The Road to Retiring -Day 2

2/9

Playa Hermosa, Nicoya Peninsula

I am up at 4:45 am.  Slept well but I will say the howler monkeys were active last night.  At 5:30 I try and wake John but no go.  At 6 AM I jump on his head and he starts to rouse.  Come on Sea Biscuit, time to hit the race track! We have coffee, stretch on our yoga mats by the pool and hit Playa Hermosa by 7:15.  We give an amigo $2 to keep an eye on the car, and he is wearing a Seguiradad shirt- having been hired by the friends of Playa Hermosa to keep an eye on the small parking area. I surf the secondary swell and foamers and have a blast.  Light to no winds in the morning and wind texture was still light and waves well shaped when we left at 10 am.  Water is also warm and clear.  There are some amazing surfers, a handful of beginners courtesy of Shaka Surf School, a few dogs, and a couple of people sunbathing or reading on a giant stretch of beach. Heaven.  

View of the
"parking lot" from the waves

Using the Surf Lock.

        The swell is lovely, a few close outs, but they are much larger than they appear and John is surfing overhead and 2 feet overhead on the sets.

 

We come back for breakfast of eggs I cooked inside bread with a whole in the middle, and fresh basil courtesy of Scarlett and a local farmer who gifts it to her.  We popped into town to check e- mails as the WiFi is sketchy where they are no phone lines.  We also got some groceries for the rest of our stay in Santa Teresa.  They have amazing restaurants in Santa Teresa but if you've traveled in CR, you know it's not cheap, plus being South Florida residents seafood is not a novelty. 

Back to our digs after checking on 2 rentals.  One is on a pretty isolated road.  Lots of land and a small caretaker house, but the house is odd with an outdoor kitchen only.  The other we see only the outside, not inside,  but have a long lovely talk with the owner and her son.  It's right on the beach road and would be a short hike to the waves.  We exchange emails and Candie gives us fresh made coconut ice cream and passion fruit ice. The digs are not ideal but we are on a mission to gather options.

Fishing boats getting ready to go out for the night in Manzanillo

A little Winter Olympics viewing and a short nap and then we take the walk to Manzanillo beach to see if we can buy some fish for dinner.  It's all downhill and a bit slick with shale.  We watch the sun set on fishing boats but no fish to be had until mañana in the mañana- we will stop and get before tomorrow morning's session. We buy some chicken at the little store for a dinner of pasta with chicken pesto sauce, tomato and avocado slices.  We share cocktails and talk with Lincoln and Scarlett- such great info to be gleaned form people who have relocated here!  John makes a deadly margarita with tequila, the passion fruit ice, lime, basil and jalapeños.  Man that boy likes the "heat"!  More surf tomorrow!