Mantarays and Dorados

I went fishing yesterday! I have been wanting to go for quite some time and finally the opportunity arrose. Some tourists invited us to go on their charter boat. We headed out of the harbor and out to the huge white rock which makes up a little island. All around this rock there is tons of sealife. Mantarays with a 15 to 20 foot span from tip to tip were swimming around and under our boat. One of the guys on the boat had a fancy underwater camera so a couple of the guys got in and swam with them. Then there was a huge tutle just swimming along.

The first catch of the day was a rainbow trout. Then I got the pole and within five minutes I caught a dorado (mahi mahi). It was pretty big, about two and a half feet long. This was the catch of the day so I won the ten dollar bet. Everyone else caught mackeral :) Seeing the coast from a boat reminded me how beautiful this country really is. Since I´m on the Nicoya Peninsula it feels like I´m on an island. In fact, since you have to take a ferry to get here many people refer to it as an island. THe palm trees and pristine beaches never get old to look at. THe ocean was pretty calm too. Our captian, Emiliano, has been fishing these waters his whole life. He´s missing a front tooth and has a sunbeaten leathery face but he smiles huge and its contagious.

Back on shore Emiliano fileted our fish for us and we took it to the restaurant nearby (Sunset Reef) and had the kitchen prepare it for us. It was awesome, particularly the mahi mahi of course. There were ten of us at dinner all together, we almost were able to eat it all.

I quit the two jobs I was working. I only have a month left and want to spend more time on my writing. My friend Amber is coming on monday so I´ll be going to San Jose to meet her and then bring her back here. Then I will put my car up for sale and start thinking about my return to Portland.

I can´t imagine how this experience could be improved in any way but it will be interesting to see how this last month is different if at all. It has been raining more, about three hours each day for the last three days. Everything is really green. Salud and Hasta Luego mis amigos.