The First Step: Playa Capal

This trip is starting out as so many do, sitting in an airport drinking an overpriced beer and eating overpriced food – the Black Raven IPA was a nice find, but the potstickers, if I’m being polite, were nothing special. The last couple of days have been a weird combination of tedious chores and saying my last few goodbyes. There’s a lot of good people I’m going to miss, but I’ve been restless being in one part of the world for so long and it was getting time – honestly, maybe even past due – to see somewhere new.

So where is somewhere new? Well, Playa Copal, Costa Rica to start with. It’s a beach on the southern side of Salinas Bay, which is in the northwest corner of Costa Rica, just south of the Nicaraguan border.  My wife and I are staying at a kiteboarding resort just a few minutes’ walk from the beach. The view from our room is awesome, and it’s not like we sprung for the honeymoon suit or anything. Our room is in a row of little studios, all of which have a porch on the back (and a hammock, of course!) with a view of the bay. Here’s a picture my wife took from our room – the little blue, yellow and black blob is my kite.

So, the first thing about this place is it’s windy like ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME! Being here for two days doesn’t make me an expert, but I’ve been talking with the staff and other guests, and it sounds like it doesn’t stop. And it’s not a gentle tropical breeze – my best guess for the last 2 days is 20 – 40+ kts (for the uninitiated, that’s 23 – 46 mph). It’s great for kiting, almost too great (more on that later), and considering I’m used to Pacific Northwest Winter temperatures, a stiff breeze makes temps in 80s a bit more pleasant.

On our first day, we didn’t do too much. The flight in was an overnighter and we only managed to sleep for a couple of hours, so after a checking in to the resort, it was time for a much needed shower and nap. I didn’t have the gumption to go kiting even after my nap, and really the winds were too high for my smallest kite (I brought a 9m², and looked like 6s and 7s were the go to that day). Instead, my wife and I took a stroll around. There are a fair number of interesting birds and lizards: I’m including a picture of a lizard because they are much easier to photograph than the birds.

The next day (today actually), it was time to kite. Condition were gusty, to put it mildly. On a number of occasions, I went from underpowered to overpowered within a minute. But it was a great change of pace from back home to be able to go out kiting in a tee shirt and swimsuit instead of a full length wetsuit. And as an added bonus I saw an eagle ray as I was kiting – we definitely don’t get those back home either. After I got back to the room, I met up with my wife (who’d spent the afternoon working from the back porch – she is, I must say, quite a bit more diligent than I am). Next, we went swimming in the pool just below our room, then went out to get some groceries and dinner. It was dark by this point, and I was glad to have a little head-lamp with me to let motorist know we were there, turns out they’re not big on sidewalks in rural Costa Rica. Also, it turns out that spiders’ eyes glow brilliant white in the LED beam of my head-lamp, giving the effect of hundreds of tiny little jewels being strewn about in the grass by the road side. The restaurant we stopped at was quite good and the fried red snapper I had was quite satisfying, but I have to admit the high point was a parrot (presumably someone’s pet) flying over to the people at the table next to us and staring at one of them until he gave in and fed it a pizza crust.

I’ll write more before too much longer. We’re staying here for two weeks, so expect more stories of wildlife and kiting from Playa Capal.