with a guide about the price, but he was willing to come down to what we asked, but I still had the feeling he took us to the cleaners.  A guide wasn't really necessary, but there were some animals and plants we would not have noticed without him.  He took us on a leisurely paced walk and stopped often to show and tell.  We got to see a few animals, birds, insects, plants, but I guess I wanted to see more, so in some way it was a bit of a disappointment, but I would still recommend this park to anyone who hasn't seen it before.

The park offers five beaches, which was a godsend. It was glorious to cool down in the ocean after walking through the jungle.  It was wonderful to have our guide drop us off at the beach and leave us to our own devices to make our way back to town.  This was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in my whole entire life!!!!  I could actually live there!!  The sand is a gorgeous white fine powder, with clear blue water that has no surf. 

It was an extremely enjoyable experience.  The small town of Manuel Antonio is a funky little hippie town with a ton of restaurants and hotels.  It would be a great place to stay.

Tarcoles River Crocodiles

On our road trip to Puntarenas today we stopped to see the crocodiles in the Tarcoles River.  You are always guaranteed to see twenty of these big guys.  The other day when we stopped (and of course I didn't have my camera!!) they were all together in one section of the river.  Today, some were on one side of the bridge, while the others were on the other side.  But yes, there were twenty that I counted.  The picture I'm providing does not do justice to the size of this creatures.

To see the crocs you have to park on either side of the bridge, then walk on this very narrow sidewalk to the center of the bridge.  I'm not sure what is scarier, the walk on the sidewalk, or the crocodiles.  The highway traffic does not slow down and is only a metre away from you.  But it is worth the effort!!

Serious Surfer Dudes

These two surfers looked up and down the beach searching for the right waves to catch before entering the water.

Road Trip to Dominical

Yesterday we got up, got ready, and took a trip to hit the beaches south of Jaco.  The first beach was Hermosa.  It is a beautiful sand beach.  Then came Esterillos, and pretty much the same.  A beautiful white sand beach.  While cruising the back roads...and I mean back roads(a turkey trail), we eventually came to an open area where we got stuck.  Now being from Saskatchewan and used to dealing with snow, it was a breeze to push the car out. 

We saw a few tents camping out on the beach, and also a small motorhome.  This brought back wonderful memories of our travelling days with our motorhome.

The next beach we hit was Matapalo.  We started to see the surfers.  I was beginning to wonder were they all were, since Jaco is a haven for surfers, but we have only seen rookies on the beaches.

Dominical is the beach for the surfers.  It is a small hippy town with bars, restaurants, resident dogs, small shops of all kinds selling their wares, surf shops, and people of all sorts enjoying a day at the beach.

It was a wonderful day but extremely hot.  Eventually, we relented a took a dive into the ocean.  A much needed cool down was needed.

Marina

With the car we have rented, now gives us the opportunity to spread our wings and investigate the Jaco area.  So, we took a short trip to the marina where you can catch a beautiful ocean sunset.  Unfortunately, there was a bit of cloud coverage, so instead we plunked ourselves down in the marina bar and had a couple of beers and an appie.  Prices here were surprisingly reasonable.  We'll have to come for dinner sometime.

There will always be another sunset and another road trip!!