Conquering the Peninsula

---

After the bonk on the head I spent a few days recovering and watching the Heather show. I passed the time on the shore with all the other surf honeys - taking pictures, making hemp necklaces, and working on my tan...regular surf honey sort of stuff.

After two days of chilling out, we took off to conquer the southern Nicoya Peninsula for a few days. We first made our way to Montezuma - got in some good hikes, hung out on some awesome secluded beaches, and had a great snorkelling adventure.

After Montezuma we made our way to Cabuya, a small little hamlet next to the Cabo Blanco Wildlife Refuge. We got up early in the a.m. and tackled the hike into the reserve - a 12k trek by the end of the day. There was lots of flora and fauna to see in the refuge which added a little extra time to hike - much to Heather´s pleasure. Since we were the early birds on the trail we got the hidden beach at the end of the trail to ourselves to enjoy for a couple hours.

After the hike, Heather had a wonderful idea - an ocean kayak adventure to Cabuya island. The island wasn´t far, but neither of us have been in a kayak in the ocean. We managed to make it out past the breaking surf and paddle out to the island. On the island we found massive conches lying all over the shore, and a small little cemetary with a handful of gravesites all marked much differently than we are used to. The real adventure started on the paddle back to shore. (Under Heather´s navigation) we paddled away, along a hefty swell line, just waiting for our chance to shoot for the shore. The head high waves gave our inexperienced butts a nice ride home. It wasn´t a pretty re-entry, but we managed to stay afloat and get ashore - only about 1.5km passed our intended docking point. It was a real pleasant walk back along the shore, lugging a fat two-person seamonster kayak.... ahhh good adventures!

After a great day in Cabuya, we headed back to Mal Pais, along a 4x4 crazy back road, with our buddy Kevin - the best darn cabby in town. We needed to be back in Mal Pais so I could get my stitches out on Friday morning.

With the stiches out, and things healing rather nicely (or ghastly in H´s opinion) I have been able to get back in the water the past two days. We are going to hang out here in Mal Pais/ St. Teresa and enjoy the waves here until we have to head back to San Jose for our flight home.

Check out some of our pics from the last few days...

---