Again we woke with the sun and after a filling breakfast were off before 8am to hike the waterfall trails of the national park. We estimated we could do the 4km trail before we had to check out at noon, however, the walk to the park (about 2km) and a short discussion about paying the entrance fee ($10 per person) again left us only about 1 1/2 hours to hike. Few animals sightings to report other than a few cute coatis and mariposas that James lovingly renamed “flutterbys.”

Quick shower, tasty lemon juice and loading our packs onto burnt backs later, we found ourselves back in Offie’s 4×4 to get to the Leberia bus station. Luckily, we got there shortly before 1pm and were able to buy tickets and board the bus heading for Tamirindo.

The ride was longer than expected (3 hours, mostly due to unexpected stops to pick up and drop off passengers) and we stuck to the sweaty seats. By the last leg the bus was populated exclusively by gringos going to Costa Rica’s 2nd most popular beach. We arrived and quickly took in the grandeur (5 star hotel and the like) before getting a cab ($30) to take us to our hotel selected because it was away from the action.

Starving we set off down the beach to walk back to Tamirindo, it looked like we could follow the water around, but we discovered that was impossible. However, we found several water taxis (tho the hotels and cabs on the Tamirindo side assured us they did not exist) and got a beach-front bite at “Eat at Joes” Clearly this side was designated for the wealthy surfersort, we heard more English than anywhere else and saw 4 macs in our fist 5 minutes sitting at the bar.

Devouring nachos and a surprisingly substantial vegetable quesadilla, we got change to pay our kind water taxi driver and set back to our secluded beach to finally go for a swim

The water was perfect—gently rolling waves and several brakes and a lovely temperature. We splashed around for about an hour as the sun was setting and then took a walk down the beach watching for tortuagas and gathering sea shells. The beach, Playa Grande, is more national park than people-beach, and huge turtles are said to like this time of year to lay their eggs.

We are now listing to the luxuriant sounds of the waves in our quiet beach-facing cabin.