Again, we were awake not long after six and enjoying the birdlife before, after and indeed during a shower! The bathroom window looks out over the jungle too!
Just after we arrived at breakfast, three Scarlet Macaws flew across, they were quite a sight! Their colours are impressive enough, but they are quite a big bird and have very long tails too.
Breakfast this morning was quite American. After fresh fruit and yogurt, we had pancakes and scrambled eggs. Maple syrup for the pancakes and a spicy mole sauce for the eggs, very tasty!
Breakfast done, we headed down to a local beach on the recommendation of Scott the hotel owner. We managed to find the track down to Playa Ventanas and bumped down it to a small parking area where we had been warned that there was a parking attendant. He duly arrived and relieved us of 2000 Colones (the local currency) so that he could look after the car!
There was a small footpath down through some gardens and trees which led to the beach. There were lots of birds flitting around again - a common theme in Costa Rica. We even saw woodpeckers as we walked down to the beach.
The beach was in a smallish bay with rocky headlands at either end with a black sand and the sea gently rolling in. We found a log in some shade at the far side of the beach and set up camp. There were only a couple of other people on the beach when we arrived, although at least two clearly had been camping in a tent overnight! We sat and watched the sea for a while and then overhead we saw a line of Brown Pelicans doing their formation flying routine, they are strange birds. Not long afterwards, we were treated to the sight of a 'flock' of Magnificent Frigate Birds cruising overhead - they really are masters of the air. Socially, they are not nice birds as they rarely catch their own food, they are experts at intimidating other birds and forcing them, in mid-air, to drop fish that they have just caught. The Frigate birds them quickly catch the fish and fly off to frighten some other bird.
We went swimming too, the breaking waves were big enough for a bit of body-surfing and the water temperature was just short of a warm bath. It was very pleasant to cool down in the sea. After a swim, I explored the river that ran down through the jungle into the sea. I found a large fresh-water pool and rinsed the salt water off in quite cool water.
After a couple of hours, the shade was getting thin so we went and sat in a coconut grove in the shade for a while. Eventually, the heat finally got to us (and our bums were going numb) and we headed back to the hotel for a shower.
After freshening up, we headed for Uvita. First job was to find the ATM and refill our pockets with Colones. Colones is the local currency but US Dollars are also accepted everywhere. One US Dollar currently buys about 530 Colones, so we have been wandering around with pockets full of 10,000 Colones notes and 100 Colones coins! The first bank had a sign on it apologising for the fact that the ATM was not functioning. Luckily, there was a second bank where we were able to get more money.
All this activity had made us hungry so we went for Lunch in Uvita at Los Troncos a small road-side restaurant. Lynn had Arroz y Pescado whilst I had Pescado a la Milanese - a bit of a mix of national dishes I suspect! The food was good and the service very good and friendly, although the bar came complete with a drunk American offering his traveling advice to anyone who was daft enough to listen!
We made a swift visit to the Supermarket as we intend to just have a snack at the hotel this evening.
After a very lazy afternoon, we headed to the pool for a sunset swim. The view from the pool looks out to the Pacific Ocean and the sunsets are beautiful from here. We were offered a glass of wine whilst we were swimming and sat by the edge of the pool, feet in the water, sipping cold white wine and watching the sun disappear!
Back at the room a little later, we ate our bread, cheese and cold meat and had a beer whilst sitting on our terrace. We seem to have an iguana on one of the palms just below the room, it doesn't seem to move much though!
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