Playa Hermosa
This 2-week trip to Central America covered two countries – Costa Rica and Nicaragua. My husband and I were going first to Costa Rica, then we traveled by bus to Nicaragua and returned to a different Costa Rica city to fly home.
The trip was supposed to achieve two goals – to see the world most famous red-eyed tree frog in Costa Rica and to climb a volcano or two in Nicaragua. The frog and volcanoes were equally important.
Our flights were rather peculiar. First, we flew south-west from Denver, CO to Phoenix, AZ. After that, we took a night flight in the opposite direction, north-east to New York. On the following morning, we flew south from New York to Liberia, Costa Rica. The reason for this zigzagging was cheap tickets that we bought on United for 35 000 miles and $51 each.
It is always good to get out of our cold and dry Colorado in the midst of winter and I was looking forward to this vacation. The heat and humidity hit us as soon as we left the airport building. The contrast was so stark that it was hard to breathe.
We did not stay in Liberia and took the bus straight to Playa Hermosa where we booked a hotel for 3 nights. There are 2 Playas Hermosa in Costa Rica. We were going to the one located on the Central Pacific Coast.
Our hotel had a grand name Villa Belmar Sevilla Resort. In reality, it was a small two-storey house with 5 guest rooms. We spent an hour looking for it in Playa Hermosa.
We found a restaurant called Don Quixote not far from the hotel. The owner joined us at the table and told his story. Originally from Spain, he worked for AOL in California and made enough money to retire early. He divorced his wife and bought land in Costa Rica where he built his house with a restaurant kitchen on the first floor. The tables were all outside.
He sounded very content with his lifestyle and proud of himself. Interestingly, he spoke exclusively with my husband and paid no attention to me. When I attempted to say something he gave me a look to say that it was a men’s conversation and I was not part of it.
We spent 3 lazy days on the beach swimming in the ocean and taking long walks. I found The girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson on the book shelf at the hotel and immersed myself in reading.
Every Thursday, the hotel owner took his guests to another beach accessible by boat only. It was free for everyone staying at the hotel. We gladly went there together with 2 couples from Canada.
These were the idle days of our trip. The rest of it was rough and tough. The right way to do a trip would be to start with the demanding part of it and after that, to recover on the beach but it was not how my husband planed ours.
Our next destination was Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua, where two volcanoes were waiting for us.
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