Home but still working for YOU!

Well its Mon. 22 Sept., Kevin and I got back to Houston about 11:30 am Sun. 21st, I made it back to Nashville about 5:30 pm. What did we come back to? Kevin still has no electricity and the whole Middle Tenn. area has almost no gas. Maybe 1 out 10 stations have any gas at all the rest have their pumps shut down...we both are wondering why we came back. Anyway I want to finish our adventure for you, so will try and finish in the next couple nights. Kevin will be sending me the pictures soon so I will be having them to post as well, so keep checking in, we ain't done with you yet!


Thu. Sept. 18th

Today was going to the beach day, not knowing how bad the sun might be and not wanting to spend the rest of the trip in sunburn hell, we sprayed down with an SPF 300 and were off. (well maybe it was more like SPF 30)

We had picked out a spot to try the day before so headed there, to our amazement there was no one else there, about a mile down we could see a few surfers but the beach really was deserted, of course we were in the off season but still we expected more. I love the ocean, I have never gotten to spend much time around it but am always just in awe of it when there. The waves were rising and crashing down and it was just a great place to be.

The tide was on the way out so we had to walk a ways down to the water, but the sand was fine and clean so no big deal. We began wading out in the cool water and got about knee deep when I stepped on a softball sized smooth rock, I didn't think much of it but as I took another step I hit more rocks which threw my feet off and that combined with the current pulling against me, I ended up face first in the water. WHO'S BIG IDEA WAS IT TO COME TO THIS STINKING OCEAN ANYWAY? Kevin is laughing as I tried to get back to my feet (and get back some of my dignity) at least there wasn't any hot Ticas (Tica is the Costa Rican term for woman and Tico is their term for men) there to see it, or anyone else for that matter. We decided to walk down to where the surfers were at, it appeared they knew something we didn't.

We found a good spot and headed in...slowly. Got out pretty far and wanted to get out where the waves were crashing but we noticed there was somewhat of an undercurrent and it was getting stronger as we went. We had seen signs warning of this so we headed back in a bit. Kevin has a water proof camera so he was clicking away. We watched the surfers a while then headed back to our stuff. We had planned to take surfing lessons but with Kevin's knee there was no way, so we just had to watch...maybe next time. By now the tide was out further and we could see where we had tried to go in the water the first time. How did we know it was the same spot? Because it was the only patch of rocks for a mile in either direction. Two miles of open beach and we pick the only 15' wide patch of rocks on the beach.


So we got back in the car and drove down to another section of beach about 2 miles down. The tide was way out by now, leaving lots of really big rough rocks exposed. These had barnacles all over them and it was like millions of pieces of broken glass. Can't even imagine what it would do to you if you washed up against it. There were Sand Crabs everywhere, man are those little suckers fast! There were some locals out bagging them up out of the rocks. We walked about a mile down to a large rock hill with 2 Palm Trees growing out the top. There were some big waves crashing up over the rocks here, and Kevin got some great pics. (coming soon to a blogsite near you)(no I promise, really) We headed back and decided to do some shopping at the local beach vendors we had seen the day before.

This day there was only one guy set up but he had tons of cool stuff. Lots of jewelry, and bright colored wraps and such. We both bought some jewelry, some for me some for some of you. My daughter Naomi made out like a bandit! We then headed up to roam the streets I mean street of Dominical. Looked around at a few other shops and found this little wood building brimming with stuff. It was owned by a local Tica with a little boy on her hip. She was very friendly and told us all about various items she had on hand, most of which are made by local artist friends...once again Naomi did really well. After that its back to Villas Rios Mar to relax and try to write you. You see how dedicated and selfless we are?

We got to VRM and found a large party of Germans had moved in, they were all standing around in swimsuits looking up in a tree and laughing, so we had to see what was up. As I got closer I kept hearing a baby crying but never could see who had it. Then I realized it was coming from a large green Parrot in the tree. It sounded just like a baby crying its head off. One of the women worked her way around behind it and as she reached up and touched its tail, it lunged its head back at her and screamed like an angry woman! It then went back to crying.

Hung out at the room all afternoon, doing nothing but relaxing on the porch (the Internet was out and never did come back on the rest of our time there) Sorry folks but I really did try.

We decided to go into town for dinner that night, and picked a surfer joint that looked pretty cool. As we walked up to the open-air dinning area, there in the aisle between the two rows of tables lay 2 local stray dogs, both black, one behind the other, both in the exact same position, fast asleep. Everyone was eating and talking like this was everyday, and it probably is. We shot a pic and went to the bar to order. Food was not only very good but portions were large. I got a massive Burrito and Kevin got the best Flautas he said he's ever had. And he's had lots of Flautas! They were playing some great classic Rock music, which was even better.
Side note: They have several stations that play American music, mostly Rock but some Country, its great to be in such a different environment and still find some things common to you, it sorta gets ruined when the DJ and commercials come on and they are all in Spanish, weird mix. We walked around a bit just enjoying the weather and laid-back feel of the town, then headed to VRM, we had to leave in the morning so needed to get some sleep. I had about 5 hours of rough rocky roads, crooked cops, and steep hills to drive through just to get back to the joys of driving through Alajuela! At least I had something to look forward to.

Don