Weekend Excursion #2: Jaco Part 2

The next morning, Rose and I slept in a bit then walked to a nearby panaderia (bakery) where she selected a Costa Rican style cinnamon roll. There is dulce de leche in the spiral. I wanted to try a local "soda" (small family cafe) for breakfast and there was one near to the bakery. We both ordered gallo and discovered that is a form of taco, the tortilla being corn. Mine with scrambled eggs and hers with grilled chicken. We made a few "friends" as we waited for our food and maybe Rose shared a little snack after. 

Our breakfast buddies!

I think she has done well learning the "begging" look from the cats...

We went back to the apartment where I debated about whether we should find an adventure OR stay in and chill. I voted for adventure. I chose to drive us down to Playa Hermosa where there is wildlife refuge along the beach. Not only was this my first driving time in CR, but I also wasn't sure what I was getting into about how to sight see in the refuge area. 

Welcome to Hermosa!

Hermosa beach!

We ended up parking where the pavement ended and walked maybe 2 miles down the beach then turned inland where we ran into some fishermen. We soon discovered why. There was a river just over the embankment in proximity to the beach! Unfortunately, our 2-mile walk got us to the start of the refuge. Oops. I was supposed to drive to the end of the DIRT road and then walk down the beach 2 miles. The goal was to look for scarlet macaws. There a few nesting pairs in the area of the refuge. We didn't see them, but we did see some other interesting birds, fish, and a lizard. 

Resting and putting the shoes back on for a lookie-see over "the rise". I wanted to know what was on the other side!

SURPRISE!! A river!!

A pano of the riverbank. To the right is the dune going down to the beach. The river and beach are divided by a small rise...from the beach you wouldn't know there was a river there!

View of the river. Up close, the water was mostly clear.

Look closely to see the white dots in the water...those are actually glowing fisheyes! The fish looked like a kind of large minnow (maybe not large for being by the ocean).

A type of sea hawk we haven't identified. There were several of the same.

A type of black bird with a parrot-like beak.

A lizard we saw on the road.

There was also some unique foliage. You can check that out on the flora y fauna post if you're interested.

We ended up walking back by the dirt road and decided we needed to grab lunch. I had seen a sign for sushi and thought since we were close to the beach, the rolls might be good. It was rated pretty well. Rose had a smoothie to cool off. It was HOT out there. We were red-faced, sweaty, and dirty from the sand and dust. 

Happy for a cold refreshing smoothie after a hot, dusty walk.

If you like maki then YUM. From top: Tico veggie roll, tempura Cali, and Hawaiin.

After lunch, we stopped at this look out point for Jaco. Playa Jaco is in the distance. 

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped off at Pequeno Mundo to grab a few items. Rosabel said here she heard more English spoken without being spoken to since we left the USA, and I have to agree. There did seem to be a higher percentage of people, even Ticos, speaking English first. We definitely saw many more people from the USA.  A Tico boy I helped even thanked me directly in English as if it was his primary language, not Spanish. He said it automatically. 

I had my first real CR traffic challenge...crossing an intersection with a yellow light for north/south bound and a blinking red light for east/westbound traffic. I had the red light. Since the north/south bound is the HIGHWAY, you could sit there A LONG TIME. We watched the other cars sort of take turns, more like a 4 way stop, but with multiple cars going from one direction. I waited a few rounds and then just had to get out in the intersection. I ended up stopped in the middle waiting on other people to pass and after a few cars, I got by. My mantra in my head is simply "none of us want an accident" so people will generally put on the brakes. Clark says just use common sense.

We cooled off and cleaned up at the apartment, the guys got back, and we went back towards Jaco for dinner. We chose an Argentinian cafe. It was less than 10 miles from the apartment, and we got there in about that much time, but the way back took us a good 40 minutes. CRAZY! 

Some pics from the fishing and dinner...

7-foot sailfish

Argentinian grilled cheese (literally) and tomatoes.

An appetizer of eggplant, hummus, and white beans with crispy yet tender toast.

A type of Argentinian sausage served with carrot salad.

The next morning being Sunday, we chose to head to church at a congregation on the way towards San Jose. We spoke with our first tourists from the USA and there were other US'ers who live in the area (near Atenas). 

There was a nice little rain shower after we returned to San Isidro/Coronado. Side note: I learned at school this week our house is in San Isidro but only by two blocks! Haha!

Because we were gone all weekend, there wasn't any food in the house, so we went out to a soda for dinner. I had my first chifrio, the kids got burgers, and Clark had a chorizo burger. When Clark asked the waiter what kind of meat the sausage was, vaca or cerdo, the guy said "meat". Funny stuff. 

Next weekend, we intend to take a day long excursion. We are heading out to Poas Volcan and then to La Paz, a waterfall with a refuge area. Crossing our fingers for clear weather so we get a clear view of the blue crater at the volcano!