Beach Day

Around 3am, there was a gigantic thunderstorm. It was so big and loud that it pretty much woke everyone up. The thunder was so deep and rumbling and long-lasting that it almost felt like an earthquake. And the combination of the sound of pouring rain and ocean surf…it was very loud. No wonder it woke most of us up. We all went back to sleep though.

Bella woke early and Cristina took her on the porch to watch the waves and eat some leftover rice. When we all got up we took appraisal of the damage: Alex was covered with mosquito bites. On one elbow alone he had about 30 bites. Sofia had a few bites, but luckily not as many as Alex. Cristina, Isabella, and I weren’t too bad, but we had slept right beside the plug-in mosquito repellant. Sofia and Alex had slept in a smaller room that was in the back. I quickly surmised that we needed another plug-in mosquito repellant for their room.

Breakfast was included in the price of the room and it turned out to be a nice bonus. We could choose between a Tico breakfast, which was gallo pinto, an egg, coffee, and homemade bread, or a pancake breakfast, which came with fresh fruit. They also had a continental breakfast of bread, juice, and a big fruit plate of pineapple, cantaloupe, papaya, and mango. The homemade bread had carrot in it and was delicious.

After breakfast, we went to the beach. I knew this was going to be a big beach day, and I prefer to only get sunscreened and sandy one time per day, so I opted to supervise this outing and take pictures without getting wet. It started to rain, so I used an umbrella while everyone else played in the water.

Based on everyone’s dislike of the hot, humid weather and the plethora of mosquito bites, I brought up the possibility of only spending 2 nights here instead of three. I suggested we could drive back up to Braulio Carrillo to spend the third night. Anywhere cooler would do! Add in the fact that this hotel was costing us more than we’d planned, and it was an easy choice. All the adults agreed that we would leave Cocles the next day and head somewhere cooler.

Between taking pictures and watching the kids play, I was people-watching as well. There were not many people on the beach by Florida standards, but there were probably 5 or 6 other people in our immediate vicinity. I spotted one particularly striking couple. The man was huge and bald. The woman he was with had quite the figure as well. I was watching them off and on from afar when suddenly the woman took off her top. So my guess is they were European. I thought about going up to them and asking where they were from, but I figured they might misconstrue my intentions.

The lifeguard stand in front of our hotel usually has one or two lifeguards. It was perhaps no coincidence that while the topless sunbather was doing her thing, there suddenly was a need for reinforcements. About five or six lifeguards were in the tower, binoculars in hand. Keeping the beach safe, of course.

I hadn’t sunscreened, so I kept my hat on and I even used the umbrella when it wasn’t raining. Nevertheless, my neck got burnt, as did my legs from the knee down to my sock line.

Another couple went topless, so I guess once the first girl did it, it gave others the bravery to do it. Cristina decided to keep her top on. Besides the sunburn factor, it would have been too much of a temptation for Isabella.

We spent a few hours at the shore until it was about time for lunch and Isabella’s nap. We got showered and went into town to buy some ice for the Sheridan’s cooler as well as another mosquito thing for the kids’ room. Back at the room, Isabella took her nap and I bought cokes for the kids from the restaurant downstairs. While Isabella napped, the kids snacked on some chips, popcorn, and cookies. Isabella wound up taking a really long nap, tired out by the sun and playing in the ocean. Sofia nagged us repeatedly to go back to the beach, but we needed to let Bella sleep. It was getting so late that we decided to eat a big early dinner instead of lunch as soon as Bella woke up. Once she got up, we drove down the coast to Manzanillo, a tiny town that is almost as far south as you can go on the pacific side. The only other town is called Sixaola, right on the Panamanian border, but you have to drive a dirt road through banana plantation to get there.

We ate at a little soda right near the beach and were pleased at how good the food was. I had fillet of marlin in garlic, Cristina had a whole fish (I think it was red snapper) and the kids had spaghetti. The natural drinks were great too. While we waited for the food, the kids went across the street to the beach and explored a bit.

After dinner, we drove down further through Manzanillo until we basically ran out of road. Then we turned around and drove back to the hotel.

It was getting dark by this point, and we had promised the kids one more beach time before we called it a day. Bill and I went down to the beach with the kids. It was kind of scary. The ocean was really rough and of course it was dark. So we made it a short trip. Besides, Bella was ready to go back after about 10 minutes.

After the kids were showered, sprayed with bug repellant, and asleep, I worked on my journal while Cristina and Jennifer sat on the porch and talked. I had a hard time falling asleep and didn’t get to sleep until after midnight.