Y’know, I don’t really know what to say about today. I guess I need something to read.

I spent the day as a ping-pong of sorts. In the morning I went to what I thought was the free access to the “pay every day” park, but ended up at Playa Ballena…so I guess that is not where I stayed several nights back. That will remain a nameless mystery.

The waves were good, and I started putting some serious thought into finally renting a surf board and making an ass out of myself. At this beach, the waves were 6 feet or so, came in sets about every 5 minutes, and in the really tall ones (while I was staring at them deciding), I saw what looked like a small sharks swimming back and forth in the crest of the wave. 

“$^%^^” cool!! were the first words out of my mouth…until I thought about it a bit. They were about the size of my leg…not fatal or anything. I just don’t know anything about what is in the waters around here. I just saw a big crescent shaped tail fin and it looked like an e-mail that had been doing the rounds a while back. It was probably some other type of fish, but it made me stop and think for a bit. Then I decided thinking was just a bad idea.

So…I survived and decided to go the other way to Playa Hermosa (not the REAL one so I am told). The access was dicey, you had to drive along the side of the road for a while to come at the access without high-centering the car, and as soon as I made it down there a sign greeted me saying “Dangerous Rips: Beware”. Ok, I didn’t even get in.

Getting caught in a rip-tide is scary. It doesn’t matter how good of a swimmer you are, if you are caught without knowing it, you are in. What they say to do is swim parallel to the shore until you are clear of the current (you can tell by looking at a specific spot on the shore), and then swim back in. This has happened to me, and it takes huge will-power to stay calm, deal with it, and wait for your time to swim out of it. If I told you my heart wasn’t pounding when that happened, I would be a damn liar. Most times I don’t go much farther past where my foot can reach the bottom, so you can tell by dragging your toe in the sand if the ocean is pulling you one way or another.

In the afternoon, I went back to Playa Uvita, when the tide was coming in, and that was a better experience than the last time.

I have some pics of the little water fall up the road,nice cool water here,

and the smallest dog I have ever seen in my life which can bounce 2 1/2 feet in the air to get your attention,

and a gratuitous picture for my garage wall when I return.

Looks better with the tinting, eh?