Day 10

A cow on our path

That's a cow on the beach

Hot and sunny.  No rain today until 7PM.  Really a treat.  We headed into Dominical on the 8AM bus.  This time we knew exactly how much it would cost, and where to get off, and what stores to stop in and what snacks to buy.  In fact, we went into the same soda, family owned restaurant, and asked for empanadas which aren't on the menu.  We were told that they didn't have any.  So I mentioned that we had eaten them the last time we were there......so he asked us how many, and they made them to order: two with beans, two with potatoes and two with cheese.  This time we treated ourselves to fresh fruit smoothies as well- one pineapple and one papaya.  Mmmmm!   Prior to that we had gone a half mile south of the main beach to a secluded empty cove beach called Playa Dominicalito.   I had read about it in the tour book.  Knowing that we are on the Pacific coast, I determined which direction South was, (at least I know that much geography) and we adventured along a rural pathway past a tent-hostel which had platforms on the beach, over water worn volcanic rocks jutting out into the water, crusted with snails in the manner of barnacles to our swimming spot.  True to the travel guide which pointed us to this pristine private area, the rip tides were less intense due to the protected nature of the cove.  We immediately entered the warm water and allowed ourselves to be rolled over and over towards shore repeatedly, breading ourselves with the black sticky sand.

The tide was rising, and the large rock we had placed our things on eventually was surrounded by shallow water.  After 2 1/2 hours  of frequent sunscreen application  we headed back over the same rocks, interrupting sun-bathing iguanas, and noticing sprouting coconuts that had been resting on the ground. Another thing which fascinated all of us were the small snails.  These snails were no more than 1/8 inch long.
At first we were finding them in the sand and letting them crawl across our hands.  Then we noticed that were were thousands of them very shallowly underneath the wet sand on the shoreline.  Every time a wave went out back towards the sea, they would extend what looked like moth antennae and wave them in the water.  We decided that they must be filter feeding.  Once we noticed this it was beautiful to watch. There were also clams that did a similar thing.  You can watch the video at this link I found which shows the clams and snails doing what we saw.   http://vimeo.com/1216299

After returning back to town we did some food shopping in the local market, and stopped at the souvenir tables one more time.  We went to the same table as the last time, and this time, they bargained themselves down 3000 colones, about $6, when they saw my expression.  We caught the bus back and got to witness something interesting when we arrived at a construction site which stopped all traffic traveling in our direction.  A man selling dried plantains and ice cream asked the driver permission to come aboard and sell his wares to the passengers.  Permission was granted and several people bought the snacks.  He was very polite and not at all pushy.  This is typical of Ticos.  They are simply polite and why shouldn't they let him come on the bus? He has a right to make a living too.  Imagine that scenario in the states.

The frog didn't seem at all interested in eating his neighbor.

And finally, here is a picture of two creatures which visited our bathroom last night.  Here they are on our raincoats.