Playa Perla, Costa Rica

Yesterday was the perfect fall day. The weather was in the seventies and sunny. After all of the rain we have had since Thursday, it felt great to be outside doing yard work. However, as I sat down to write this post, I could not help but compare the weather today with the weather that we had on our tenth day in Costa Rica. Although the weather could not have been more different, there were similarities. Fall is a bittersweet time for me. I love sleeping with the windows open and enjoy the crisp air and sweaters that represent this season, but I miss the freedom and long summer days. Our antepenultimate day in Costa Rica was also sweet and sour as it was a beautiful day, but we knew that it was to be our last full day in Puerto Jiménez, and we would have to take leave of everyone save Jonathan and Eric.

I should have known that it would be an emotional day because that morning was for the birds. I mean literally – there were a lot of birds around. The first was this red wing that visited us frequently in our little casita. He was particularly photogenic on our last morning in the house. I think that he was really curious about who these gringas were.

Moments later, Sara came back only moments into her morning run to tell us that we needed to go down to the beach to check out the macaws. Margaret and I walked down, and I proceeded to take about a thousand pictures.

At one point I counted up to ten birds in the tree. They kept flying in and out constantly.

I even got some video. They are noisy buggers, and for as beautiful as they are, their calls are ugly. I have better video, but the file was too large to put in the post.

The same iguana was on the tree where I took the picture of him the day that we went kayaking.

Back at the house we packed our bags before heading over to Eric and Yessenia’s for breakfast. Jonathan had made fresh cheese and coffee.

We met up with Eric, Gustavo and the students on the corner to walk the couple of miles to Playa Perla. We would be spending the night there at Giovanni’s Casa Bella.

Of course, there were cows, and you know that I had to take pictures of them.

At one point we even had to stop walking until Gustavo had chased several off of the road and a safe distance away.

I quickly fell behind the group because I kept stopping to take pictures. However, it was peaceful to walk along by myself and enjoy the scenery. I soaked up every minute knowing that I would soon be leaving it behind.

Try as I might I could not get a good picture of the Blue Morpho Butterfly, but they were all around me. You can see a couple of flashes of blue in these blurry pictures. They are stunning creatures.

There were crocodiles in the river along the road. This was the same river that we were kayaking on several days before. It was probably a good thing that we did not see any crocs that day.

Before I was ready for the walk to end, we arrived at Casa Bella.

Giovanni got this house in an amazing deal, and he has done so much to fix it up. He rents it out, so if you are interested in visiting Costa Rica contact me and I will put you in touch with him.

He lives in the little house in front.

The outdoor kitchen is in between the houses. Giovanni made the table and chairs himself.

I love the wide porches on the main house – there is one upstairs and downstairs. By the stairs to the second floor there is an outdoor shower. After the kitchen that was my favorite feature.

Downstairs there is a large open living space. The kitchen is to the left and the dining/living room is straight ahead of the door. All of the couches in the living room fold out into full sized beds. There is also a large bedroom on that floor with an enormous bed.

The upstairs is divided into several dorm style bedrooms and a bathroom.

After dropping our things off, we headed down to the beach. I took several pictures along the way.

Playa Perla is one of the most beautiful beaches on earth.

We spent a couple hours on the beach before heading back to Casa Bella for lunch.

Rather than eat inside at the dining table, the kids just spread out around the property.

After lunch we went right back to the beach where we swam, played volleyball and hung out in hammocks.

It started to rain hard while we were at the beach, but it did not phase us in the least. We continued to swim and enjoy the view.

I spent a good amount of time sitting in this cabana writing in my journal. Both Eric and Jonathan stopped by to give me one of these seeds. They look like bull’s horns, don’t they?

Facing the beach is the Pearl of the Osa Hotel. This is where we would dine and dance later that night.

Before returning to Casa Bella to get ready for dinner, we showered outside of the hotel and walked through the forest to the Iguana Lodge. The Pearl of the Osa and the Iguana Lodge are owned by the same couple, and they generously allowed us to use the pool.

That evening we dined and danced. It was one of the hottest nights of my life.

We had to say goodbye to Gustavo that night. He would leave early the next morning to take a group into the Corcovado National Park. It was sad to leave him.

I ended that beautiful day in tears. I was exhausted and overwhelmed with emotion. It was hard to start saying goodbye to my friends. I did not want to leave, but I was missing my husband. Sometimes I sincerely wish that I could split in two and live two simultaneous lives. Thankfully, I had two good friends who understood and were there for me.

If you have missed any of the previous Costa Rica posts, you can catch up here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9.

Happy Travels!