Central America,  Independent travel,  Photography,  Travel Blog,  Walking

Potrero: To The Lonely Sea And The Sky 

January 29, 2022 /

We’re sitting in the balmy breeze beneath the swaying palm trees on Sunday evening when we first hear news of the eruption, some seven days after the event. It seems that Turrialba, one of Costa Rica’s more active volcanoes, experienced its most violent eruption since 2011 last Monday and deposited significant amounts of volcanic ash over areas which we have travelled through since then – yet we only learn of it now! Not sure how we missed that.

Playa Penca

Choosing our location for this last full week of our Costa Rica tour hasn’t been completely straightforward; the northern Pacific coast has a fairly high number of over developed resorts, which we were keen to avoid as we search for a relaxing location for our chill time after all the activity of the last few weeks.

The track to our house

Research brings us to Potrero, not as yet overtaken by development but with easy access to the gorgeous beaches which are of course the very reason this Guanacaste coast has become so sought after. And here in Potrero, instead of any high rise, there are cows grazing while chickens scurry, dogs lay panting in the shade, monkey troupes swing from tree to tree, and we inhale the scent of parched grass and dust. A hundred yards away the Pacific rolls gently in. It’s roughly five whole minutes before we know this is our kind of place.

Development hasn’t quite reached here yet, though according to our hugely accommodating hosts Lee-Anne and Marty, this will change soon, with work about to start on construction of a large marina at the southern end of the bay which is likely to bring significant changes over the next five years or so. But for now Potrero remains an agricultural village with a handful of restaurants and beach bars and a selection of beaches – no less than three within walking distance – which just invite lazy days.

Playa Potrero
Playa Penca

In fact the entire coastline of the Guanacaste region is adorned with a string of gorgeous beaches covering many miles; this is the driest, hottest part of the country, with not a drop of rain between December and May. South of Potrero, the beach villages of Playa Flamingo and Brasilito (“little Brazil”) are only a little more developed than Potrero itself, with nothing like the level of development we’d feared. Brasilito, and its second beach Playa Conchal, is in fact a delightful little place.

Playa Conchal
Playa Conchal

Tico families love a day at the beach, and boy do they know how to enjoy it. It’s so amusing to watch them as they bring what looks like roughly half of their entire household with them: picnic hampers, cool boxes, tables and chairs, tents, inflatables, changes of clothes…and giant speakers for the music. They bring so much that a handcart service exists whereby “beach porters” are on hand to ferry each family’s belongings from the car park to the sand….

One family’s beach kit

Taking a drive a bit further south along the coast, we take in one of those resorts with a reputation for being more developed, Tamarindo, and whilst it is indeed more of a holiday spot than either Potrero or Brasilito, it’s definitely not full of high rise. Tourist spot and beach town it may be, but the gigantic and gorgeous golden beach which stretches right around the bay backed all the way by nodding palm trees, is more than spectacular, and Tamarindo itself is just so welcoming.

Tamarindo

Surfers ride the crashing pure white rollers, and the run of inviting bars along the beachfront road just call out to us to stay here and work our way through a bar crawl. Maybe some other time. We’ve heard some American visitors refer to the Guanacaste coast as Costa Rica’s answer to Hawaii; it isn’t hard to see why at Tamarindo, and as we scoff fish tacos at a beach bar with our toes in the soft sand and the roar of the Pacific in our ears, surfers gliding in on the waves and cool music gently playing, it simply feels wonderful.

Tamarindo

Our one major excursion away from the coast is what will most likely be the last volcano of this trip – Rincon de la Vieja, which translates as “old woman’s nook” apparently, no further comment on that! Without doubt the liveliest of the volcanoes we’ve visited here, pools of water and “pots” of mud bubble and boil as sulphur fumes fill the air and clouds of hot steam drift through the trees.

Volcanic steam in the trees
Boiling volcanic pool
Boiling mud
Boiling mud

It’s too dangerous to visit the principal crater here, but further down the hillside water from the hot springs is captured in a series of nine pools of varying temperature, the hottest of which we can only withstand for a matter of seconds. For the most part though, wallowing in the warm/hot water, plastering ourselves in volcanic mud and washing it off in the cold river, all makes a very pleasing experience in this rustic, rural setting.

Thermal pools
Volcanic mud

And so our lazy week in this hot and dry region closes and we prepare to take our final drive away from Potrero via the crazy road known by locals as the “Monkey Trail”. Only passable during dry season, but saving a 40km detour, it’s incredible that this route, twice fording a river and rambling trail-like through the forests, is a proper, signposted route to the coast. It was a bit of a shock to drive it the first time, but it’s remarkable what you can get accustomed to.

Our next, and final, destination in Costa Rica is the city of Alajuela, where – hopefully!! – we will complete the paperwork, and the COVID test, to permit our entry into the USA.

Playa Potrero at Sunset
Playa Brasilito at Sunset
Playa Penca at Sunset
Playa Penca at Sunset

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