Day 82-84 Playa Gigante

We left Granada determined to get to the coast ready for some beach time. We had booked a place in a little town called Playa Gigante yet were told the day before we left that they were full. They suggested to still come down and they could sort us out with something else in town, so we did. After a few different buses and then a very bumpy and slow cab ride in a lowered car struggling along 10kms of 4WD roads, we arrived into a very little beach side town with one bar, a handful of small hostels/surf camps, a small general store and a few restaurants. This place was tiny but very cool.

After meeting with the hostel guys we originally booked with, they found us another room up the road at a place where for $25 we had a whole house to ourselves. It was right on the beach and was just perfect. The house was next to a restaurant called 'Pie de Gante' which was also, on and off,a hostel, just when they felt like it as they only had one room. It was run by a young family, the mum was Spanish and the chef and the dad was American and surfed and pretty much did other things around the place. Then they had a beautiful little one year old too. They were so lovely and we soon got to know them. After the first night they told us they were heading away for a couple of days and were closing the restaurant but asked us if we would like to stay there and look after the place while they were gone. The room was cheaper which was awesome and we pretty much got to hang out in their very cool open air restaurant/hostel/house right on the beach and even better for me, use their huge kitchen.

Many people came asking if the restaurant was open, as they are popular for their great fresh food with a little Spanish influence, but we had to turn them away. I must admit that I was very tempted to let out the Master Chef contestant in me and just see what I could cook up for the locals and surfers passing through but no, not this time.

Playa Gigante was a great little beach. Most of the hostels are owned or run by Americans 'living the dream' for a few years but it's still very true to its culture. The beaches have clean black sand and the water is warm. There were a few other beaches you could walk to, all connected by these very bumpy roads with limited access or you can walk along the beach and over the rocks at each headland. We met some really cool people there including a young Dutch couple who we watched the Netherlands get into the semi final with. We all sat around this one little TV in the only bar in town. The picture was grainy and the commentary in Spanish but the beer was flowing fast as it was stinking hot so the atmosphere grew quickly. All the hostel owners came to watch with any other westerners passing through too and the locals joined to laugh at the over enthusiastic reactions. It was a great afternoon.

We didn't end up going for a surf out here though, the weather again was on and off with rain and cloud, but still hot, and we were just really enjoying laying low for a few days.Plus you pretty much needed a car or a boat to get over to the other surf beaches unless you wanted to walk a few kilometres carrying your board while scrambling over rocks at each headland. We went for the swimming, eating fish on the beach and drinking beers over sunset option.

When the owners of the restaurant returned we got to have another great night with them, eat some awesome food and I got to beat Brendan at Jenga!!!

We could have stayed in Playa Gigante for many more days but again, we had to keep moving and we knew we had so many cool places ahead.