Parrita’s Palo Seco Beach Loses Parts of Road to High Tides

PARRITA, Puntarenas – Residents of Parrita’s Palo Seco beach are bracing for record high tides on Saturday, after waves have already eaten away at the road that runs along the shore.

On Thursday, bulldozers were busy building up buffers of rocks, sand and debris against the waves in the hope the water won’t spill into the homes and hotels that dot the thin strip of land between the Río Parrita and the Pacific Ocean.

“The tides have never been this high,” said Herberth González, director of the local office of the Agricultural Development Institute, as he drove a government truck on the road that was already half washed away. “The fear is that the water will spill into the river and wash away the homes.”

While a few moderately priced hotels dot the peninsula, many low-income families also live there. Aid organizations have been monitoring the situation, according to María Lidia Vargas, a social worker with the local office of the Mixed Institute for Social Aid.

Managers at the Timarai Beach Hotel and Eco Bamboo Resort, one of the more upscale destinations in the area, said the water levels are worrisome, but added that authorities have not yet told them to evacuate the hotel.