Maresias Beach

We spent yesterday at the Praia De Maresias, aka Beach of Maresias. It was great. It felt like Costa Rica. The only weird thing was that this is a south facing beach, and I'm used to the beaches being facing east or west, so I had a feeling like it was morning all day, with the sun was just starting to rise the whole time. It was beautiful, the kids loved it, Corey and I were able to take it easy pretty much, I took lots of pictures.

When we first got there, Sophi didn't want to go near the water. She kept her backpack and jacket on and just said no. I said she was a little Hyrum, but in her defense Corey pointed out that she was not not screaming with fear. Ok, that's true. She's not as bad as Hyrum was.

Did a little bit of beach combing. It was a nice isolated beach, not busy, white sand, beautiful.

After a bit Corey got her to put on her swimsuit and walked her out. Then she was having a great time. 

After a while we let Natalie take off her pants and wade into the water too. Then she and Sophi sat and ate popcorn in the shade.

Here is Natalie, it took us a while to realize the little red signs said Danger. I was just chilling and looking around, noticed the signs... "Perigo. Hm, is that like Peligro? Probably is. Peligro means Danger. Oh, Danger?!" Then I told Corey and we were glad we realized that. There was a rip current there. Isn't that lovely, we parked right next to it. We were glad we finally clued in and then we moved down the beach away from it.

After jumping in the waves for a bit, the kids took a break to dig holes and build sandcastles and sip coconut water. Melodie said "This is paradise!"

Sophi running wild and free

Wesley befriended a cute dog. The dog was digging after a little crab, Wesley helped him after he first helped the crab escape to Melodie for protection.

Melodie built a castle for the crab to reign in.

Wes dug himself a good hole and I finished him off and buried him up to his neck.

More castle building, but they were too close to the water, which was starting to rise. It destroyed their kingdom.

Natalie helping Wes get out of his hole (took him a little while) Corey in the back there under the umbrella.

It was not a crowded beach at all, it was very nice and relaxing and calming. We could have stayed all day, but around 2:00 we told the kids we better head out, we had a long drive ahead of us.

So we came, we saw, we swam, we loved. We're glad to have Gianinna here to give us an excuse to leave the house, cause we probably wouldn't have made the effort without her here and the duty that comes with it to show your guest a good time. So it turns into a win-win-win for everyone.

Gianinna was great helping watch the kids and playing with them in the water while we watched the toddlers on the shore.

So the beach gets rave reviews, but the hotel we stayed at.... that one is just gonna be a fun memory cause of how un-Marriott it was. Yes, we're just making memories, and those traumatic ones tend to leave pretty strong impressions. :)

It was nice to drive out of the little beach town and see what we had been driving through in the dark the night before. It was beautiful! Wish I didn't have to drive and could have stared out the windows more.

I was a little nervous about driving home through the cloud forest again, but it was easier going up than it had been going down. But just check out that road ahead on the gps! Driving on that in the cloud fog! Yikes, kids, say another prayer...

So, even though I felt like I was driving in Mario Kart in regards to the speed everyone else on the road seemed to think we should be going, the roads were great and it was a great drive. But I am not going to miss the drivers here. Not the brave semi truckers and how they take up two lanes, not the motorcycle drivers who think the dotted line between the lanes is their lane, not the crazy drivers speeding up behind us so fast... No, I will not miss the drivers here.

We stopped after about 3 hours and had a bite to eat at Frango Assado, which was wonderful because there were no retornos involved! Might be one of the reasons why this food court in the middle of nowhere off the toll road was so packed; there were on ramps and off ramps on both sides of the road - easy access and easy departure! Though it might have been packed cause the food there was awesome - the kids had delicious hamburgers and fries, Corey and I got the gourmet buffet with sushi and other adult food.

Mmmm. We headed out after an hour, as the sun was setting at 6, and got home around 8. Maybe we'll come down here again when Joseph and Ethan get here in 2 and a half weeks! We're excited to see them!