Playa Montezuma

I slept pretty well with the AC on and Don Carlos brought me a Continental breakfast at 7:45. I was surprised he remembered I don't drink coffee and he had two tea bags in the cup and cold milk on the side. Unusual! He is handsome and about my age, too!

But almost every message from him has God in it so when he collected the dirty dishes I said I was an atheist. When he finally understood, he said something like, then you don't have to pay attention when I say "Dios Bendiga" or "Blessings". True, but for running a small hotel, why not keep God out of it?

I went to the beach and although it was tricky leaving my phone and any other valuables behind (being alone has its disadvantages), I went in the water with my keys and credit card in my waist bag. The water was unbelievably warm, almost like a warm bath. The beach was lovely and there were few people on it at 9:00am.

Afterwards I sat on my sarong from Bali (no beach towel!) and did some yoga. Then a SUV drove by, only about 10 ft away, two men in it not even looking at me. Why was that necessary when there is a road not far away? 

The sun felt strong even in the shade so I decided to leave. That was hard but I really didn't want to get sunburnt.

I picked up litter and ran into a man  and a woman and two young children carrying two small palm plants. He said (in poor Spanish) that he was Canadian and buying land and planned to plant these there. Soon after that I saw him ripping a plant out from near his car in the parking lot. That surely must be illegal and at the very least shows a lack of respect.  He can afford to buy land but he can't buy plants? I didn't say anything but wish now I had.

For lunch I went to the Bakery Café and was glad I did. 

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I chatted with the owner, a Tico, mostly in Spanish, and then with a couple from Boulder (in English, of course). We were amused by a capuchin monkey who was begging. I was afraid she would pounce on my banana bread but then the owner brought out a banana which seemed to satisfy her. She's my first monkey not in captivity here in Costa Rica!

I asked Sr. Carlos about bird watching tours and he knew someone, as he always does, but I decided to have another lazy day. After all, I have a 2 hour tour on Thursday and another one Friday and then my 2-week tour starts Saturday!