Weekend Excursion #2: Jaco Part 1

 Our second weekend was spent near the closest beach to San Jose: Playa Jaco (hah-KO). We chose to stay a little north of Jaco in Herradura because the fishing charters go out of the bay there. Clark desired to deep sea fish for large species such as sailfish, tuna, and the big kahuna, marlin. Staying in Herradura enabled us to get to the fishing appointment quickly at an early hour in the morning and I could keep the car for Rose and I to take our own adventure.

We left our home for Herradura on Friday afternoon. As always, the drive was packed with traffic, taking quite a bit longer for similar mileage in the United States. BUT the trade-off is the beauty of the scenery. The vibrancy of the mountains is incredible! 

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Our first stop was at the "crocodile bridge". This is near a place called Tarcoles and the river is Rio Tarcoles. There is a line of shops there including a fruit stand, convenience type store, and soda. There are police on patrol and men in the parking area to watch the cars for thieves. The river is the northern border of Carrara National Park. Carrara is known for its approximately 200 scarlet macaw parrots. Not only did we see crocodiles but there was a couple sizeable iguanas sunning on a log.

Looking down from the bridge.

This guy needed to collect more heat by opening his jaws.

Upon arriving in Herradura our priority was getting down to Playa Herradura (the beach)! The timing of our arriving was much the same as in Puntarenes; we had the pleasure to enjoy another sunset at the beach. Like Cadera beach, the sand is considered "gray" (not black as I stated earlier); still different than any beach in the USA to my knowledge. 

At our AirBnb! The apartment was VERY nice and had HOT water! Yay!

The toilet is decorated with toilet paper. I think the host is an artist based on other details of the apartment.

As we walked down the beach I noticed where some people walked, the top layer of sand looked like a layer of skin peeling away. We found a hermit crab friend and these interesting "shelves" of rock that seemed like petrified sand. 

This "rock" is actually hardened sand.

There were a few restaurants right on the beach and we chose one for dinner. It was a little "fancy" but we wanted to eat seafood since we were on the coast; its freshest there. We ordered a ceviche of shrimp, tuna, and octopus. Ceviche is an interesting dish in that it uses the acid of citrus fruits to "cook" the fish. It is delicious, at least for me. Craig had a giant tuna steak burger, Clark at seabass, Rose had shrimp penne, and I had shrimp in garlic sauce. For dessert Clark wanted to try banana flambe and we went for creme brulé with passion fruit garnish.  

Street along the beach in Herradura at sunset.

View of the beach from the restaurant.

Pano of the street from inside the restaurant.

Happy for another beach adventure!

Ceviche

Garlic shrimp

Sea bass.

Tuna steak burger. We all agreed Craig got the dinner award (again). He said, "I'm good at this game". Haha!

Using a torch to melt the cheese on the pasta.

Finished product: shrimp penne.

Creme Brule with passion fruit.

Banana Flambe show.

TO BE CONTINUED in part 2...