Armed with delicious packed lunches from Bosque del Cabo (hummus sandwich for me and an amazingly delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Sam), we began a two and a half mile hike down to the beaches of Matapolo. The hike down was pretty slow going – we startled a small group of peccaries (which startled me in turn!), a giant tree had fallen on the trail and obscured most of it, the trail was slick from recent rains. Once we got down to Playa Matapalo, it was clear the trek was well worth it – the rainforest meeting the clear turquoise waters was amazing.

We trekked on down to Backwash Beach where there were several surfers out in the waters. Seemed like a perfect place to stop for a lunch break and watch the surfers in the waves. As we ate, one of the surfers got out of the water and I waved at him. His motorcycle was on a pathway behind us and it seemed like the perfect picture to take here at Matapolo, a surfer’s paradise.

Rolando Munoz Contreras was a dentist practicing with his father in San Jose. After his father chose to retire, Rolando was faced with a decision to make: he could stay in San Jose or practice somewhere else in the country.

“The city lifestyle was something I don’t want for me for the rest of my life, being a boogie boarder since I was 14, I used to go to the beach every time I could to ride waves, camp and enjoy the beach life style,” he told me.

He used to come down to these southern beaches when he was a kid and had fond memories of being down there with his family. He came down to the area armed with his backpack to scope out locations and fell in love with Puerto Jimenez.

“Life here is so different than a city; no heavy traffic, here there is no people on a rush like in the city, simplicity is what I like from the people on this town. But Puerto Jimenez is a multicultural place where some people from other countries live here, too. (They used to have to go to) Golfito or San Isidro to get private dental services.”

He tries to get out and surf as much as possible, sometimes as many as five times a week. This picture sums up life in the Osa Peninsula nicely I think! (You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram, and like me on Facebook - if you're inclined to do those things! Or you can just check out my web site on hipphoto.com.)