Tango is not traditional in Costa Rica, except at our local Argentine restaurant: El Colibri.
Last night a full house was treated to performance of this sensuous and romantic dance,
while we dined on seared Tuna and Bife de Chorizo grilled over a wood fire.
A sparkling evening in an otherwise quiet little town.
More than 1100 bicycles headed for the hills yesterday from the former airstrip at Playa Carrillo. Duran and Carballo won the 58 kilometer Soledad Recorrido with a time of 54 minutes 51 seconds. You can see the map of the route at http://www.cicloguilly.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Mapa-copy.jpg.
Today, the 88 kilometer Ruta is the road race with several loops of the paved course between Carrillo and Estrada.
Two of our guests at Casa Mango and Casa Papaya, Ronald Araya Garcia y Jose Joaquin Mora Quiros, won the Soledad in their categories: Open and 60+ respectively. I knew these guys and their compatriots were serious when they arrived with 6 mountain bikes strapped to the roof of 3 matching white sedans. They looked like a winning team.
Ciclo Guilly organizes bike races throughout costa Rica.
The Soledad Recorrido event is organized by Ciclo Guilly (the closest approximation in English is “seeclo Weegy” and named after this guy on the right) and returns to Samara /Carrillo twice each year. Throughout the country, Ciclo Guilly holds more than 40 races annually.
Each year, with the first rains in Costa Rica, these purple and red crabs come out of the wetland and cross the road to lay their eggs in the sand of Playa Carrillo. It looks like the beach at Normandy. Just one night and then they’re gone. I’ve never seen the crabs hatch but the laying of the eggs happens every year just after Easter with the first good rain of the season.
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It’s Mango time at Casa Mango and Casa Papaya. That’s the good news and the bad. I’m going to make sorbet. This recipe looks like fun.
Aricari seen beside the road between Casa Mango & Casa Papaya and the beach.
Yesterday, during my usual 7am beach walk at Playa Carrillo, I happened upon a turtle hatch. Little guys paddling down the beach from their nest in the high dry sand down to the shoreline. I have seen these babies released at Turtle Reserves, where the eggs are dug up from their natural nests and protected in a hatchery, but I had never seen a natural hatch before. And Peter, who has lived here for 30 years, had never seen a hatch on Carrillo Beach before. We were both thrilled! In the last year or so, I felt that I was seeing more turtle nests at Carrillo than previously. I’m so glad to know they’re coming back. I counted 37 tracks that reached the water’s edge. Thirty-seven out of 600 doesn’t seem like success but the odds for a baby turtle are never good. This day, there were no vultures around and Peter’s and my own dogs didn’t bother them so I think their chances of survival are good. This 100 meter beach run is the most vulnerable time for them. And just like their mothers before them, when they hit the water they disappeared.
Playa Carrillo is just 4 kilometers from Casa Mango and Casa Papaya.
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A pair of Tricolor Herons on Carrillo Beach, just 4km from Casa Mango and Casa Papaya.
My brother has pointed out that the reason Costa Rican roads are so crowded is that they have so many uses. He says it’s the only flat ground in the country. Ticos use pavement for all kinds of things. As front porches – families line the edges in lawn chairs, enjoying cool evenings. As conference rooms – business meetings occur spontaneously when caballeros chat in the middle of the road. For sex – the dogs in el Torrito have no shame or need for privacy.
Ticos also use the paved roads for agricultural processing. My neighbor from Santo Domingo, brought all of his rice crop down to the parking area at Carrillo Beach – no one ever parks there. Everybody prefers to park in the shade of the Malenche trees that line the road along the beach.
Another farmer dried his rice on the yellow hatching where the airport runway crosses the beach road.
Sandy-Shorts 