Life’s simple pleasures

Playita Resort is about a half hour from Pedasi. We have never stayed at the resort but pay a fee and go to the beach. There are lots of beaches just a short distance from Pedasi that are fabulous for walking. For me, they are not for swimming as the waves are too big during the dry season. Every time we have been at Playa Playita the water has been calm, maybe not glass but close!

This is one place where you can go and almost always see Scarlet Macaws. They are not shy about letting you get close. The staff at Playita put food our for the critters. This fellow was having a good feed of sunflower seeds. Truthfully, we have found it hard to buy raw sunflower seeds for humans, but birdseed is available just about everywhere.

This area has a lovely wind and surf break that keeps the water calm. Also no ‘chill factor’ when you dip your toes in.

Often when walking on beaches we can hear monkeys in the forest. Rarely do we actually see them. At Playita the monkeys are fed bananas. We just happened to arrive at their lunch time. There had to have been a couple of dozen monkeys up in the trees. They were very quick at coming for a banana then running back up the tree to eat it. They came in different sizes and genders.

What a fantastic view from the bohio.

This is probably the busiest beach we go to. Even though the beach and water doesn’t look very crowded, the bohios, or maybe palapas?, have been full every time we have been here. You need to be in the shade as the sun is blistering. The sand also gets too hot to walk on barefoot.

This last visit, we were sharing a table with another family as the place was full. They came prepared with lunch and very generously offered to share their food with us. We didn’t eat their lunch but we sure did try the ceviche and tuna spread on crackers that were offered. Both were very good. We have met some truly generous people. Us not speaking much Spanish and other people not speaking much English has not been a barrier to friendliness.

After our swim we stopped at the restaurant for a bite to eat. There was not a very big selection, but what we had was good, deep fried whole pargo rojo (red snapper) with pataconies (smashed flat and deep fried plantain). I did not get a picture but that fish had to have been a good 14″ long. Of course, that did include the head and tail.

We have been barbecuing whole pargo at home. It works and is very good but nothing like the deep fried. However, the one time I got an eyeball in my mouth was the end of cooking with the head still attached!!

We have heard there is another private beach that is as calm as Playita. We will be sure to check it out as Playita can get very busy and finding a shady spot to sit can be difficult. So far, this is still my favourite swimming beach.

Cheers and Merry Christmas

Ruth