Playa Larga

Feb. 14 ... We got a taxi, for the 4 of us, to Playa Larga ... 10am ($80/123K). We arrived at noon to Hostal Juaquinillo. Owner Julio was very sweet, accommodating and spoke very good English! The rooms were nice but not much storage. It was very noisy because neighbors played loud music all day until 10pm. Biting mosquitoes in the room didn’t help us sleep either!

We went to the bank to exchange money. Arriving back to the casa, Brian counted his money and found the clerk gave him $32 too much. He said he'd return it the next day. Well, later, she showed up at the casa crying. The bank was going to dock her 2 months pay! Brian explained he was coming back, then he gave her the extra money and she cried from relief -- poor girl was really upset!

Feb. 16 ....  9am. We’re off to the Parque Nacional Cienaga de Zapata several K from Playa Larga. We went to the bat cave first. Climbed a makeshift ladder down to it -- very scary going down for me. Not too bad going back up. Saw hummingbirds, woodpeckers, terrapins -- no snakes (thank god)! We did the tour through VERY rocky/coral terrain -- climbing involved about 2 feet up or down coral rock. You better have sturdy footwear and strong ankles! We stopped 1/2 way for 30 minutes, for diving/snorkeling which the kids did while we watched/rested. We were back to the casa by 1pm. 

     

Feb. 17 ... JF went to the beach this morning, came back with sand flea bites all over his legs, Jesse has mosquito bites all over her back from yesterday. They had applies insect repellent but it didn’t help at all. Poor kids!

 9:30 am ... off to the crocodile farm ( Criadero de Cocodrillos). 10 minute drive. We took photos of Brian in front of our 1954 (year he was born) Chevy taxi -- "2 antiques". There were tree rats (sooo cute) in a cage with an iguana. We toured all the craft shops/tiendas. There were hens with baby chicks everywhere! Jesse wants some chicks now -- haha.

Got to the croc area which is all fenced in with chain link. There were about 3 dozen in all sizes. Most didn't move until feeding time. Then they crawled, very slowly, over each other to get the food. Took lots of photos and Brian took a video. I took a photo of an odd coconut tree that grew lengthwise before growing upward. We were back by 11:30 am.