Uvita Errands

Uvita was on the agenda for this morning. We drove out of Dominical at around nine with banks and farmacies on our minds. It was an overcast day, perfect for running errands and getting things done. Just to the south of Dominical lies it’s little brother Dominicalito. We turned down a rough dirt road lined with shacks advertising fish and bait for fishing. About a hundred meters in, we reached the beach and got out to walk on the sand and have a look around. Another beautiful tropical beach. The further south we get, the thicker the jungle closes in on the sea. Dominicalito is rocky at low tide with the boats at rest sitting high up on the sand waiting for the tide to rise.

When we arrived in Uvita, the farmacia was on the right and we went in to buy some ointments and I needed a prescription filled. From there, we did a quick stop at the bank to stock up on colones before heading down to Uvita beach to have a look at some cabinas we might want to move over to next week. The thing with Uvita is that practically the entire beach in the area is claimed my the Marina Ballena national park so a visit to the beach costs $6 a head no matter what. The shipping container apartment was cool but not available for our dates. There was a local style surf shop back up a dirt drive, Colo Tico. PJ’s birthday is imminent and she damaged her boogie board in the shore pound yesterday, so we were in the market for a replacement. The kid who was minding the shop was working on getting us set up. He had to run up the interior stairs one more time to see if the owner would give a discount for cash when he caught his toe on the metal bracket for the stair, ripping the toenail clean off of his toe. He did his best to man up, but you could tell this one hurt. The owner came down and got the young man a chair to sit in. Esneyder, the shaper/owner, finished the sale with us but we felt really bad about his sales guy. We had just bought blister packs of ibuprofen, so I brought him some and a cold Maxx Energy drink to soothe his wound. They laughed at the worrisome gringos but were stoked. Pura Vida.

We continued wandering around the beach zone checking out cabinas and the area by the main entry by the whale tail. We meandered through back neighborhoods before coming upon a hardware store where we bought a few tools to carry with us in the car. Next door was the Fogata Restaurant so we took a break and sat for a meal. PJ’s blackened Ahi was amazing! It was a good lunch and as we were eating, the rain began coming down hard.

Just outside of Uvita to the south is Playa Hermosa (one of many Playa Hermosas in Costa Rica) a popular beach that we wanted to see. PJ was eager to give the new board a trial run and I was ready to get myself into the water to cool my bones. It’s a lively beach with a lifeguard station and lots of shade trees. There was another older couple out boogie boarding in front of the parking lot, so we went out just down from them. The rain eased up and the wind was dying down. As the time passed, more and more cars pulled in to catch the improving surf as the tide filled in. Still a little closed out, some of the better surfers were able to outrun the fast sections and get some good rides.

We traded the board and had a lot of fun. I sat on a log and took pictures and watched the assorted visitors as they arrived to surf. PJ came in and we got cold coconuts from a young man under the almendro trees behind us. Ice cold and refreshing after a session in the salty sea. Hermosa was awesome and the whole Uvita area has a really chill vibe.

Hmmm, I guess we had better get these groceries home before something goes funky. Home was only a short fifteen minute drive. We settled in the room as another heavy squall passed through. Off and on thunder showers for the rest of the night. The hotel cats decided to pay us a visit, eat some ham and come in out of the rain for a while.