This place we stayed is really beautiful....and one of the real treasures was the huge salt water pool! One side was a lap pool (they must have known I was trying to stay healthy) and the other a deep infinity pool that overlooked the property from the top of the small mountain. We were the only guests at the place, so the pool was all ours to play like kids...and that is just what we did!
Though we hated leaving this great spot, we had been reading up on other beaches on Nocoya, so we packed up our little 4 x 4 and off we went.
Now as I explained before, the roads in this part of Costa Rica are more paths than roads. We plodded along fairly well. Occasionally there was a river crossing and Cait would get out to walk across and be sure there were no hidden deep spots. It was a plan that seemed to be working quite well.
Well, it worked well until we got to particularly deep looking crossing. There were tracks going into the water, but the water where the tracks entered was murky, so we were unsure about it. It was also about 30 yards across...much wider than the usual river crossing. We stopped and surveyed.....and contemplated turning around.....as Cait was not on board with wading through this spot. Some fear of crocodiles or something! But, I figured we had come this far...and I was certainly a big bite for any croc, which might be a deterant, so I decided it was my turn to walk the crossing to be sure it was safe. All went well the first half of the crossing...I found a path where we could cross that was only about a foot deep. Then....from the car, I heard a HONK!!!!!! OMG...did they see a croc coming after me? I turned to look back at the car, only to see mom and cait laughing like crazy. Yeah...really funny. I'm not sure they were laughing because the terrufued look on my swollen face was amusing, or because they had scared me so badly that i was....well ......leaving my dna in the river! Good thing I had on a swim suit!!!!
After a quick rinsing off in the thankfully crocodile free water, we were back on the road.
Our next stop was what is supposed to be in the top ten beaches in Costa Rica, Puerto Carrillo. While very difficult to get to, it was worth the trip. The water was warm, the sand soft and the beachcombing fun. We all three played in the surf for a while, then Mom retired to the beach to collect treasures for our Alexa while Cait and I ventured further out. We were pretty much alone, aside from a few locals and we had a great time. I'm not sure if it is the best beach here, but it certainly must be one of the nicest we had ever been to!
Well, if there is anything a day at the beach will do, it is make you hungry. And in typical "We Three" fashion, we set off to find a great little place to eat. And find one we did! We happened upon Del Mariscos. At first we didn't think it was opened, as there seemed to be some construction going on. But we stopped to ask and sure enough....abierto! Our lucky day...AGAIN!
A young man seated us, but it was soon evident he was just one of the handymen. He ran next door to the house adjacent to the little restaurant and got the young girl who would be our server. She came over and we asked about local fresh fish, and sure enough they had the red snapper that this area of the pacific is known for. So we all ordered the red snapper! She sheepishly looked at us and told us that they only had two. So, we ordered two (Caitlin later hoped aloud that she hadn't told us they only had two in the hopes we would have only one and leave one for their own dinner) and we also ordered their mahi mahi in a special sauce. We all agreed that this was now the best food we had had in Costa Rica and the snapper was probably the best fish we had EVER had. What was so amazing about this spot was that it was small...and not busy...and yet they took such pride in what they served. They made sure it was fresh, and it was plated beautifully. They were happy to have us and we were thrilled to be there.
Even though we were tired and sticky from our day at the beach, we were happy and sated. Mom decided on a quick trip to the ladies room before we got on the road and suddenly we were even happier. She poked her head out of the bathroom and said "hey, they have a shower in here". So I asked our sweet waitress if we could shower off....and she said YES!!!!! How lucky can three Texas women get???? After a quick shower in the restaurant bathroom (and yes I realize how silly that sounds), we were on the road again.
This particular day was a national holiday in Costa Rica (unbeknownst to us) and so that made our trek back to San Jose especially interesting. Each little town was having a fiesta of sorts. Lots of dress in native costume, music in the squares and partying all long the road. There were roadside vendors selling everything from wooden bowls and statues to baked goods to fresh fruit to Costa Rican flags. Though the traffic was awful, the cloud forest portion of the trip was slow moving and we were hit with a quick but powerful rain storm, the drive back was interesting and just another great memory to add to all we've been blessed to have.
Back in San Jose, weather cooperating, we plan on heading to the the active volcano, Poas, tomorrow. If they are sacrificing princesses we may be in trouble!
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