Costa Rica 2012 July 30 & 31

This is the view from a Hotel we stayed at. In the Area of Manuel Antonio National Park. Gorgeous.

The afternoon we got there we went for a walk on the beach Playa Espadilla seen in the view from the hotel pictured above.

All plans the next day went out the window due to the storm that came in. We decided we would just take advantage of the car and drive! We headed south.

We came across beautiful beaches. Playa Dominical

Playa Dominical. Jason tried to set my afloat at this point.

Playa Dominicalito. It's crazy all the trees that grow right up to their coast line.

Playa Dominicalito. The trees that line the beach. Right on the right of this photo is the water line. So cool. Forest and Ocean side by side. At this point we looked at our map. We were only 3 hrs away from the Beach below. At 2:00 pm we figured it was still a good idea to visit!.....

PAVONES!! Reportedly the worlds longest left in the world. (Imagine Jason's excitement)

Some guy who drove down from Oregon took pity on us for having driven 5 hrs to get here. Lent Jason his board. Held on to his Nike's as collateral. I'm thinking he didn't really think that one through.

Yep, that's him out there to the right. Surfing at sunset.

Nothing prepares you for how rocky the beach is.

This is where our GREAT idea at 2:00 pm turned into a NOT SO GOOD idea at 6:00 pm. Soon after it got pitch black. This bridge should sum up just how crazy and precarious the roads are. Pot holes the size of dogs. (I knew you would know I was exaggerating if I said cow, but they were REALLY big). Somewhere along the way we really knew we were headed in the wrong direction. But it wasn't until we saw......

...this that we knew for a fact, our dear friend Georgiana Peggy Switch-a-roo aka G.P.S. had indeed gotten us lost. Most humiliating moment? Stopping at a roadside stand and having the locals laugh at you because they KNOW you are crazy because you are alongside PANAMA and you are trying to get back to an area over 4 hrs away to the NORTH! You can't look very dignified even if you tried when you're standing there in a bathing suit top and a towel. sigh. But we made it home safe, if not very late that night. (way later than G.P.S. predicted) If we'd had our passports on us, whole different ending to the story.