Playa Negra

Little news is good news… things are a bit slow here these days… surfing, reading, drawing, watching the rain falling… mmmh, somehow, the weather is only somewhat cooperative with us and it rains about two out of three days.



We still get out surfing a lot though, although the waves are not so good at Playa Negra; yes, they’re definitely smaller than Playa Cocles when the swell comes in, but hardly rideable.


And then we also get to go venture when the weather is cooperating. The black sand beach here is at least as long as the white sand beach at Cocles, it just keeps on going for miles it seems, most of it deserted and backed with palm trees and lush jungle. It’s very scenic.

Black sand beach, looking at Pto Viejo

same spot, looking in the other direction

It's also funny to see the usual criters around here: no pigeons, but vultures take their place on the beach and on rubbish heaps; hardly any stray dogs (they are all looking well fed and owned...) but stray horses instead, wandering the streets and rummaging through the rubbish too! Apparently, rubbish may be better than grass... :)
We went to Limon a few days ago, the only city in the area, the headquarters for banana export. It’s very much unlike the rest of the Carribean coast: it’s busy with people going places (as opposed to just hanging out), bustling with stores selling everything but souvenirs, and very untouristy. So we wandered around the streets and the Mercado Central for a few hours, and then returned to Puerto Viejo with a mystery ailment that had both Paul and I feeling a bit odd for a couple of days… We both had aching joints and a slight headache… but Paul also had sweating bouts at night, completely drenched, yet no fever… and then that’s it, the second day, it was over.

sunset on Playa Negra, courtesy of PT

In the latest news also, I managed to sprain my knee and my ankle at the same time in knee-deep water on the smallest surf day we’ve had… I’m not too proud of that! (Well, at least it was nothing serious, just a minor sprain)