Bend . . . “the best place you’ll ever go!”
Bend Oregon is, without doubt, a great place (Bend Oregon . . . “the best place you’ll ever go”), but around the middle of January, despite the wonderful powder days, thoughts turn, perhaps unconsciously, to soft sand, gentle breezes, and warm water.
In other words . . . Costa Rica. This post is really just an opportunity to reminisce and show off some pretty photos; if you’re after info on Bend real estate, you need read no further.
Costa Rica
The thermometer read 25 degrees at Roberts Field in Redmond as we shivered amidst other under-dressed Bendites bound for exotic locations like Cancun, Cabo, Jericoacoara, and Maui. We scurried across the tarmac at 6:00 AM and boarded our flight.
It was 92 degrees as we disembarked in Liberia (no, not that one!), “la ciudad blanca,” . . . a town of 35,000 and now the jumping off point for tourists heading to the Pacific beaches of Costa Rica. I could almost taste the “gallo pinto.”
Pelada, Guiones, Nosara
Wonderful beaches, great waves, “polvo” (dust), and an almost non-existent infrastructure. Nosara was one of the first areas in Costa Rica to attract a fair-sized expat community. It also prohibits beachfront development and is home to the Ostional Wildlife Preserve
. . . the breeding grounds for the Olive Ridley and Leatherback sea turtles.
Interestingly, time is calculated in Nosara in a very unusual fashion . . . the standard unit of measurement is the time it takes a guy like me to consume a couple of Saphire gin and tonics
–one as the sun descends,
the other between the “green flash” and the inevitable coloring of the sky.
Fishing,
reading, swimming, walking on the beach; I didn’t get out of second gear for a week (and I didn’t mind a bit).
Playa Grande
The “road” from Nosara, incredibly dusty and rutted (impassable in the “green” season), weaves north along the coastline passing first through savannah-like livestock land
that could be Africa,
then skirting world famous surf spots like Playas Negra and Avellanas.
Then on to Playa Grande . . . and again, an interesting means of measuring time.
The days are heaven . . . high of 94, low at night of 72. Fresh fish, “gallo pinto,” Imperial, coconuts out of the trees, more Saphire and tonic, reading in the morning. I can’t find my shoes for five full days; and I don’t think about looking for them. The pool is great
. . . the ocean is better!
Sunset is a major production.
Two weeks passes all too quickly.
Liberia and Bend
Then it’s back to Liberia and home to Bend.
It’s 32 degrees when we arrive in Redmond.
Search anonymously for homes in Bend.
