Costa Rica

---

Saturday

Spent a lazy morning on the balcony. The Jays came to visit, as well as another brown and black bird we couldn't identify. A great-tailed grackle, a black bird with yellow eyes, also made an appearance. Interesting to watch the ants crawling up and down the big trees, carrying leaf parts many times their size. But where is my monkey? Bob is engrossed in his Jo Nesbo book, The Bat. Usually I am the one with my nose stuck in a book, but I am too busy watching for critters. We have found a couple of book exchanges, but most are small and books are usually in Spanish, French, or German.

There is a kids' playground in the park beyond our balcony. It is filled with children on a Saturday. Today there will be an organic market in the area too, along with some craft venders. I have stopped to look at several jewelry tables (to get some ideas!), and the venders have been very polite and courteous, never aggressive or forcing a sale. This is quite different from some tourist areas in Mexico.

In the afternoon we took another walk down by the ocean, picked up some shells along the way. On the way back, we stopped at a market for dinner supplies and a carton of ice cream. Ice cream is the perfect treat for a hot day on the balcony.

Took another walk north along the ocean, this time on a path a little inland. We went by a school and a turtle preservation center. Many groups of eggs (not yet broken through) were covered by mesh-like domes for protection. As we continued along the path, we turned down a narrow way back through the woods. Bob was ahead of me and said he saw an animal running toward him, then veering off to the right into the woods. It was a peccary, This is a pig-like animal with a snout, tusk-like teeth, small ears. They can grow to be 40 inches long, but this one was smaller. We looked him up online and saw pictures of kids with pet peccaries, lying down beside them. So they probably aren't too dangerous.

Our bus leaves tomorrow at 8am, the ocean bus stop very close. Once we take the ferry back across to Puntarenas, our final destination is further south down the coast, a little north of Jaco.

---