Quiet Days

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We have spent a couple of quiet days just enjoying the peace and solitude of our bungalow and the beach. Our place was being cleaned yesterday, sheets changed, and they even did any laundry we had. What a nice touch! We caught the bus into Montezuma yesterday morning in order to do a little big of grocery shopping. We walked to the bus with Dieter and Monica, the couple staying in the Estrella bungalow. They were going to the beach but told us they had booked their Isla Tortuga tour! The 9:20 bus pulled up at 9:45 and we headed for town. Once we arrived we wandered around and settled on a nice little restaurant where we enjoyed fresh fruit smoothies and we each had a veggie and cheese turnover. We wandered in and out of stores. We chatted with one lovely shopkeeper who welcomed us to Montezuma and told us to come back with any questions about the area! She was very sweet! Knowing we wanted to catch the 12:15 bus back we made out way to the supermarket and picked up the items needed. We headed for the bus stop and joined several other people already there. It arrived around 12:00 so I piled our stuff on and waited. The driver, a rather rotund Tico, sat under the neighbourhood bus shelter chatting with the locals. He sat, and sat, and sat. Tico time...A young couple got to the bus. Curtis was sitting on the step and the very handsome young man asked him, in Spanish, how much the bus cost as he thought Curtis was the driver! He and his girlfriend got on with their ice cream cones and were chatting about heading to Cabuya. We got talking and it turns out he is from San Jose and she is from Leeds. They met in Nicaragua and had been dating for the last couple of years. They were quite young looking or maybe I am just getting older! They were very talkative and our conversation carried on to many different areas. He had the most brilliant smile and spoke really great English. She was lovely and was leaving for England in ten days, having been here since June and living with his family. She had no real job back there and supposed she had to start looking for one! Their dream was to one day open up a hostel in Costa Rica. Oh, to be young and have the world at your fingertips! Makes you wish you could re-live your youth. The bus was very late leaving as apparently we had to wait for the big coach bus that departs for Cobano daily and it doesn't matter how late this big bus is, the little bus waits. We got back, ate lunch and hit the beach then spent a quiet night playing cribbage.

Tuesday dawned bright and hot. The winds have died down at night and the air is so heavy. We lounged around and then made our way down to the beach where the tide was high. The waves were huge and as we attempted to cool off in the surf I found the force of the waves relentless. They dragged me out and sucked me in with a ferocity I had never experienced! I finally made my way out after having been knocked of my feet several times. I got back to my towel where I realized that the bottom of my bikini was filled, and I mean filled with sand and small pebbles! Curtis and I burst into laughter! He told me I had to go back in the water as that was the only way to get all the sand and silt out. Now knowing how strong the current was it was a tough sell. I was quite prepared to sit in my dirt encrusted bottoms but was finally persuaded to go back in. I stood with my feet sunk down in the sand and stones and unceremoniously cleaned myself out. Didn't care who was watching, just didn't want to get dragged out again! We later wandered down the beach in search of some shade where we lounged and read. The tide moved out and we found a lovely little pool amidst the rocks where we could cool off. Soon we headed back to our bungalow where Curtis fell asleep in the hammock and I inside. After awaking we decided to go for a walk along our road in the opposite direction. Well needless to say that went up, up, up! We were drenched in sweat but it at least it afforded us a beautiful view of the ocean from high up the mountain and Curtis even got some great pictures of parrots. The muscles in my legs are still very sore after our trek up to Cascada Montezuma and I spent most of the time walking backwards down the hills. My wonderful husband offered to carry me but I didn't think gravity would be on our side!!

Tomorrow we travel to the Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve and on Thursday we do the snorkeling tour on Isla Tortuga.

Pura Vida!

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