I woke up to the sounds of people cooking and eating in the shared dining area and kitchen. I got up thinking that I might have time to do some journaling and perhaps meet Caroline, one of our hosts at the Liquid Magic Surf Resort. It turned out that she had just left but the other guests let me know where to find my breakfast.
After breakfast, we did get to meet Caroline, and she gave us some suggestions for things to check out in Uvita. We decided to follow her directions and visit the falls in Uvita, Catarata Uvita.
As we took the dirt road up to the falls, we saw a turn-off with signs for the falls, but we thought perhaps it wasn’t the official entrance, so we kept driving up. Then we saw another place with signs for parking for the falls, but it also didn’t look official, so we kept driving. We continued up until we came to a sign that said, ‘dangerous road, steep drops, 4×4 only’. We don’t have a 4×4, so we turned around and went back to the second parking area we saw. There was a little cafe there, and they said we could park there to access the falls for ₡2000 ($4.70 CAD).
There was a trail from there that took us down to the falls. When we got there, we saw one of the things Caroline described: people taking a path up to the top of the falls and sliding down. Her advice, if we decided to take the plunge, was to cross our arms across and cross ankles on the way down. Neither of us were keen to try it with everyone watching, but it was fun to watch other people going down.
We swam for a while in the pool below the falls. Then we took the path down a little way to the next pool of water. There was a platform there, and we each took a turn jumping into the water below. It didn’t look too high from below, but when I got up there it felt much higher, but I still managed to gather my nerve and take the leap.
Then we made our way a little further down to the next pool of water to enjoy some time at the falls with a little more privacy.
We stopped at the little cafe by the parking lot on our way out for a refreshing drink on their patio. I had an iced coffee with banana, and it was pretty good. They served them with stainless steel straws. It’s been great to see how environmentally conscious they are here. Most of the time, the drinks have been served with paper straws and once with bamboo straws.
From there went into Uvita. We parked the car at a pay parking lot. We realized afterward that we probably could have parked on the street but the guy at the car rental place had warned us that if we didn’t “park in the right spot” we could get our plates taken away. We actually don’t have plates on our car (we were told it is so new it doesn’t have plates yet), so perhaps we’re immune (or, worse, they might tow us). The parking lot was covered so, if nothing else, at least it kept the car from getting scorching hot like it did earlier at the falls.
It was almost two o’clock by then, and Caroline had told us that low tide would be at four (and the sand bar that looks like a whales tail is only accessible at low tide). So we stopped at Restaurante Delicias, near the beach, for a late lunch. I had the vegan version of a traditional meal (beans, rice, salad, plantains, steamed veg, and some sort of veggie patty). We’ve had some pretty amazing meals here, so in comparison, this one ranks lower, but I did really enjoy the veggie patty.
We walked over to the beach after lunch. There was a sign that said payment was required to enter and it looked like it cost non-locals twice as much locals. However, no one was there to collect our money when we entered at 3:20 pm. The sign also said it closed at four so we gathered that they didn’t charge entry fees so close to closing.
On our way to the beach, we saw a sign warning of crocodiles. It was an expansive sandy beach. It wasn’t possible to get a photo that accurately depicted the whale tail shape of the sand bar, as you’d need some higher elevation for that. As we walked out towards the tip of the tail, we saw several little crabs scuttling across the sand.
Once we had walked almost all the way to the tip, we decided to sit down and take in the stunning view for a while before turning back to the car.
Before heading home, we drove back to Dominical for some supplies. We’d seen some fantastic looking granola and yogurt there yesterday but wanted to see what the Airbnb breakfast was like before buying something else. The breakfast at the Airbnb was nice. The fruit salad was delicious, but the meal as a whole lacked protein (and neither of us were big fans of Bimbo Bread). Unfortunately, they were out of stock of both today at Mama Toucan’s. We found another yogurt that looked good (we both prefer natural and unflavoured yogurt), however, the one we got is probably larger than we need. They have a great selection of granola but the one we’d seen yesterday looked handmade and it was also out of stock so we had to get a packaged one.
Today a little dog was blocking the dirt road back to our Airbnb. I got out to encourage him to move, but just like the enterprising guys who got our parking money today, I think this little guy was enforcing the pet tax (he wanted me to pet him before he’d let us pass and then resume his post).
Back home, we got changed and enjoyed a dip in the pool. We got to meet our neighbours: a couple from Austria, travelling with their 7-month old son for six weeks. The water was very warm, but it was still lovely to float around, and by the time we got out, the air felt cooler.
We ate our leftovers from Phat Noodle last night and finally ate some of the flavourful tomatoes that we had picked up in La Fortuna. We had the leftover sangria (the welcome gift from our first hosts) and then switched to some drinks we had purchased in Uvita. I was excited to try a new-to-me cider, Woodchuck Hard Cider in pear and raspberry. I really enjoyed them both. Initially, I thought it was from a cider maker in Costa Rica (because I found this Facebook page when searching for cider in Costa Rica), but it turned out to be from Vermont. As we enjoyed our drinks, we made some plans for tomorrow. Then it was time for bed.
Sarah Frumento 