Despite the over indulgences of the night before, I was not suffering at all….they must have magic booze in Costa Rica! So we made our way down to breakfast and, it was fair to say, the standards had not dropped. The joy of an all-inclusive resort is cake and pastries for breakfast, which was lovely. However, it wasn’t ideal for today’s trip….I was far from beach-body-ready!
It was an hour’s drive south to the idyllic setting of the Brasileño region and the Playa Conchal. When you think of perfect beaches….this is exactly what you think of. We parked up the car under palm trees and had a chat with a lovely guy who was looking after the car park. He was very excited to see some English folks on his patch. It is always interesting to see the esteem to which English people have in certain parts of the world, the fact that we weren’t American seemed to be the biggest win for us!
We then had a half mile walk along what was, effectively, a nature trail to get to the far end of the beach. We walked past monkeys, darting orange crabs, iguanas on a pathway that seemed to be filled with various types of animal droppings. I’m glad it wasn’t dark as I strongly suspect that the noises would have been terrifying.
Eventually, we cut left off the path and on to perfect golden sands on a crescent beach that was a little spot of heaven on earth, it really was. We had quite a lot of kit with us for the beach and that short 5 minute walk was, possibly, the most sweat that I have produced in my life. The sun was directly overhead and the whole scene looked exactly like how a child would draw a day at the beach.
By the time we walked the last 300 meters to the ‘busy’ section of the beach, JP had agreed to rent a tent, deckchairs, sort out cocktails inside of coconuts and added a snorkelling kit for the kids.
It was a beach made of shells, so not quite as good as Whitley Bay beach, but the heat, the warm clear sea and the little sausage dog running about the beach all helped bring it close. We swam, we laughed, kicked water in each other’s faces and we watched little fish bobbing around with our snorkels on. It was heaven. But as we relaxed, we could see dark clouds building on the horizon.
It was remarkable how quickly the perfect blue skies were filled with angry clouds. It very quickly turned to very hard rain, the sort that hurts when it hits you. The kids and I looked at each other and just started to grumble at the idea of the walk back to the car whilst being zapped by laser-like raindrops, but we need not have worried, JP had a plan.
Elvin, the magic fixer, had been tapped up and the next thing we knew a small motor boat, about 10 feet long, ramped up on the beach and three guys were helping us onboard. We must only have been about 10 meters offshore, but it was terrifying as it felt like the boat was taking on water from above AND below and was slowly filling up.
The canopy above up was being pushed down massively by the weight of accumulated rainwater, and the crew were frantically bailing us out using a water scoop. The best way to describe the scene was like we were on a patrol boat in Vietnam and the rain water hitting the sea was making splashes about 6 inches upwards. It was wild, and the 10 minute run seemed to last for hours as I tried to work out who I would save first when, not if, we sank. In the end I realised I was more hoping I had been a good enough parent that one of the kids would save me…..I’m a terrible swimmer!
Again, the boat ramped up onto the beach just over from the car park and we ran across the beach holding our towels and dodging the rain. A little scoot through the rainforest and we were back on the path to the car park and this is when the fun started. The paths were now running with water and the animal waste that we had spotted on the way to the beach was now mixed in to what we called the Rio Kaka.
This dubious brown river washed over our feet as we scuttled back to the car holding towels and bags, tripping over our own sliders on the ever worsening muddy path. We got back to the car like drowned rats and set off towards home.
We briefly stopped at a convenience store for boy child to pick up his favourite thing, ‘silly drinks’ and girl child went with him. She came back to the car very angry and upset that the guy behind the counter had made some sort of comment to her that she wouldn’t repeat to me. She asked me not to go in and make a scene and, to my eternal shame, I didn’t. Something I have thought about at least 4 times a week since.
A day in the sun had caught up with us, maybe the booze wasn’t so much magic, just delayed in its impact. By the time we got back to the hotel, there was no conversation, we were all tired and needed to recover. Showers, dinner and back to bed after a wonderful day at the beach.
Itchy Feet and Titchy Feet 