Hidden Playa Danta - North of Potrero

We decided to drive North of Potrero today to see what the beaches between Potrero and Coca are like. We found Playa Danta. It's pretty much hidden at the end of the "good road" on a turn. (The road continues in a turn and goes uphill and gets very rough quickly - more than we wanted to take on in our car.)

From the parking lot you couldn't see the ocean - that's rare around here. We walked over a boardwalk that was flooded by the recent rains and came out on the beach. We also came out on what looked like a private establishment (Pure Vida Ride). We saw people in their morning yoga class facing the ocean and now listening to our loud boys. :-)

The boys found a swing and shared it quite well. We watched several people (another class?) doing some stand up paddle. (Some were cheating by sitting too.) When we stood still on the beach, all the shells would start moving - hermit crabs. If we moved at all, they would all be still. The boys studied them and had fun experimenting with standing still to watch them move and then move to make them still.

Next, we went on a trail up and over the cliff to another section of the beach. From there, we walked around the beach side across some rocks to get back to the main beach. On the walk over we also saw a few crabs and an iguana.

Hiking Around a Volcano at Rincon da la Vieja National Park

Today we decided to go to Rincon da la Vieja National Park - it's about 1.5 hours away. I think this was one of my favorite trips so far (or maybe it was just getting out of the house and hiking.)

We drove some backroads (through Cartagena) to Liberia. At the InterAmerica 1, we took a left up 5 km and then 21 km down a bumpy road. Interestingly enough, we had to pay to cross someone's private property to get there ($3 US). What a racket! Wish we could do that. Just sit at home and collect money to have people drive across. He gave us a ticket to "hand in" when we crossed again, so really you just pay the one way.

We go to the absolute end of the road and parked. There was a small ranger station similar to what our National Parks would have. He collected our entrance fee and went over the map with us. It's a 3 km circular hike with off-shoots to the interesting things.

We started off. The boys running down the trail. Right away, they found a super highway of cutter ants. We had to stop and watch them a while. Had to play in the Rio Colorado before crossing over it.

Further down, we found the steam holes - smelled like sulfur. Yuck! Jacob got really upset when a blast came out and the wind shifted to right into his face. Somewhere along the way, we thought we had scene the two "side" attractions and couldn't find the main trial. Not wanting to double back, we looked down what we thought was a side tail and found it continued. So we're back on the main trail!

This was a strenuous hike for Jacob. He's only 3 and did a great job, but he still "toddles" some and with all the rocks and tree branches he fell a lot (cried a lot and was lucky enough to get carried some.) We went past boiling hot springs, boiling mud pots, and a steamy lagoon.

In addition to the cutter ants, we saw iguanas, howler monkeys and even one Baird's Tapir - although he went back into the woods before I could capture him on my camera. Three and a half hours later, we were back in the car with grins on our faces. They boys tumbled into their car seats and promptly fell asleep.

Anniversary Celebration in Playa Coca and Liberia

Today we celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. Since we're out of country and don't have any trusted baby sitters, we celebrated the day with the whole family.

First we drove to Playa Coca: cute artsy, very touristy town! We walked up and down the beach looking at the boats, locals and tourists. There was a fairly large biker bar right on the beach. The kids had fun running around on some sand mounds and crossing a bridge.

On the way back, we went through Liberia. It's the second largest city in Costa Rica. We found a McDonald's and decided to stop there (as the kids were begging as soon as they saw the sign). I've never scene Jacob jump out of the car so fast! I ordered wrong and we wound up with fried chicken legs in Happy Meals instead of McNuggets. Oh well, they didn't mind. So we had a "romantic dinner" - haha. There was a play place - the kids were in heaven.

Afternoon Trip To Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is a decent sized town (pop 40,000ish) about an hour away. There were about 8 blocks of shopping: groceries, electronics, curtains, shoes, clothes, kids toy stores, pharmacy, etc. Each store "specializes" in something similar to stores from when we were kids. 

SuperCompro (grocery) is the only chain store I've noticed and they can be anywhere from 5 to 10 isles of groceries. The largest SuperCompro I've seen is like a very small grocery in the states. Big box stores simply do not exist. 

We walked up and down the shopping district and went to a local soda. Big excitement for us as the staff spoke Spanish only and we were able to figure it out, order and pay! Then we walked around the Parque Bernablea Romos - it take a whole square block with a dome in the middle to provide shade with all the trees.

Beach Church - A Church Without Walls

In Brasilito (about 15 minutes away) is Beach Community Church - an English speaking Church full of ex-pats, people working in Costa Rica and vacationers. They refer to it as a Church without walls - has a nice double meaning.

Playa Negra

We decided to drive south and see what we could find. We came upon Playa Nega - a surfing beach and town. There was even a surf shop on the beach. Yes, they'll fix the board you just broke on the rocks! Don't see a medic though...

Nice man collecting $1 to park (typical for all beaches, they are "watching" your car to keep it safe. Really nice paved walk to the beach, crashing waves and even got to watch about 5 surfers.

Playa Conchal - Beach Day

Today we went to Playa Conchal (Shell Beach). It's a beautiful stretch and we settled at the far south end of the beach. Lot's of shells and some coral washed up on a powered white sandy beach. We explored the rocky edge and found fish, green sea slugs, snails, barnacles, hermit crabs and more. Flew a kite, built in sand and swam in the ocean.

After about 3 hours, we decided to go out for lunch and drive around the area exploring. By the time we got back at 3:00 - I was crispy! It's the most burnt anyone has gotten since being here. We've been careful with the sunscreen, just need to be more diligent about it when at the beach for long stretches!