La Playa

Vacations are good. Last weekend, I exercised that belief by traveling to the black volcanic sand beach of Monterrico. Y’all, it was amazing. I didn’t even realize before going how wonderful it would be. I joined 13 new freinds (5 Germans, 3 Taiwanese guys, 2 Belgians, 1 Italian, 1 French girl and 1 other American) for 3 days and 2 nights at the beach.

Our hotel, El Delfin (The Dolphin) was right on the beach. It was complete with outside showers, padlocks for the doors and mosquito nets for the beds. The walls were solid for about 8 feet, but above that was stalks of bamboo a few inches apart, so you could hear everything going on outside your room. Translation: amazing sounds of the ocean all night long. Good stuff. But my favorite part of the hotel was the hammocks where I could lie in the shade and listen to the crashing waves (which deserve their own post).

We spent a morning touring mangrove marshes by gondola-like long boats. By morning, I mean sunrise. Yes, I, Sharon Roberts, got up early enough to see a sunrise. It’s amazing how motivated I can be when it involves seeing a sunrise from a boat on water.

An evening was spent walking up and down the beach for 2 hours, looking for tortugas (giant turtles). The tortugas no-showed. But two things made the trip worth it:

1. I learned my first words in German! My European friends taught me very important and useful words like “smelly feet,” “hand stand,” and “headlamp.” (You have to be very careful with the pronunciation on that last one, but the way.)

2. By far, the most fabulous part of the night for me was seeing the white of the waves as they broke in the night. Looking out over the ocean, everything was pitch black. Then this amazing white appeared and spread right and left in a contagion accompanied by a loud drumroll. It was powerful. Quite a sight. Quite a sound. Over and over and over. The type of thing you can’t capture in any picture or video. I hope I never forget the majesty of the nighttime waves and the way they reminded me of God’s power.