July 21 - Jaćo

Awoke to blue sky today and warmth. Costa Rica temperatures don't fluctuate much throughout the year but the humidity does. The wet and dry season vary on the location of the community. In Jaćo, rainy season is between August and October. Dry season is late November to April. The remaining months are "shoulder seasons" anything can happen.  I did some checking on C.R. weather and was surprised at the different statements of when rainy/dry seasons occur.

Anyways, we started our morning off at the Tiko Bar for a $3 breakfast while sitting in a swing seat. With a couple minutes I was mosquito bit. Today was to be our beach day and we checked out a location before we went back to Jaco Lodge to get our swim suits  and to coat ourselves with sun tan lotion.

We get to the beach and am surprised that no one else is there? (Well, maybe 10 - 15 people) There are about a dozen lounge chairs set up but no one is in them. The beach is 4 kms long. We decide to occupy a chair and are approached by a fellow who indicates he will rent the two lounge chairs with umbrella for $10US.  Way to much money for a budget holiday. So we sit on our beach towels in a bit of shade. Within minutes the shade disappeared and no shade was available anywhere on the beach (except under $10 umbrellas). We enjoyed the sun and read our books. A quick dip in the ocean lead us to understand this was not a swimming beach. The waves are very high. It is difficult to get into waist deep water without having to experience the large waves. The water is of a warm temperature. After a short while we decide to go back to our hotel. By the time we left, no more than two dozen people were enjoying the beach. Only one set of beach chairs had been rented.

The Jaco beach is the closest beach to San Jose and is the most visited beach of C.R. It is known for surfing and has numerous surf schools and board rentals in the area. August 6-14 the community is hosting the ISA World Surfing Games.  A tide chart I located indicated we are in a full moon phase and tides vary, on July 21 from .63 ft to a high of 9.35 ft. The sand on the beach is a mixture of blacks and brown grains and is referred to as a cinnamon sand.

We went back to our hotel and went in our pool for a short while. It is very hot - 31° with a real feel of 40°. The sun is intense. We are 655kms from the equator.

We decided to check out the community. We drove around and then shopped a bit. The community was started by a Texan named Jaco who inherited the land. He decided to make it into a play area/resort for his family. Although I couldn't find when the town was started I'm guessing it was in the 1950's. The community now has 10,000 people.

An amazing tree on the main street 

We finished up the day with a supper at a restaurant attached to a hostel called Papas and Burgers Art Cafe. Excellent food. Many of the staff stay at the hostel. If they work 4 hours at the cafe they get free accommodation at the hostel. Our waiter is from England and is having a break from taking Robotics Engineering. He says he will be returning home in August to start his next school year.

It didn't rain today. The first day on our visit that it hasn't.