saltwatersteve.com/travel

Got up and had some more coconunt granola before surf lessons.

Pio is a short tico with a high voice and long hair who is also a great teacher. He would push us into a wave, then on successive waves, we’d try to get closer and closer to standing on the board. First, he had us first lay down on the way in, next, we did push ups, then finally we’d try to stand. I STOOD ON MY FIRST TRY! He then had us paddle a bit to get the feel of that. After our hour, we came back and had a couple croissants and took a nap.

Then we went to Ostional to get the scoop on las tortugas. On the way we had to ford a river. There were a couple ticos there watching a friendly local farmer use his tractor to tow some gringos in their rental car across the rio. We asked how bad it was and they all laughed and told us “no problemo” in our car, they were sure of it. Then they pointed out the course (a horseshoe path curving downstream), the farmer even drove it in his tractor again to show us the way. I went for it, thinking about the “no river crossings” clause in the rental contract as I drove into the water. You talk about puckery. The wheels were definitely entirely underwater, and most of the fender. I could feel the car start to slip sideways when we were out in the main channel of the river. We did indeed make it across no problem. Ostional is a small town, set up for the tourists who want to see the loras (olive ridley turtles) and not much else. After checking out the beach, we found out from Luzmari at the pulperia where to go and when. Also we asked about getting back across the river and basically it seemed obvious to them that we could cross in Margita, as long as it hadn’t been raining too hard, etc. After crossing back to the Nosara side of the river it was getting late so we went down to the beach and played in the surf until dark. We then swam in the hotel pool then went for some pizza margarita mas ajo.