11/22/2011
Tuesday morning, on the beach, partly cloudy skies. This is the sunniest day we have had, so we went straight to the beach after breakfast. We are the only 2 rooms in use as Casa Camarona, a terrific find in between Playa Cocles and Punta Uva. It's a relaxing spot so we booked 2 nights minimum. The last time I was in this area the water was glass but there must be a swell now - the waves are probably the biggest I've ever swam in. It's really something diving into/under a wall of water equally as tall as you, especially when you are already standing in 2'-3' of water already.
Today we have even bigger waves than yesterday, and rented boogie boards for some body surfing. I paddled out past the break and caught the first wave I tried. It was bigger than I expected... these waves suck up tons of water as they approach. You find yourself thigh-deep one second, then mid-calf the next, with a huge wall of water exploding over you. During one lull I paddled back out and found a particular set on the horizon I thought would be great to catch, but as they approached even the first one scared me to ride. I dove under it. The second was even bigger, and I noticed my board leash had snapped. When I came up between the second and third waves I swam to shore as much as possible before diving into the third and biggest wave. I couldn't get below it, and it sucked me up into it. That was a very unsafe situation. Thankfully that was the last of the set because I was exhausted and had swallowed enough salt water for one day. I swam in, found my board on the beach, and decided to wait for lower tide before another attempt.
Filling in details from the past couple days...
Sunday morning we went to Cahuita National Park and hiked about a mile out-n-back in search of wildlife. We ended up hearing Howlers but seeing none. The mosquitoes were bad inland. It rained off and on, so after lunch we headed to Puerto Viejo and checked into a 5 person room at Agapi with hot water, A/C and TV. It's a nice place but expensive. They have a sloth family on the property, so we saw a few sloths there. In the afternoon we walked to Playa Cocles. The swimming was nice but I got stung by a jellyfish and my arm looked terrible afterwards, like road rash from cycling or something like that. It was a strange sensation at first but felt like an electric shock, followed by numbness and pain in m elbow. The water was pretty clear so I was surprised to not have seen what stung me until we spotted lots of tiny clear jellyfish washed ashore in the sand later. After a nice dinner in downtown Puerto Viejo we bought a few beers at a super and headed home to watch Beckham's Galaxy win the MLS. We discovered Toña, a Nicaraguan beer that I had never had before but now highly recommend.
Yesterday we ate breakfast and decided to head out from Agapi. The goal was to head into Panama, Bocas del Toro, but with the rain it seemed smarter to travel little, find a hammock, and read away the rain. Where we are now is a great alternative to Bocas (and the possibility of our abandoned rental car getting broken into or floating away in this flood). We now have 2 rooms for way cheaper than Agapi, hammocks, lots of sun and big waves. After checking in we got in the water... there are consistent 3'-6' waves here, with the occasional 8'+ wave. We went for a jog for about 4km yesterday, almost all the way back to Agapi, which was very nice. After happy hour at our cabinas we drove down to Maxi's in Manzanillo. The food was good but probably 50% more expensive than when I was last there, with prices rivaling what you would pay in the States for Red Snapper or lobster. That has been an unfortunate recurring theme over the last few days... I believe the window of opportunity for stretching dollars way beyond reasonable expectation has closed in Costa Rica - at least in the Caribbean coast. Things seem to cost as much as they would in the States around here.
