Playa Madera

It took me practically a week, but I finally got to one of the beaches of SJDS. I went to a hostel that I knew didn't have a minimum number of passengers requirement to go to Playa Madera. Unfortunately, that shuttle was full and I almost just decided to head to the pool at Pelican Eyes again instead. But I popped into a nearby surf shop to see if they had any shuttles going and, as it turned out, they had one leaving in 10 minutes. I'm kind of glad the hostel shuttle was full because it would have been a 25 minute, wooden bench, un-air-conditioned, super bumpy ride. The shuttle with the surf shop was in a proper SUV, air-conditioned, and took less time because we could go (a little) faster. Isn't it nice when things work out?

It was high tide when I arrived, so there was just a little rocky spit of beach. I got maybe a hair more sun than I was planning on getting the day before, though, so I was pretty happy to see the one sandy section of beach covered in shade. (It was kind of on a slight hill, too, but oh well. Beggars can't be choosers.) I watched the surfers and read and dozed and swam and dozed some more before deciding to move out of the sun entirely. This little beach-side bar gouged you with their beer prices ($1.70/beer? What?), but at least it had a view:

The sunset was lovely, but I just couldn't wait to get back to my hostel. I desperately wanted a cold shower to wash off the salt and sand...and two slices of pizza. (Hey! The heart wants what the heart wants!) Two full days of sun have left me browner and sleepier and I think I'm finally ready to move on to Costa Rica ready to go to Costa Rica on Wednesday.

** I realized too late today that I forgot my camera, so all of today's pictures were taken with my phone. They still turned out pretty nice, but the sunset ones could have been better, I think.