Our last day in Jaco ... (a couple of days late, Sorry!)

Our last few days have been so busy, I didn't have time to post anything. My apologies!

Our last full day in Jaco started with a run. During our run the day before we saw a dirt path winding up the mountain marked canopy tour and we wanted to see how far we could take it. It was a beautiful morning, much cooler than the past few mornings. We started up the path and quickly realized that the run needed to be more of a run/hike. We heard all kinds of birds and screeching monkies, though we didn't see any .... I think between the noise we made running and our initial chatting scared all the animals away. It was of course a beautiful view from the top. Unfortunately since this was on a run, I didn't have my camera with me but it was indeed awesome! We could look down off of the cliffs and see Jaco Playa where we were learning to surf. After we reached the top, it was a looong downhill all the way back to the main road. This run we were honked/flashed/whisled at 7 times (I counted; it makes the miles go by faster if you have something to focus on!).

Once we returned to the hotel we decided to get ready for our 9 am yoga class with poses on the yoga rock. I suppose the rock is not specifically FOR yoga, but there is this perfectly round rock in the middle of the grounds of our hotel, Dulce Lunas, that is pictured on their website with people doing yoga poses on this huge round rock! We had to give it a go. It was a lot more difficult than it looked.

The yoga class that morning was actually pretty challenging. It was supposed to be a vinyasa flow class, but the focus of the day was hip opening. I have such tight hips, sitting in poses like pigeon and the variations of lunges is quite difficult for me!

After yoga, mom and I had a couple of hours free before our surf lesson. Our whole time in Jaco, everyone kept mentioning how huge the waves on Hermosa playa are. We decided we needed to see it for ourselves. We hopped on our rented mountain bikes to head south. Hermosa Playa is technically just a few miles from Jaco, but what we didn't realize is that these few miles are a few miles of really steep hills! So not only were we riding in the heat of the day (almost high noon); with semis and other large vehicles on the main road between the cities; on bikes with rusted chains, rubbing breaks, and only occasionally working gear shifts; we were climbing hills! It was quite a ride to say the least. All we could think about when we got to Hermosa was getting off the road with a cold drink. We stopped by a little beach side restaurant for refreshments and lunch. The waitress of the little restaurant came over to our table and directed a question in spanish about ordering something...not entirely sure what (I think she was asking if we wanted to order drinks). It is kind of amusing; I think I really confuse the Ticos (a word used to refer to Costa Rican locals). I don't have the right skin tone really to be considered a Tico, but I guess I am muddled-looking enough to possibly be able to speak Spanish. After I turned to my mom, unsure about what the waitress asked, she said in a quite slightly suprised voice,"oh." We both ordered Coca cola Lights (I don't think a Coke ever tasted so good ;-). Lunch was delicious. We had Ceviche, which is fish marinated in some sort of lime juice with onions and other veggies. Oh, it was amazing! I had tuna sashimi, which was also some of the best sashimi I think I have ever had! It was served with avacado and scallions on top which are some of my favorite vegetables (which I guess isn't fair since I really like most vegetables, but they are definitely at the top of the list!).

After lunch we checked out the surf. It was pretty windy that day and the waves were huge! That day there were easily swells of over 10 ft. The picture to the left was of the Hermosa beach taken from a cliff when we were on our way out of town. It really just doesn't do the waves justice...

It was starting to get late, so we hopped on our bikes to head back to Jaco Playa for our surf lesson. The waves at Jaco, although nothing compared to Hermosa, were some of the biggest we have dealt with on surf boards! It was quite a lot of work trying to get out once you ride the waves back in. We were constantly getting smacked in the face with new sets of waves as we fought to get back out to the ocean. Although we both were a bit frustrated that we tanked on more waves than we had other days, we both had several good rides during the day. I actually caught a couple of waves on my own without the extra push from a guide to get me moving.

After our surf lesson, we rushed back to room to get showered and gussied up for our evening out on the town. Since this was our last night in Jaco, we were going out to Casa del Caletas to watch the sunset. It was an amazing ride up the mountain to Casa Caletas. The the thin road was bordered by a hand laid stone wall leading up to this amazing ampa theatre to have a drink and watch the sun set. It was a beautiful end to a busy day!


If a picture is worth a million words, I am going to end this blog with 2 million words: