From Playa Cocles to Playa Negra

Night-time beach fun...

The third eye...

After two weeks of relative inactivity because of poor weather and impossible surf (we would have gone in the water in the rain had the waves been cooperating), the lack of things to do emphasizing the shortcomings of the place we stayed at (very poor internet, leaky roof in our room, dark (hard to read, and we did a lot of that!), mosquitoes all over our room, no useable kitchen, really crappy restaurant, far from town especially in the rain… anyway…), we decided that we’d try and find a better place to stay and an easier break to surf.

We had to part from our Playa Cocles pet, ¨Minou¨

After some search in Cahuita and Puerto Viejo, we settled on a place on the other side of Puerto Viejo (north of it instead of south), in a hotel across the road from rightfully-named Playa Negra – sand as black as I’ve ever seen it, like sparkly powdered charcoal. Our new room is a comfy little studio, with all the furniture made of driftwood for a very “organic” feel :)…

Playa Cocles sloth

During our last week at Playa Cocles, the weather drastically improved, so we took advantage of it and went cycling around to a butterfly farm a few miles away (there seems to be a butterfly farm in every town in this country, but then again, their butterflies are very cool). The farm was on the top of a hill, a grinding ride up on a bad gravel road (actually, not a ride, impossible to stay on the bike on either the way up or down!), and was not on the main tourist path. We spent a couple of hours alone in the butterfly garden, photographing away.

Grecian Shoemaker butterfly

... what a professional! so in tune with his surroundings he attracts the butterflies! hehehe...

Longwing butterfly

Owl butterfly

We also took advantage of the nice weather to get back into the water, well, Paul mostly… the waves were still not looking real friendly to me and I preferred taking photos from a distance or reading on the beach!... After all, surfing the beach breaks in this country has proven to be very fickle and challenging, especially on bigger days, when the waves all crash on the shore at the same time. On those days, it is virtually impossible to actually ride the face of a wave, and getting through the waves with a long board is even harder.
As for the world famous waves, such as the Salsa Brava, in Puerto Viejo, well, we’re definitely just watching that one from the sidelines… it’s beautiful in a fierce sort of way, crashing like thunder over shallow reef… for experts and real crazies only :).

Salsa Brava... yep, staying on the beach.