TO NOSARA

 To Nosara 

Up and out from our Casita, into our favourite Orchid cafe bakery for wraps for the trip and then on the road. Still beautiful weather, unbelievable for the cloud forest.

Amazing scenery as we descended into the valley and flatter terrain. We drove through the fields and dusty villages and as we approached the Pacific coast the road deteriorated so that we were using full four-wheel-drive for the first time. The main issue was deep potholes and the need to avoid them coupled with the narrowness of the road and dodging the incoming traffic.

The last mile before we arrived at the Lagata Lodge really was really  rough, almost African standard, but then we arrived  for our five days of definitely spending the kids inheritance! The lodge is gorgeous with amazing views and our room probably the biggest we have ever had, anywhere. Obviously, a sea view  and the sound of the surf below at night after the daily amazing sunset from our balcony.

The clientele are mainly American but at dinner on our first evening, there were a family from Hemel and next to them another table with a teacher from  Lucy’s old school : a small world.

The hotel has its own reserve and we did a guided Nature Trail the first morning, saw vultures, pelicans, egrets, some howlers and a collection of spiders, apart from learning about the mangrove swamps. 

We then drove to Playa Pelada, very much a locals beach but with a decent café, for fish tacos and beach for swimming then drove further up the coast to Playa Giuones,a mix of surf shacks, bars, restaurants, backpackers and some very beautiful houses.

Back to the hotel and after another dip in the infinity pool 😄 and Pilates  on the balcony with the mat supplied by the hotel, we went back to Guiones via an exciting tuk tuk to the Pacifico Azul restaurant for dinner in a lovely garden.

The infinity pools were difficult to resist here, with a stunning view over the coast. The bird life around the pool was also amazing, a first was swimming with vultures. We also found a little group of bats nestling under a palm leaf in the middle of the day.

The sunsets, both from the infinity pool and our balcony were the best we have ever experienced ; and a feature for every evening of our stay.

A walk down to the beach below the hotel provided an entertaining half hour watching the pelicans dive into the surf to feed. The locals were also out fishing, also in the surf, with hand lines, successfully so.

We had a kayak tour through the river in the hotel reserve, with a break on the beach halfway around for some fruit and water. Saw our first crocodiles (as against caimans) which was exciting and a range of herons.

On our final day, we had an unexpected chance to witness what is the main tourist event in other parts of the year on this coastline at nearby Ostinal beach. An arribada, olive ridley sea turtles coming in to laying 70-100 eggs, covering them to protect against  predators (vultures hovering nearby) and then rather tiredly, returning to the ocean. We also saw many baby turtles crawling towards the waves. We were worried it might be a bit of a circus and it is certainly very organised but also very random because you never know for sure that the turtles will appear. The sight of the eggs  were being laid was as memorable as we had hoped. This is actually the only place in Costa Rica where at specific times eggs can legally be taken for human consumption.

In the afternoon we walked the entire  deserted trails in the reserve and  quite a long walk in the event especially as we stopped  for long time to watch a troop of very entertaining howler monkeys. 

.