So, on a Saturday afternoon whim, we jumped in the car and headed to Jaco beach. This is about an hour's drive from Atenas, depending on the traffic, on some very scenic, but winding mountainous roads. I guess it's like the Atenas version of a trip to Banff from Calgary.
We had heard about this place from a few people but had done zero research on it, so had no idea what to expect.
The first place we stopped was at a bridge over the Tarcoles River, where we were supposed to be able to spot some large crocs. Well we were not disappointed, there were about a dozen or so on one side, and another half dozen or so on the other. Some were really quite large. See the pics below.
Next we went into the little beach town of Jaco, which is a surfing destination. Megan commented that it wasn't as built up or commercial as she was expecting. And comparing it to the Mayan Riviera or Cancun, I would have to agree. The main drag did have a bunch of cool looking restaurants and bars which I bet are hopping at night, and there were a few larger hotels, but the beach itself really wasn't very busy, especially considering it was a weekend. As it was our 11th anniversary today, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. It was definitely more expensive than most places in Atenas and surrounding towns, but we were expecting that as it is much more of a touristy place with lots of gringos so of course everything is more expensive.
In my stumbly Spanish, I managed to ask our waitress if she could recommend a good swimming beach (Jaco beach is more for surfing) and she pointed us back down the road to Herradura (sp?). This was an interesting spot in that we drove right up to the beach, parked the car under some trees, got changed behind our car door and ran right down to the waves. Again, not very crowded at all. Our kids love the waves and these ones were just big enough to give them some thrills without us worrying about them too much.
All in all, this anniversary was much better than our 10th last year, although Megan disagrees... She spent it in Vegas with her friends while I stayed home and watched the kids.
Here are a few pics...
Playa Herradura
Crocs at Tarcoles River
Wayne ,I hope you are not going diving in that river, are they salt water crocs , great to watch your adventure, how is the language barrier? WE had a great time in Mexico ,very quiet, now getting ready for the wedding, keep filling us in . Where would we fly to in future if we want to visit?? Talk about it in the Dominican.
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