Incredible beaches

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So aonce we left fortuna, we took a LONG bus ride down washed out, pothole ridden dirt roads, heading due west to the tiny beach community of playa grande. We stayed at the coolest little place called "kike's place", a local spot run by an animated man named Kike who was more than accomodating. He refused to let me pay for my room and most of my drinks, informing me that my dad is somewhat of a local celebrity and that I, as his son, deserved special treatment as well. The first day, we went out to the beach after drinking a few Imperials, greeted by double overhead waves, some of the biggest and cleanest I've ever seen. We body surfed for a while, then went back and had drinks til way too late with some of the locals, teaching each other our languages and laughing at our mistakes. The next day, we went up a few miles to the tiny village of Brasilito, then walked for about four miles down tropical beaches. Every few hundred yards, you would find these huge rock outcroppings about 200 meters out, uninhabited islands perfect(or so I thought) for snorkeling. After about 30 minutes of exploring the reefs, a big set came in and slammed me and 2 other people on the rocks, dragging us about 20 meters over sharp coral. We got out with cuts and blood on our arms and legs, missing some equipment too. Damn gypsies. We returned to Kikes and chilled that night by the pool with some guys from Nicaragua that were super helpful with my spanish lessons. Yesterday, I woke up and rented a surf board and headed to the beach. I was in the water immediately after breakfast, and was the last of only 2 surfers to get out long after the sun went down. You were right, Jake-I'm hooked. Chilled out last night at the bar and watched the Rose Bowl with some locals who refused to let me pay my tab-it was awesome! After a 6 hour bus ride today, we are back in civilization in San Jose. Tomorrow we will go explore Volcan Irazu, then it's off to the Rio Pacure for 2 days of world class whitewater kayaking that I've been dreaming about for probably 15 years. Stoked, to say the least!

Pura Vida!

-Brian

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