Tico Tales - Guanacaste (July 26-28)

Occasional Tales from our Life in Costa Rica

We were finally able to visit some of the beaches on the northwest Pacific coast in the region of Guanacaste. Only seven percent of Costa Rica's population lives in Guanacaste, but it's a favorite destination of travelers interested in fishing and diving. We just wanted to check out some of the beaches we've heard so much about. The drive took longer than four hours, and of course it was a mountainous two-lane road most of the way. It's going to be a long time before we're up for that drive again.


Playa Ocotal - Fodor's describes it as a "tiny idyllic cove . . . in a stunning setting backed by hills of lush forest alive with parrots and monkeys." We didn't see any monkeys, unfortunately, but we loved the warm, clear water.


Here's nearby tiny Bahia Pez Vela. We split our time between these two beaches. You can see that we had them both almost entirely to ourselves.


Sophie was frightened by the very small waves at first. She stayed on our blanket and played in the black sand.


Then she discovered small "bathtubs" of water formed in the rocks at both beaches. She felt safe in the still water. She didn't mind at all that her tiny bathtubs were full of tiny fish.






Paco is a very friendly parrot that lives at the hotel where we stayed.

Another highlight of our trip, which we failed to photograph, were the hungry raccoons (mapaches in Spanish, we learned) that interrupted our dinners at an outdoor restaurant. Other diners have evidently fed them well over the years because they were not easily scared off. Shooing, hand clapping, foot stomping, and chair rattling did nothing to deter them. Nor did Sophie shouting, "Swiper, no swiping!" Amy swinging her purse in an awkward "bowling for raccoons" sort of way did work, however. Sophie thought it was all a lot of fun.