We heard that the Chupacabras were playing at The Backyard at Playa Hermosa on Saturday night.
Its "Semana Santa" in Costa Rica –– when half of the Central Valley's population spend a few vacation days on the beach. Easter!
We are only about a ten minute drive to The Backyard from our beach house in Esterillos Este.
Deb and Rob came down for the weekend to hear the band. Rob has known Chris, the band's lead guitar player, for a few years and tries to get down to hear them play as much as possible. We invited our friend, Eddie, to join us.
Rob said he would drive, so we all piled in his Toyota and off we went.
Rob said he would drive, so we all piled in his Toyota and off we went.
The Backyard is right on the Costanera Hwy 34 in Playa Hermosa and traffic was heavy. Parking looked impossible until a car pulled out of a spot right across from the entrance to the bar.
So, fighting traffic and the red taxi cabs running about, we made it over to the entrance. The Backyard is a bar, restaurant and hotel and the back of it looks right out over one of the best surfing beaches in Costa Rica, Playa Hermosa de Puntarenas.
We walked on past a large bar, then down a few wooden steps to the back of The Backyard. It was about 4:00pm and the Surfing Contest was still going on. I hear they have them often at this location. There was a pretty good crowd hoot'n and holler'n as the surfers did their thing.
To be honest, I haven't been to too many surfing contests. These guys are good! All short boards and a lot of energy.
Gilbert Brown, who owns a restaurant just down the beach at Jaco, is the local surfing champ. Wasn't able to get a photo of him, but he made some great moves.
The place was pretty full. I was looking out at the crowd and my group called me over. We wanted a table so we could see outside and be close enough to watch the band when they played later.
They had found a perfect one! It had a reserve sign on it, but no matter. Hey, we're with the band.........well, sorta. We know one guy...
Chris.
I thought this was a pretty cool setup. So tropical and laid back.
The sun was getting low in the sky and the temperature was perfect. Cool breeze off the Pacific and pretty good waves. Last year this beach hosted an international surfing contest with a crowd of about 22 thousand people from all over the world. I'm good with the size crowd we had this day.
So, right after the surfing contest, the beach changed its tempo. All attention turned away from the water and to the makeshift stage....
Its a Bikini Contest!
What a surprise....okay, it wasn't exactly a surprise. We heard there was going to be one, but we didn't know what time it was or anything. We came to hear the band. I wouldn't think of going there with a "womanizing" plan to see this contest...
But, as long as we were already there, I got out of my chair and walked on down the steps to get a better view..... for my story....
Here's the lineup. I think I saw plenty of beauties in bikinis looking on that probably could have won, but I guess it takes a certain personality to strut your stuff in front of a crowd of a couple of hundred people.
The sun was getting low, so my camera slowed down its shutter and blurred many of the images. But, you will get the idea from the following:
Actually, I kinda like the blurred images. Sure would be hard to paint. Hmmm...
This girl didn't get the applause she thought she deserved, so she started making gestures to get more. I didn't think begging for applause was a very good strategy. But, I'm not very experienced in these matters.
Rob came down and joined me for the event. Although my role was only as a reporter...he may have actually been enjoying this womanizing! I'm just saying....
The crowd seemed to like it too. Hey, there's a surfer back there! Oh, no one cares...
If there is a contest, I think the bikinis would win out over the surfing.
They all had the right parts, even with different body shapes.
I did noticed that the most applause was not for who had the best body (in my objective opinion), but instead, who acted the sexiest and had the best moves.
As the contest progressed, I couldn't help but wonder just who these girls were. Were they Gringas on Easter vacation in Costa Rica and just happened to be here at the right time?
Or, like the surfers in the competition, were they actually locals who competed here whenever there was a bikini contest? It can be hard to tell a local from a vacationer sometimes. Tica's have several influences in their backgrounds, some being light skinned Spanish and some from dark skinned Caribbean islands. Note to self: Need follow up interviews next time. Get closer to your subjects. Do they speak English? Who cares.... they are not in this contest for their brains anyway.
Well, believe it or not, I got bored and went back up to our table. Not sure which one of these girls actually won, but there was a lot of applause going on for some time.
Deb and Rob were ready for the band to start.
Linda and Eddie were having fun.
Or, maybe its just the guy that helps with the car parking who put on the funny hat. I don't know.
Finally, the Chupacabras started to play at about 6:00 p.m. It seems that they were waiting for the Bikini Contest to end. Great timing.
The band was great, even though they could have used a sound engineer because I couldn't here the vocals very well. Or maybe it was just that I can't hear good anymore. How can you tell whether you are hearing something the same as someone else? If a tree falls in the forest..... never mind.
So, over the course of about three hours, we drank a few beers, ate some salad and pizza, watched a surfing contest, a bikini contest and listened to some good live music and made it home safely back to our beach house in Playa Esterillos.
I think I could get used to this...
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