A laid-back surfing town

Another very windy night, this time with winds straight off the Pacific. The compensation was waking at one point to see the beautiful sight of the sea shining silver in the light of the almost full moon.

We enjoyed our first breakfast at Lagarta Lodge, eating our avocado toast with this view.

Later in the morning we took the hotel's shuttle bus to Guiones, the nearest beach town. We'd expected to find bars and cafés on the beach, which is a popular with surfers, but as it is a natural reserve as well the buildings were all set some distance back.

It was very hot so after taking a few photos of the surfers we retreated to the occasional shade to be found in the streets of the laid-back little town.

We found a little coffee shop selling excellent iced coffees. The guy working there said they only opened two weeks ago, so all the coffees were the same low price!

We sat on a bench outside to enjoy our drinks, then walked around taking a few more photos. The town seemed to be growing, with several plots being built on and signs about luxury villas for sale. This is a popular area for ex-pat US retirees, hence the real estate office, Guiones style, in my photo above!

Souvenir stall

But the heat was a bit much for me so after a while we found another shady spot at a juice bar and had some very good smoothies made with coconut water.

We'd booked a 12.25 return shuttle but when it didn't appear on time we called the hotel. They apologised for the mix-up and sent a vehicle to fetch us, but it meant a bit of a wait. Luckily we found somewhere shady to stand, and even more luckily we had the chance to photograph a couple of Variegated Squirrels in a nearby tree.

When we did get back to the hotel we had a light lunch in the restaurant (chips and dips), then spent some time by and in the smaller of the two infinity pools. It proved to be a good spot for birdwatching as well as cooling off and relaxing. I managed to photograph a Kiskadee that had come down to drink as well as a Squirrel Cuckoo and a vulture.

We also spent some time on our terrace and later went to watch the sunset from near the top pool. As a bonus we also had an almost full moon in the sky opposite.

The bar was busy with people celebrating Valentine’s Day, but we were able to get a seat in the main restaurant to enjoy a pre-dinner drink as well as a good meal afterwards. There was live music from a young singer who was good, although we were seated a bit too close to her loudspeaker and were quite glad when she finished. Nevertheless it was a lovely Valentine celebration evening.