Playa Hermosa Nicaragua

This is Playa Hermosa, one of the most beautiful beaches we visited on this trip.  It has a gentle beach break good for beginners, occasional surfers and as my hubs Big Daddy P calls it, fat guy long board waves. We headed here so the guys could surf some small waves and get ready for the bigger break out front our house...   The weather was cool...I say that and it was about 77 degrees and overcast, which was good for us coming out of NC, we didn't get baked day one out on the beach.  

There are hammocks and chairs amongst all the trees. 

There is a small surf hotel here and a restaurant serving local fare; fish, rice and salad, cold beer  and cocktails.  Coconuts were chopped open for us to drink from with a straw which Fin thought was pretty neat. It looks quiet in the photos but there were more than a handful of people around lounging in hammocks slung from trees.

That is Costa Rica in the back ground.

Playa Hermosa is located about 8 miles outside of San Juan Del Sur down a private road.  There is a gate house and a cover charge of approximately three dollars a person to use the road.   We were told by local gringos the cover charge is to pay for the security of being on a policed road with secure parking upon arrival at the beach.  It was rumoured that cars would get robbed on route to this beach before the gate, cover charge and security were implemented. That information only wigged me out half the drive and then all was forgotten when I saw the beach!  Really dudes, the truck was full of our bags and boards and was completely safe in the lot.  You can't do that in other parts of Central America any more. 

The road itself was pretty good largely due to the the production of Survivor Nicaragua being filmed on this very beach in 2010. Obviously they build up the road to get their crew and equipment in.  Free passable roads leading to awesome surf breaks are one of the perks of TV in the after math of big budget production.   Wait - you didn't really think the survivor contestants were on a beach alone did you? 

Little hermit crabs were all over the beach!

While the guys waited for the swell to fill in, Fin and I explored the beach finding hermit crabs. Sasha showed us how you can hold the shell and softly blow on the crabs under side to get the crab to pop out of the shell.  Pretty cool!

Sasha, Shamus and Steve

Fin writes her name for the FIRST time EVER!

Fin waxing the board with Big Daddy P

Steve was happy for a small swell to fill in.

Steve on left and Shamus on right

Rock snow man found on the beach & brought home with us to NC.

Settling into our first days in Nicaragua experiencing this beach made me feel like I could fully exhale, which is a really neat feeling when you can be so far from the familiar and feel like you are finally home. 

WARNING This Post WILL Induce Hunger

Dining OUT in Costa Rica

Steve and I have been travelling to COSTA RICA together since 2001. As we set out on our first trip we read several books about Costa Rica learning about culture, industry and food. The Lonely Planet and Foder's travels guides were among those books we bought and read cover to cover. We also spoke to many people who had either wintered in Costa Rica or been surf bums there in the late 80's early 90's. Every one told us the food was bland.

A day or so into our first trip Steve and I were beginning to wonder what the discussion of bland food was about? We ate local dishes. Casados is the Costa Rican name for a plate of the day. You get the fresh catch or chicken and salad, beans, rice, and fried plantain and sometimes some young cheese. All ingredients are fresh and delicious. Nothing in our opinion is bland.

We are currently living in eastern NC where we rarely go out to eat. I'm positive in the bigger city of Raleigh there are excellent restaurants but in our area not so much. Yes, we are food snobs. Having come from a city like Toronto where we can get every type of cuisine under the sun where competition is fierce so food quality rock - it's hard to come to this area to eat out. I'm not saying southern fried is not good, it is , it's just other specialties done well are lacking here. So we elect to stay home and cook. While the restaurant experience is disappointing the shopping is not. We have a Saturday morning farmer's market we can shop for organic produce and a fish co-op within walking distance.

On this trip to Costa Rica we were very excited to dine out for two reasons:

1. We have not dined out in ages - especially long leisurely dinners since becoming parents. Family is so respected in Costa Rica and the wait staff is all over the children. Children are welcomed to dinner at any hour of the evening.

2. The food as we have come to know it is AMAZING!

Casado from Harbour Reef

Finley & Steve sharing a Casado at Soda Melyssa

Shrimp & Avocado salad from Lagarta Lodge

Finley & Steve sharing the same expression and a chicken burrito at Kaya Sol

Shrimp in Gorgonzola Sauce at Casa Tucan

Papas Fritas at The Guilded Iguana

The Priest Family eating at a Soda which is a typical outdoor Costa Rican Restaurant.

The cokes are served cold in glass bottles and are made with sugar cane ... so yummy!

Pargo Rojo or as we know it Red Snapper from Casa Tucan

Snook in salsa verde aka basil pesto from Guilded Iguana

Molly chowing down on a margherita pizza at Giardino Topical

(yes that is my PILSEN in the foreground!)

Circle Small, Gums and All!

Brush your teeth.

Round and round.

Circle small

Gums and all!

Finley has four teeth and she is already totally into brushing them.

Yes, I used disposable dipes while on vacation this time. I explored and exhausted several other options before finding the BumGenius FLIP system. These diapers can accommodate either a cloth or a disposable insert!!! Of course I didn't have time to order them to the house before we left on vacation and since we did not have a washer in the house we rented in Costa Rica...I went disposable. I felt guilty - then Steve reminded me we have used less than 60 disposable diapers in 10 months. Our footprint in landfill is quite minimal. I'm totally gonna buy a flip system. Super handy for travelling!

**** I should mention I also traveled with Fin's POTTY and she continued to use it while on holiday.

VayCay -Ohhhhhvey

We LOVE Costa Rica. We've been traveling there since 2001. We particularly like a small little hard to reach surf town, where the waves are gentle, the town has character, there is a good community of Tico and ex pats. The surf described as old guy long board waves by my husband is always fun to launch into, and there is yoga...mmmm paradise right?

We have thought of buying a winter home there often and have spent a couple of days tooling around with a real estate agent looking at property and houses. In the end we love it there but want to see more of the world and always decide against making a permanent move. However, we always go back. It's the one place where I step off the plane, exhale deeply fully and actually can relax. We have stayed for as little as 7 days and as long as 7 weeks at a time in our little beach town so we know it pretty well. I'm not telling you the name of it on purpose!

This time we brought our friends with us who have a 5 year old and a 7 month old. We have brought friends here many times and everyone has loved it s much as we do. It was our first time traveling like this with our baby too. We spent six months planning and preparing our friends for this trip making sure we had just what we needed and nothing more. We are seasoned travelers. We are not flashy, we don't bring anything of any real value with us, we stay low key. We blend in. We try to impres this upon our friends when they come too. And they did a great job of it.

The town as grown so much it makes my heart a little sad. I liked the old school surf town, the one with no bank, no one selling stuff on the beach, no malls no grocery stores within easy distance. I like that we lined up on Monday and Thursday for the produce truck as it rolled through town.

Even though it's grown it has it's charm and it is still a very small beach town free of resorts and chains. There are lots of family's, surfers, yogi's, beach dogs and this time....robbers.

Fin on the beach.

Day Two Our house was broken into. The safe stolen off the wall. Our friends lost their passports, wedding bands and some money. The jokers attempted to get into our house too which was on the same lot but were interrupted...so we were spared any loss of physical property but our holiday was STOLEN. Take anything just not the passports- what a pain in the tail to replace! We moved houses as no one felt safe. The Costa Rica version of the FBI arrived to investigate. While petty theft is common break and enters are not. This really rocked the little town and the news of our incident spread like wild fire. Some thoughtless a-hole broke into our home looking for cash or perhaps small electronics to hawk. They weren't looking for passports. Lesson learned NEVER remove your passport from your person and NEVER use safe unless it is buried in cement. We know the house was targeted it was not us. It would have been the next group into the home. That makes me feel a little better. It was such a cowardly thing to do. It would not have happened if we were home. We didn't leave anything of value out in plain sight. There was never a danger to our person.

We tried to move forward and make the best of the vacation but that invasion was more than any of us could shake. Karma is going to be that robber's bitch I hope he cut himself with his crowbar and gets gangrene and leprosy and scabies and mouth ulcers and a spider lays eggs in his ears and a scorpion makes a nest in the front of his shorts and a monkey pees on his head.

The Pare' Family

The Priest Family

Fin at Sunset

One of the fun rituals of this town is gathering to watch the sunset. Everyone. I mean everyone in town, heads to the beach for sunset. The last surfers ride a few waves, we sip a beer , the beach dogs frolic while everyone watches the ocean swallow up the bright orange ball of sun.

More to come about our beach vacation ... now I must unpack!

My Top 10 New Years Resolutions

1. Do not get pregnant again.
2. Do not even consider having sex again.
3. Get on Atkins diet and get body ready for post baby Costa Rica bikini beach adventure.
4. Stop eating meat.
5. Step out of the comfort zone in my yoga practice.
6. Get back into walking every morning. December's cold made me lazy, well that and the no sleep because of the teething, baby's cold, teething, strange houses, new faces, teething. Did I mention no sleep because of the TEETHING?
7. Stop swearing - even under my breath.
8. Enroll in school before the baby brain completely engulfs me. Masters in Journalism here I come.
9. Get back to writing my book and shopping the pitch to publishers.
10. Do not accept second glass of wine from hubs who might be plying me into letting my guard down so that point 2 will occur which could end in point one.

Then again who ever keeps their New Years Resolutions?