Day 4: Trip to Hermosa Beach

                                                            Sunset on Hermosa Beach
Day 4  Friday, Feburary 18
       It was another beautiful morning in San Jose....blue sky and just about the most perfect temperature that you could ever wish for. We were up and ready to leave at 7:00 AM. Dad had a ham and cheese sandwich for pre-breakfast and I had coffee. Marco, Tatiana, dad and I left to pick up Lorraina, a Costa Rican lady whose husband owns a car air conditioning factory in China and was the former ambassador to Taiwan and South Korea. She traveled with us to our destination, Playa Hermosa or Hermosa Beach. She is looking to purchase a condo in Tamarando Beach tomorrow, but for today we are heading north to visit their friends, Carlos and Nora his wife, who are at their time share for the last night. We stopped at Puntarenas after an hour ride to have breakfast. Puntarenas is a port on the Gulf of Nicoya where cargo and cruise ships anchor. It is a scenic view across the water with mountains in the background. When we got out of the car we noticed that the temperature was quite warm, but there was a breeze that made it nice. Dad had eggs and ham and a thick corn tortilla. I had beans and rice and scrambled eggs and a thick corn tortilla, that dad ended up eating as well....he really likes them. We traveled for another hour and stopped at Canas to get gas and viewed native birds, about ten parrots, a peacock, and one baby toucan whose bill was long, green, and orange, very brillant colors . There was also a baby fawn who let you pet it and licked Lorraina to death. We loaded back up into the car and headed for Liberia and stopped again to have a slurpie kind of ice cream. It had powdered milk sprinkled on it. We also stopped to pick up some groceries. We traveled about 25 kilometers before arriving at Hermando Beach at about 2:30. The trip was suppose to take about 4 hours, but we stopped a lot and enjoyed some of the sights along the way.
     Carlos met us at the guarded gate and lead us to the condo. We met Nora and Carlos' sister Betty who is also staying with them. They immediately wanted us to eat lunch....chicken on a bun with lettuce, tomato and avacado, french fries, and eggplant. Lunch is always the big meal here...like the American dinner. After lunch we rode the open air minibus down the mountainside to the beach, less than a half mile and walked along the black sand beach. The Pacific Ocean was cool as we strolled barefoot in the water. While out on the beach we viewed about 14 monkeys in the trees. They were eating the leaves....their dinner. They made the most vicious sounds at times but were fun to watch. We spotted one that had a baby clinging to it. By the time we got back to the starting point of our walk, it was 6:00, the sun was setting and we got some fantastic pictures. We boarded the little bus and road up to the top of the mountain to the open air restaurant and had a margarita and watched the fantastic colors of the sky disappear. Juan ordered a huge tray of fish sticks, chicken, and onion rings. A man began to play his sax, flute, recorder and other instruments to slow jazz sounding music. It was awesome to enjoy the company of our new friends and watch the full moon rise while listening to the music. We sat for a while hoping to spot the new Costa Rican female president who was staying at the hotel next door. We saw her body guards come through the restaurant, but she did not appear.
      We walked back up the hill and sat out on the terrace eating nachos, guacamole, salsa, ham, peanuts, dried fruit and cantaloupe under the stars and tried to decypher what our new friends were saying. They speak fast. They roll their r's a lot. They laugh often. They really try hard to make us feel comfortable, but it wears your dad and I out trying to figure out what they are saying. Their English is better than our Spanish, but they think not. Anyway, it is fun and we are having a really good time. We went to bed about 10:30 thinking," Oh my gosh, we have to do this again tomorrow" because everyone is packing up in the morning and going with us to Tamarendo Beach which is only an hour south of here. It is tough, but somebody has got to do it.