First Pacific Sunset

Not sure what has happened to this past week; but poof, just like that it’s gone.

Last Thursday, or maybe it was Friday; we decided to make an effort to watch our first sunset on the beach.  We headed downtown later in the afternoon; and ended up having dinner at… you guessed it… Rustico’s.  The food is so good there; and after looking at a few menu’s along the way; Rustico’s it was.

We then headed to the beach to watch the sunset.  Lots of people walking along; and some people up from us were having a bonfire on the beach.  There’s lots of burnable wood that’s on the beach; and it’s a good way to clean things up a bit.  The clouds helped add to the colours; and it was a nice way to spend another day in paradise.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty overcast, rainy days.  But on the brighter side of things, we talked to my family via skype on Saturday.  They were all together at my folks to celebrate Christmas.  Then it was another skype call to Mike’s family on Sunday.

We got up in the early hours on Monday to watch the lunar eclipse.  The “best” time to watch according to NBC was about 2:40 est.  We got upstairs to the road at about 2:30 and just the very bottom of the moon was still visible.  Most of the moon was red; and we watched for roughly half an hour; before the neck muscles started to hurt.  Did get to watch the whole thing on the news the next night; and it was pretty neat to see.

We were planning on heading to Manuel Antonio (big National Park) on Tuesday; but we were pretty tired from the night before.  We also needed to pay our rent; and that pretty much took care of Tuesday and Wednesday.  Long story, but we keep on being told that things happen differently in the tropics.  And I’m starting to believe it.  After 4 days of trying; we were successful by Wednesday afternoon. 

We also had 2 walks back and forth to downtown; and it was really hot here on both days.  By the time we got back yesterday; I was pooped and the idea of heading to the park today; was totally out of the question.  We’ll try again next week.

When we arrived home from the sunset on the beach; we had taken a cab; with lots of bags of groceries. Turns out that we had a “freeloader” sitting on the sill of our door.  Mike had put down his bags to unlock the door and reached in to flick on the lights.  I was right behind him; when I heard him say “Oh, wow, look at this”.  My first thought was that we had been robbed.  But nope, it was just a 3 inch scorpion.  Yep, you read that right… he came in with us.  And was heading into the apartment.

We put a pot lid on top of him; and took care of the groceries.  A few minutes later, Mike tried to get him into a plastic container; but no go.  He started to get away; on with the lid again.  Now what?  That’s when I suggested the tongs.  Mike got him in a tight hold; and as I was getting the patio door open; the little bugger got free; and was gone just like that!

Not sure where he went; and needless to say; for the next few days; we walked around inside with our heads down. 

We have seen lots of critters around here.  We have a couple of resident lizards inside our condo.  A couple of tree frogs that like to hang out on our balconies overhang at night.  Lots of birds that fly by; including a couple of macaws.  Almost every night at the same time; you can hear them coming.  They always fly in pairs; and are really noisy as they fly.  A pair of them flew by the other night; fairly close; and then turned and flew past a second time.  Up to this point; we thought that they were only red.  But on the second time by; we saw not only the red; but blue and fuscia yellow and green.  Pretty cool.  Hope to be able to get a shot of them real soon.  Haven’t seen the Tucan’s lately; but with spending the day at Manuel Antonio (real soon); we should be able to get some good pictures.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas.  Feliz Navidad everybody!

Please click here to look at our pictures.