You'll need a vehicle if you want to visit Playa de Oro. It's a rough drive of about 7 km. on a washed out cobblestone road but well worth the bumps when you see the spectacular beauty of this area. There's high waves and a strong undertow so swimming is not advised but the cliffs, ocean, beach and a small cave make it a memorable visit.
The name Playa de Oro or "Beach of Gold" originates because of a shipwreck. In 1862, a paddle steamship called "Golden Gate" left San Francisco with $1,400.00 of minted gold. Off the coast of this beach, it caught fire and sunk. 80 of the 337 people aboard were saved but the gold was lost. Salvage operations have since recovered some cases but some people believe there is still some buried in the sand.
When we were last there a friendly local man rode over to share a coconut with us. We had no money to repay his kindness and he didn't want any but he gladly accepted a cerveza we just happened to have a cooler of......... .
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