Hair Cuts

Brian and I have just enjoyed another Costa Rican perk, two professional hair cuts at our house for less than the cost of one haircut in the states. For Brian's hair cut it was $10, and for me, $14.

Brian has recently made friends with the owner operator (Heather) of the Sea Bird, a sail boat charter here in Guanacaste. It turns out that she is from Encinitas, CA and is now living in Playa Coco.  She has a sister, Angela, also living in Coco, that just happens to be a trained hairstylist from the Vidal Sassoon school.  Here is a link to their Facebook page.

So, Brian, as adventurous as he is, decided to book appointments for both of us to get our hair done this morning. And sure enough Angela arrived on time with her supplies and proceeded to cut our hair.  She did a great job! We had a nice time visiting with her as she worked. It is always interesting to hear how people have come to live here in Costa Rica.

The typical emigration stories involve professional gambling, retirement, or both. We have heard all kinds. It is relatively common to meet, or see the middle-aged American men with their very young Tica "wives".  But, every once in a while we hear stories similar to our own. It is nice to know that we are not the only ones to sell or store everything and leave the states. It is nice to meet others that are here because of the bounty of the destination, and not for vulgar exploitative reasons like the dirty men who are here enjoy legal prostitution with young girls (age of consent is 16), lax drug laws, and legal gambling. Costa Rica, and well...the whole world, could do with out those creeps!

Life in Playa Hermosa

Life in Playa Hermosa is slow paced and quiet. Most people get around out here on foot or on bicycles. A few have scooters. When we left Escazu we said good bye to noise pollution of the highest order to be greeted by birds of every song, howler monkeys in the trees and the roar of the ocean always in the background. Brian and I have taken up snorkeling in two locations for now. We bought gear at a dive shop in Coco, Rich Coast Diving. The first location we snorkel is directly in front of our place in Playa Hermosa. We have rocks that the fish live in and around depending on the tides. The other is at a more protected white sand beach called Playa Blanca. The water is perfectly clear, like a swimming pool, and the fish are very colorful in every shape and size. We take walks on the beach and one morning I had the pleasure of seeing a sea snake.

It turns out they have a cobra type venom. I picked this one up by its tail.

One time we were snorkeling at our home beach and a tiny bright yellow and black striped fish literal swam with us up and down the coast first with me then over to Brian and back again. He was about an inch long and he would swim right up by our masks so we could see him. One weekend we decided to splurge and rented a wave runner. We used it to explore the coastline and close islands, like monkey head. My hat flew off into the water and when I went to grab it guess who was in the water nearby, but my friend yellow snake. What are the odds of that happening? It was that day that we realized we need a boat, or our own wave runner to get to hidden beaches and snorkel spots. Now, I just need an underwater camera! The water is every color blue and green you can imagine.

On one of our adventures we drove to Santa Rosa National Park. It is a very large nature preserve that is a dry tropical forest with one of the best surf breaks in Costa Rica. The park also has a section where scientists are studying and conserving sea turtles. The park has a very impressive historical significance as well. A hacienda was transformed into a make shift fort, and battles for the independence of Costa Rica from an American slaver and general bad person, Mr. Walker, were fought on site.  Mr. Walker wasn't killed then though. It took a while, but the people of Honduras took him out.

Witch's Rock

Playa Naranja

The break at Playa Naranja.

6 foot waves

We have taken a few exploratory drives, but it is so nice right here that is difficult to bring ourselves to go anywhere else just yet. Every sunset is beautiful and we took pictures of several of them.

There is a local watering hole by our place called The Aquarium. They have a decent happy hour that tends to coincide with the sunsets.

Brian with Cooca and Chico