Avallana Mangroves

Today, we were stoked to go surfing first thing in the morning. The swell hasn’t been spectacular, so we set out to see if the waves were good. As it turns out, Avallana is more of a high tide beach, and the waves were about one to three feet; we would have been able to ride them, but it wouldn’t have been that fun. Instead, we set out to find some Cocodriles up at the river mouth. Yes, there’s a river mouth at just about every beach around here, so don’t get confused when I keep referring to “the river mouth,” and think I’m still speaking of the river mouth in Tamarindo. While searching for Cocodriles, tempting fate if you will, we came across an animal or fisherman’s trail, which led through the mangrove forest/swamp. You wouldn’t believe how tangled these trees get. I believe they are called “Mangles” in Spanish, a well deserved and fitting name. It almost seemed like we were walking through a living cave. There were thousands of saplings sprouting from the sandy soil; a new generation of trees which would surely keep the canopy solid for years to come. It was a great experience, probably better than I described it. There were also numerous spiders that had that “I’ll bite your fucking face off if you come within one foot of me” look. Pleasant, to say the least. They were cool to look at, though. One particular kind of spider, which didn’t look dangerous at all, had evolved spikes, presumably for defense against animals who might consider this little bugger a tasty snack. It was really neat looking, and I’ll have to snap a picture of one. When the trail died out and the Mangroves became Mangles, we had to turn back.

We went to the expensive restaurant on the beach, and I had some damn good fish and chips with a pina colada. It’s a great restaurant, but doesn’t have that “cheap as shit” Costa Rica feel. While eating, the waves appeared to be getting a little larger and cleaner. We had to get out there and surf immediately, so we headed back to the hostela and grabbed our boards and flew down there.

The surf was pretty good, and I caught a few nice rides. We saw our friend Leah from Playa Tamarindo down here, as she had come down for the day to surf. As the waves died down, we bitched about the swell and how it could have been a little better, and then went back to the hostel. As we arrived, the “fish guy” showed up, and we bought a half kilo of Mahi Mahi, and a half kilo of Swordfish steak, for about 8 dollars. That’s a pretty damn good deal for two and a half pounds of fish. We were pretty beat, so John and I decided to head down to the beach restaurant and see how many $5 pina coladas we could drink while watching the sunset. It turned out to be about two, because they were $5, and we then decided to return to the hostel and cook up the fish.

We went to the local market, and picked up a few things to cook with the fish. I sautéed some tomatoes, onion, and garlic (tomate, saboya, y ajo), and threw the fish in there with it. We boiled some potatoes and then fried them with some garlic and onions, and had frijoles negras and some sweet rolls. It turned out to be a very good meal, and we’re going to make a similar dish tonight with the Mahi Mahi. Don’t you wish you could eat with us(question mark) Well you can. Just fly down here, make your way to Playa Avallana, and I’ll cook up some shit for you.

Cookin’ and Surfin’,

Seamus